Necessary Ingredients for a Christian Life

A few weeks ago a minister at church preached on the necessary ingredients for the Christian Life. I really thought there was a lot of good said that morning and wish to share it with you.

There are six ingredients:
1. We must be born again - John 3:1-21 (v. 7 specifically)
2. We must have humility - Matthew 18:1-5
Are we like little children? Trusting, forgiving, teachable? If not, we should re-examine ourselves and become like little children. God wants us to be like little children. When was the last time you saw a little child hold a grudge against their friend? I don't remember ever seeing that happen. Within 5 minutes of the hurtful act, they are back to playing together. They have forgiven and forgetten what happened!! We must model the little children in our lives!!
We need to trust what God says is the absolute truth! Look again at the little children in our lives. They trust mom and dad and believe that what mom and dad says is the truth. Why do we as adults question what everyone says? We need to learn to be more trusting that the truth is being told to us through the Bible.
3. We must repent our sins - Luke 13:1-5
4. We must have faith - Hebrews 11:1-11 (v. 6 specifically)
5. We must have righteousness - Matthew 5:20
Matthew 23 shows what happens when we are concerned about our outward appearance only. We must be concerned about our inside first and then secondly our outward appearance! God does not care about our outward appearance as much as He does our heart! By no means am I saying that we should completely neglect our outward appearance as we must be modest with our clothing, but first our heart must be in the right place.
6. We must worship God! - John 4:24

I also want to share a link to a song written by a member of the Esh family and sung by them as well. They are the family that lost 9 members in a car accident this past March on their way to a wedding. The son who wrote the song died almost two years ago overseas serving God. Every time I listen to the song it gives me the chills. Here it is: Home.

Blessings in Christ,