You make Pizza, one layer at a time.
Pizza, what a topic to preach about?
I suppose that the only real connection we have with pizza and the church is that pizza came from Italy and Paul’s preaching took him to Italy.
That is a pretty far stretch, or is it?
Ancient Greeks ate flat, baked bread with assorted toppings. It is presumed that this bread was a derivative of something the Babylonians ate in the early centuries.
The Babylonians were around from about 1792 BC to 562 BC.
Historical records suggest that people in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome all ate something that was very similar to our modern pizza crust.
Each culture added their own toppings.
This means that it is possible that Jesus ate pizza. Hooray for pizza.
Just for your information, the first pizzeria in the United States opened in New York City in 1895, by an Italian immigrant named Gennaro Lombardi.
To make a great pizza you need to have a few things:
1. Oven, pan to put the pizza on to cook it.
2. A Cook, with all the ingredients,
a. Flour, Oil and other special ingredients for the dough.
b. Tomato Sauce of some kind. By the way, Tomatoes were though to be poisonous by the Europeans. Received them from Peru & Mexico.
c. Cheese, lots of cheese, and more than one kind.
d. Toppings, all kinds of toppings.
i. Vegetables: onions, peppers, mushrooms, olives, pineapple and so much more.
ii. Meat, oh boy, meat, you have to have pepperoni, sausage, Canadian Bacon, hamburger and anything else you can think of.
Is it lunch time yet? Did someone hear the twelve o’clock whistle?
When you have all the ingredients gathered up you can start.
The dough is made and pressed into the pan. Then you start building your master piece.
One layer at a time, you build it up in layers, this wonderful delight.
The sauce and cheese is spread over the dough. The meat and vegetables are placed on the top.
Maybe you butter the edge of the crust to keep it from burning. Then you very carefully slide this masterpiece into the oven.
It only takes about twenty minutes to cook. The crust browns; the cheeses start to melt together and runs into and over the meat and vegetables.
Layer after layer the pizza starts to cook.
You can smell this masterpiece, and you get your drinks and napkins ready. You are now ready to sit down and eat it; but most likely you are going to burn your mouth.
Our Spiritual Pizza
What about the layers in our lives? Our Christian walk, where are we and how many layers?
Let us look at the layers of our spiritual condition?
Romans 5:1-5, 9-11
Jesus is the Cook and we are the dough!
Justified, we start out with a clean slate.
Peace, our guilt has been taken away.
Faith into His Grace, our faith grows knowing that God’s grace is with us.
Rejoice in the hope of the Glory, in Christ presence.
Rejoice in our suffering, for we are given:
1. Perseverance
2. Character
3. Hope
4. Hope does not disappoint
We grow in faith and strength through our trials and temptations.
Gifts from God, Our layers:
How many layers do you have or want on your Spiritual Pizza?
Are you just going to stop at the crust and sauce, or are you interested in building a multi-layered master piece that the Father can use to help others?
Paul writes of ten layers that are available to each of us.
1 Corinthian 12:4-11, There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
These are gifts of the Spirit; they are not given to prove the presence of the Holy Spirit, but to enhance your spirit our ministry.
Our life changing experience is the proof of HS presence.
Acts 4:31, After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
TOPPINGS: The layers of the Spirit gives us the power and authority to be the pizza for some one else.
