2 Corinthians 2:12-17 – The Aroma of Christ

Today we are continuing our series in the book of Two

Corinthians. And if you remember last time I

I spoke, we were talking about one of the things I mentioned.

It is that we have in our Bibles 1 Corinthians and Two

Corinthians, but there are other letters we know of that Paul

wrote to the church in Corinth which aren't in our Scriptures.

And we alluded to one of those letters and we're going to again

today because Paul's going to allude to in these first few

lines in two Corinthians 2, verse 12 about a letter that he

had written to them. And now he writes this letter.

And I mentioned this last time that it was probably a very

strongly worded letter. He, he wanted to, he wanted to

correct them. He wanted to stop them from

doing something that was stupid. He wanted to, he wanted to, to,

to bring them back into relationship.

And so he writes this really strongly worded letter and then

he gives it to his friend Titus. And Titus takes it to the

church. And I don't know if you've ever

had to do that, whether you, we've had to where you've had a

problem between you and someone or you, you see someone's just

headed to destruction, headed to doing something really stupid.

And so you decide that you're going to probably not write them

a letter, maybe write them a message, maybe, maybe send them

a voice note. And you write it, or you say it

and then you delete it. And then you write it and you

say it again, and then you delete it.

And then you write it and say it again.

And finally you shut your eyes and you push send and you're

like, once it's gone, it's gone. And you're like, I hope that is

received in the way that I meant it to.

And then you watch, don't you? You watch those grey lines turn

to blue ticks. Are they going to read it?

Are they going to get get blue, 2 blue ticks?

And then you might get those 3 little dots that pop up.

Oh, they're responding. What are they going to say?

The dots move away. The dots come back.

What they're going to say, what they're going to say.

You're there in agony, waiting for them to respond because you

want to know, did they take it how you meant it to?

Did what you say worked? Or has it?

Has it ended up making the problem even worse?

And this is exactly how Paul is now, how he's feeling.

This is what he's going to describe that feeling to them in

a second, because he has sent this letter and he is now

desperately waiting for, for, for Titus, sorry to come back

and tell him the news of how the Corinthian church received it.

We read verse 12 in chapter 2, verse 12 and 13.

It says now when I went to Charaz to preach the gospel of

Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I

still had no Peace of Mind because I did not find my

brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and

went to Macedonia. I'm just going to pause that

now. There's a whole sermon that I

could write on those couple of lines alone, but I'm not.

But I just want to acknowledge them.

See, Paul, he's written this letter.

He's anxious about how the Corinthian church are going to

respond, but he continues, he, he's in the business of

preaching, of teaching, of planting churches, of seeing

people saved. So as Timothy's gone to Corinth,

he goes to Troas, this this city on what is now the West Coast of

Turkey. And he said he starts preaching

and there's an open door. Now.

Open door means gods at work. People are getting saved.

People are responding to the gospel.

A church, it has potential to grow and succeed there.

But it says, I couldn't do it. I couldn't be part of it.

All I could think of is people are asking me questions about

Jesus's what is going on in Corinth, what is going on there?

And so it says he leaves, he leaves Troas where there's an

open door, and he goes to Macedonia in search of Timothy,

because, sorry, in search of Titus, who is desperate to find,

to tell him about the church in Corinth.

Now, I'm not one to question Paul, but do you think he was

right when he's in a city where God's at work?

God's working through him, but he's so preoccupied.

He says I can't be here anymore. There might be an open door for

the gospel, but I'm going to leave now.

I'm not going to say whether he was right or wrong, but what I

will say is the harvest is plentiful.

There are many people who are longing to hear the gospel of

Jesus Christ, who need the gospel of Jesus Christ right

where you live. Now, my little challenge to

start us off with is are you going to take those

opportunities to share the gospel where you are to see if

God might open a door and use you, or are you going to be held

back by worry? You're going to be held back by

what would they think? I wish I was somewhere else

because even the apostle Paul missed opportunities to share

the gospel, the great apostle Paul.

So when you miss opportunities, OK, feel feel like you're in

good company because he did as well.

But I don't know about you, but I want to be someone who takes

those opportunities when God opens the door rather than be

absent minded and thinking of other things and worrying.

Amen. Yeah, right.

So let's continue, he says. But thanks be to God, who always

leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal possession and uses us

to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere now.

So Paul is, he's worried about Corinth, he's worried about

these Corinthians, but he says thanks be to God, then actually,

no matter what I do, the truth is he says I'm a captive of

Jesus. I'm a captive of King Jesus.

And, and the word he uses here is the word of, of a, of a Roman

general who goes out to war. He wins a mighty battle against

the enemy and then he brings back the enemy, the enemy, the

surviving enemy troops and kings or whoever.

And he then chained them and they lead them as a procession,

humiliated, completely defeated through the streets of Rome.

They were completely defeated, completely humiliated.

And they would be LED. The general would walk or ride

through the streets of Rome and he'd lead his captives behind

for the whole of Rome to be able to cheer, cheer of the triumph

of the general and jeer at those who are being held captive.

And that's what Paul says he is like, I mean, that's so weird.

It's so weird. I mean, we're, we're I like

more. He uses the same phrase in

Colossians 2. He says this in Colossians 2.

He says when you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision

of the flesh, God made you alive with Christ.

He forgave us of our sins. Having cancelled the charge of

our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned

us, He has taken it away. And nailing it to the cross,

He's taken away everything that stood against us.

He's taken away our sin. He's taken away our shame, and

it's been nailed upon the cross. And having disarmed the powers

and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them

triumphing, triumphanting over them by the Cross.

So what he's saying in Colossians is that that Jesus,

through the power of the cross, has made a spectacle of the

spiritual powers and authorities that he has completely defeated,

completely disarmed Satan and the gods of this world.

And we say that's good, that is good news.

That is brilliant news. But in, in, in, in two, in Two

Corinthians, he seems to be saying that he has disarmed us

as well. So has Jesus defeated us or has

Jesus defeated the powers and authorities, the gods of this

world? It's both.

It's both actually. You see, Paul himself and Paul

describes himself just like you and me.

He was once an enemy of gods. He was once an enemy of gods.

He was once an enemy of Jesus. But one day on the road to

Damascus, Jesus appeared to him and says, Saul, Saul, Paul had

two names, a Roman name, Paul, and a Hebrew name Saul.

And he came to him and he said, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute

me? He's saying, Paul, Saul, I'm the

king of kings. You can't beat me.

I always win. And in that very moment, Paul

says I was taken captive by the king of kings.

I was taken captive by the Lord of glory, and he brought me into

faith. He justified me.

He adopted me into his family and I became a glad and willing

servant, a slave to the king of Kings.

Paul is saying, I am so glad that no matter whether I make a

good decision or a bad decision, Jesus has victory over my life.

Jesus has victory over my old self.

My old sinful self has been defeated.

And I joyfully therefore surrender my all, surrender my

life to King Jesus. The image that he gives him is

is of a slave who is weak, a slave who is foolish.

But amazingly he writes in the in one Corinthians he says this,

but Jesus, he chose the lowly things of this world and the

death despise things, the things that are not to nullify the

things that are he chose. You want to describe a servant,

you want to describe a slave. That's how you describe them,

someone who is lowly, who is despised, who is not.

He says He chose us to nullify the things that are, those who

look powerful, those that look impressive, so that no one may

boast before him. It is because of Him that you

are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us with the wisdom of

gods, that is, our righteousness, holiness and

redemption. Therefore, as it is written, let

the one who boasts boast in the Lords.

You see, Jesus has the victory. Jesus is victorious over Satan

and all the gods of this world, but He is also He also has the

victory over us. And if we choose to bow our

knees, to bend our knees before Him, He saves us.

He brings us into his glorious Kingdom.

See, the truth is, we have two choices.

Jesus King, regardless of how we respond.

But we either humbly submit ourselves to the authority of

Christ, where we find forgiveness, where we find joy,

where we find peace, where we find life, or we run.

We rebel and eventually our king will say that's enough and hand

us over to death. Do you know, do you know that

Jesus is completely victorious? Do you know that the cross was

sufficient? Do you know that we serve a

risen, ruling, reigning king over all things, That nothing is

more powerful than him, that nothing can live, nothing can

survive outside his rule and reign in his dominion?

And my question to you is, have you surrendered?

Have you submitted yourself to his will?

Have you submitted yourself to King Jesus?

Because I want you to know. I want you to know, church, that

whether you've chosen to follow him or not, Jesus loves you.

Actually, the Bible tells us that He fought to have you.

Actually, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 12 that He endured the

pain, the anguish, the scorn of crucifixion to have you.

He said the most painful thing that any person could ever go

through was a joy to Him. Why?

Because through it he could have you.

Through it, he could have us. He has defeated your old self if

you were a Christian. He has defeated your old self

and you are no longer yours, but you have been bought by the

power of Jesus Christ. Death on the cross.

See, that's what we celebrated last week as we as as that pool

was filled out of water and we baptised Izzy and Karina and

Brian. That's that's what we

celebrated. We celebrated the fact that

Jesus is the ruling reigning king, that they're the old them

is dead. The old them is now at the

bottom of that pool. It's dead.

It's no longer. And they have been risen.

They have been risen to new life.

They are a new creation in Christ Jesus.

Actually one of the reasons why baptism, why, why, why baptism

was chosen as, as a symbol of what Christ has done for us.

Actually it was seen as in the very early centuries, it was

seen as a way of saying this is now my new allegiance.

I'm, I'm, I don't just say, yeah, I believe in Jesus and I

do nothing about it. Actually, I believe in Jesus.

I'm going to get baptised. And that was a physical sign of

my Allegiant. You know, everyone's flying

flags at the moment. My flag is Jesus, My flag is

King Jesus. That is who I hoist my flag for.

King Jesus. He is my risen ruling King of

kings, and I submit to him. The old me is dead.

I am now submitted to him and him alone.

See Jesus Jesus church. The truth is that Jesus can be

King, but he allows us to disobey Him.

I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands because we're all going

to raise our hands if you've disobeyed him this week, if

you've chosen to, if you've chosen to rebel against his

kingship this week. We all do.

I do it far more than I'd like to admit, and I probably say

sorry less than I should. But we all disobey God.

We all Every time we refuse to forgive, every time we give in

to anger or lust, we give in to self.

When we say I'm not going to, I'm not going to serve, I'm not

going to give. I want some me time.

When we when we say when we say these things, we're saying

Jesus, that crown upon your head, I want it.

I want it for myself. When we put ourselves before

others, we are denying the victory of Christ in our lives.

But church, do not be fooled by saying that we are now captives

of Christ Jesus. That does not mean that Once

Upon a time you were free as you Paul writes to the Romans in

Romans 6. He says Once Upon a time you

were slaves to sin. You were LED about by your

sinful desires. You couldn't help but displease

God. You couldn't help but do what

displeased Him. You couldn't help but rebel

against him. But the blood of Jesus Christ

has broken the chains as his body was broken for those who

have faith in Him. Our chains to sin are broken.

Sin that leads to death, sin that leads to separation was

broken. But now we have a new mastery,

says in Romans 6. We are now slaves to

righteousness. Church, you are a slave to

righteous. That means you have a new

desire, you have a new heart. Where once you all you wanted to

do was displease God, you didn't even care if he existed.

Now you have a new nature and you fail every single day.

But your nature is to obey God, is to recognise him as king over

your life. You see we are slaves now to

righteousness. We are slaves to the king who

gives us peace, joy and life and he continues.

He says thanks be to God who always leads us as captives, the

great. This is good news if you're a

Christian. It is good news that you are a

captive to Christ who leads us in triumphal possession, using

us to spread the aroma of his knowledge of of him everywhere.

For we are to God the pleasant aroma of Christ to those who are

being saved and and to those who are perishing.

You see through the cross if you humbly submit yourself to his

rule and reign. We all have a choice.

If you choose to submit yourself to his reign, Jesus doesn't say,

oh, I'm not sure I wanted you. He doesn't say, oh, right before

you come with me, go and sit in the naughty corner for a few 100

years, you know, go and go and live out purgatory for a bit.

And then when, when I feel like you've done you're a, you can

come, you can come and be with me.

He doesn't say you're a disappointment.

He doesn't say that you're a let down.

He doesn't say that you are worthless.

Instead, Jesus says that you are the apple of my eye, that you

are beautiful, that you are the most precious possession in the

world. And you might fight back and go,

yeah, but Jesus, you don't know what I've said, you know what

I've done. You don't know what I'm thinking

right now. If you knew all of these things,

Jesus, you would not say that I was beautiful.

You would not desire me. Ephesians 5 says.

Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering

and a sacrifice to God. You see on the cross, as Jesus

allowed himself to be nailed to that wooden cross, as he was

enduring it's pain, as he willingly took the sin, the

disappointment. The the the wrong of us or

himself. And he gladly said not my will,

but your will be done, Father. As that, as that happened, the

Father poured out the wrath that was deserving for me, the wrath

that was deserving for you upon Jesus on the cross.

And as he took it, as he allowed himself to be punished for us,

the Father looks at this wonderful sacrifice.

And Paul is saying that as as the Father looks at this

wonderful sacrifice, he breathes it in.

He breathes in the obedience of Christ.

He breathes in the sacrifice of Christ, he breathes in him dying

for you and me. And the Father says, wow, that

is the most amazing thing I have ever seen.

That is the most amazing smell I have ever smelt.

You see, in the Old Testament, the Old Testament Saints were

told that they were to come and bring their best debris.

And most of them were farmers. So that meant they'd bring their

best lamb or best goat or breast cow or best best grain or

whatever. And the priest would burn it

upon the altar. And God said as the as their

best, as they surrendered themselves to him and gave their

best as it was burnt that smoke that rose up to heaven, the

Father would say, wow, that is a beautiful, a beautiful smell.

But sadly, the people, they drifted, they lived selfish

lives. They might bring their offerings

to God, but they disobeyed him the rest of the week.

They would they would they would they would they would not love

the poor. They would go to the altars of

other gods, and eventually the prophets would come to them and

say your offerings, your lambs and your goats, they stink.

They stink. They are meant to be a beautiful

offering, but they stink to me. You oppress the poor.

You worship other gods, obey me, love with all your heart,

sacrifice your own needs for the lowly, for the outcast.

That is what smells good to me. God says sitting on the cross,

Christ became that perfect sacrifice.

He lived a life perfect. He lived a life loving and

caring for the outcast of the down and trodden.

And on the cross as he died, the Father smells that wonderful

offering and he says nothing has ever been so beautiful and

nothing will be so ever so amazing again.

This is a pure, perfect sacrifice and it smells

magnificent beyond words in Paul.

Paul says that once he, once you and me, we were separated from

Christ. We lived on our own, we lived

apart from him. We were kind of like this, this

container. We were lifeless, dull.

Actually, I wasn't going to extend the metaphor as far as

this, but he he says that even his best before he knew Jesus.

Well, it smelt a bit like spiritual dog poo.

It wasn't great. I mean, I wasn't going to put

some dog poo on that and then wipe it off, but you get my own

metaphor. He says we were lifeless and

dull, but then God through his Holy Spirit poured his life into

us and we became filled with the same presence.

We became filled with the love of Jesus Christ.

That same aroma that God smelt with Jesus on the cross was

poured into us. That same aroma of Christ was

poured into us. Not because we have done

anything special. All we've done is accepted him

as our Lord and King. But here is here is the thing

church Paul says, we are not designed to keep that aroma

locked up inside. You see, we are meant to let the

whole world smell that aroma of Christ that is within us.

We are designed to smell of Christ.

We're designed to have him in US and let him out, you see.

And Paul says that through hunger, through beatings,

through imprisonment, through shipwrecks, through name

calling, through sickness, through poverty, through

threats, all in the advancement of the Kingdom of God, Jesus

Christ was releasing the sweet aroma of the cross through Paul.

You see, when we do what Christ asks us to do, when you are

obedient to him, Christ says his aroma, the aroma of the cross,

that wonderful beautiful smell gets released from us.

When you, it doesn't matter whether you're sick or whether

you're poor or whether you're you're rich or whether you're

healthy. When you do what you can, when

you are obedient to Christ, when you love the world around you,

when you take those opportunities, when God opens a

door for you to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul says we are releasing that amazing aroma.

It's not our aroma, it's Christ's aroma within us.

We are releasing it. And the Father says that's

amazing. I smell my son in you.

I smell my son in you. For we are to God the pleasant

aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who

are perishing. To the one we are the aroma that

brings death, to the other the aroma that brings life.

And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle

the Word of God for prophet. On the contrary, in Christ we

speak before God with sincerity as those set for sent from gods.

See, Christ's life of perfect obedience was a wonderful aroma

to the Father. And every time a spirit filled

believer acts in faith, someone asks you about Jesus and you

respond. Every time you show love to

someone, every time you serve, every time you give, the Father

says I'm smelling Christ in you. He says, actually he says the

first thing that when we start to act like Jesus, it's the

Father who's the first one who smells it.

He's the first one to acknowledge it.

So let me tell you, church, it doesn't matter whether anyone

else notices you or not. I gave and no one said thank

you. I served and no one said thank

you. Well, I'm sorry if that

happened, but do you know what the Father is going?

Wow, wow. The smell of what you just did

is amazing, is amazing. But then Paul goes on to say

that actually, when we love, when we act like Christ, the

world will smell Jesus. He doesn't say such.

To some he will smell, will smell Jesus, and to some they

will smell something awful. No, no, they will all smell

Jesus. But he says for some they won't

like it, but for others they will be drawn in.

They'll be drawn in to him. So here's the point, Christian,

you are not meant to smell of nothing.

You are meant to reek of Jesus Christ.

You are meant to spiritually reap of Jesus Christ.

And so whoever you pass, whether it's for 30 seconds or whether

it's a good conversation with a friend, you are meant to reap of

Christ. Just like you know when you, if

you pass, pass a woman on the street who's wearing perfume as

she walks past, you can smell it.

You barely, you may have not even spoke to her, but you can

smell the scent that's left behind.

That's what the world is meant to do for you As you leave

people, they are meant to be filled with the smell of Jesus

Christ. But Paul says, Paul says this is

amazing, but he also says, wow, OK, this feels like such a task.

Who, who's worthy of this? How, how can I do this better?

Where he gives three things at the end end of this end of this

short passage. There's three practical ways

that you and I can reek of Jesus because I want to reek of Jesus.

I hope you do too. Actually, first thing he says is

we do not peddle his words for profit.

What we're saying is, is we reek of Christ when we love him more

than money. We reek of Him when we are

generous, when we use our money to bless others, when we are

less concerned of how much we've got for ourselves and more

concerned of how we confer the God's Kingdom.

And now he says, actually, some people will be put off by that.

You know, I don't know if any of you have had that conversation

with someone. You know, how, how do you pay

for the stuff in your church? Look, New Day.

No, my, my mother-in-law asked us this this week, you know, new

day. She's very aware that things

cost money. She's not a Christian.

And she said, you know, new day, how many people go?

So there's about 10,000 kids plus adults and servers.

There's big tops and they, they rent this, this showground.

She's like, who pays for that? I was like, the church does.

Money doesn't just magically appear.

People generously give their own money to give.

And at the moment, sadly, she's like, oh, oh, I'm not, I'm not

sure about that. But to others, that'll be a That

smells amazing. Why would you do that?

Something's different when I come here.

So we love Christ more than money.

Secondly, he says we speak before God sincerely.

That means that we're real, that we're honest, we're open.

When we fail, we say, I'm really sorry.

I'm really sorry I messed up. Jesus never had to say sorry.

Jesus never had to admit that he was.

He did wrong because he never did wrong.

And even when the disciples were like, oh Jesus, I think you've

got a bit far here. When he starts throwing over

temples and letting goats and sheep run through the temple

courts, he didn't say sorry because he didn't do anything

wrong. But you and I, we're not Jesus,

we do stuff wrong all the time. And do you know what though?

When we are humble and we admit that we are flawed, when we

share who we really are. Like not to be a Christian, you

need to be a picture perfect human being.

No, to be a Christian you need to be a flawed human who

realises that they're saved by Christ.

When we realise, when we show, when we tell the world that we

are flawed, when we apologise, when we repent, when we turn

from what's bad to what is good, Paul tells us what some people

are going to be repulsed by that.

They're not going to like it, but some are going to breathe in

the aroma of Christ that you leave behind and be drawn in.

And finally, he says as those sent by God, What it means is

that we rely on Him. We rely on His strength, on who

He says that you are. We fear ultimately God more than

we do man. And when you place your identity

in Christ, when you say he tells me who I am, I'm sent by him,

not human beings, I'm going to do what he says, not what man

says. I'm going to obey his law above

man's law. Or to some they're going to be

put off, but to others they are going to be drawn in and we will

reek of Christ. You see, you are designed to

reek of Christ. And do you know what?

Some people may not like it, but I'd rather take the risk of some

people not liking it so that I can draw others in so that

others may be saved rather than be worried that some people may

not like what they smell. And see no one saved.

See no one's life transformed. And just to close, Paul,

wonderful Paul, he was just one we're going to talk about in a

few weeks. He was just one.

He describes himself as one pot, one clay pot.

He is just one smelling pot. And he is probably the best

evangelist, best church planter that the world has ever seen.

But he knew to reach the ends of the world, he needed other clay

pots, other smelly people around him to admit the aroma of

Christ. You see, he, we, we read in his

letters, we've read at the start of this one and we read at the

end of other letters. He needed people.

And just to mention a few, he needed people like Timothy,

Titus, Silas, Phoebe, Sostenes, Priscilla, Aquila, Apollos,

Mark, Luke, Barnabas, and many others.

Paul was very aware if he was going to reach this lost and

broken world, he needed men and women surrounding him who all

were emitting the fragrance of Christ.

Now just a minute ago I put, I turned on this diffuser and

poured in to illustrate the presence of God.

Some some oil, some oil from this, this, this jug.

And I turned it on and it's been on for a while now.

Can anyone smell it? No.

Do you know what? That's OK.

I can smell it. You're not meant to be able to

smell it because this is not designed to fill a hole this

big. It can't.

It cannot fill this hole with the aroma of Christ on its own.

But imagine if there were ten of them.

You might start to smell the aroma of Christ.

What if there was 100, 1000 of them working together, obeying

Jesus? And I'm not talking about the

diffuser anymore. OK, what if there was a hundred,

a thousand of them working together, obeying Jesus, looking

for open doors to share the gospel?

They would fill this room with the aroma of Christ and more.

The aroma would flood out into the streets so that all who

passed by would breathe in the scent of Christ Church.

The aroma of Christ, if you are a Christian, lives in you.

Paul is challenging us. We are to take opportunities to

look for open doors, to serve, to give, to be obedient to Him.

And as we do, we will leave those around us with that

fragrance and they may not know what they're smelling to start

with. Some of them may be put off, but

some will be drawn in and repent and be filled with His presence

and become another pot full of the realm of Christ.

I just want you as we end right now.

I'm going to pray, but I'm going to ask if you're on the front

row, you're not going to get up, just turn round and clock who's

at the back row. OK, Because I'm going to ask

everyone to pray for the for the row in front of you.

So obviously the front row, you pray for the people at the very

back. All right?

And we're going to pray that those people who are in front of

you, that God would make them reek of the presence of Christ,

that everyone they come into contact with today, this week,

would breathe in the presence of Christ.

And yes, some will be put off, but actually God would give us

opportunities as people go. What do you smell of?

What is that about you? And he'd give us opportunities

to move them closer, even across the line of faith, from

disobedience to allegiance to Jesus Christ.

So I'm going to pray. And as I do pray for the people

in front of you and you on the front, Pray for the back.

So, Lord Jesus, God, we thank you, God, that before we knew

you, the best of our works, the best that we had.

Was like spiritual dog poo. It stank for God in accepting

you, in saying Jesus. You are the one who I am, a

lead, who I pledge my allegiance to.

We are filled with your spirits and I pray for every single

brother and sister in this room who knows you God, that they

would not keep that that spirit locked up inside them, but Lord

Jesus that they would emanate that they would reek of Christ.

God, I pray that you would be you would be prompted them right

now of more things, more ways right now that they could do

today. They could do this week that

displays your amazing aroma. God ways to give ways to

sacrifice, ways to love that displays the love, the aroma of

Christ to those around them. Lord Jesus, can we admit not

everyone's going to like that smell?

But Lord God, we don't want to stop because of that.

But Lord Jesus, I pray that we would take opportunities.

We'd take open doors like there was introas.

And Lord Jesus, you'd give us opportunities to answer

questions. God, even this week, you'd give

us people who ask us what's different about you?

What must I do to have what you have, God?

And you'd give us the privilege of leading others across the

line from rebellion to allegiance to you.

And there would be more and more people filling this hall,

filling this town with the aroma.

Priest. Amen.

Amen.