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.
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.