Day 77: The Fragrance of Love Or The Stench Of Death?
Read: 2 Corinthians 2:14 - 17
In every kitchen there are good smells like freshly baked bread out of
the oven or the smell of a little baby or a new car. Those are good
smells. Then you have bad smells like sulfur, spoiled milk, rotting meat
and garbage. There is the wonderfully fragrant stench of not so fresh
fish that fills the air around ponds that lose their identities in a drought. There are the pungent aromas of downtown city streets and the sewers that run underneath. Each of us differs as to what we perceive as being the
worst smells. While some of our smell preference may be innate others
are learned by experience. Right there at very the top of most any stench rating scale is the smell of rotting flesh.
From Genesis 8:20, “Then Noah built an altar unto the LORD; and took of
every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt
offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma; Then the
LORD said in His heart, I will never again curse the ground any more for
man’s sake; although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his
youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done”. He
liked what he smelled from the burnt offerings from Noah. So, this
morning, I am going to talk about the things that God would say smells
good and the things that God would say smells bad. Then I want you to
ask yourself, “What do you believe you smell like?”
From today's text (verses 15 and 16): 'For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who
is adequate for these things?' Paul is raising an interesting question
is he not - 'And who is adequate for these things?' And what about that
word 'adequate' - Sufficient to barely satisfy a minimal requirement or
meet a need, barely satisfactory or minimally sufficient to barely get
by or make an impression without being abundant, the least bit outstanding? Nothing in these meanings suggests the fragrant perfume of God's love has a lot of hope to overcoming deaths stink.
One of the things that smells bad to God is lack of commitment. Lack of
commitment stinks. Ask yourself, when you look in a mirror do you see
lack of commitment, a lack of desire to put forth just a minimal effort
to make even the smallest of differences? When you make a commitment
to your family, your friends, your community, to your God and you don’t
fulfill that commitment to the very best of your ability then (forgive
me if this offends you!) that stinks and that is just the way it hits
the fan. If you decide to commit to making something work,
steadfastly commit yourself to living a life that emanates God's love
from every single pore. Love or death, Which do you smell like?
Let Us Pray: Almighty God, help us not to look at the immensity of the
task before us, but help us to look at the immensity of our all-powerful
God. With humankind many things are impossible, we feel too inadequate
for the task before us but with You, God our Father, nothing is
impossible. We want to trust You for supernatural workings in our lives
and in the duties before us. In the name of Jesus the Christ we pray,
Amen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_OTz-lpDjw&feature=g-high-rec
Newsboys - God's Not Dead
www.youtube.com
Music video by Newsboys performing God's Not Dead (Official Music
Video). (P) (C) 2012 Inpop Records. All rights reserved. Unauthorized
reproduction is a vio...
Read: 2 Corinthians 2:14 - 17
In every kitchen there are good smells like freshly baked bread out of the oven or the smell of a little baby or a new car. Those are good smells. Then you have bad smells like sulfur, spoiled milk, rotting meat and garbage. There is the wonderfully fragrant stench of not so fresh fish that fills the air around ponds that lose their identities in a drought. There are the pungent aromas of downtown city streets and the sewers that run underneath. Each of us differs as to what we perceive as being the worst smells. While some of our smell preference may be innate others are learned by experience. Right there at very the top of most any stench rating scale is the smell of rotting flesh.
From Genesis 8:20, “Then Noah built an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean animal, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma; Then the LORD said in His heart, I will never again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done”. He liked what he smelled from the burnt offerings from Noah. So, this morning, I am going to talk about the things that God would say smells good and the things that God would say smells bad. Then I want you to ask yourself, “What do you believe you smell like?”
From today's text (verses 15 and 16): 'For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?' Paul is raising an interesting question is he not - 'And who is adequate for these things?' And what about that word 'adequate' - Sufficient to barely satisfy a minimal requirement or meet a need, barely satisfactory or minimally sufficient to barely get by or make an impression without being abundant, the least bit outstanding? Nothing in these meanings suggests the fragrant perfume of God's love has a lot of hope to overcoming deaths stink.
One of the things that smells bad to God is lack of commitment. Lack of commitment stinks. Ask yourself, when you look in a mirror do you see lack of commitment, a lack of desire to put forth just a minimal effort to make even the smallest of differences? When you make a commitment to your family, your friends, your community, to your God and you don’t fulfill that commitment to the very best of your ability then (forgive me if this offends you!) that stinks and that is just the way it hits the fan. If you decide to commit to making something work, steadfastly commit yourself to living a life that emanates God's love from every single pore. Love or death, Which do you smell like?
Let Us Pray: Almighty God, help us not to look at the immensity of the task before us, but help us to look at the immensity of our all-powerful God. With humankind many things are impossible, we feel too inadequate for the task before us but with You, God our Father, nothing is impossible. We want to trust You for supernatural workings in our lives and in the duties before us. In the name of Jesus the Christ we pray, Amen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_OTz-lpDjw&feature=g-high-rec
Newsboys - God's Not Dead
www.youtube.com
Music video by Newsboys performing God's Not Dead (Official Music Video). (P) (C) 2012 Inpop Records. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is a vio...
Newsboys - God's Not Dead
www.youtube.com
Music
video by Newsboys performing God's Not Dead (Official Music Video). (P)
(C) 2012 Inpop Records. All rights reserved. Unauthorized
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