Welcome to Hill Community Church. Thank you for the praise. Thank you for the reading of Scripture.
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:1-17, ESV)
So based on what was just read, Ephesians 5, 1:17, I want to ask a question and we’ve been wrestling with two questions primarily in our study of the book of Ephesians, like what is a Christian and what is church?
And specifically today I want to ask, like Christians, we walk the walk and not merely talk the talk. So in what ways? Based on the verses that were read, what ways are we supposed to walk? This is not a Some questions I ask might be difficult. This one is not so difficult.
It’s straight out of the text. What are the ways in which we are to walk? And it’s not a trick question. Yes, walk in love. Walk in love. That is a primary one. We’ll save that one for the bulk of the message.
John is a good Bible student. Besides that, how else are we supposed to walk? Ephesians 5:1-17.
Walk as children of light. Children of light. Yes. Two for two. John is on fire today. He’s in the Spirit. Walking as children of light.
And then the last one is a little trickier, it’s toward the end of the verses that were read. How are we supposed to walk? Yes, walk wisely, carefully.
And we’ll tackle these in reverse order because I do want to focus on the first one. Walking in love. It says in verse 11, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light.
Therefore it says, awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Look carefully then how you walk. Not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time. Because the days are evil, therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Will of the Lord is.
11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:11-17, ESV)
Couldn’t our days be described as evil, as hidden, deceitful, like even our election? Like some half the country is rejoicing, the other half is crying, and we’re looking at the same facts. But because the days are evil, half of us are wrong, half of us are wrong. That shows the kind of days we’re in.
It’s not obvious what God’s will is and what the best path is for our country. That’s just a small example. But you can look through all areas of life, and it is deceitful. It is confusing.
The days are evil and we should walk carefully. And so just in general, just my word of advice, like if we should be careful not to follow the majority, careful not to follow Hollywood, careful not to follow what is trendy, because likely there is deceit mixed in there. We want to be very careful in these days.
Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them.
For at one time you were darkness, and now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), (Ephesians 5:6-9, ESV)
And last week we said we should be speaking the truth in love. And I got some feedback from my family, and it could be heard in this way that I was saying we should just be loving to all. And it’s all, we’re all acceptable, we’re all the same. It’s not true.
We should be loving to everybody, no matter the lifestyle, no matter what state they’re in, whether they’re a believer or not believer, seeker or not seeker, mature Christian or immature Christian.
We should love everybody, speak the truth in love to everybody. But it’s not the same as saying there is no such thing as truth. There is no such thing as light and darkness.
So I just want to clarify. We are people of the light, and so we love that we speak the truth in love. We walk in love, but at the same time, there is truth, and there’s a lot of things masquerading as truth, but it’s not true.
And we have to go to the Scripture, like, what does God say is right? What does God say is light and good and true? That is how we walk in that, and we expose the lies that are against what God says.
So we, there is truth, and only God determines it. Everybody else besides God, in a sense, is a liar. Only God is true. Only God is good.
And so we walk as children of light. And so it matters how we live. We shouldn’t assume that because God loves us, then how we live, it doesn’t matter. No, it matters how we live.
We are not walking like this: sexually immoral, impure, covetous, a lot of idols in our heart with filthy mouth. And we joke in an improper way. And it says, for such people, there is no inheritance in the kingdom of God.
So there is truth. And we are on the side of truth. And we are. We’re being delivered from the lies and the bondage. And we, we speak the truth in love that Jesus will set you free. You don’t have to live bound and go to hell. You can be set free by Jesus.
And so that is what we are. We are children of light. But I want to focus on not just walking carefully, wisely, not just walking as children of light. I want to spend the most part of today walking in love.
It says, therefore, be imitators of God, verse one, as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for. For us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2, ESV)
And this last section, it unpacks what it means to walk in love. First, we look at Jesus. How did Jesus walk? He walked by giving himself up for the world as a sinless man, as a sacrifice for all the world. But we don’t walk in that same exact way.
We deny ourselves, we carry our cross, but we’re not walking exactly the way that Jesus walked. So we take it a little further. Jesus is our example. And from that, we see there is a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.
In Genesis 8, after the flood, what Noah did was he built an altar. And the altar was a pleasing aroma to the Lord, this burnt offering. And God said, I will never curse the ground again because of the sins of humanity. So that’s one clue. What does it mean to live a life of love that is pleasing to the Lord?
And then all throughout the Old Testament, you have the grain offerings. In Leviticus 2, they were prepared a certain way. They were seasoned with salt. And therefore, if you did it properly, it was a pleasing aroma, a fragrance that reached heaven.
Same with the burnt offerings. In Ezekiel, I believe chapter four describes salt being cast on burnt offerings. And if it was done properly, it was a fragrance, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
And then Exodus 30, there was the incense of worship in the temple. It was seasoned with salt, and it was a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And then you had the temple offerings In Ezra, chapter six, salt was part of the temple offering.
And again, the aroma was pleasing to the Lord. And then, if we connect the dots in the New Testament, we have Matthew, chapter 5, verse 13. It says, you are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?
It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill. That’s the verse that Hill Community came from.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand. And it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:13-16, ESV)
And in Mark 9:49. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good. But if salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.
49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” (Mark 9:49-50, ESV)
And Romans 12, verse 1. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable, perfect.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2, ESV)
So the imagery from the Old Testament. Now, as New Covenant believers, it’s clear, the connection that we are now the sacrifice, we are the living sacrifice. And depending on how we live, whether we’re salted properly or not, it will be pleasing to the Lord, a fragrant aroma, a sweet aroma, or it will be an odor and a stench.
And the key is a salt. We need to be salted. And it says in Mark 9 that everybody is salted. Have salt in yourselves. We’re salted with fire. Fire is what purifies us.
And so if we are a sacrifice, but we’re filled with nitrates and preservatives and impurities, we need to detox, we need to be purified. How does the Lord do it? He does it with fire.
And so you might be going through some difficulty in your life, in your marriage, in your family, in your workplace. In society, in the world, as a world citizen, as a citizen of America, we might be going through a fiery season. And what could it be? Could there be impurities in America? Could there be impurities in our situation? Could it be impurities in ourselves?
We need to be salted with fire. We need to be purified and salted properly so that we, as a living sacrifice, now we give off an aroma that is pleasing to the Lord. 2 Corinthians 2:14 turn there. This one is an important one.
2 Corinthians 2:14. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one a fragrance from death to life, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
For we are not like so many peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:14-17, ESV)
This Sunday and for the next few Sundays, we’re going to start flyering, and I want us to, if you’re not familiar with Luke 10, why don’t you read it over before you go out? If possible, go out in pairs, if possible.
It is illegal in the United States, apparently, to put a flyer in the mailbox. So let’s not do that. Let’s put it on the doorstep.
I get flyers on my doorstep all the time. That is legal. Personally, for me, I’m not going to knock on the door because I get bothered when people knock on the door. You don’t know, is this a scam? Is this someone going to rob me? It’s like there’s just too many criminals out there, and we don’t want to be identified with Mormons or Jehovah’s Witness or any of the cults out there.
So my recommendation is let’s not knock, at least for now. Let’s first just introduce ourselves to the neighborhood and say we’re here, and we have the address right, and you can come. Hill Community Church is a new church plant in Bellflower. So please come, but the most important thing that we’re going to be doing in this first pass is let’s pray for the households.
As it says in Luke 10, we don’t take anything with us. We go out in pairs and we say, peace be on this house.
We’re basically saying, Jesus, come to this household and save them, because Jesus is the prince of peace. And if your peace stays, then that household is already saved, and they probably already attend church. We just bless them in the Lord.
But if they’re not saved, but they’re on the way, the path, they’re on the path of being saved. Then the peace that you declared upon that house will remain there, and God will start moving in the hearts of the people in that household and will start stirring them.
And now maybe they receive a flyer on their doorstep, and they are moved because we have been praying. We’ve prayed for those people. We don’t know who’s there, but God knows who’s there. We’re praying for peace upon the household.
So mainly we’re going out this first pass to pray. But we only have 500 flyers. What’s the return rate on flyering? I’ve done flyering on a campus before. What’s the return rate on a flyer? Maybe a fraction of a percent, or it could be up to 3%.
So out of 500 that we have, and then we have a thousand business cards, we might get 10, 20, 15. That would be great. That would be a great first pass.
But remember, what is our goal? Is our goal 50? Is our goal 100? Or should we have the heart of God, whose heart is for the world? He doesn’t want any man, woman, or child on earth who’s living today out of the 8.9 billion. He doesn’t want anyone to perish. He wants all people to be saved.
And so if we have God’s heart, we’re not happy with 500 people coming here. We want billions of people being saved. And so they might not step foot here. They may join online. They may hear about us in Africa or some other country, but we want that brother or sister or child or father or mother to be saved.
And I’m challenged by the early church because wherever they went, especially the apostles, but I think it was everyone in the church. You know, they had 12 apostles, maybe 72 others that we read about in Luke 10.
So there’s a hundred apostles, but even so, even if it’s 100 apostles, all of Rome heard about Jesus. It must have been more than the apostles. It must have been every Christian just had an aroma.
So in a sense, like first pass, we were taking out a flyer. But I think God’s challenge for us is, we are the flyer wherever we go. If we have the right scent, Christians, we should have a scent. If we have an aroma of Christ, then everywhere we go, people are drawn to Jesus.
And it’s like, we’re not forcing it. We’re not just putting on an evangelist cap for an afternoon, but it’s just coming out of who we are. And so I think that’s the challenge. Like, we’re not content with just emptying out the box of flyers or the business cards.
We want to be so transformed that we are the flyer. And wherever we go, the aroma of Christ is there. People start asking about Jesus, or we start telling them about Jesus.
Because it says here, everywhere, the fragrance of the knowledge of him spread all throughout Rome. God definitely pushed them. Without persecution, they would have just stayed in one city. They would have just stayed in Jerusalem. But because of persecution, they went underground. They were forced to not gather in one location so visibly. So they went underground.
So God was pushing them through fire to purify them and to push them out so that they would not get content just growing one huge mega church in Jerusalem. He pushed them out through fire, through persecution.
And I’m not sure if the next four years are going to be blessing, prosperity, smooth sailing. I have no idea. It could get worse. It could be fiery. But I just see from the early church as an example, the more fiery it gets, the more purified the church gets and the more effective the evangelism is.
Imagine if we can’t gather here, but we gather in our homes across the world. And through technology, we are able to connect. Imagine the reach that we could have. Not just Bellflower, but the world through fire, through persecution, through technology as a means.
And it says in 2 Corinthians 2:15, we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance from death to death, to the other, a fragrance from life to life.
15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:15-16, ESV)
And so God reacts in one of two ways. When he looks at each of us, we’re either an aroma of Christ and He delights in us, he’s so pleased with us, or we are a stench in his nostrils because of impurity, because of whatever the reason.
And it’s the same in the world. If you are truly sent by God and you go to somebody who is perishing and God is not going to save them because they’ve hardened their heart and they are just no. And they’re so angry at God and they want nothing to do with God.
There are people like that, and we bring the aroma of Christ to them. We are a stench. But to those who are being saved, to a believer, or to somebody who is on the path to being saved, they will smell the scent.
It will be the aroma of Christ. It will soften. That person’s heart will instantly be connected and bonded because the aroma and the scent match. So God has two reactions to the body of Christ. We’re either an odor or a pleasing aroma to the world. It’s the same thing.
If to those who are perishing, we’re odorous, to those who are being saved or who are saved, we’re at a pleasing aroma. And I want to end with the last verse, verse 17. For we are not like so many peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. (2 Corinthians 2:17, ESV)
There are many false preachers, false teachers, and they are marked by insincerity, meaning it’s like they’re using God’s to some other end, some base purpose, like money.
It’s like they treat the church as if this is their bank account. Everything is about money. Everything is a book deal, a conference, a speaking engagement, more tithe, bigger audience. Everything comes down to money.
And if you sniff that, if you can perceive that, if you can discern that aroma in somebody, get away from that person. Get away. If they’re in it for the money, the more you interact with them, you should see, like, what is driving them? Is it money? Is that why they’ve got into this gig?
And God is saying, there are many who are like this. And the true apostle is saying, we’re not like this, we’re sincere. It’s not just the preachers, it’s any Christian.
We can use God as a means to some other end. Like, my end is a good family, which is a blessing, or a good marriage, that’s a blessing. But is that the goal? Is the goal of the Christian life me to have a happy marriage and a great family? Is that the goal?
Like, people can use Christianity as a tool, and what they’re really after is not God, not Jesus, but a good marriage and a good family. That is such a low goal. Some people just want community. That is a blessing to have community. But for many people, that is what drives them.
That’s what brings them to church. I just want friends. I don’t want to be alone on the holidays. I want to have trips that I go on with my friends, and I want to post on social media that I have all these friends.
It’s all about friends and community and networking, and that’s what drives them. These goals are just too low, just too low. Are we using God as a means to an end? Or is God the end? Is he the end goal? Is Jesus the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end?
Like being satisfied in Jesus, is that our end? If so, deep down, if that’s what satisfies you, then you’re sincere. Anything else? There’s an impurity, even a good thing, even a blessing that’s included as a secondary blessing in the body of Christ.
But if those secondary things are the end, then there’s an impurity and insincerity. And what pleases the Lord? What is a pleasing aroma to the Lord is sincerity. You don’t have to be perfect, like none of us is perfect, but only you know whether you’re sincere. And you should discern. Is Ray sincere? Is he using church to get rich? Is he using church to puff himself up? Is he using church and wants it to grow because he wants the world to think I’m hot stuff or whatever? Do I want book deals? Do I want conferences? Is that what drives Ray? Like, you got to discern it.
And whatever preacher you listen to, you have to discern, what drives them. Are they sincere? I think if you pay attention, you’ll be able to tell the aroma, the scent you can discern over time, especially if you get to know that person.
YouTube is a little tough because you only hear the sermon, but I think even just the preaching, you can tell a lot of times what drives a person. But if especially you get to know a person, you see what drives them. Are they sincere?
This is probably the most important thing that God looks at as a pleasing aroma. Do they really desire me? Are they really satisfied in Jesus, my son? When I said, listen to my son, do they really follow that? And do they fellowship with Jesus, or is this all an act?
To be sincere means there’s integrity; it’s pure. There’s no hypocrisy. There’s no act. You can act on Sunday, but you got to see Monday through Saturday. Are you the same?
You interview people in your household. Would they say, yeah, the person you see on Sunday is the same person? They are that way at home. It says not only sincere, they’re commissioned by God in the sight of God. These people, they live before God. They’re not living before men.
They’re not doing it for an audience of people and the praise of people like the Pharisees. They’re doing it with sincerity. There’s purity, there’s integrity. Like how they are by themselves worshiping the Lord, how they are worshiping on a Sunday, it’s the same person. There’s integrity there.
This is what pleases the Lord. God can see the heart. And when he sees a right heart, it’s like a pleasing aroma. It’s a sacrifice with salt. It’s a sweet aroma. It’s the aroma of Christ. You can’t fake it. You can’t fake it.
If you fellowship with Jesus, his aroma comes into you. We can try really hard to do all the things that a Christian should do and grit our teeth, but there’s just an odor of striving and flesh and stress.
That’s not the scent of a Christian. Somebody who is in Christ, somebody who’s with Christ Jesus. Aroma starts coming to us and we start carrying that out because we are the flyer, we are the fragrance.
It’s not in ourselves, but it’s from our relationship with Christ, our union with Christ. This aroma comes out. It starts with sincerity. It starts with motives, like, why do we come to church? Why am I a pastor? God looks at the heart. It really matters.
Why was God so pleased with Jesus that he said at Jesus’ baptism, a voice from heaven came, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. The aroma from my son reaches heaven. He’s so pleasing in every way. Not only is he sincere and pure, he doesn’t have an ill motive, an impure motive. He’s not a hypocrite. Also, John 14:10.
He doesn’t speak on his own authority. And what he sees the Father doing, the works that he sees the Father does, that’s what he does.
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. (John 14:10, ESV)
Not only the purity is the source of the pleasing aroma. I think the other source of the aroma is a surrendered life. Jesus, even though he was a sinless Son of God, he didn’t do life on his own. He did it with union with the Father. He says, if you see me, you see the Father. He did it with such surrender, he doesn’t speak on his own.
We think, Jesus, you’re allowed to speak on your own. You have authority in yourself. You are fully the Son of God. But he says, because he’s showing us, this is the example I want the church to follow.
Even as a co-equal with God, the Son of God, fully God, he surrendered himself to the Father. And he only spoke what he heard from the Father. He only did what he saw the Father do. He was surrendered.
And so the sincerity of Christ and the surrender of Christ is why God says, my son is pleasing, well pleasing, a pleasing aroma.
And so as we have the aroma of Christ, how do we walk in love? We check our heart. Is there impurity? Do we really desire God at the end? Or do we want God to bless us with money, with marriage, with family, everything going well? So we’re using God.
God doesn’t want to be used. It’s an insult to use God. He doesn’t want to be used. He wants to use us. Who’s God? He will use us not as an employee, but as a friend, as a child.
Not in a burdensome way. But we don’t use God. That’s so insulting. Who’s above us? Do we put ourselves above God and say, you need to do this for me. You need to bless me. This is why I’m at church. Really. You need to really search your heart. Why are we here?
Why am I a pastor? I always have to search my heart. If I’m insincere, I might as well quit. There’s no point. Because in the end, God knows everything. He knows my heart. I’m just wasting my time. I’m wasting your time. If I’m doing it with an impure motive, God sees it all. If I don’t live before God, eventually it’s going to catch up to me.
And when I’m before God, in the judgment seat of Christ, all things will be laid bare, and he will see, oh, this is what drove you. This is the motive of your heart. Sincerity is that important.
The apostle said, the fragrance goes everywhere because we are sincere. On top of that, Jesus as an example, is surrendered. How do we walk in love? We walk in sincerity. We walk in surrender.
Okay, let’s pray.
Father, we live in evil days. It was evil in the days of the early church, in the first century, while Rome was in power, and things have not changed. Evil is hidden. In some ways, it’s more pervasive, more sinister than it was in the first century.
We live in such evil days. We don’t know right from wrong, up from down. Everything is upside down, everything is backward. We’ve been deceived over and over by people in authority. We live in evil days.
Even churches are masquerading as pastors commissioned by God. But they’re peddlers, users of God. And they have some base end which is not Christ. Forgive us, Lord. We don’t want to be fooled and unwise. We want to make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.
We want to walk wisely and carefully. We want to walk as children of light. Not in darkness, not in hiddenness, not in addiction, not in bondage, but free, exposing the darkness, walking in the light. Help us, Lord, to walk as children of light. We are children and you expect us to walk in the light.
But most importantly, the primary thing you expect of us is to walk in love as Christ did. He had his mission, which was to sacrifice his love, his life, in love, for the sins of the world.
Everything he did from beginning to end was a pleasing aroma to you. He was well pleasing in your sight, in all of his ways. We follow his example in his sincerity and in his surrender.
Holy Spirit, search our hearts. Only you know and only we know what is really driving us. Maybe we’re blind to it. So, Lord, we ask for help. Why do we go to church? What is driving us? Are we using you to some other end that we’re not aware of?
Please show it to us, Holy Spirit, convict us of all the insincerity, all the hypocrisy, all the impurity. Use fire if necessary, that we be salted properly, purified properly. Everybody is salted with fire. We don’t want to be a salt that has lost its taste. We don’t want to be a light that is hidden under a bowl or under a basket.
Lord, you’re purifying us so that we can go out salty and bright. Thank you that you’re getting the order right. We also surrender our lives to you. So we only go if you tell us to go. We stay if you tell us to stay. We move in step with you and not our own pace.
Even how to go out, where to go out, the strategy, all of it depends on you. Lord, in a step of faith, we’re going to follow Luke 10.
For today, I pray that you bless us as we pass out flyers and pray for the households and pray your peace upon the households and for those who are being saved and who are saved.
Lord, we pray for your peace to remain on the household. We pray that you save people who live in these households. For the rest, we shake the dust off our feet. We move on. But Lord, we know that you want a deeper work in us than passing out a flyer.
Because we are the flyer, we are the fragrance, we are the aroma of Christ. Wherever we go, may Christ’s presence in aroma be present.
How did the early church reach the entire Roman Empire? Not just through a hundred or so apostles, but by every Christian in that church, was so transformed by you, was so united with you, that everywhere they went the aroma went with them. Jesus, you went with them. They told everybody about Jesus.
Lord, that is where we want to go. Not just a one time, two time, one month long effort to pass out flyers. But we are the flyer. We are the aroma of Christ. Christ goes wherever we go. We go wherever Christ goes.
Please change us, Lord. We understand that is the end goal. To be transformed by Christ, to be satisfied in Christ, to have the end in Christ as our end goal and our endgame.
Thank you Lord. We pray that you minister to us. Thank you for Your Body that was broken for us and Your Blood shed. We pray that you meet us and commission us and send us out as apostles and missionaries to declare peace upon the city of Bellflower, Artesia, and Cerritos.
Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
