Accepted Series: Part 3

"God fully accepts us in our brokenness—but does not accept everything we do," Pastor Todd Beal said, sharing a baseball analogy. “The coach knows the player's heart, but a foul ball is still called foul," he said. We can allow God to bring things to our heart's attention so we learn to do what pleases Him, he said. 

Todd Beal and his wife Sonjah are the founders of New & Living Way Church in Kelso, Washington, where he serves as lead pastor. Since the church's beginning in 2012, their desire has and is to see breakthrough in the lives of God's people and for the local church be a fresh, loving and vibrant community of people who are passionately serving God

Transcript

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Welcome to New and Living Ways Podcast, where we pursue the presence of God, the truth of His Word, and the life of Christ working in and through us. We pray today's message strengthens your faith, refreshes your heart, and draws you closer to Jesus. Here's today's message.

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We are still in our acceptable series. The message tonight is the aroma of Christ. You know, there are people that have died and then they have been in heaven. And did you know that there are scents and there are smells and there's aroma that is in heaven? In fact, there's people that have said that they have been in prayer, and all of a sudden they've just smelled this beautiful aroma. People smell these flowers. And how many of you know that we all want to smell good? Right? And so the message series is on acceptable. And we began the series that God, first of all, accepts humanity in their brokenness. That we serve a God that accepts people, meets people where they're at. How many of you know the Bible says that even while we were sinners, Christ died for the sinner? While we were in sin, Christ died for us. Now, um I also want to say that last week we shared that as a believer, how many of you know that you have been fully accepted by God? Amen. How many of you are thankful that when you came to Jesus that God accepted you? Is there anyone here that's been accepted by God? Did you know that Jesus said that he who comes to me, I will not push away. And I've noticed that sometimes when we get upset at people, we try to push them away. But how many of you know that we don't need to push people away? Amen. We need to have the heart of the Lord for people and we need to begin to trust that God can love people. You know, it's easy to reject people when they are treating you bad. How many of you know what I'm talking about right now? But God is looking for a church that when people push you away, you don't push them away. And that takes a real heart of saying, look, I may not like what you are doing, but I still accept you for who you are. Amen. How many know this is a big thing? And this is kind of what we're going to be touching on tonight and next week. And because I am fully accepted by God through Christ right now, I desire to live a life through his grace that is acceptable to God. Did you know that there are some things that God accepts and some things God doesn't accept? I'm gonna kind of dive into this. So you've got this really good uh baseball player, right? And I mean, he gets this the pitcher's one of the best pitchers, but this is one of the best, you know, uh hitters there is. And and that ball comes at a hundred miles an hour, and he takes his bat and bam! I mean, and he just does a line drive, and it looks beautiful, right? And the crowd is wonderful. I mean, it just looks like it's gonna be perfect, but then it goes about two inches out of bounds. And the uh the uh is it the umpire or the referee? Where's Al? The umpire shows you how much I know about sports, but the umpire says it's foul, doesn't he? And that I mean that that uh baseball player is a very good player, right? And he himself is accepted as a player. But the umpire said, I'm sorry, that is not acceptable for you to go to the next base. So this is the same way that we have to realize that God fully accepts us, but he does not fully accept everything that we do. And how many of you know we can't try to earn God's favor on our life? Because we're already accepted, amen. We're already on the team, we've already been there, right? And how many of you know that that uh that uh baseball player, he can say, well, that's not my problem. I'm doing my best. I'm doing my best. But how many of you know that there's still principles that are already at play and that we have to go by the the parameters that are set before us? Does everyone see what I'm saying? And a lot of people say, and the and the the baseball player could say something like this Well, the coach knows my heart. He knows my heart. But how many of you know what he did was still not acceptable? And there's things that we run into in our own life that we think, hey, leave me alone. I'm doing my best. But God still would say, I accept you, son, I accept you, daughter, but what you're doing is unacceptable. And we live in a very strange generation that they're more concerned about doing their own thing than actually finding out, well, Lord, what do I need to do for it to be acceptable? And I mean it would be terrible if that baseball player just kept hitting it and he kept hitting it just a little foul and no one ever said anything to him. And then one day the coach comes over to him and says, Hey, you're doing really good. If you would pivot your swing, pivot your body just a few degrees, when you hit it, it'll go right where you want it to go. And so that baseball player took the advice, hallelujah, and he became a world-class baseball hitter. How many of you know we can all allow the Lord to bring things into our hearts so we'll do things in an acceptable way without feeling guilty? And see, here's the big thing: you are not trying to earn God's approval, He has already accepted you. So, so in Christ, you've already been accepted. And uh so if you're taking notes, you can write, I am accepted, and now I want my actions to be acceptable. And this is such a big uh important thing in the body of Christ, because the body of Christ is full of people that know God loves me, God forgives me, I can just kind of live life however I want. And then there's all these things that begin to happen, and they go, Lord, what's happening? And he'll say, I accept you, daughter, I accept you, son, but what you're doing is unacceptable. And um, it's so important. And this whole series um was birthed out of a scripture that I believe the Lord spoke to me about, I don't know, three weeks ago is when we started the series, and this scripture uh came to me out of Psalms. We're gonna put the scripture up here on the screen. Let's read it together. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. So, how many of you know that God still accepts us, but we need to have our words and what we are thinking about to be acceptable to the Lord? Amen. And to do that, you have to be willing to ask God what is acceptable to him. Did you know that what we think about, did you know that God is very much interested in what we think about? Why? Because he doesn't want us stressed out. He doesn't want us stressed out, he doesn't want our minds thinking about all these things. He wants us to be full of peace and he wants us to dwell in acceptance. Now, here's the thing society rejects people all the time. Right? But but here's the thing is you have to you have to live your life in a way to where you are already accepted by God. You're not trying to earn God's acceptance of who you are. And you want to live in a way to where, okay, Lord, now that I'm abiding in you, because you can't do this in your own strength, you you draw near to God. So there's a few things. The first thing that needs to be acceptable is what? Let's put the scripture up there. The word so here's the question: Are the words of our mouth acceptable to God? So here's how you know. If there's praise coming out of your mouth, if there's good things coming out of your mouth, if there's joy coming out of your mouth, there's honesty coming out of your mouth, that's good. How many of you know that's acceptable? But how many of you know when we start complaining, it's not acceptable? How many of you know when we start? I can't believe all the Christians that swear. Man, it never used to be like that. I mean, it's like we have got some swearing saints in the body of Christ. I'm like, this is no bueno. You you definitely want to take that to the Lord and say, Lord, will you please anoint my mouth? So let the words of my mouth and then the meditation of my heart, and so God cares about what you're meditating about. And again, this is not so you can be accepted by God. You have already been accepted, but God has tried to get us to where there's a blessing that's released, and then there's an aroma that comes from really drawing near to God. This is not about you being a better Christian, this is not about you reaching perfection, this is about you drawing near to Jesus. Okay, and uh there's another scripture here. We only have a few passages tonight, Proverbs 21. Let's read it together. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. See, some people think, well, I'll just lay this down and I'll do this and I'll do this. And God says, Look, I just want you to have righteousness and justice operating in your life. How many of you know this new generation coming up? They have a real heart for justice. They want things to be equitable, they want to see things fair, they're upset about all the injustices in the world. And how many of you know that there's a lot of that that actually is godly? It doesn't mean that every cause that they're trying to push is godly. There's a whole movement among the young people where what when they're calling for justice or equality or equity of things of that nature, it's actually against the things that God says are acceptable. So it's very important. Let me help you out. How many of you have an opinion? I know some of you have very strong opinions, and and and the thing of it is most everyone thinks that their opinion is right. Right? I mean, you probably aren't gonna sit there and go, I have an opinion, but I'm probably wrong. Most people are very, very, that's kind of funny, but everyone thinks their opinion is right. But how many of you know we're human? We can literally be a mile off. So the only way that we can know if our opinion is right is what does the Lord say about it? And I think a lot of people would just say, Well, God knows my heart, or I'm just trying to do my best, or all these things. But how many of you know God wants to show you his heart? I'll never forget years ago I shared this as a perfect example. I'm sitting, this is man, this is almost 30 years ago, and uh the Lord says, Todd, how many times is it acceptable for them to abuse my name in a movie before you'll walk out? And I had to think about that. I didn't have a preacher with his finger in my face saying, You may be watching them bad movies. No, it was a I believe the Lord, the Holy Spirit's asking me this question how many times is it acceptable for me to, to his the Lord's name to be abused? And well, the answer to that was nothing. Zero. So then I had to back it up. And I couldn't just walk into any movie and then go, well, I didn't know about it. Oops. And I know that you've all been in movies or you've been watching a reel or something, all of a sudden there's a there's a little whirl, whoop, where did that come from? Oop, where did that come from? Oop. And how much are you willing to let the enemy throw garbage at you? I mean, if you were walking down the street and someone dug in a garbage can and took a just a big thing of garbage and just threw it at you, would you want that? But did you know that's what the enemy does when we're watching stuff and this language pops up. You say, Well, I can't help it. Yeah, you can. You can shut it off. Well, I I won't be able to scroll. You're exactly right. If you can't scroll through something without something that's unacceptable to God hitting you, you've got to make a decision. Right? Without a pastor, without someone trying to judge you. And so we had to go to plugged in.com, which is a beautiful website that tells you before you watch the movie if they abuse the word of the name of God at all. So then we'd be like, okay, Sony and I had a joke. Let's go to the movies Friday night. Let's see what's playing. So, of course, we would go, and 99% of the movies all had, they had to at least put some kind of profanity in it. I mean, it could have been the best movie of the world, but they had to put a little bit of garbage in it. And so, Sony and I, our whole lives, we had to decide, okay, what's more important for us? How do we want to raise our amazing uh sons? How do we want to raise them? Do we want to constantly be apologizing to them? And so these are the things you have to ask, Lord, is what I'm watching acceptable to you? Because I didn't ask you if it's acceptable to us. Because the Bible says, let the words go back. Psalm 19, 14. This is a revelation. See, we'll say, well, it doesn't bother me. But the question isn't whether or not it's acceptable to you. The word says, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in whose sight? So that means the standard now is not us, it's God. How about that? Now, why would God send it up that way? Because He wants us to be able to draw so close to Him that there's an aroma that starts coming forth from our life. I'm not gonna ask you, sometimes you get around something that is very uh smelly. Right? And sometimes you don't want to be really close to that, do you? And I'm telling you, friends, there is an aroma to things that are in our life. And I know in America it's not real popular because we're trying to make everything as culturally acceptable as we can, and we're just blurred the line so much till we say, well, if it doesn't bother me, then it must be okay. The question is not if it bothers us, the question is whether it bothers the Lord. Can someone say, Amen? And this is good, and this is not condemning anyone, this is trying to get us to realize that God wants an aroma in our life, and that aroma is not our good deeds, it's Christ. Okay? Now, let's uh read Romans 12. This is wild. Now, there's a little bit of old King James in here. I beseech you. I beg, I plead, I implore. I beg you therefore, brothers. How? By the by the what? Mercies of God. In other words, you can't do it in your own strength. By the mercies of God, let's read it. That you, let's read it, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, what's it say? Acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. In other words, it is it is a basic uh attribute of a believer to make our bodies a living sacrifice to the Lord. Amen. And how do we do that? Obviously, we're not gonna jump on a physical altar, but God wants our lives to be in such a way that the aroma, in the Old Testament, they had sacrifices where the the uh animal would be on the actual altar, and then there was a there was a scent to that. And then in the temple, when they had these sacrifices, there was mixes and blends of scents, right, that the priest would have. And sometimes it would be myrrh and there'd be spices, and it'd have this aroma to it. And it's no different with us, is there is an aroma that the Lord is wanting to bring forth out of our lives, and it talks about what some of this is in verse 2 and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now we've heard that, but this is in context of us having our bodies as a living sacrifice. So, what's one of the ways you make your body a living sacrifice? Allow the things that are coming across your mind and your heart and your eyes and your ears to be holy to God. Amen. How do I know if what I'm watching or listening to is acceptable? Very simply. We're gonna play it on Sunday morning in front of everybody. Okay? So if we can all put it up here on the screen and we can all enjoy it together, that's a good gauge of how you know it's a good thing. We shouldn't have to apologize to anyone. Now, look at this. Don't be conformed, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Let's read it, that you may prove what is that good and, here it is, acceptable and perfect will of God. And this is my heart. If I could just be brutally honest, no one hired me, or Sony and I, or team, no one hired us to start this church. No one paid me to serve the Lord. It's something that God worked in our hearts and in our lives to where we just wanted to serve the Lord, right? When I was 19 years old, I was baptized with the Holy Spirit, and I just started and I endeavored in my own life to just want to start serving God, and I started going to church, I started reading the Bible. I didn't have someone in my face, you need to do this, you need. I just naturally started reading the Bible, and I wanted to live my life in a way that I knew the Lord would be pleased with what I was doing. I know he had won my heart over and that I was acceptable to him. And because he had done such an amazing work in my heart, I wanted to express my gratitude towards the Lord. And I was so hungry for God. I was so hungry to try to find a place that I could hear the word of God being preached. And uh I was living in Macon, Georgia, and I mean I was trying to connect with a church there, and I tried to connect to church, and I couldn't quite, I was just trying. And uh, but my family was in Florida, so I would drive 280 miles one way. So I could go when people talk about it so far to come. I'm like, I would drive 280 miles to connect with a place that I felt God was using to feed me. Right? It didn't matter to me. I got a bonus because I got to see Renee and I got to see my mom, and she'll tell you that's what we did for a long time. And then I finally, you know, kind of got back into the church there and I started serving there, and all it all worked out. But I just want to say this that when you really want what God has for your Life, it's the adventure of a lifetime. But you do have to start asking God some big questions, you know, and I'll I try as much as I can not to offend people. I still do it. The word offends people if you preach the word. Well, it's no different. Jesus in John 3 6s, John 6 66, the Bible says that Jesus was preaching and a bunch of people left and didn't follow him. So the word will offend people, but it's our job not to try to offend people. And so the aroma of Jesus is beyond anything from this planet. And I know that sometimes we have little kids and they start wing-ing whing, you know, they start fussing. And I do tell people we live in the we lived in the no-fuss house. We didn't allow fussing in our home. We just didn't allow it. It was just part of the way we trained our kids, right? And by and large, you know, it'll it'll it'll pay off. But you have to understand that acceptance by God is the root. I'm accepted by God, but acceptable living is the fruit of that. So I'm not trying to earn God's acceptance. He's already accepted me. But the acceptance is the root, and now acceptable living is the fruit. And the fragrance of Jesus is not produced by striving. Well, I'm just gonna try harder. Forget that. Oh, that's what I was trying to say. If you tell me that you hate asparagus and you loathe it and you can't stand it, there is no way I'm gonna invite you to over my house and go, hey, do you want some asparagus? Right? If you knew that someone hated something, would you purposely just engage in that with them? Do you know how God feels about swearing? Do you know how he feels about fornication and all the sin? Do you know how he feels about it? He hates it. Why? Because it destroys people. And so it's not a matter of you're a bad person. It's no. You need a we need a revelation of what God actually hates. Let me try this side of the room here. We need a revelation of what God hates. I mean, again, if you if you know someone, man, I'm allergic to, I mean, we had a family member the other day, they're allergic to sesame seeds, and and we couldn't have sesame seeds in the house. And and because if you if they they'll go into anaphylactic shock, they carry an epi pen with them, right? So don't have sesame seeds around those people. And so we have to understand that our lives affect people, right? One of the hardest things is when you see people that get thrown off course because of someone else's actions. Man, that just you're like, man, you were doing good, and then you got around this person, and then the next thing you know, you got bitter, or you got pulled into sin, or this, that, and the other. And you just need some godly friends in your life. And I wish I could have said I had all these friends growing up. Well, when I was 19, I don't know what the Lord was trying to do, but it seems like most of my friends were 40. Because I was looking for young people my own age that I could relate to, and at the time I couldn't find a lot that were my age. But I was not gonna allow that to deter me from the calling and the purpose and the plan of God. And all I can say, that's the grace of God in our life. Amen. And we don't have to come to that point where say, God, your will for my life, your plan for my life, your desire for my life is more important than what anyone says on this planet. It's more important than any money, any job, any promotion, any church, anything. Nothing is more important than what you're trying to do in my life. And I'm not saying church in a negative way, I'm saying, I'm saying it all has to be uh directed from the Father into our lives. Amen. You find the place God wants you. So let the aroma of Jesus go forth in your life. Think about this way: if there is an aroma of Christ, how many of you know it could be one of the most beautiful things you ever sensed? And that is the aroma that God wants flowing from your phone, from your heart, from your television, right? And you just have to decide what aroma you want around you. Now, some people, I won't talk too much about it, but some people are really into sense. And I mean, they get these packages and you smell it, you're like, man, that is so good. And then you have some people that don't seem to know when putting too much perfume or cologne is. And they come into a room, it's like you can smell them a block away. The Lord wants us to have the aroma of Christ flowing to where people get around us, and we're just like, man, this is beautiful. Now, I want to share just a little bit more with you. Acceptance by God is the root, acceptable living is the fruit. Okay? 2 Corinthians 5. We just have one more passage after this. That's pretty good, guys. Let's read it. Therefore, we make it our what our aim. This is our goal. This is this is my mission. Whether I'm with you or whether I'm not with you, what does it say? To be well pleasing to him. Now remember, God uh God is writing this through Paul to a specific church. He's not speaking to the world, he's talking to the disciples at Corinth. And he says, Man, it is our aim to be well pleasing to God. Why? Verse 10. These are the some of the scriptures I read when I was just digging my teeth on this. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, whether to what he has done, whether good or bad, knowing therefore that the terror, the fear of the Lord. We persuade men that we are well known to God, and I also trust well known in your consciences. Okay, and so we want to live our lives in a way that is acceptable. So here's a short uh some some ideas. Number one, you want your thoughts and your meditation to be acceptable to God. You want your thoughts, what you're thinking about, you want it to be acceptable to God. Here's another your worship, surrendered hearts. Do you know that I hate to let me say it a better way? When churches come together, God is not interested necessarily in the physical sound that people are making. God is more interested in the heart of what is being projected. Amen. In other words, if people have just got all this stuff, they're not willing to get their heart right. They've got unforgiveness towards someone, they've got bitterness towards someone, they've got anger towards someone, and they say, Lord, I love you, I love you, I love you. Well, that is gonna be uh the wrong type of aroma coming out of our life. Here's another area that that we want to be sure that is acceptable. Our giving. Our giving. Is our giving acceptable to the Lord? Here's another one. Our service is our service acceptable to the Lord. Here's a big one. Our relationships. Are our relationships acceptable to the Lord? And when you start understanding, God has standards of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. Amen. And we our our nature, our our our whole nation has shifted. Okay, the divorce rate in 1890 was five percent. Did you hear what I said? Five percent. Okay, now it's ten times that. And part of that is the church's responsibility. Because we've said, well, it's it's it's okay. If people want to get together, you know, before they're married, it's it's not that big of a deal. But God said it was unacceptable. So we have to, as a church community, realize that it's not judging someone to share with them the way that God wants to bless their life, is to live our lives in a way that's acceptable to Him. If you go to a if you go to a doctor and He says, Sir, ma'am, we did an X-ray on you, and we see here we did a certain kind of scan, we see there's a mass here on your kidney, and if we don't remove it, you're gonna die. Well, if that patient turned around and said, You're judging me. Now it's funny because people laugh. Oh, I would never do that. But that's what people do every day when other believers or ministers have a spiritual x-ray and say, Dude, this thing is gonna kill you. Did you hear what I said? And so it doesn't mean that the doctor's bad, it doesn't mean that the brothers or sisters are bad. Now, if the doctor says, I can't believe what kind of person you are, because your liver's in this shape, because you did this, and how could you do this? No, that would be judging. But how many of you know that the the doctor wants to save lives? Did you hear what I said? Our relationships can have an aroma, and that's why some people say, Well, how's your relationship with this person? Man, it stinks. How's your relationship with your dad? Man, it stinks. How's your relationship with your mom? It stinks. How's your relationship with your church? It stinks. How's your relationship with this person? Man, it just stinks. How many of you know God wants to give you the aroma of Christ? And when you when you start saying, okay, Lord, I don't want to have any bitterness in my heart, I want what's coming out of my heart to be a beautiful, beautiful aroma. Our prayers can be acceptable to God. Listen to your prayers. Are you praying for anyone else? Or are you praying just for yourself? Our obedience can be acceptable to God, our fruitfulness and our faith. The Bible says without faith, it's impossible to please God. And I know, guys, I'm not. You really, I hope you guys realize I don't stand up here like I've got it all together, that I never make mistakes, and that, you know, these things are so foreign and I'm just so perfect, and you're not. Look, we are all in this uh life together to trust God for us to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. And I'm simply sharing with you the struggles and the processes that I had to go in my own heart, my own life after all these years to realize that that, as Forrest Frank says, your way is better. That God's way is the aroma of Jesus. And the aroma has got to be shared to be enjoyed. And that's what we want. And that's why I don't know if some of you wear deodorant. I wear deodorant. And some people have given me a hug or whatever, and they go, man, you smell good. Is that cologne? I'm like, no, it's deodorant. And and I don't think, you know, people want to smell bad. But you have to really ask yourself some really wild questions. Lord, what is the aroma of my life? What, if you could bottle up what your the aroma of your life actually is, what would it be? Would it be the life of Jesus flowing out of us? Now finally, I want to share a final passage here. Therefore, be imitators of God. God is the influencer. And walk in love. How do you be how do you be an imitator of God? Verse 2, walk in love. Can everyone say walk in love? Everything can be summed. Most of any problem that you're facing with people can be summed up by walking in love. Means they treat you bad? No problem. I'm gonna treat you good. You hate me? No problem, I'm gonna love you. You do me bad, no problem, I'm gonna do you good. Walk in love, watch this. As Christ also loved us, and let's read it, and given himself for us, what? An offering and a sacrifice to God for what? Sweet smelling aroma, sweet smelling fragrance. So what that means is when someone treats me bad and I walk in love, that is the aroma of Christ coming forth from my life. So we have an ability of emanating the very essence of the Lord Jesus in Peter. How many of you know that's a powerful thing? And once we learn how to get our own over our own offenses, and you said this to me, and I can't believe you said, I can't believe you did. Once we mature and grow past all those things, we say, Lord, I know that this situation is tough, but I'm gonna offer up an aroma to you. Hallelujah. Now that is what is acceptable. The aroma of Jesus is released to God and others more fully as we yield to the Lord and in ways that are acceptable to Him. See, guys, what I'm talking about tonight is not a magic wand where you come up and poof, and everything, all the miracles and all the money you want, and all the vacations and all the relationships and just everything poof is in your life. What I'm talking about is real growth. Real growth in our life where we actually draw closer to God. Is there anyone that wants to draw closer to God? And the way you draw closer to God is finding out what he loves and what he doesn't love. And it's with everything. You just go, well, Lord, what do you think about this? I love it. Great, I want that. Lord, what do you think about this? I hate it. Did you know that there are things that God hates? Right? Is there anyone here that hates child slavery? You better believe it. Why? Because it hurts people. God hates it when his children become slaves of sin. He doesn't hate them, he hates what the enemy does to people's minds. And how many of you know he wants to set them free? Hallelujah. There's so many people that are hurting. And it says here that here's the things that will help. What's the benefit? You say, Pastor, what is the benefit from me living a life that is acceptable to God? I know I'm accepted, but what if I actually go to my room, I get on my knees and I say, Lord, why should I even bother wanting to live my life in an acceptable way? If you've already accepted me and I'm already going to heaven, what's the point? Am I just trying to earn brownie points? Am I just trying to get God on my good side? Oh God, yeah. How many of you know He's God Almighty? So it's not like I'm trying to win his favor. But there are some things that you will absolutely benefit from in living a life that is acceptable to God. Here's the first thing: a clear conscience. A clear conscience. You don't have to tuck things. Well, I know I shouldn't do this, but I'm gonna watch it anyway. I know I shouldn't text this, but I'm gonna text it anyway. I know I shouldn't like this, but I'm gonna like it anyway. Here's the other one greater fruitfulness in your life. Where things begin to happen, and you know this is God. Here's the other thing that will be a is a stronger witness. What's a stronger witness? It means that people will be drawn to you because they sense the aroma of Christ and they go, Man, you make me want to serve God more. In fact, you told me that the Lord convicted you about smoking weed. I'm gonna give up weed. And I'm gonna serve the Lord soberly. And how many of you know your life can have a strong witness in the life of other people? The pleasure of God. I believe that there is something that happens in the heart of God when we do things that actually please him. It's like just something touches. Is there anyone here that want to touch the heart of God? What a beautiful thing to do. Here's some other thing. When you decide, this is a big one as a pastor. I mean, I could this might sound crazy, but I hate what sin does to people. I can't stand it. When people get in offense and bitterness, it ruins lives. When people, when husbands get hooked on porn, when wives get hooked on uh uh bitterness and jealousy and backbiting, it just destroys families. And when we live a life that is acceptable to God, there is a freedom from the damage that sin does. And that's what I guys can I just be real? I hate it when I see the enemy wrecking people's lives. I just I don't know, you know, I have to be I have to have self-control, but it really bothers me when I see the enemy robbing people. I mean, how would you feel if you're walking down the road and you saw a guy get mugged, and then you walk the very next day, same path, going to the same place, you saw the very same guy get mugged all over again. How would you feel? You would be like, dude, what is going on? Well, I'm doing the best I can. Don't take this route anymore. This is not the route you want to take. Go the other way. And I see it. And now some people they could care less what's going on in other people's lives. But I've seen too much. And sometimes I wish I wouldn't have seen some of the things I've seen or experienced some of the things or gotten some of the phone calls at midnight or five o'clock in the morning or whenever people have their crisis. It the enemy is playing for keeps. He is not trying to hurt you. The devil is not trying to hurt you, he's trying to destroy your life. And so we have to come to a place of saying, okay, God, what do you require of me? Todd, I just want you to live humbly. I don't want you to be critical and judgmental of people. I want you to love them right where they are at and warn them and tell them there's a better way for them to live a life that is acceptable to me, that will bring the blessing of heaven upon their life, and that will release my presence and my praise and my glory and my presence. And that's what we all have to do to one another. Amen. Another benefit is the eternal reward. When you say no to something today, my son Nathaniel has really had a revelation about the sin of sugar. He won't say sugar sin, but he will, he's, he has a revelation about what sugar does and what eating healthy does and all these things. And I'm not gonna go up to, he's not gonna go to these places and just eat a bunch of bad stuff. He he has a revelation about what putting the right thing in your body is gonna do. And how many of you know that the body of Christ needs a revelation about what we're putting in our spirits? And sometimes you just don't see it. And so all we can do is pray that God would open that up to you. The other benefit is that you will reflect Jesus more clearly, you will enjoy God's. God's presence more fully, and you will experience the fragrance of Christ to flow through you greater. It's just a beautiful thing. Now here's some crazy scriptures for you, just so we can be a little crazy. We're gonna finish this. But fornication, what's that? Sex outside of marriage. Uncleanness, covetousness, let it not even be named once among you as fitting for saints. Verse 4, neither filthiness, foolish talk, coarse jesting. They're not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. Verse 5, for this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, covetous man who is an ad idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Verse 6, let no one deceive you with empty words. Oh, it'll be all right. For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Verse 7. Therefore don't be partakers with them. Verse 8. For you were once darkness. How many of you used to be in the dark? But now you're in the light. Now, by the way, this is part of the same passage of Scripture. Walk as children of light. Verse 9. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Verse 10. What's it say? Finding out what's acceptable to the Lord. And so this is where you come in. Lord, I want to find out what's acceptable to you and what's unacceptable to you. And you can't necessarily, I mean, there's certain people, people say, look, I didn't know this. I didn't know that these bands that are out, that there's good, there's good prophets in the earth and there's bad prophets. Right? Just like in Elijah's day, you had the prophets of Baal, Baal, and then you had the prophets of God. And just like that, today we have musicians that are in the earth. They are prophets, but they are not the Lord's prophets. They're not God's prophets. And so that's why it's so important that their sound has to carry heaven. And then we need to find out, Lord, is my language acceptable? I want anointed speech, Lord, my thoughts. I want every day to be dedicated to the Lord. And as we've shared with people before, and we we ask the Lord, and we ask the Lord, Lord, what do you think about Halloween? About a celebration that actually is promoting darkness and anything that has to do with death. And how do you feel? How many of you know it's time for us to say, Lord, how do you, did you know God has opinions about all these things? And you just start asking, Lord, what are we trying to do when we're trying to introduce something that is dark to a child? And that's just one example. I mean, the the the rest of it is just, it's filled our media, it's filled our entertainment, and that's why God says, Is this acceptable? Is this acceptable? Is this acceptable? Is this acceptable? And no one can necessarily go into your home and start saying, you can't do this, you can't do this, but you have to get before the Lord, and you have to have a how many of you know you need a revelation about what God has to say about it? And then the more you can talk to people about it, you say, Well, how did God speak to you about this? He says, Well, God dealt with me about this, and he dealt with me about this, and I think, you know what? He was dealing with me too. I just didn't want to admit it. And sometimes it takes the courage of someone saying, Hey, God showed me this, and he helped me, and he pulled me out of that. Oh man, God did the same thing to me. And thank God He did. Verse 11 have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. See? Or it's shameful even to speak of these things that are done by them in secret, but all things are exposed or made manifest by the light. Whatever makes manifest is light. The fragrance of Jesus comes as we find out what the Lord loves. Find out what pleases his heart and blesses him. Many of you know how to please other people. My sister, I'm sorry I'm gonna brag just a little bit on my family that it's here. They invited us over the other day, and they said, we want you to have steak. And I don't know what you called it. What did you call those things? Eggs Benedict. I haven't had eggs benedict. But she knows that I love steak, and so they had these English muffins, and then they had this egg that was, I guess, eggs benedict and and it poached. Is that what it's called? And you know what? It blessed my heart. And they're gonna invite me over every day now. The truth, the truth is they knew that I like steak, they know that I like certain things, and I have a habit. When I go over their house, I just open up the refrigerator and I go, hmm. What do they got now? And by and large, they have lots of things in there that I just love, and it's a it's a blessing. Friends, provide a table for people, provide a table of the presence of God. You know why? Because you we can't do anything in our own strength. We have nothing to give people. But when we have the love of Jesus and the fragrance of Christ, man, it will change their hearts forever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you, Lord, that your presence is here. And Lord, I thank you that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, to those who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. And so, Lord Jesus, right now, I pray. God, we pray. Reveal to our hearts what is pleasing to you. Not just if we're doing the wrong thing, but Lord, how do we do things that actually please your heart? Sacrifices, decisions, things that we think about and say and do, shift our perspective, Lord. Lord, we pray for this church right now that there would be an outpouring of grace, an outpouring of love in our hearts. Just take a moment right now, just you and the Lord, and just let the Lord show you some things that maybe you're doing that He absolutely loves. Attitudes that you have, things you're doing that God says, this is a beautiful sacrifice. And then say, Lord, it is, but is there something that maybe is not there, that is theirs should not be there? Is there something in my life that's not acceptable, that's robbing me?

SPEAKER_01 51:17

Take a moment right now and just ask the Lord, Jesus, just show us, God, speak to our hearts. Maybe it's a relationship, maybe it's something that's just might look beautiful, but is harming you. God, I pray for mercy that you would show people your love, your kindness, and your grace.

SPEAKER_02 51:51

I love you, Jesus. I believe right now the Lord is speaking something to some people's hearts right now. Because God cares about you, and you've tried and you've tried and you've tried your own way, and the Lord knows it, He knows your heart. He's just asking to lay some things down.

SPEAKER_01 52:15

It's okay, He's got something greater, something more beautiful than you could ever imagine. Father, thank you for this beautiful church in Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_00 52:48

Thank you for joining us for this podcast from New and Living Way. For more messages, ministry updates, and ways to connect, visit us online at NewandLivingWay.church and follow us on YouTube and Facebook. And if you're in the Kelso Longview area, we'd love to welcome you in person. Join us Sundays at 10 a.m. and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. at 215 Academy Street in Kelso, Washington. May the Lord bless you in a rich and powerful way.