Attraction 2 Satisfaction // Relationship Goals Reloaded (Part 7) (Michael Todd)

Hey, welcome to this week's sermon. I am so glad that you were here. No matter if you're usual or somebody sent you the link, I believe that God has a message just right for your life at this time.

Okay, I want to let you know that this is a series that is going to help you win in relationship. And if you want to take that to another level in resource, I'm gonna let you know relationshipgoals is still out everywhere, the book as well as the study guide. And for everybody who's already gotten it, thank you for being a part of changing the world. For everybody who has not bought this from somebody else, they need this in their life. And if you've never heard of relationshipgoals, this book is written to help you win in relationships. I'm telling you that God cares about every one of your relationships, and we want to help you win. So this sermon is about to give you revelation. Get ready as we go into this week's sermon. I'm ready. Let's go!

All right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right. I don't know how long y'all got, but ain't nothing else happening today. And so I'm gonna give you all of this message, okay? I'm gonna give you everything that I got. If you got to go and you got to do something, just just go and do that and hit it on the rebroadcast. But today, I believe that I have a word that is going to help you in your relationship.

So today, we are starting week seven of a series we're calling RelationshipGoals Reloaded. Help me, okay? Now, some of y'all was like, "Passing, likewise, this week seven?" Well, well, what you got to realize is that, um, in the middle of this series, we took a necessary break to address racism and inequality and equality and what this looks like. And I want you to know that we will always be led by the spirit. Our planet transformation church is plan B. If God wants us to address something, to be able to speak something, we're gonna do that every single time. And I believe that all of those messages were very necessary, they're needed, and they're anointed to help transform and change our world.

I still could not shake, though, the burden that God had given me to finish what he had given me for RelationshipGoals. And so for the next four weeks, I'm going to complete my assignment. And see, some of us right now, I'm preaching already, are so thrown off by the things that are going on in life that we think it's negated our assignment. And God's saying that even though everything is termed turmoil and stuff has changed, he said the assignment is still the same. Everything can change, but the assignment is still the same.

And so we moved everything. For anybody who's been a part of Transformation Church for over a year, you know that every July is Fun Month at Transformation Church, and we have all kinds of themes, stuff, and we usually have guest speakers because in July, myself and Pastor Natalie always take that month off to recharge and rejuvenate. The original RelationshipGoals series came out of sabbatical. The Crazy Faith series came out of sabbatical. When I can rest and recharge and get with the Lord and spend time with my family, that begins to give me another burden and God is able to download. But I moved all of that back to August because I'm gonna finish the assignment. So July, these next four weeks, I'm telling everybody right now, every one of these is coming for all of us so that we can be more like Christ and we can win in relationship. Somebody said, "I'm gonna win in relationships."

And a lot of people, they look at this RelationshipGoals series and they may have been married for 50 years, or they may not want a relationship, so they say, "This series is not for me." Anybody that's been plugged in, this is not just about romantic relationships. This is about relationships you're gonna have with your kids and your grandkids, relationships that you'll have with business partners and and CEOs of companies. These are relationships you're gonna have with the clerk at your local Kwik Trip, or the the relationship you have with people in church. God wants you to win in all of your relationships.

But without revelation in our relationships, we end up resorting to what we know. And let's just be honest, most of us don't know a bunch about relationships. When we look at our parents and how they did relationships, the families, it's the things that have happened to us and hurt us in the past, and even in the present. It's time for us to go back to God's Word and see what it says about relationship.

And so today, I'm gonna go a step further in this series. And I believe that this message is strategically for every person that is watching this right now. You're gonna share this with somebody after this because it's something that everybody's dealing with and nobody's talking about. See, that's my job today is to bring to the church, not to social media, not to Instagram, not to a close group of people that I trust. I, as a pastor, have to stand and I have to talk about things in the church that are a little unclear. But I gotta talk about these things in the church right now because if we don't talk about it, then who gets to define the narrative? Culture and they don't know about what they didn't create, they only can assume about it. And it leaves all of us looking like the first three letters of that word.

So what I'm telling you today is that we're gonna go to God's Word. And, um, people keep telling me, they keep asking me, like, "How? So, Mike, okay, I hear you talk about relationships and all that, but how much does, watch this, word attraction have to do with relationships?" Today, I want to talk about attraction. I want to talk about this word because a lot of people don't realize how much it's controlling their actions. Attraction is controlling so many of our actions and reactions. And today, I want us to get a better handle on what is happening in this word attraction.

Let me tell you what attraction means, and I want you to write this down. Attraction: it's the power of evoking interest. Mmm, I like that. Ooh, that's nice. Mmm, that would look good on me. Evoking interest, pleasure, or liking for someone or something. Like, I've been talking to a lot of people, counseling a lot of people, listening to the DMs in the comments, and people have put this massive weight and worth on attraction. And I'm not saying it's bad. I'm not saying that it's wrong. I'm not saying that it's not important. I wholeheartedly believe attraction, it's important. I do not think that it may be as important as some of us have been making it.

Oh, now before you tune off and and and hitting me and be like, um, "I don't know what he's talking about. Mommy has to be fine." Because if I can't look at him, then I ain't gonna be looking at him. Whatever you're feeling right now, give me the next 30 to 40 minutes to break down how much attraction is sometimes controlling what we want to do and what we don't want to do. How much attraction, how much value we're putting on this feeling that we have, and it's putting us in places that are not the goal.

See, many of us have a goal. We put it out on our vision board, we wrote it down in our journal, we do all this stuff. And then we get attracted to things. We get attracted to things that we never knew was there. Let's be honest, have you ever gone to a restaurant and then you see something on the menu? It's like, "I didn't know they had triple dip cheese fries with onions and bacon." And like, and you didn't even know it was there. I didn't even know this was an option. And that's what the enemy's plan is for you. It's to present you with options you didn't even know was there, to put things in front of you that you aren't clear and didn't even have a desire for before.

And what happens is, because we don't know how to deal with attraction, it usually ends up in subtraction. Because we don't know what to do with this actual feeling that we have, this actual desire, this actual inclination, we give into it so willingly because we feel it. And when you fast forward through our life, we'll be like, "That was the moment that I did it." But this is what it took from me. This was the moment I was attracted to it, and this was the moment it subtracted from me.

Today, I need you to realize that God wants you to know what to do with attraction and do his word. Today, I'm gonna help you because what I found out in my own life is everything I'm attracted to, it's not good for me or good to me. Okay? It's, it's, it's one of those things that I'm finding out daily. Cuz, you know, your pastor's been very open. I'm on this healthy lifestyle, trying to lose weight and do all this other stuff journey that I've been on. And it sucks. And it is up and down. And some days I feel great and I drink my whole gallon of water. And then other days I drink a gallon of crap. Okay? So I just want to be very transparent with you.

But do you know there's some things that are hindering my goal of getting to where I want to be in my health journey? Do you know one of those things is little kids' birthdays? Do you know why I'm frustrated right now? I got to vent to y'all. Little kids' birthdays bother me because there's free pizza. And my downfall, cake. There's this cake, cake everywhere. Vanilla cake, chocolate cake. There's cake everywhere. And always at the end of the party, they're looking for somebody to send the cake home with. And I don't know why I'm always around when they're like, "Do you want the cake?" And I'm like, "Yes, but no." Yes, I want to eat the cake because I'm attracted to it. The sprinkles, the white icing, the the strawberry. Am I the only one? Y'all gonna leave me out here like this? There's just cake. And I have a goal, but I'm attracted to the cake.

Now, you may be laughing at me because I'm talking about cake, and it may not be your exact situation. But there's things that you're attracted to that are going against the goal that you've set for your life, and it's going against the goal that God has already charted for your purpose. And I, and I'm frustrated about it. You know, something else that's distracting me from my goals? My wife. Madam, coming for you. Uh, my wife. Me and her, we, we set up this plan to save a certain amount of money to be able to invest some things, to do some other things for the house and for the kids and for the future. And she'll be like, "Hey, can I go get?" And undoubtedly, every time we walk into the store. Now, Natalie is a country girl. She don't, she don't know name brands. She don't know any of that stuff. So literally, when she walks in, she just picks what she likes. And for some reason, everything she likes, it's the most expensive version of whatever it is. Yeah. We can literally walk into anywhere and it's like, "I like that one." It's like, "That's seven million dollars." And, and, and the goal is to be able to invest and save and this and that. But because of her attraction, there are things that are going against the goal.

Now, I'm using fun analogies at this current moment, but I want to ask you, what are you attracted to? And the second question I want to ask you is, why are you attracted to it? Now, these are things that most people will never, ever sit down and actually ask themselves. "Why am I attracted to it?" And what, what are y'all doing? What? No, no. Now you hear me up here talking about my downfall cake, and you just gonna sit. What I'm attracted to in front of me, you're just gonna bring up this beautiful, sprinkle-infested, I don't even know what kind of, I got to cut into it to see what type of flavor it is. I need to invest the gate more because there's not enough information here. It's taking me off course of what I'm supposed to be doing right now, but it's so attractive. But no, no, no, no, no, no. I got a mission. I'm gonna finish my assignment. You get behind me, Satan. I'm an overcomer. Okay, okay. I'm not gonna. Okay. Oh, man. Okay. But I didn't eat breakfast this morning. And I've been doing so well. I've been doing so well. Destiny, all week. Destiny, all week. I've been eating what's not attractive. I've been eating salad all week. I feel like, just, I mean, I deserve. I deserve to indulge in this thing that will keep me from the goal. It'll only be a moment. Nobody would know if y'all wasn't here. No, no, no, no. I'm gonna stay focused. I'm gonna stay focused. I'm gonna stay focused. I'm gonna stay focused. Okay. My attraction to cake is robbing me of my goal. Could you fill in the blank there? My attraction to blank is robbing me from my relationship goals.

Now, there's a lot of things we can put there. And if you're honest, yeah, some of you, it's a person. "My attraction to Jerome is robbing me from my relationship goals." Girl, you don't understand. He put it down. I mean, he bought me something. I mean, he looks good for my Instagram photos. Your attraction to Sharon is robbing you of your relationship goal. Your attraction to money is robbing you of the goal. Your relationship goal. Now you have all the money in the world, but your wife doesn't like you because you're never there to spend time with the family. So your attraction to being successful is robbing you of the real relationship goal. I'm preaching already, and I know it's quiet around your house because you're sitting watching me on something that you felt was more important to buy than spend time with your family. So your attraction to toys and cars and people's approval is robbing you of your real relationship goal.

It's the same thing with the cake. If my goal is to live healthy and to walk right and to be here to last, I'm not saying that cake is bad. I'm just saying is I don't need cake. See, what we try to do is generalize everybody's journey. What we try to do is make everybody. But like, "If I need y'all don't need to eat cake." Listen, they might need cake because they have some type of, um, low blood sugar and might need that. But but my journey's not your journey. And so if God is telling me I can't eat cake, it doesn't matter if it's a birthday party for me. It doesn't matter if you bought it in good intentions. It doesn't matter if it used to be my favorite. What you need to recognize is that this no longer is what I need, but I'm still attracted to it.

So what do I do when it's still attractive? What? There's legitimate attraction here. What I found, right, this point down. Attraction is often a thief of full satisfaction. What I'm attracted to will end up at some point stealing what I really wanted. And I've been watching this because the enemy tries to sell you this lie that there's a straight line from attraction to satisfaction. Attraction, I'm attracted to it, so it's gonna satisfy me. I'm attracted to that woman, so I'm gonna have sex with her, it'll satisfy me. I'm attracted to that business or that success, so I'm gonna start this business. We think it's a straight line. This is the enemy's trick. I'm exposing him today.

Everything you're attracted to, and the attraction does not lead to satisfaction. It may be a momentary something that I like, "Oh, that was great." But what it's doing is taking me from the real goal. What it's doing is causing problems that I might have to deal with later. What it's doing is causing a bunch of crap that's gonna have to come out. Oh, that's what some of our relationships are right now. That's what we're coming to the altar every week to get prayer for. It's things we were attracted to that we indulged in, and then we had to get rid of it somehow. And some of you are constipated with all of your attractions. Let me stop. That's, that's the enemy's greatest lie. Is that, and that what he thinks you want will actually satisfy. Remember, he tried to do it to Jesus. Don't act like if he, if he tried it with Jesus, he's not gonna do it with you.

Remember when he tempted him in the garden? And, and, and, and not in the garden, but he took him to the desert and he tempted him. And, and he told him, he said, "Hey, if you do this, I'll give you what will, what no, satisfied." Now, y'all don't have to bring out the chocolate cake. Black Lives Matter, and so does this chocolate cake. Oh, and it's got Reese's on top of it. Now I got, I got what promises satisfaction on one hand, and what promises satisfaction on the other hand. And what it's doing to me at this current moment is it's distracting me from my assignment. And I don't know what's going on in your life, but it may look like this picture right now. That there's something that looks satisfying on one hand, and there's something else that's looking satisfying. And what it's currently doing to you is distracting you from what is going to bring full satisfaction. Doing what God's called you to do, being in the middle of purpose, living a life that is not robbed by this idea, but living a life full of what Jesus has called you to do.

And this is why I need to give you my second point. Attraction is often a distraction. I know this seems very elementary, but what this is, is your life. And what is happening at this current moment is the distractions of being friends with those people, the distractions of getting more connections and being popular and having Instagram followers. Those are all started as attractions. We saw it with somebody. We saw it somewhere. The house you want. How do you even know the house is this except you were attracted to it? You saw that maybe if I'm, and maybe if they, then it'll make me. And God says, many of our attractions, not all of them, but many of them, we put so much weight on them that they are now our distractions. My question to you is, what are you doing right now that you feel like is going to satisfy, and it's disappointed at every step of the way? Some of you are in careers, in relationships, and marriages, just starting up blogs and businesses. You don't even like that, but somebody showed you an image that you thought would satisfy you. You are jumping from bed to bed with guy and guy and girl and girl, searching for something that will never happen. Oh, I gotta come to your house because at the moment that many people think is fine to just hook up with everybody and see what it gets you. And what that's doing, probably what I'm gonna talk about next week, Bishop, is it's creating an appetite.

See, your attraction, if you indulge in them, will create an appetite that will never be fulfilled. And then you'll get the thing that could have fulfilled it, but because you tasted everything else, now, uh, now you have an appetite for something that was never, ever supposed to be there. I gotta stop because this ain't my message. But what it's doing is it's making you look at Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and TikTok and your cousin and your coworker, and it's distracting you from what you're supposed to be doing. Okay, okay. I'm not saying attraction is not real. I'm just saying it's relative. Like, attraction is relative. I've seen, I've seen people. I don't know if you've ever seen people like this, but like, the same people that are like, "Save the animals." Like, "Save all the animals." Their favorite and medium of clothing is leather. Some of y'all didn't get it, but you can't make leather without killing the animals. So, so what they do is they're attracted to the idea of saving the animals, but they also are attracted to the leather jacket. That's why we can't listen to our attraction and make it the truth. Because if our attraction becomes the truth, then we go with our feelings, and our feelings can contradict each other. That's how you can be attracted to the bad guy who beats you. I'm not trying to make light of this. I'm trying to say that we follow our attractions, and we will stay in something that is weekly, daily subtracting for us because we're listening. "Well, he can be good, and he can be better, and he takes care of his kids." But he hits you. And maybe he doesn't physically hit you, but every time he opens his mouth, he verbally backslaps you, and he's taken away your worth, and taken away your dreams, and taken away your purpose. And he's doing this, and your attraction has lied to you, and you've been eating the cake, and performing on a stage that you don't even want to be on. It's because you believe the lie that the attraction would bring you satisfaction.

Okay, how am I gonna help these people? Okay, right this point. Their attraction is about impulse. Full satisfaction is about input. I'm gonna say it again. Attraction is about impulse. Oh, they brought the cake, so I mean, it's here. Like, I need to eat it. Like, lady, they brought the Black Lives Matter takeout too, and I need to eat that one. And I'm an interracial pastor, so I meet the white and the brown. It's about the impulse of it. But if you really want full satisfaction, full satisfaction comes from input. That, that, that comes from what you put in. Like, it's harder right now to resist my attraction and, and, and put input into my decision. My attraction can come, but my decision needs to win. Okay? My attraction to the cake can be here, but my decision to eat healthy has to win. My attraction for another woman can come. Oh, can I say something fast? I'll never say every woman didn't get ugly when I married Natalie. Let me be good. Let me be clear. That, that every man did not just become my, my, my drug. Like, when I married Natalie, there's some men that I'd be seeing him like, "Dang, he is wow. That is nice." Like, "I wish I could one day." But that ain't happening. So my attraction can be real and valid, but my decision to be faithful and to be married. And, uh, and my decision. My attraction to waste time can be real, but my decision to be devoted to read my word, to pray, to be able to show love and worship, to take my vote away, D vote, it has to win. And the problem is, many times our attractions are winning over our decisions.

Some of y'all are in cities right now because you are attracted to the idea of living in LA. Oh, I'm coming for you, Miami, New York. That's the city. I just feel alive in. Okay, I'm sorry to tell you, none of your family members or your last people didn't tell you, but the struggle you've been experiencing in that place, wherever it is for you, it's because the idea of that was attraction, but it's not bringing you satisfaction because it didn't align with God's purpose for your life. Today, it's time for somebody to make a decision. Somebody say, "I'm about to make a decision." Oh, gosh. Why do you all keep doing this? This has the little, um, what are the little French cookies? What do they call? What do they call them? [Music] I want you. Macaroons. Oh, yeah. Macaroons. He ate that. Omicron's mad. I don't know. Macaroons. It's like everywhere I turn. It's like everywhere I turn. Like, there is something I'm attracted to. If God was good, he wouldn't even allow there to be a temptation. If God is so good, if he knows my, if he knows my downfalls, why would he allow me to be even in these situations? Why? Why is this happening? You can see many times our reactions when there's attraction, it's off of our impulse. It's honestly because we're actually hungry, and we run to things that won't satisfy us.

Let me just say, hunger is real. Where do you go to fill up? I said, your hunger is real. Yes, you want to be loved, and yes, you want to be significant, and yes, you want to be in purpose. The hunger is real. But the place of satisfaction is temporary. And that's why you can keep going to the alcohol and the pills, and you can keep going to the people-pleasing, and you can keep going to everything. But until you come to Jesus, there was a woman at a well that said, "Hey, I'm thirsty." And he said, "If you drink of the right thing, you will never be thirsty again." And I don't know who I'm talking to right now, but some of you have been thirsty, some of you have been hungry, and you've been going to the thing that looks good to satisfy you. But after I eat this whole cake, just a little bit from then, I would still be hungry.

Attraction to satisfaction. That's what I'ma call the message, just in case anybody's taking notes because I know how you know, takers of real impulsive and control freaks. It's like, what's the title? Attraction to satisfaction. Yeah. And I know some of y'all other people, if they haven't tuned off by now, they were like, "But where's the word? Where's the Bible?" I wanted to give you most of my points, and then I'm gonna show you in the Bible, in such a clear, succinct way, how this one idea of attraction subtracted from somebody's life who God had used, who had walked with God, who had done great and marvelous things. So I want you to know, the self-righteous people that are watching right now, you're not exempt from this. The people who are like, "That's for them. That's for them. That's for them." This man had walked with God and done great exploits for God, and then came to a season of attraction that ended up subtracting from his life. And so I want you to learn this. We're talking about David today. Now, I know you, not, not, not, not, some of y'all just got really excited. But I'm not talking about to slay Goliath David. I'm not talking about to play the harp. I'm not talking about the mark. The David in this season, I want to talk about the dark side of David. Because in every story, everybody's David. "I beat Goliath. I beat him. Don't look at me. I'm the king. I'm the queen. I'm this. I'm that. I've been on the run from my enemies, my boss, and everybody hating on me. But I could have took him out, but I didn't take him out." And that's one cause to elevate me. Everybody's that dealt David. But I want to talk about the moment when David followed his attraction.

There's so good. I love the Bible. Second Samuel chapter 11. It said, "In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war." He's a king now. All his boys are winning victories. He's David. They're not just singing the song, they're making albums about him. Now he's the king. And it says, "In the spring of the year, when the kings," underline, highlight, normally when the kings normally go out to war, what did David do? David sent somebody else, Joab, and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonites' army and they laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, what did David do? He stayed behind in Jerusalem. It's about the priests. Late one afternoon, in the midday, he woke up from a nap. He had a good nap. And David got out of bed, go out to the courtyard, and see was cracking. Kenny walked up onto the rooftop of the palace. As he looked out over the city, look what God has done. Look at all of the things that he has brought me through. Look at how God has blessed us with this marine. Look how God has kept us." As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. My God. Today, oh Lord, you are marvelous and worthy and all your works. There's nobody like you. The mountainside, the valleys, love God. There's nobody like you. Hey, y'all, y'all boss. She just get him. Fix her. I'm, I'm a fool. Y'all, anybody watching, don't be afraid. That's just how my brain works. He says, um, "Ah, you know, guy, you see that?" "My God, yes. Go get her." He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, "She's Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, and the wife of Uriah the Hittite." Then David sent messengers to go get her, and when she came to the palace, he skipped dinner, and he slept with her.

Now, if you want to see somebody be attracted to something, here it is. He was in a place that he wasn't supposed to be in because he decided to stay when he was supposed to go. And he noticed something he was never supposed to even notice. And because he was attracted to it, his attraction made him feel that that attraction could lead to satisfaction. But let me help you. Write this point down because we got to find out what. Oh, man, oh, man. Brought up the white strawberry jump-off. Autumn hidden with the little strawberry curlicues. I don't even know what these are. Are these edible? Oh, y'all such a multi-ethnic cake bringer-outers. Got the browns and the whites and the, I don't know. It's gonna be hard to finish what I've been called to do if I keep looking at what I'm attracted to. It's gonna be hard to finish what I was called to do if I keep paying attention to what I'm attracted to.

Right this point down because I need to see what happened to David. Because David walked with God. He didn't sing worship songs. He hadn't done all this other stuff. How in the world does he fall temptation to his attractions? Look at it. "In the spring of the year, when kings normally go to war." So he had a purpose. He had something he was supposed to be doing. He decided to send somebody else to fight. And that's what's happening to so many of us in the middle of this pandemic. "I don't feel like it. I did it in another season. I don't know if it's gonna work right now." So I'm gonna send somebody else to fight for my kids. I'm gonna send somebody else to fight for my marriage. I'm gonna send somebody else to fight for my purity. I'm gonna send somebody else. But God is saying, "It's time for you to arise and get back in the fight." It's time for you not to be sitting here saying, "Well, enough of the victories. Maybe God's trying to do something else." It's time for you to stand up and say, "I know I don't feel like it, but I'm not paying attention to my feelings. I gotta stand up and fight." I'm a fight for my purpose. I'm a fight for my business. I'm a fight for this church. I'm a fight for my relationship goals. Somebody type in the chat, "I'm a fight."

None of David's attractions would have even been able to be seen if he would have fought. The thing that I want somebody to understand is what God's given you is worth fighting for. The marriage that he's given you, the kids that he's given you, the purpose that he's giving you. And no, it hasn't come to pass and nobody's seen it again, but it's worth fighting for. And it's in the season where you're not in action. Let me just put it in a point because it said, "David stayed." My question to you is, where are you staying that you need to be leaving? Where are you staying right now? Some of y'all are literally staying with somebody you need to leave from. That ain't your husband, that ain't your wife. And you surround yourself and you sleep with your attraction, but it's gonna be subtraction. And let me stop. Okay, but what, where are you, where are you staying that you need to be leaving? David's whole problem came because he did not want to fight. So he stayed instead of leaving. And that's why destruction is always an option of inaction. When you are not in action, distraction is always available. That's why I keep telling people in this time, "What should we be doing during quarantine?" Everything God said for you to do. Start the business. Write the business plan. Go on your parents. Go visit them every day. Do whatever God's told you to do. Because not because I'm trying to be good and get some award and check off this list and be super productive, it's because I know that when I'm not in action, destruction is just there. Every time I make a foolish decision, it was when I was not doing fully what God told me to do. Every time I cheated on Pastor Natalie before we got married, every time I looked at pornography, every time I was doing all these things, it was a result of inaction. When I was supposed to be in war, doing something. When I was supposed to be praying for somebody else. When I was supposed to be a leader of a small group. When I was supposed to stand and do the business, I was in action talking about my insecurities and what I didn't have and the team I didn't have and what I couldn't do and what I didn't have the education for. And at the moment that I was in active distraction, well, I wish somebody would have told me, "Michael, stay productive. Michael, stay in your word." How does a young man, a young woman, keep his way pure? Pure. Psalms 119. By hiding himself, being active in the Word of God. And all the distractions I was praying, "God, deliver me from," would have never happened if I would have stayed interactive with him. I'm preaching. I'm preaching to God. I take this jacket off. Somebody take that. I got it. Whoa. Listen to what I'm saying to you right now.

Verse 2 says, "Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed. He was walking on the rooftop. He looked out over the city." And he, underline this, "noticed." Notice is not an avert, like demonstrative, like, like aggressive word. Notice is like, "Oh," like, notice is casual. Notice is passive. So, so it's not like, "I got to be on the website." It's not like, "I got to be on the website looking at images and things that are not good for me." I can be on another website and notice an ad. I can be on an Instagram and notice somebody thirst-trapping. Their bathing suit. Reading the Bible. Watch who reads the Bible like that. Y'all know I'm telling the truth. So it wasn't like, "I got up this morning and said, 'I'ma be distracted today.'" It wasn't like, "I got up this morning and said, 'I'm gonna emotionally cheat on my wife today.'" It wasn't like, "I got up this morning and said, 'I'm gonna eat what cake you brought.'" Another cake. Oh, I want to eat. Oh, I want to spend time with you. I want to caress you. I'll be back. I didn't. I didn't plan to be in this situation. But now everywhere I look, I'm noticing. No, you didn't. You didn't bring the cookies and cream. You know the cookies and cream. You know, God, I won't eat it. I'll just get real close to it and smell it. God, I promise you. I'll just sleep with him. We'll just dry hump. God, I promise I won't steal from the business. I just won't report all of the money we made. I'm gonna just try to get close enough to it to where I can stay faithful to you and give in to my flesh. God, is there a way I can do this Christian walk and stay faithful to you and give in to my flesh? Y'all know that's what our whole culture is trying to figure out right now. Can I still give God his and get mine? And that's why the Christian faith is so powerless right now. Because we got a lot of lukewarm believers. You're walking out here telling everybody, "For God, I live. For God, I die." And then if you catch you at the wrong moment, you just cuss everybody out, and you just, you just do whatever feels right. You pay attention to what you're attracted to instead of who was attracted to you first.

See, this whole thing about Jesus and salvation was not that we even looked attractive. It said, "While we were yet sinners, while we were yet ingredients, not even put together yet, while we were yet," he said, "He was attracted to us." Feel the presence of God. And he loves you so much in your dirt state, in your nasty state, in your pieces state, that he said, "I see a masterpiece." They see a lot of broken pieces, but I see something put together and stirred up with me in the middle of it. And I see them reaching purpose. I see all of that. But oh no, they're attracted to other things. So what I have to do now is prove my love to them by sending them to TC today to let them know that, yeah, there's other things around that are attractive, but you need to notice God's love for you more than anything. And I know that's easier said than done because David knew God. David had walked with God. He had, he had written some of the most beautiful songs to God in worship, in songs. But what happened to David? All of us, if we are not aware, it can happen to us in our family, in our lives. And I'm gonna help you. Remember, I said David noticed. Everybody say, "Noticed." At the moment you noticed, many times you need to say no. It needs to be no at the notice. It needs to be when you saw the little thing pop up, leave the website. No. Like, "I can't even. I can't even allow it." Because what you try to do is get prideful and be like, "That don't even affect me. Nothing. But I don't even affect me. I'm not even attracted to people who look like that that much." Today, at 5:00, but at the notice, you need to say no. After notice, we're going to say, "See, the attraction is okay if you at the notice, say no." The problem that David had, and the problem that we have many times, is that the notice, we wanted to K.N.O.W. We wanted to know. We didn't say no. We said, "Let me know who that is. Send for her. Let me see where this website leads us. Let me look if they got any other pictures like this. Let me see how far we can go in business with these people and see if I can still keep my integrity." And God says, "At the notice, it needs to be no." If it has to notice, it's, "I want to know." Your attraction could be leading you to subtraction. That's what happened to David. Because this is the key to all of this, and I'm gonna have to pick up part two next week. Is it okay if we come back next week and do some more of this? Okay. The reason is, you have to understand this is that David never talked to Bathsheba before he wanted and sent for her. It wasn't like he had a conversation with her. He saw her. In his mind, he was attraction. He was attracted. He thought it would bring him satisfaction. And so he wanted interaction.

I want you to know what breaks the chain. Attraction is only activated by attention. The attraction is natural, it's neutral. But my attention is a choice. And this is where people act like they don't have control. And you have full control. You act like, "Why was it just attracted to it? And I just was like, led there, and I just didn't know what happened." And they don't just end it up, and then it just video. And the only reason that I know where to go is because my attention is on it. The only reason I know which cake to go to, which thing I'm attracted to, is because I'm steady giving it attention. My question to you is, what are you giving your attention to that you know you're attracted to, that's going to end up subtracting from your real relationship goal at the end of the day? I know it's quiet in your house because it was quiet in my house when God began to give this to me. Because attraction is what I see, what I think. But look what the Bible says. Because attraction, I need everybody to hear me say this. Attraction's not bad. Attraction is not true. But what you give your attention to will determine what type of attraction this will be. It's just like money. You give money to somebody who's feeding children in Africa, and the money is going to be used for good. That same money given to an illegal drug dealer, it's going. That same money. The money's neutral. It's whatever you give the attention to, it's going to produce the results. Okay? That's why God says in Matthew 6:22, this is Jesus. He said, "Your eye is though is like a lamp that provides light for your whole body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with life." Oh, I love the Bible. But when your eye is unhealthy, when you notice things you're not supposed to notice, and you want to know more about them, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light, oh, this is gangster. Jesus. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is. Like some of us walking around like, "I mean, it's not that bad though. It's just occasionally." And God says, "When you get into that occasionally notice, and you get into those things that you're trying to," he says, "that's a darkness that nobody knows how deep it goes." If I'm honest, nobody knows how dark these thoughts have gotten before. Nobody knows how the images of pornography warped how I saw all women. They did. There was no, there was no end to that depth until I got a Savior. Until there was a lifeline thrown down and said, "You can make a decision to grab this." And my lifeline has a name, and his name is Jesus. And when Jesus stood on that lifeline, I feel the presence of God. He said, "You're not gonna be perfect, but I can help you progress." Now, I can help you. I'll send the Holy Spirit to help put you on the things that your attention needs to be on so that your attraction to certain things becomes less. Because once you see the results of your attention being on me, he said, "Then maybe you'll be able to weather the storm of attraction more." And I know that many of you want your relationship goals, but your attraction, it's taking all of your attention. And you're saying, "God, if you would just, if you just move the distractions, I'd be okay." And God says, "If you would just give me your attention, you'd be okay."

What? No. They did. Now, there is nothing that I love more than cake and ice cream. It was a nut. I've been up here for 40 minutes staying focused on my assignment with all of these attractions around. But when you bring both of these up here together, I don't know how much more I can take. That's vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. That looks like equal-opportunity cake with the sprinkles. They decorated this one. I'm hungry. I'm hungry. What did these little cookies call? Macaroon. Macaroon. But I got wrong. It's just one time. It has all my intention. I've been attracted to it, but it had no power until I gave it attention. I've been attracted to it since I saw it, but I'm, but now I want to be interactive with it because it has my attention. And it's just, I mean, and if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. I don't want a little bit in this. How the enemy tricks you. If I'm gonna do it, if it's just gonna be this one time, I might as well. If I'm gonna miss the mark, if I'm gonna sin, if I'm gonna hook up with this person, if I'm gonna cheat, I might as well go big. Yolo. Oh, my dog. Oh, my God. That feels so good in the moment. I'm not even worried about what's gonna happen tomorrow. And now this appetite. I didn't, I didn't know that it was gonna feel so good right now. Now it's making me. I'll keep coming back to you, but then I'll try something else too. Well, I, hmm, I like the darkness. Make a room. I made room for the macaroon. Matter of fact, has my attention. I no longer care about what my assignment was. Ain't nobody gonna see. Hallelujah. Come on, drugstore trucks. Let's leave. Ha! Hey, Lou. Yeah. Come on. Let's lift. Come on, everybody at your home. Let's lift our hands and watch of God like nobody can see what's.

All you we want to lead and pray for other people and bring them in. And then what we do is we come to the altar. Lord, make me over. Do a fresh thing in me. Do a new work. More of Your Spirit, Lord. Let me play my my best praise and worship setlist all week. But you're not accountable to nobody, and nobody even knew you were struggling with that for real. They only saw the outcome of it, but they didn't know the details of it. And so what do you do in a moment of attraction? It's got the Reese's on it. I'm not gonna eat the cake this time. Yes, the Reese's. There's a reason it tastes like that. You know what? God has given me a word today. Give me a word just for you. He wants us to clean up the mess in America. He wants us to be united. Charge, we see you. We see that you don't have anybody that's on your staff that's ethnically diverse. We see that nobody comes to your kids' birthday parties that's not white or that's not black. We see the cake is on your face, and it's because you've given this idea your attention, and you've been attracted to it. And my question to you is, are you satisfied?

This is why the divorce rate is at 50%. Whether you're a believer or a non-believer, you can get married and say, "In God We Trust," and believe that, and still be divorced at the same rate as people who curse God. Why is that? It doesn't matter what you know if you don't use it. And God's saying, "I'm ready to clean house. I'm ready to make your attention." We put on something that can actually satisfy. But the ice cream, though. This ice cream, man. I don't even want to do it anymore. It's a habit now, though. I don't even want to call them anymore. I don't even want to work in that type of negative gossiping environment, but it's a habit now. Every time we get together, we're gonna talk about them. I left the job, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell everybody that even inquires why I left them and tell them how bad they are, well, now trifling they are, and how they wouldn't be nothing without me. There's a habit now. And all the while, it's the entire time I thought I already took goodbye to you. Uh-huh. You remember that one time? Because you start reminiscing when you're down in the moment, you start thinking about what you used to do. That's how the children of Egypt, the children of Israel, after they got delivered out of slavery, were begging to go back to slavery because they were in a hard season in the moment, and they thought their hard season in the moment was worse than their slavery. Some of y'all used to be slaves, sitting, and God's delivered you, and now he's trying to change you, but you're sick of the change. You're sick of the thing. And so you look at things that used to be good at a different season that harmed you as maybe a better option. So since this gonna be my last time, I got to get this two-for-one in check. Is my mic on? Oh, snap. What was used to amplify my voice was taken away because of what I was indulging in. And I want to help some people understand. God's not punishing you. These are consequences of our attraction. I'ma have to talk about it next week because David, in this moment of attraction, because he gave his attraction attention, it made him want to have an interaction. He brought Bathsheba up. They saw it together, and then mushy, mushy behinds out, nine months later. Oh, hey, Dave, you too, Daddy. Maury Povich all the way back in King David's time. That's why some of you need to know this is an extra point, a bonus point, especially when you're talking about your sexual purity and all that other stuff. Attractions can cause contractions. His attraction at the top birthed something that was never supposed to be here. And many of us are dealing with the effects that we never thought it would birth something else. We never thought it would turn into this. We never thought it would look like us but have somebody else's DNA in it. We never thought that this would happen to us, but it all came from the scene of attraction. Next week, we're gonna find out if his attraction led to satisfaction. But today, I want you to realize that many of you look like me. You act like everything's good, but spiritually, emotionally, even some of you physically, mentally, you look a mess. And it's not because this is even how you wanted to be. It's because whatever you are attracted to, which is natural, which is neutral, you gave too much attention to. And when you give too much attention to what God has not called you to, it ends up taking from you.

Today, I want us to come back and ask the only one who can clean us up. The only one that can take our mess and turn it into a message. I want you to get satisfied by Him. Look at what the same man, David, wrote in Psalms chapter 107 verse 9. We're talking about satisfaction here. He wrote this. So either he forgot it or he learned it from this situation. "For He, God, satisfies the longing of my soul and the hungry soul, He fills with good things." He knew that God was the only one that could satisfy him, but he still went to what he was attracted to. And I don't know who I'm talking to right now, but there are some people that are watching this that your life is a mess. And the one thing that you have not tried, or you stopped trying a long time ago, is the only thing that can actually satisfy. Him. His name is Jesus. How did I go from tasting all the cakes? How did I, in my own life, go from doing all of these things to try to satisfy myself? Because I put my attention on Jesus, the only one who could satisfy. It's not saying that I'm still not attracted when a cake comes by. I don't give it my attention at the moment. I notice. I say no because I've seen how it hurt my wife. I saw how it hurt others. I saw how it hurt me and robbed me of time and destiny and purpose. So no longer will I put my attention and my attractions. I will put my attention on Jesus. If that's you right now, all over this world, watching on rebroadcast, if you want to make a decision right now, it's not a feeling. You're making a decision right now to put your attention back on Jesus or put your attention on Jesus for the first time. I want your hands lifted all over this place. Come on, all over the room, all over in your house, wherever you are. About to pray for you. Father, you see us right here in every country and every area code, in every place that we are right now. God, I'm asking you that by the power of Your Holy Spirit, you would allow us to first repent. Father, that means to turn. God, we turn away from our attractions. We turn away from the things that have had us messy, and we turn back to You. God, I'm asking you right now by the power of Your Holy Spirit that you would show us how to keep our eyes on You. You are the author and the finisher of our faith. You are the anchor in the middle of this storm. You are our Savior. So today, Father, for those who are in deep darkness, who are in despair, who are casually noticing things, send the lifeline. And I thank You, Father, that you don't have to send it because You already sent it, and it's name was Jesus. Today, all we have to do is accept it. God, today I thank You that all of us, no matter if we feel like we're in a palace and we're the king down, until we feel like we're the person that is being looked over, I gotta thank You that You care. You care so much about the details of our life that You're coming right now and saying, "I'm the one that truly satisfies." God, I thank You that all this week as we notice things that we're attracted to, that there would be a "no" that raises up in our spirit. And our "no" would lead to action. Our "no" would lead to us putting putting blocks on certain things. Our "no" would lead to us telling somebody when we fall. Our "no" would lead to us, Father God, turning off cable altogether. Our "no" would lead to us making that friendship null and void. Father, whatever is taking us from You, we put our attention back on You. I pray for every marriage right now who's taken their attention off of You, Father, and all types of quarrels and fights. And I pray for every boyfriend and girlfriend, engaged couple, all the turmoil that's been happening in relationships. I'm declaring that even this week, they're putting their attention back on You, not even on each other, but on You. Father God, and as it flows from You, it will flow to their relationship, flow to their kids, flow to everything. For every single person that's watching, every person that's been divorced, has been either wallowing, Father God, in the in what they don't have, Father God, or been so focused on doing things that please their flesh. Lord, let their attention be back on You this week. I'm thanking You, Father, that You would transform us from the inside. Today, we surrender. Come on, somebody all over the world, say, "I surrender." Come on, saying, "I surrender." Whatever You want to do, God, I surrender. I surrender to how You want to change me. Wherever You want to take me. Whatever You want to do with me. Somebody say, "I surrender," and I put my attention back on You.

If you're watching this right now in that same posture and you want to give your life to Christ right now, you want to receive that lifeline right now, you have the opportunity to make the greatest decision of your life. Today, as I sit here with cake off my face, this is how our soul looks. So much other stuff that were put on by people and ideas and hurts and pains, and we're walking around trying to act like it's makeup, but it really is taking away from who we are truly called to be. And today, I want to give you the opportunity to realize what God does. He's the great cleanser. He's the only one that can take what you have done and clean it up and make it as white as snow. The Bible says, today, I don't care what you did yesterday, how broken you have been, what has happened to you, what you have allowed to happen to you. Today, the Savior of the universe wants to intervene in your situation, and all you have to do is receive it. If that's you, on the count of three, I want you to lift your hands wherever you are. It doesn't matter about your friends. It doesn't matter if you're in a public place. You can be in Walmart right now watching on your iPhone, and if that's you in the middle of that aisle, I want you to lift your hand. One. This is the greatest decision you've ever made in your life. Two. I am so proud of you, but more than that, God is proud of you, and your name is gonna be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Three. Come on, lift those hands up all over this place. Lift those hands up. I see people that are making the decision right now. According to Romans 10:9, guess what the Bible tells us? I feel the presence of God. I feel like people's lives are being transformed. I feel like people are coming and stepping into a new day. This is the 5th of July. The 5 means the number of grace. I believe there is grace coming to your life right now. According to Romans 10:9, you don't have to confess all the sins that you've ever made. He already knows. He already knows. He was there. All he's asking you to do at this moment is believe and confess that Jesus is Lord and He died on the cross just for you. So that's what we're gonna do. And Transformation Church, we're family. Nobody prays alone here. We're one big family. So all over the world, the over 29,000 people that are watching right now, and those who are watching on rebroadcast, I want you to say this for the benefit of those who are coming to Christ. Everybody say, "God, I need You. I repent from making a mess of my life, and I'm asking You to be my Lord and Savior. I believe You lived and You died for my salvation, and today I give You control. Take my life, change me, renew me, transform me. I'm Yours in Jesus' name. Amen." Can we give God some praise? Oh, come on, let's give God praise right now. Thank you so much for watching this message. And if this has impacted you in any way, I'm asking you to do a couple of things. Number one, join Transformation Nation. Join us right here every Sunday. Gather your friends and your family and be a part of not just this moment, but this movement. The second thing I would ask you to do is share. Share this with your friends, your co-workers, people that are around you, because transformation is just one click away. The last thing I would ask you to do is partner with us financially. If this ministry is impacting your life, transforming you, I would ask you to consider, pray about what you could give to help us take this message to the whole world. I want you to know that we love you, and your best days are right in front of you. This week, I want you to live a transformed life. See you next week. You.