Keep Your Heart - Clayton Schrock

Well, good afternoon. There's a lot of beautiful faces there. In case

any of you local forgot, or in case some of you don't know,

my wife and I are from Idaho, pretty awesome state, and little town

of Council that was for my students, by the way, and a little

town of Council, Idaho, beautiful mountains, Sage country, and I taught

here for a year, so that's my connection with this area. Okay,

well, you just got done singing a song, so I'm gonna have you

sing another one. What do you stand again? Let's sing. I have

decided to follow Gesus. We'll sing. I have decided. Though no one

joins me, still I will follow, and the world behind me, the

cross before me. And the reason we're gonna sing this song is because it

plays so well with what I'm talking about. All right, let's sing it.

I have decided to follow Geesus. I have decide to followgy Esus.

I have decided to follow Geesus. No turning back, no turney back.

Though no one joins me, Still I go fun one choice still the no

one joye still Iago five, no turning back, no turning back, The

world behind me, the crossby for me, the will behind the crossb for

me, the world behind me, the crossby for me, no turning back,

no turning back. Okay, you can have a seat. Finally,

Mark Twain was quoted as saying, it usually takes me more than three weeks

to repay a good impromptu speech that's supposed to be funny. My talk isn't

impromptu, but I'm not Mark Twain, So give me some grace for crying

aloud. But my prayer is that God would speak through me, and I

like to pray before we really get going, So let's about our His repair.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for all you've done for us.

Thank you for sending your son for dying on the cross for our salvation.

And thank you that we have a bunch of youth here that are interested in

following you and seeking you. And I pray that you give me wisdom as

I speak, and I would honor and glorify you. We would all honor

and glorify you through this weekend. Thank you for all you've done. Jesus

name, I pray. Okay, So, as you probably noted, the

title of my talk is keep your Heart. I wanted to read the Little

blurb below that practically navigating friends, influence and your identity. What influence are

you placing? What influences are you placing in your life? And does it

matter? Yes, your identity should come from Christ. But where should you

find your identity in practical life? So I decided to put my own twist

on that and name my talk Godly principles for rooting your identity, wisely filtering

influences and managing your friend group. Godly principles for rooting your identity wisely filtering

influences and managing your friend group. So the best question, what is a

principle? A principle can be defined as a fundamental truth that serves as the

foundation for a system of belief or behavior, or for a chain of reasoning.

So I really want you to understand that definition, So let's simplify it

a bit more for us today. A principle can be defined as a truth

that serves as the foundation for a belief or for a chain of reasoning.

First, John, this is an example one to five says this, then

is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God

is light and in him is no darkness At all, when tough times in

life come along, you question what God's plan is. An excellent thing to

do first is identify principles or truths of God. God is light is a

principle that you can take to the bank. You can question what God is

up to, but you can't question God's motives because God is light. After

all, there's no evil in him, there's no ill intent in him.

So back to the title for my talk, Godly principles, Routing your identity

wisely, filtering influences, and managing your friend group. Why are these three

subjects, identity, influences and friends. Anybody have an idea? Anybody want

to speak up? Why did the coordinators for this event think that'd be good

to talk about identity, influences and friends? Good thought? Come on,

doesn't make who you are. Yes, that's a good answer. A lot

of what you are is wrapped up in that. That's a good one.

Yeah, ah, yes that is. That is good And I'm thinking about

it exactly opposite of that. But you're right, they're all overlap. Okay,

So lest we get more confused, or lest I confuse you, let's

move on. Because of biblical principles, this is my thought that helped guide

us in our decision making in these three categories are so interconnected and overlap.

As George is saying, and as you were saying as well. We'll circle

back to this later. But where your identity is placed well govern how you

filter influences in your life and how you choose your friends. So I just

flipped it there. So I'm thinking about it as we need to. We

need to place our identity in the correct place, and then that will judge

how we filter influences and in choosing our friends, which is influences in a

lot of ways. Why these three subjects because you will find you will find

in dealing with struggles in life that not only will many of these struggles trace

back in some way to one of these three topics, but you'll find that

wisely choosing your friends, influences, and identity are some of the biggest challenges

you'll face as a youth. Where you head now, what you choose now,

what you don't choose now, all have a great bearing on where your

life will head into adulthood. You've heard saying doing nothing is doing something.

These three subjects are areas where it is wise to be proactive to know where

you stand and to take that stand a head somewhere. Either you're floating downstream

with the rest of the world or you are swimming. Here's an example of

being proactive. Being pure and free from the sin of lust is not something

you just are able to do. You have to be convicted and convinced through

the washing of the word, and that will make you pure. Then you

have to take a stand, and that will often be a daily fight.

Forgiveness is another example. You don't naturally forgive someone who's wronged you, but

you have to take a stand every time you're tempted to be angry and forgive

again. Otherwise you'd become bitter in that bitterness would ruin your life. So,

coming back to our subjects, identity, influences, and friends, we

have to be proactive in these areas where we will fall victim to this Snares

can be lurking if we don't make strong and deliberate godly stands today as youth,

especially in our youth, and I'm basically a youth, so especially for

me too. So why do you need to make a deliberate stand now?

Because if this is the right direction right here, and today you're drifting this

direction whatever that is, but not the right direction. Maybe it looks something

like this. Your life could go somewhere over in here, but right is

here. Once you're about right here, it's going to be hard to traverse

over to the correct place in fifty years. So let's let's get in the

right zone and God will lead us and correct us and fine tune our walk

to become more and more where he wants us to be. Okay, let's

look at our first subject, rooting your identity. So we talked about principles.

So first the principle a Christian's identity on earth should reflect his focus on

Heaven, and Christian's identity on earth should reflect his focus on Heaven. And

I decided to look at identity through basically two different lenes. Is your core

identity and the identity that makes you you, identity that makes me me.

What's unique about us? Not bad things, just what's unique about us.

I'll explain that a little bit more later, But for our core identity that

should come from Christ. So we have two types of identity of core and

unique things about me. The rest of our core identity should not distract you

or others from the rest of your identity. Sorry, I misspoke. Okay,

let's start over. Your core identity should come from Christ. The rest

of your identity should not distract you or others from the core. The rest

of what makes you up in life should not distract you or others from Christ.

As a Christian, you are part of the Church, which is Christ's

bride. You are not of this world, and you are part of a

different kingdom. At the root of being a Christian is the idea of an

identity shift away from the world and pointing our lives in the direction God wants.

Paul speaks of this. Let's turn to Philippians three three. Philippians three

three. Okay, For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirits.

Yes, I'm in the right place, okay, Philippians three three.

For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ

Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have

confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the

flesh, I'm more so. So. Think about this through the idea,

through the lens of Paul's identity shift what did Paul? What was Paul in

his past circumcised the eighth day of the Sock of Israel, of the tribe

of Benjamin, A Hebrew of the Hebrews concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning

zeal persecuting the Church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law blameless.

But what things were gained to me? These I have counted loss for Christ,

And you start seeing the identity shift. Yet indeed I also count all

things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for

whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish,

that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own

righteousness, which is from the Law, but that which is through faith,

in Christ Jesus, the righteousness which is from God by faith. Let's see

how far I was I going to read through verse fifteen, that I might

know Him and the power of His resurrection. So this is where our identity

should be place, now that I may know Him in the power of his

resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. If

by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, not that

I have already attained or I am already perfected. But I press on that

I may hold on to that of that which Christ Jesus has laid hold of

me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one

thing I do. Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to

those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of

the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let's stop there. Okay,

So Paul showing his identity shift from being proud of himself, proud of his

stock where he was from, and showing that crisis his identity. Now,

okay, let's look at the other aspect of identity. What makes you you?

I realize that there are many ways to look at the areas of identity

in our lives, just like I was saying, but I decided to look

at identity through the lens of being able to identify with something. For instance,

I enjoy hunting, so I can identify with fellow hunters, which means

that I must have some identity placed in hunting. But beyond your core identity,

my core identity, I need to question the things that I do in

life and that can be associated with me. So back to our core principle.

Remember we need to judge everything and every part of our identity in life

lives in our lives through the core, and that is that our identity is

in Christ. So back to the core principle. A Christian's identity on earth

should reflect his focus on Heaven. Does your earthly identity reflect a focus on

Heaven? Where do you spend your time, money, and energy? Why

are you doing a thing? Many examples of this, but here's one practical

example of doing something could be found in our clothing choices. While church standards

on what you wear are important for you to conform to as a member of

your church, what of even more importance is that you are convicted that you

must be modest as a reflection of your pure heart that is immersed in God's

word. And so while you are given liberty to dress under the structure of

your church, you need to ask why am I dressing this way? Why

am I dressing a certain way? Am I being modest? Am I calling

attention to myself or reflecting Christ? You see? Where is your identity?

Where? This is another another place to look at your Another way to look

at your identity, your earthly identity. Where do you place your priorities in

life? Where are your priorities in life? One of the most effective ways

to find where your identity lies is to see where your priorities in life are.

Your priorities are downstream of your identity, your priorities or downstream of your

identity. If you identify, if your identity is the source the spring,

and your priorities are what come out of that source, then your priorities are

downstream your identity. That's something we should all think about more often. Here's

an example. In case all that verbiage didn't make any sense, here's an

example from the Bible. Where your treasure is there will your heart be?

Also, how do you lay up treasure in heaven by identifying with heaven,

by being a part of God's kingdom. Out of that will come your correct

prioritization of treasure here on earth, that is, to store it in heaven.

A negative example could come from my vehicle. If I make my vehicle

my identity, modding it to great lengths, purchasing the coolest rims, you

know, the drill, It's clear my identity is coming from me hoping that

I will be thought of in a certain way because my vehicle looks a certain

way. Thus I prioritize my vehicle in my life. That's a sad prioritization

in life. And I'm not saying I have something against modding vehicles a bit.

Just don't make that the wrong priority. Okay, you have some slips

of paper and a pencil, don't write quite yet. I found it helpful

to think about my priorities in life by numbering them one through whatever, and

one being the most important priority in my life, and and then going down

from that all of the tops, all of the priority priorities at the top

of your list should be pursuing God. Let's not get that one wrong.

Okay. So I wanted to write my my priorities in life out on the

board, and I'll give you an idea of what I'm thinking, because let's

I don't want to be confusing here, and I don't want to be judgmental

if yours comes out looking a little differently. Uh, And we're not going

to be showing them around, so don't worry about that. Okay, Let's

see where the markers at this magic to say boardmaster. I don't think I

run the board. Kay, let's see, how should you be nice?

Sort over here? Number one? This is for myself pursuing. This is

what I came up with. Hopefully I don't have any glaring flaws here that'd

be embarrassing. It's dying as we speak to it. See if we can

find something else. I think my students remember that right on the board or

was it my strong point? We got one, two, three, four,

five, Yeah, So it's it's a mixture of priorities in my life,

some spiritual and lofty and some just like And as for the spiritual unlofty

ones, I'll admit they're spiritual unlofty, and then I don't attain to that

here all the time. But that is my goal. So I want to

give you like six minutes something like that to write down your priorities in life.

So if you can get like six of them something like that, and

you can head off anywhere you want in the building, and we'll ring the

bell when you should scoop back in here, and then we'll get back at

it, and we're not going to be looking at him, So don't worry

about that. Anybody run off. I did see do we need to ring

the bell? Okay, good deal, Shame on them. If they didn't,

they don't come back. Okay. So now the hard part is actually

practicing that. And I won't have you do this, but it'd be a

good thought exercise to write down with your actual priorities in life are like,

what do you actually prioritize in life? Okay? So what I want to

look at the importance of pursuing God and why that should be at the absolute

top of that list every day as a Christian it should be up there.

And so I think the question is, then are we spending time in God's

Word on a daily basis? Is that time out of our day that has

set apart for God intentionally as opposed to giving God the leftovers of our day.

The power of immersing ourselves in God's Word and praying on a daily basis

is life changing, as that's our minds in the correct place each day,

focusing on what is most important God and through pursuing God every day. And

we're going to talk about this a little bit more tomorrow. We spend time

in prayer and we repent of sin and cry out to God for helping our

lives to overcome not only the sin, but other struggles in our lives.

Psalm one nineteen is a good recap of this turn. Psalm one nineteen Psalmon

nineteen one. Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law

of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek Him

with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity, they walk in His

ways. You have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently. Oh, that

my ways were directed to keep your statutes, then I would not be ashamed

when I look into all your commandments. I will praise you with the uprightness

of heart. When I learn your righteous judgments, I will keep your statutes.

Oh, do not forsake me utterly. How can a young man cleanse

his way? Or wherewithal can a young man cleanse his way? By taking

heed thereto according to Thy work? Remember the Okay. So the conclusion to

identities and in our lives is that any part of us that is built intentionally

to build an identity for ourselves that draws people to notice us is wrong.

Any identity that we build that doesn't reflect Christ is wrong. Instead, our

lives should be built around the premise of bringing glory to God. Another aspect

of identity possibly is finding security in God. Where do our securities come from?

Does our security come from God? I believe it is true and self

evident that when a person has a misplaced identity, it is often, but

not limited to because he is insecure. People make their identities to revolve around

the car they drive, the clothes they wear, the friend groups they're part

of the money they make for the status they have, building a facade,

a fake store front to either show the world how good they are, how

smart they are, how rich they are, what small things the world is

worried about, how easy it is for us to worry about the same things.

So we need to source our security from God. We need to learn

that what God thinks of you and me is okay. So recap on identity,

we study two types of identities, your core identity, which would be

focused on God and then what makes you you? And the principle being that

a Christian's identity on earth should reflect his focus on Heaven. And little warning,

let's not make the mistake of trying to split hairs. Have a little

bit of identity on earthly things and most of our focus on God. You

can't do that. You've got to focus entirely on God and let everything else

fall into place. We need that, man, we're gonna run out of

time. The long and the short of it is that if we can iron

out our identity crisis, so much is solved in our lives. The changing

of our identity from an earthly one to a heavenly one is a lifelong process.

And I was going to read along with my warning about not splitting hairs,

Jesus warning Matthew six twenty four, not that that we can't serve God

and mammon, but keep on. We can't serve God and money, and

he meant many other things and money. We have to serve God. Okay,

wisely filtering influences. First, the principle, So we're onto our second

topic. Here's the principle. Finally, Brethren, whatever things are true,

whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure,

whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is

any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

That sounded like a verse, and that's Philippians four to eight. When we

look at influence, I wouldn't say that there is ungodly influence and there is

godly influence as if it was a binary, if that's the right word.

But I think we should be very careful as we think about influences in our

lives that may we think, are you know, a lot not bad,

but they're sure not godly because influence does uh things do influence us? And

so where where does that Where does that supposedly neutral influence or supposedly neutral thing

source from. We must not only be careful and what influences we let into

our lives, but be proactive in growing good influences in our lives. We

must judge the influences in our lives. It's not about whether our church says

we can or can't have a certain thing in our lives. It really comes

down to having our hearts in the correct place and judging by God's principles.

What I mean is, even if your church would technically allow a certain movie,

does it actually hold to the standard of Philippians four eight. Challenge you

just to hold that verse as a standard for all sorts of media consumption in

your life. What is influence loosely defined, it is the capacity to have

an effect on someone. So something I want to establish before we move on

is that you are influenced by everything that you come in contact with, every

person, every bit of media you watch, everything that you let into your

life influences you. You can't listen to a political commentator, and I'm not

saying that it's wrong because I listened to political commentators some. But you can't

listen to a political commentator and not be influenced by that person. Their job

is to be influential. So just remember that. I also copy and pasted

a bit from Wikipedia on influencer marketing. You guys know what that is.

I'm pretty sure I'm trying to skip ahead because I'm running out of time.

But the point is that if influence is so powerful, I can be used

for advertising. In fact, it's like one of the biggest ways advertising is

done anymore. Then, absolutely, we are influenced by everything. So some

examples of ungodly influence. Because I'm talking to you, youth, let's let's

take a look at friendship. Ungodly friendships not the kind where you actually are

trying to reach out to a friend, but friendship it's my little girl cryings

after you know, keep tabs on her friendship like this can wreck havoc in

your life, ungodly friendship, and I want this friendship idea to extend further

on. There are other friendships that can be just as detrimental to our spiritual

lives. Like I was saying, YouTube personalities, music artists, podcasters,

people that are not serious Christians. I might even go so far as to

say that people that are not of like faith should be listened to with much

caution. What a person believes exues out of everything they do. Even an

architect's core values can often be seen through the types of buildings they design.

The Bible says that friendship with the world is enmity with God. With the

risk of exposing myself as a hypocrite, I talked about this a little bit

earlier when I asked a question, is listening to a secular podcaster, say

a political pundit on a daily basis good for your spiritual health? Is that

getting too close to a friendship with the world. Remember, you are absolutely

influenced by what you consume. So back to my challenge, let's judge all

the media we consume by Philippians four eight, book, movies, videos,

social media apps, podcasts. Some types of influence that I see that feels

especially dangerous for youth. I mentioned it already, political influence, influence from

the sexual revolution. Flee that distractions and boy does this apply to me.

We need to redeem the time, as the Bible says, and our phones,

my phone is often a big problem. Take a stand, uninstall an

app. You won't regret it, Okay. A quick word from Deuteronomy thirteen

six through eleven. You don't have to turn there because I want to keep

things moving. But a warning of what God thinks of people, of people

that are influenced by the ungodly. He was very strict on this in the

Old Testament. So Deuteronomy thirteen sixty through eleven. If your brother, the

son of your mother, your son, or your daughter, the wife of

your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices

you, saying, let us go and serve other gods which you have not

known, neither you nor your father's, of the gods of the people,

which are all around you, near to you or far off from you,

from one end of the earth to the other. End of the earth.

You shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye

pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him. But you shall

surely kill him. Your hand shall be the first against him to put him

to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. And you shall

stone him with stones until he dies. Because he saw to incites you away

from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of

Egypt, from the house of bondage. So don't go back into bondage.

So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as

this among you. James four four through ten, adulterers and adulteresses. Do

you not know that that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Whoever

therefore wants to be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of

God? Or do you think that the scripture says in vain the spirit dwells

in us yearns jealously, so that the spirit that is in us as Christians,

is jealous for us, but he gives more grace. Therefore, he

says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore,

submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your

hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts. You double minded, lament

and mourn and weep. Let your laugh to be turned mourning, and your

joy to gloom. Humble yourself. Humble yourselves in the side of the Lord,

and he will lift you up. I wanted to read Daniel chapter one.

I'll look at that quickly. You can turn there if you like.

Daniel chapter one, the story of Daniel and his friends in the court of

Nebu Goodness. He and they were They were instructed to break God's law and

eat of the king's table, which would have not been kosher, as I

understand, and so they took a stand. They were not influenced by those

around them, and God bless them hugely for that. I'll let you catch

up on that if you like. Some more positive examples of Godly influence,

like actual things you can put in your lives to influence you in the right

direction. Read the Bible. Pray we should surround ourselves with godly people in

our lives, and we should go a little bit, like a step further

and pick out well, I'm not going to say you should, but I

think you should pick out godly peers and even literally people to look up to,

people that can help you have a direction in your life. I want

to go to visualize where you want to go, take steps that they took.

An example of this could be something I've noticed when playing volleyball. I've

often found it helpful to watch a guy that is better than me at spiking,

to watch him spike. It helps me visualize all the subtle movements he's

doing to spike the ball properly. Wait until the setter sets, take a

step to get your move get movement into your body, but staying alert as

the ball starts to show you where it's going to drop, and then taking

another step, and and getting into position to jump in a balanced position,

then jumping behind the ball, so that not only is the force of your

core and your arm and risk going to knock the ball down, but the

force of your body being at the peak of its jump and you're starting to

come down and hit the ball, and all that will come together and smash

the ball into the opposing court and it'd be beautiful. Another example is I've

gone skiing quite often with my brother Philip. He spent quite a bit more

time finessing that art. But we have a ski resort not far from us

called Brundage. They advertise the best snow in Idaho, and it is amazing.

And we often when we're skiing together, Governor hit a black diamond area

and every time I get to the edge like and swallow a couple of times,

and and then I watch Philip go down through it, and it's like,

oh I can, I can do that, And so I just do

that and usually I don't fall, but too bad. If you have to

have your earbuws in, then listen to stuff that is deep sermons, podcasts

that are sermons that I mentioned here. Okay, stop, but that's a

good one, and I don't do a super good job that. So I'm

speaking to myself. Books, deep books. If you're not into reading,

like I struggle with that, listen to the book then, okay, So

recap quickly. Godly influences push back pushes back against the fork forces of darkness.

Let's surround us ourselves with godly influences that will speak truth into our lives

to guide us daily. Psalm one one through three. Blessed is the man

who walks not in the council of the ungodly, nor stands in the path

of sinners, nor sits in the seat of a scornful. But his delight

is in the law of the Lord. In his law he meditates day and

night. Wow, but not all night right and not all day right.

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. I don't

know what he means by that either, but we could all take it a

little bit more seriously that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf

also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. So the principle

for influence, I think should be finally, Brethren, whatever things are true,

whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, things are pure,

whatever things are levely, whatever things are of good report, there's any virtue,

and if there's anything praceworthy, meditate on these things. And that is

Philippians for eight. Well, we've talked about friends quite a bit, but

we'll jump through this quickly. Managing your friend group. I think really at

the end of the day that if you get your identity right and you work

on your influences through thinking about where your identity is. You will probably get

your friend group ironed out, no problem. But I guess here's a couple

of thoughts. What do I mean by friend group? I think you can

answer that question for yourself. Who are the core friends in your life?

Who are the people you hang out with? These are the people I'm talking

about. Here's the principle for managing your friend group. Your friend group should

influence you in your walk towards God and in Christian values. Your friend group

should influence you in your walk towards God and in Christian values. Some thoughts.

Your acceptance as a friend in a circle of friends that you're in should

not be based on your performance outside of your normal personality. Performance based friendship

is not christ Like for either party involved. Doesn't feel good to not be

accepted in the cool group. Next time you have that feeling, stop and

think deeply about why you want so badly be part of the in group.

I'll guarantee you it's not for godly reasons. And I felt that, and

it wasn't for godly reasons? Why did I care so much about being part

of the in cool group? And then went and ignored the The guy that

didn't have any friends. That's wrong. So let's do as Philippians two three

says, do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility,

value others above yourselves Luke fourteen ten. But when you're invited, go

and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you

comes, he may say to you, friend, go up higher. Then

you have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.

I don't entirely understand that verse, but the Christian principle to begin with

was that you would take the lowest place. Your acceptance as a friend in

a circle shouldn't be based on things that go against your values. For instance,

stop and think if I stop doing a certain thing that I'm not sure

is in alignment with my values in God's word, would my friends still be

my friends? Your friends say a lot about where your values are, similar

to how your priorities are downstream of your identity. So are your friendships downstream

of your values? Do you have friendships that go against values that you have

in your life, or worse yet, do you have friendships that are eroding

your values? Never let that happen. If you have a valued stand on

that value, don't let go of it, and take steps so that that

value isn't eroded. Some verses about some more positive aspects of friendship. These

are what good friends should be like Proverbs twenty seven to six. Faithful are

the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Surround yourselves yourself with friends that are willing to speak truth into your life,

even if it hurts. Proverbs twenty seven to nine. Ointment and perfume delight

the heart, and the sweetness of a man's friend gives delight by hearty counsel.

Proverbs let's see twenty seven seventeen. As iron sharpens iron, so a

man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Surround yourself with friends that sharpen you,

and you will find delight in that hearty counsel. As proverb says,

let's see Proverbs seventeen seventeen. A friend loves at all time and times,

and a other is born for adversity. I take that to mean that a

true friend's role in your life is to be there for you when you need

help the most. To surround yourself with those types of friends, and be

that type of friend. Proverbs eighteen twenty four. A man of many companions

may come to ruin, but there's a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Okay, to wrap up, let's look back at our three principles.

First, for identity, a Christian's identity on earth should reflect his focus on

Heaven. Second, for influence, I'm gonna read it again Finally, Brethren,

whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just,

whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of

good report. If there's any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy worthy,

meditate on these things Philippians for it. And the principle for friendship,

your friend group should influence you in your walk towards God and in Christian values.

Let's see, I'm need to him turn a number four hundred and sixty

seven in uh sorry, in your church hymnal in case there's any confusion,

number four hundred and sixty seven, open the wells of salvation. Look at

these words. This is more eloquent than I have decided to follow Jesus and

deeper, but same truth here Lord, I am fondly earnestly, longing into

thy holiness, holy likeness, to grow, thirstying for more and deeper communion,

yearning thy love, more fooling to know, dead to the world.

Would i've your father dead, unto sin, alive into thee, crucify all

the earthly within me, emptied of sin and self. May I be I

would be thine and serve thee forever, filled with thy spirit, lost in

thy love. Come to my heart. Lord, Come with anointing showers of

grace, send down from above. All right, why don't we stand and

sing it? Let's sing Verses one and three. No, so Lord,

I have fun honesty into that hole yourney love, you know those else of

grace and sub story of streets eating to my home. Let a henry mind

loved and up a six you as I would be thine, No, certainly

form, filled with thy speed, lost in thy love, counting my home.

Come with thy no showers up grace, down from a fels grace and

sub storier stream, My my love, Thank you for your attention. You

can have a seat and uh turn the time with you dare all right?

Thank you Clayton for that talk on our heart and where it is and our

identity m hm our priorities. How many of you are comfortable with where your

priorities were? Or did you just like his list and kind of use the

same thing. I would be kind of where I was in your stage,

like, ah, that's probably where my priorities should be, for sure.

So that looks good to write down on paper, and it was always hard

to think deeper than that, but I encourage you to think about it.

Actually, where are your priorities? All right? This is the end of

the services, the sessions for the day we have suffer yet and then evening

activities. I'm in charge of those, so