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Dave is interesting in the Bible because he's the first millennial who wrote the Bible as a young man.

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He wrote the Scriptures. He gave us 73 of the 150 Psalms.

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He's the only person in Scripture that is described as a man after God's own heart.

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I want to answer the question of what it is that God looks for in a man or a woman that He wants to mightily use.

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And I don't think there's anybody that is more perfect for understanding the mighty power of God than the life of David.

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So I want to talk from 1 Samuel 16 today about David and his resume.

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David's resume is a beautiful picture to us of the kind of qualities that God looks for in the kind of person that He mightily uses.

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And Dave is interesting in the Bible because he's the first millennial who wrote the Bible as a young man.

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He wrote the Scriptures. He gave us 73 of the 150 Psalms.

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He's the only person in Scripture that is described as a man after God's own heart.

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So we get a picture of David's heart. We get a picture of a passionate worshiper, a passionate warrior.

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And yet David is saint and sinner. I mean he really makes some pretty huge mistakes in his life.

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But he's also considered one of the greatest kings and warriors in all of the Bible.

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Israel still considers the reign of David as the greatest time in Israel's history.

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And so David's interesting to us because he's probably around 13 or 14 years old when we're first introduced to him.

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And that's found in 1 Samuel 16.

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And we start to see these qualities that God notices in David that are noteworthy to us.

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And I want to teach today on the kind of person that God mightily uses using David as a model and example.

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Let me give you the background of where we're going to pick up the story.

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Saul is the king of Israel.

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And because of Saul's disobedience, because of Saul's fear of man, he's been just having one disappointment after another.

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And finally there's a point where God tells Samuel, I'm looking for a new king.

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So he invites Samuel to go to Bethlehem to find this new king.

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And God tells him everything that he's going to do.

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Samuel's actually fearful that Saul's going to find out and kill him.

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So he makes up an excuse about going to do a sacrifice there in Bethlehem.

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And he comes to Jesse's home.

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God leads him there.

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And he says, I'm here to anoint one of your sons.

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And Jesse parades his sons before Samuel.

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And we pick it up in 1 Samuel 16, verse 6.

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So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.

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But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him.

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For the Lord does not see as a man sees.

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For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

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So the first thing to realize is that God is always looking at our heart.

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And that the wholeheartedness of our heart is what God notices, not our skill, not our talent, as important as that is.

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But God is looking at the heart.

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And so the first quality that I would say that marked David, the first quality that marks a man or a woman whom God mightily and powerfully uses,

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is one who has developed a core identity based in intimacy with God.

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It's that intimacy, that love relationship with God that God noticed in David.

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And I just want to challenge you that, you know, what is your core identity?

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Is your core identity being successful?

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Is your core identity being good looking?

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Is your core identity making a lot of money?

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I mean, as important as many of those things are, the identity of David was intimacy with God.

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And it was out of that core identity that he found his value system.

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And sometimes we think that we're going to find our value system in outward things, like being successful.

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And thus, we live lives that are completely up and down.

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We're always faltering and struggling because we lose our job, or because people don't like us, or we don't have enough friends.

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Or the person we went on a date with, you know, rejected us.

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That's because our core identity is still in how other people view us.

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David was a man after God's own heart.

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His core identity was to go after God's heart.

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to have intimacy with him.

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And I want to challenge you, men and women,

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that the type of person that God powerfully and mightily uses

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is someone whose core identity is

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in a relationship of intimacy with their Heavenly

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Father, with God.

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And so it's getting up in the morning.

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It's spending time with the Lord.

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It's PB&J, prayer, Bible, and journal.

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It's seeking God's face in prayer.

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It's opening God's word, letting God speak to you.

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That's where our core identity comes from.

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And when that's our core identity,

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then what's exciting is that, come what may in our job,

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come what may about what people say about us,

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the criticism that we go through, we can, I mean,

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I'm not saying it's not going to hurt,

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but we can go back into that personal dynamic and identity

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that comes through knowing Christ

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and knowing that you're a son of God,

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knowing that you're a daughter of God,

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knowing that you're completely forgiven,

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knowing that you're completely loved unconditionally,

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knowing that even as you go through really, really

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difficult times in your life, God, your Father,

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is right there for you, and He loves you.

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That's the kind of identity.

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That's the kind of core identity that David had.

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That's the kind of core identity in the kind of people

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that God uses that have resiliency,

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because it's really hard to have resiliency

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if you're trusting in other things,

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because those things can be taken away.

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And I've had a couple times in my life

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where this was really tested.

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I was a gymnast at University of Georgia.

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And my freshman year, I was in the paper all the time,

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front page of the Red and Black, which

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was a newspaper there at University of Georgia,

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because that was the first time there had ever

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been a gymnast in men's gymnastics at Georgia

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that had a full scholarship.

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I'd been state champion on rings.

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I'd been state champion on parallel bars.

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I'd been state champion on floor exercise.

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I'd been state champion as an all-around.

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And then I get injured.

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It's in the second week of practice, my freshman year

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at Georgia, and I'm doing a twisting back somersault

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on the floor.

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And I hit wrong, and it looked like I had torn my ACL.

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And suddenly, my whole life was sort of shocked

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into the reality that my identity was in gymnastics.

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My identity was in success.

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And suddenly, bam, just like that, it could have gone away.

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It could have been dissipated at that point.

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Well, it was at that time that a person shared with me

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about a personal, vital, dynamic relationship with Christ.

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And after a few months, I gave my heart to Christ.

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And I committed myself to him.

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And I mean, not right then by any means,

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but I found, at least initially, a new identity.

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And my new identity was being a child of God.

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My new identity was a personal relationship with Christ.

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And God did heal my knee.

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I went on to four years of a great career at Georgia.

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But my identity was no longer in that.

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It was in a personal relationship with Christ.

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And then about 10 years ago, I was in a church.

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I had pastored.

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It had grown into the thousands.

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And some things happened where I needed to resign.

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And I lost everything that I had built over 20 years.

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And my maybe kind of success quotient

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went from 100 to 0 overnight.

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And I had to find, once again, where my core identity was

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going to come from.

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So it was during that time, through prayer walking,

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crying out to God, that I began to rediscover my core identity

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being intimacy with Christ and identity with His love for me.

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And that was life transforming.

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So I want to challenge you in this first quality

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that identity with Christ through intimacy

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and a personal connection with the Lord,

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hearing His voice, crying out to Him, and worshiping Him

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is the most important component in being the kind of person

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that God can mightily use.

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If you have your Bible, turn to Psalm 23.

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Because I think Psalm 23 really captures

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the heart of what I'm saying, the core identity of intimacy

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with Christ that David wrote.

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It's the most beloved of all Psalms.

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Maybe some of you that are listening to my voice

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or seeing this video have memorized Psalm 23.

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But listen to this.

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These are the words of a man whose core identity

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is in intimacy with Christ.

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The Lord is my shepherd.

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I shall not want.

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He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

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He leads me beside the still waters.

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He restores my soul.

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He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

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So David is saying that the Lord is my shepherd.

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I don't need to want anything.

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I don't need to have anything.

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God is sufficient for me.

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He's my shepherd.

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He's going to cause me to lie down in green pastures.

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He's going to lead me into peace and quiet.

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He's going to restore my soul.

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You see, the problem we have is when we think that success, our success, is going to give

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us the happiness that we're longing for.

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David is saying, look, I'm happy in you.

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I'm happy in God.

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Lord, when I make you my shepherd, you lead me into peace.

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You guide my soul in the paths of goodness and wholeness and righteousness.

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And that's just a beautiful picture of what it means to be intimate with Christ.

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And then he says, though I'll walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear

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no evil, for you are with me.

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Your rod and your staff, they come for me.

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David understands the presence of God, and through the presence of God, even in the midst

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of evil, even in the midst of tremendous difficulty, this is one who understands an intimacy with

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Christ that's daily, that brings a peace and a righteousness and a joy.

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You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

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You anoint my head with oil.

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My cup runs over.

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Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell

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in the house of the Lord forever.

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He knows there's spiritual warfare in his life.

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There's going to be difficult times going through the valleys, but he knows where he's going.

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He knows that goodness and mercy will follow him all the days of his life.

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So I challenge you that this is the key.

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This is the first and most important quality of a core identity.

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That's the most stable.

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You can take away our houses.

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One can take away our finances.

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We can lose our job, but if our core identity is in Christ and seeking him every day and

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worshipping him and embracing him and in crying out to him, there is a joy, there is

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a peace that nothing this world has to offer can give us.

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And so I want to challenge you in that.

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Become the kind of person God wants you to be by discovering, first of all, quality one,

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that your core identity is through intimacy with Christ.

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God bless.