Hi, this is Joel in Victoria. Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting the ministry.

If you enjoyed today's message, why don't you be a blessing and share it with a friend.

We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in your life.

For God bless you, always a joy to come into your homes. We love you and we're believing for God's very best in your life.

If you're ever in our area, I hope you'll come out and be a part of one of our services. These are the finest people in all of Houston right here at Lakewood.

So come on out, we'd love to have you.

Thanks for tuning in. I'd like to get started each week with something funny. I heard about these three men that were out hiking through the wilderness. They came upon this very violent, raging river. They needed to get to the other side.

The first man prayed, God, please give me the strength to make it across. And Poof, God gave him big arms and strong legs. And he was able to swim across into our homes.

Seeing this, the next man said, God, please give me the strength and the tools I need to make it across. And Poof, God gave him a boat. He was able to row across in 30 minutes.

The next man said, God, give me the strength, the tools and the intelligence to make it across. And Poof, God turned him into a woman.

She looked at the map, hiked five minutes upstream and then walked across the bridge. And yes, that was sent to me by a woman.

Hold up your Bible. Say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do.

Today, I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same. In Jesus' name, God bless you.

I want to talk to you today about the importance of having the right associations. Who your friends are and who you choose to associate with will have a great impact on whether or not you fulfill your God-given destiny.

We become like the people we continually associate with. If you associate with successful people, there's a good chance you're going to be successful.

If you associate with people that have a big vision, people that have a dream, people that are going places, they will inspire you to accomplish more than you thought possible.

But just the opposite is true. If you hang around lazy, undisciplined people, people that are negative and critical, people that are always having a problem, that defeat is going to rub off on you.

It's so important that we choose the right people to associate with. It's good to have friends that you encourage and you build up. Maybe you're helping someone overcome in a certain area, you're in inspiration to them.

We should be reaching out to others. But what I want us to see today is it's equally important that you have someone in your life that inspires you.

Someone that's more successful than you are. Someone that's been where you're trying to go. You need a friend or a mentor that you can learn from.

You should study that person, watch how they treat other people, see how disciplined they are, how they carry themselves.

And over time, those good qualities are going to rub off on you.

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