Latest / HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN® / Jesus Never Said That Series Ep 9 of 10: "Does God Just want you to be Happy?"

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Jesus Never Said That Series Ep 9 of 10: "Does God Just want you to be Happy?" · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

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  Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Half-Faith, Let It Begin,
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  Episode 9 of the Jesus Never Said That series.
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  Today's title, God Just Wants You to Be Happy.
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  You've heard it in church. You've seen it online. Maybe you've even said it yourself.
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  It sounds biblical, but is it?
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  Welcome to Jesus Never Said That, a special series from Have Faith, Let It Begin.
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  I'm Angel Santana, and together, we're going to go beyond the quotes,
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  the cliches, and assumptions to discover what God's Word actually says.
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  So grab your Bible, bring your questions. Have Faith, Let It Begin starts right now.
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  Have Faith, Let It Begin. when it starts right now.
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  Welcome to Have Faith. Let it begin. Here's your host, Angel Santana.
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  All right, everyone. Welcome back. We're already at episode nine of 10. Oh, my goodness.
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  Today's saying sounds so positive that questioning it almost feels wrong.
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  God just wants you to be happy.
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  Come on. Who doesn't want to be happy, right? I mean, I know I want to be happy.
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  You want to be happy. And surely God isn't sitting in heaven saying,
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  I hope Angel has a terrible day today.
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  No, God isn't against happiness.
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  Scripture is filled with joy, celebration, laughter, gratitude, good gifts.
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  But here's today's question.
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  Is my happiness God's highest priority for my life?
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  Because there's a subtle danger in saying, God just wants me to be happy.
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  Eventually, it can come or become. if it makes me happy, God must approve of it.
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  And those are two very different statements. So let's get personal.
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  Heart check. Have you ever wanted something so badly that you started looking
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  for reasons why God should want it for you too?
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  Maybe it was a relationship, a job, a purchase, a decision, an opportunity, a lifestyle.
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  And the argument became, but it makes me happy.
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  Here's today's heart check. If something makes me happy but pulls me away from
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  God, which one will I choose? That's hard.
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  Because following Jesus is easy when Jesus agrees with everything I already want.
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  But discipleship becomes real when Jesus says no. or wait.
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  Let that go. Or even follow me somewhere you wouldn't have chosen for yourself.
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  Happiness isn't the enemy. Before we go any further, let's make this clear.
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  Happiness isn't sinful.
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  God gives good gifts.
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  James 1, 17. It says, every good and perfect gift is from above.
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  Now, Ezekiel, I can never say it right. I'm working on this, guys.
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  Speaks about enjoying God's gifts. They'll never let this one down.
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  My pastor, Jim's gonna be all over me for that one.
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  The Psalms are filled with rejoicing. Jesus attended celebrations.
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  So please don't walk away from this episode thinking Christianity means you're
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  supposed to walk around miserable all day.
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  That's not the point. The problem isn't happiness. The problem is making happiness our goal.
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  Let me rephrase that too in a better way. the problem would be yeah the problem
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  is making happiness our god,
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  that's that's that's that's key here because if feeling happy becomes the ultimate
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  goal of my life then anything that makes me uncomfortable starts looking bad including obedience,
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  what jesus actually said.
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  Now we're going to compare okay god just wants you to be happy that's what we've
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  been that's the title of episode with something Jesus actually said in Luke 9, verse 23.
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  Jesus says, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up
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  their cross daily and follow me. That's very different.
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  Jesus does not say, follow me wherever it feels good.
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  He says, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.
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  You know, there are moments when following Jesus will cost us something. Thank you.
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  Comfort, confidence, popularity, maybe even a relationship or opportunity we desperately wanted.
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  And if happiness is my highest goal, I'll eventually walk away from Jesus the
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  moment following him becomes uncomfortable.
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  Wow, isn't that deep?
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  I mean, it is. Because happiness and joy aren't always the same.
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  Here's another distinction worth making. Happiness often depends on what's happening.
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  Something good happens, I'm happy. Something disappointing happens, I'm not.
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  But biblically, joy can exist even when circumstances are difficult.
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  Paul wrote the book of Philippians while imprisoned, and yet Philippians repeatedly talks about rejoicing.
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  Philippians 4.4 Rejoice in the Lord always, and I will say it again. Rejoice.
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  Paul wasn't rejoicing because prison was wonderful.
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  His joy was rooted somewhere deeper than his circumstances.
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  It was rooted in Christ. And that's the kind of joy God offers us.
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  Not a life where nothing hurts, but a relationship with God that circumstances
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  cannot easily steal. Jesus is.
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  Powerful person. And he's such a beautiful man. He's a beautiful God.
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  And I love our Lord and Savior.
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  And when I think about all this, think again about Jesus.
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  Let's think about Jesus in the garden.
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  Jesus knows the cross is coming. Imagine, knowing.
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  He knows the suffering ahead. He prays in Luke 22, 42.
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  Father, if you're willing, take this cup from me.
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  Yet not my will, but yours be done.
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  Think about those words. Jesus isn't pretending to the cross is pleasant.
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  He's not saying this makes me happy.
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  He says, not my will, but yours. That's surrender.
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  And sometimes following God means choosing faithfulness over immediate comfort.
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  Yeah. what does God want for us?
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  So if God's ultimate goal isn't simply making us happy every second, what does he want?
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  Look at Romans 8, 29. Paul says,
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  God is working so that believers may be conformed to the image of his son.
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  In other words, God wants to make us more like Jesus, loving,
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  patient, faithful, generous, forgiving, compassionate.
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  Holy, and sometimes becoming those things involves situations we would never voluntarily choose.
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  Patience usually develops because we had to wait.
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  Forgiveness develops because somebody hurt us. Perseverance develops because
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  something was difficult.
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  Faith grows because there's moments when we couldn't see what God was doing.
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  Sometimes God is doing something deeper than making us comfortable. See, he's forming us.
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  When happy becomes our excuse, this is where we have to be careful because God
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  wants me to be happy, can become a spiritual permission slip.
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  I know this isn't wise, but I'm happy.
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  I know scripture doesn't something. I know scripture says something different, but I'm happy.
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  I know people are being hurt by my decision, but don't I deserve to be happy?
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  We have to be careful. we really do because not everything that comes.
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  Not everything that let me let me think about that for a second yeah i had to
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  pause i had to think for a second we have to be careful because not everything
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  that feels good is good for us ask anybody who's ever eaten way too much dessert,
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  if well it felt fantastic for 10 minutes then reality arrived something says
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  or sometimes love says yes, and sometimes love says no.
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  God loves us too much to simply approve everything that gives us temporary pleasure.
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  Here's a personal reflection. I think one of the hardest prayers we can pray
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  is, God, I want your will more than I want my way. Because I can pray.
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  God, bless what I want. That's easy. But God, if what I want isn't good for
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  me, help me let it go. That's different.
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  I've had moments when I thought I knew exactly what needed to happen.
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  I had the plan. I had the outcome. I knew what would make everything better.
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  And sometimes, God had another direction.
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  In the moment, I didn't understand always. But looking back,
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  there are things I can think or thank God for not giving me.
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  Sometimes, unanswered prayers become blessings we only recognize later.
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  And sometimes God isn't taking happiness away.
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  He's protecting us from settling from something smaller than we,
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  well, than what he wants us to build it.
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  How do we live this out? So, how do we live differently? Well,
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  first, enjoy God's good gifts.
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  Laugh, celebrate, spend time with people you love, enjoy your life. Gratitude is biblical.
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  Second, don't confuse pleasure with God's approval. Ask, is this good?
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  Not only does this feel good.
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  Third, choose obedience when feelings disgrace.
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  Now, let me rephrase that. choose obedience when feeling disagree.
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  Yeah, when your feelings disagree, that's better. Sometimes the faithful choice
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  won't be the easiest choice.
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  And fourth, pursue joy deeper than circumstances.
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  Build your life around Christ rather than consistently chasing the next thing,
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  you think will finally make you happy.
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  Because happiness that depends entirely on circumstances will always be fragile.
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  Here's your faith challenge. Think about one thing you've been asking God for.
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  Maybe it's something you wanted for a long time.
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  Now change your prayer instead of only saying, God, please give me this.
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  Try. God, you know how much I want this, but I want your will more.
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  If this is good for me, lead me toward it.
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  If it isn't, give me the strength to let it go.
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  That is not an easy prayer, but it is a powerful one because you're moving from
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  plan and because you are moving from God, approve my plan.
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  So think about this. It would go from God approved my plan to God lead my life.
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  And that's today's episode. So think about it as I leave you with this.
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  Today's takeaway. Does God just want you to be happy?
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  God isn't against your happiness, but scripture points out toward something,
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  deeper than temporary happiness.
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  God wants us to know him, trust him, follow him, become more like Christ,
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  and experience joy that doesn't disappear every time life becomes difficult.
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  So the takeaway is this. God loves you too much to make your temporary happiness
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  the highest goal of your life.
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  Sometimes he'll lead you towards something wonderful, and sometimes he'll lead
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  you away from something you wanted.
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  He sometimes asks you to trust him before you understand why.
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  Don't just chase what makes you happy. Follow the one who knows what's truly good.
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  This has been episode nine of Have Faith, Let It Begin. And remember, we got one more to go.
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  Next episode, the series finale, and I'm not gonna tell you what's coming up.
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  I'm gonna leave it as a surprise.
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  This is Have Faith, Let It Begins, series, Jesus Never Said That.
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  Because remember, one of the best things we can talk about is,
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  if it sounds good, it might even sound Christian, but is it actually biblical?
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  Have faith, let it begin.