Latest / HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN® / Before You Quote It, Read It — Series Finale Ep 10 Jesus Never Said that

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Before You Quote It, Read It — Series Finale Ep 10 Jesus Never Said that · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

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  Good morning, and welcome to the final episode of Jesus Never Said That,
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  episode 10, series finale, The Bible Says, Before You Quote It, Read It.
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  But before we begin today's episode, I would just like to take this opportunity
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  to say thank you to every single person that has been with us for nine years,
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  and I'd like to ask you for a favor.
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  You know, one of the things that I've noticed in the nine years we've been together,
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  as we closing in on over 100,000 downloads, this new platform that we're on with Podbean,
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  I would like to share with you that one of the things that will make us grow
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  continuously and allow us to be on bigger and better platforms on top of what
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  we're already on is by you, the listener.
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  So I'm asking and encouraging all of you to please download and subscribe to our podcast.
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  And most importantly, leave a comment, you know, especially if you like the
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  episode, even if you don't like the episode.
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  Comments and likes are really going to allow us to be seen on platforms and
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  showcased so that we can continue to spread the word to the entire world.
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  We're doing so well already, and I know that all of you spread the word verbally.
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  I'm just asking if you can do me a favor and please do that electronically as well.
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  If you need any assistance, please don't hesitate to email me.
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  And also, with regards to email, please email me. Love to talk with you.
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  Would love to share with you what your feelings are about the show.
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  And please, by all means, send your prayer requests because I would love to
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  keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
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  With that being said, let me just finally say this.
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  We have a Half Faith Let It Begin store. Now, I don't want you to think that,
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  I'm looking for donations or money, but every single purchase that is made through
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  our Half Faith Let It Begin store, 100%.
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  Is going to go to this platform and also to donations, especially the Monday
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  shirts to the Crock Podcast.
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  Citizens Reunited to Overcome Cancer, We'd like to help them and continue to donate.
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  And if you would like me to donate to a certain charity from your purchase,
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  all you have to do is let me know that you've purchased an item and that you'd
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  like some of the proceeds or 100% of the proceeds to go to a charity of your
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  choice. I have no problem doing that.
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  So thank you very much for allowing me to take a few minutes of your time to
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  showcase what we're doing here at Have Faith Let It Begin.
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  And with that being said, let's get started with an all new episode and a final
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  episode of the series, Jesus Never Said That.
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  So let's do this like we used to. Have faith, let it begin.
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  Series finale of Jesus Never Said That starts right now.
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  Can you believe I actually played the outro to that? Oh boy,
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  it's early. I have to have a cup of coffee.
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  Yeah, let's try that again, shall we? Have Faith, Let It Begin.
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  Hey, we're live. Have Faith, Let It Begin starts right now.
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  Have Faith, Let Begin. When it starts right now.
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  Welcome to Have Faith. Let it begin.
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  Here's your host, Angel Santana. Oh boy, please keep me in prayer,
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  my goodness. I can't keep my head on straight here this morning. All right, let's begin.
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  You've heard it in church, you've seen it online, and 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 Half-Faith, Let It Begin.
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  I'm Angel Santana, and together, we've been going beyond the quotes,
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  cliches, assumptions to discover what God's word actually says.
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  So one last time, grab your Bible and bring your questions because we are going
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  to explore the last episode of this series.
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  Well, we finally made it. It's episode 10, the final of the Jesus Never Said That series.
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  Over the course of this series, we've talked about God helps those who help themselves.
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  Everything happens for a reason. Follow your heart.
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  God won't give you more than you can handle. Money is the root of all evil.
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  Hate the sin, love the sinner.
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  Cleanliness is next to godliness. The lion will lie down with a lamb.
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  And God just wants you to be happy. Some weren't in Scripture at all.
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  Some were based loosely on biblical ideas.
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  And some came from verses that had been shortened or remembered incorrectly.
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  And some communicated part of the truth while missing something much bigger.
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  But today, we're not adding another saying to the list.
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  No, today we're talking about four words that should immediately make us pay
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  attention. The Bible says.
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  Because once somebody says those words, what usually happens, we listen.
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  Especially if the person saying them in someone we respect,
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  it's a pastor, a teacher, a family member, a friend, a Christian influencer,
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  a believer, a podcast host, and yes, even me.
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  But after 10 episodes together, I hope I've convinced you to do something. Check.
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  Don't believe something simply because somebody put the words the Bible says in front of it.
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  Open the Bible and read it and discover what actually it says,
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  because that is important. So here's our heart check.
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  Do I know what the Bible says, or do I mostly know what other people have told
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  me the Bible says? That's the question.
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  And that's a difficult question, because there's nothing wrong with listening
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  to sermons. There's nothing wrong with podcasts.
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  There's nothing wrong with Bible studies. There's nothing wrong with Christian books, Catholic books.
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  Those things can be incredibly helpful. But they should point us towards Scripture. and not replace it.
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  If the Bible only, well, if only the Bible and I ever encountered is somebody
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  else's interpretation of it, then I'm always depending on somebody,
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  somebody else to tell me what God said.
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  And that's not where I wanted us to stay.
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  You know, I know right now people are probably saying, but Angel said,
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  let me make this personal.
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  If you ever find yourself in a
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  conversation and say, well, Angel said on half-eighth let it begin, okay.
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  Then I want you to do something else. I want you to open your Bible and check
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  me. That's right. I want you to check me.
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  Seriously, don't assume that I'm right simply because I have a microphone.
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  And don't assume somebody is right because they have a church.
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  Don't assume that they're right because they have a million followers.
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  And please don't assume that they're right because the video has 10 million views.
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  Don't assume that we're wrong simply because they disagree with something you've always believed.
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  Go back to scripture. I want, I don't want this podcast to teach you what to
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  think without question.
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  I want conversations like this to encourage you to open the Bible and engage with it yourself.
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  Because ultimately, I'm not the authority. God's word is.
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  Context, context, Context, context. One of the biggest lessons from this series is one word, context.
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  Context means we don't grab one sentence and ignore everything around it. We ask, who wrote this?
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  Who were they writing to? What is happening?
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  Comes before this verse? What comes after it?
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  What kind of writing is poetry, history, prophecy, a letter, wisdom, literature?
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  What does the passage actually mean in its setting?
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  Because you can make the Bible appear, pardon me, to say some pretty strange things.
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  If you pull sentences out of context, we saw that earlier with,
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  God won't give you more than you can handle.
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  People often connect that idea to 1 Corinthians 10.13.
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  But when we read the verse carefully, Paul is talking about temptation.
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  Context changes the conversation.
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  So don't build a belief on half a verse.
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  Episode 5 gave us another example. People say money is the root of all evil.
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  But 1 Timothy 6.10 says, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
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  A few missing words completely changed the meaning. And that's why reading scripture carefully matters.
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  Sometimes the difference between good theology and bad theology is something
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  as simple as finishing the sentence.
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  Our memories aren't scripture. Then we had our lion and lamb.
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  For years, people have pictured, the lion will lie down with the lamb.
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  But Isaiah 11.6 begins, the wolf will live with the lamb.
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  The lion is the passage. The lamb is in the passage.
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  Our memories simply rearrange the cast, and that's an important, important lesson.
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  Something feeling familiar doesn't make it scripture, by the way.
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  We can remember things incorrectly.
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  I can. You can. Pastors can. Teachers can. Everybody can.
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  That's why we have the text. Go back and look.
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  Let's see. We need to be careful with social media scriptures.
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  And now we've got another challenge previous generations didn't have at this scale.
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  Social media. You scroll through TikTok, Instagram, Facebook,
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  YouTube, and there it is. A beautiful sunset.
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  Inspirational music, a sentence in a fancy lettering. Yeah.
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  And then underneath, God, or Bible, or Jesus.
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  And suddenly we assume it's scripture. Please don't do that.
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  A beautiful background doesn't make something biblical. A million likes don't
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  make something biblical.
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  Someone saying, God told me, doesn't automatically mean God told them.
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  Test what you hear. What does scripture say about that?
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  Acts 17 gives us a wonderful example.
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  Paul and Silas arrive in Bury. And Acts 17, 11 tells us the Buryans examine
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  the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Think about that.
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  This was Paul teaching them, and they checked. Scriptures praises them for it.
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  They weren't criticized for asking questions.
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  They were described as noble because they received the message eagerly and examined
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  scripture? That's the kind of listener I want you to become.
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  Listen eagerly, but check carefully. Questions aren't the enemy of faith.
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  Sometimes Christians become nervous about questions. What if I question something?
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  What if I don't understand? What if I discover something isn't exactly what I was taught?
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  Ask, study, pray.
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  Seek wise counsel. Faith doesn't have to be afraid of an honest question.
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  Sometimes asking questions is exactly what drives us deeper into Scripture.
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  The danger isn't saying, I don't understand this.
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  The danger is pretending we understand something we never bothered to read.
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  Read more than one verse. Here's one particular habit I hope you'll take from this series.
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  You know, when somebody gives you a Bible verse, read around it.
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  Don't only read verse 10.
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  Don't read verse 9.
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  Sorry, let me rephrase that. Don't only read verse 10. You need to read verse
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  9 or read verse 11. I was all over the place there.
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  Maybe read the whole chapter. You know, if possible, understand what's happening in the entire book.
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  You'd be surprised how often the meaning becomes clearer when you simply keep reading.
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  The Bible wasn't originally written as thousands of isolated inspirational quotes.
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  Those verses, no, those verse numbers were added later to help us navigate the
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  text, and they're useful.
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  But don't let the numbers make you forget that you're reading a larger message.
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  Here's my personal reflection. When I started this series, I know.
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  I know now and I knew we were going to have some fun because some of these sayings
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  really do make you stop and say, wait, that's not in the Bible?
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  I know I did that many times.
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  But somewhere along the way, this series became about something bigger for me.
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  It's not really about catching people saying the wrong thing.
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  It's about respecting scripture enough to want to know what it actually says,
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  and I include myself in that.
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  I'm still learning. I'm still studying. I'm still asking questions,
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  and I hope I never reach the point where I think I already know everything this
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  Bible has to teach me, because I don't.
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  None of us do. There's always another layer, another connection,
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  another question, another opportunity, Another opportunity for God to challenge us.
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  So if this series caused you to open your Bible even once to check something I said, good.
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  That's exactly what I hoped would actually happen. So.
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  Living it out. How do we do that? So how do we take things, well,
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  take everything from these 10 episodes and carry it forward?
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  I want to give you five simple habits. Number one, when you hear the Bible says,
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  check, ask where and look it up.
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  Then read the context. That's number two. Don't stop at one sentence. Read what surrounds it.
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  And three, ask good questions. Who wrote it? To whom? Why? And what's happening?
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  And number four, compare scripture with scripture. Don't build an entire belief
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  around one isolated phrase.
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  Look at the broader biblical witness.
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  And number five, stay humble. This might be the biggest one of all of it.
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  Sometimes you'll discover, guess what?
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  I was wrong. And that's okay. Learning isn't losing.
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  Growing isn't failure. If scripture corrects something I believed,
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  then I want to be corrected.
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  Because the goal isn't providing or proving that I've always been right.
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  The goal is knowing God more faithfully.
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  So here's our faith challenge. For our final faith challenge,
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  I am giving you something simple.
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  For the next seven days, read scripture every day. It doesn't have to be an
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  hour. Start with 10 minutes. Choose one gospel.
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  If you don't know where to begin, try Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.
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  Before you read, say a prayer.
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  Pray, God, show me what your word actually is saying.
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  Then read slowly and ask questions. Write something down. I know I do.
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  And if something confuses you don't immediately skip it.
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  I used to do that. Don't do that Investigate call somebody study ask questions,
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  Because I don't want the end of jesus never said that to be the end of your
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  curiosity Or mine for that sake.
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  I want it to be the beginning Let's pray.
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  Heavenly Father, thank you for
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  your word. Thank you that you've given us scripture to teach us challenge.
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  Well, to teach us really, and then challenge us, encourage us,
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  correct us, and point us toward you. I like that better.
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  Forgive us for the times we've repeated things without checking them.
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  Forgive us when we've taken verses out of context.
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  Forgive us when we've been more interested in proving our point than understanding your word.
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  Give us hunger. give us hunger for scripture, give us wisdom,
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  give us discernment, give us humility, especially when we discover we've misunderstood something.
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  Protect us from false teaching, protect us from twisting your word to fit what
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  we already want to believe, and
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  help us become people who don't simply own Bibles, but actually open them.
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  For everyone who has joined us through these 10 episodes, bless their journey.
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  Let this series create curiosity. Let curiosity lead to study and let study
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  lead to understanding and let understanding draw us closer to Jesus in his heavenly name. Amen.
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  What's our final takeaway from this series? Well, for nine episodes,
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  we've asked, did Jesus say that?
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  Does the Bible actually say that? And today I want to leave you with one sentence.
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  Before you quote it, read it.
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  Not because every Christian is saying it's terrible. Not because every pastor is wrong.
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  Not because every social media post is misleading. But because God's words deserve,
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  more than secondhand familiarity.
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  Open it, read it, study it, and question your assumptions.
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  Check the context, and yes, check me too, because your faith shouldn't depend
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  on Angel Santana knowing the Bible for you.
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  I'm still studying, and I want you to know. I want you to know it.
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  And with that said, we've reached the end of Jesus Never Said That.
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  10 episodes, 10 conversations, and hopefully a whole lot of open Bibles.
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  If this series challenged you, surprised you, encouraged you,
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  or taught you something new, I have one question. Share it.
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  Send this series to somebody. Maybe a friend, a family member,
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  someone from your congregation, someone who's curious about Christianity,
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  or someone who has questions about things they've heard Christians say.
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  And if this is your first time discovering Have Faith Let It Begin, welcome home.
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  This series may be ending, but there's so much more waiting for you.
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  Explore other special series and episodes filled with real-life stories,
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  encouragement, honest, conversations, questions, laughter, struggles, hope, and faith.
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  Follow the podcast, download the episodes, and share them, and become part of
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  this growing community because around here for the last nine years,
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  we're not pretending we have every answer.
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  We're willing to have the conversation.
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  Well, that's it. As you know, my name is Angel Santana.
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  I wanna thank you for taking the time to be with us for these 10 episodes of
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  A Journey With Me and wherever life finds you next.
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  Remember that Have Faith, Let It Begin is about real people,
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  real stories, real faith.
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  And I hope that all of you, as always, to remember that have faith,
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  let it begin, is our amen.
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  Because we want you to have faith and let it begin.
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  And when we end this series, we're gonna end it the way we started it.
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  You've heard it in church. You've seen it online. Maybe you even said it yourself. It sounds good.
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  It might even sound Christian, but is it?
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  Maybe you've said it yourself. Maybe you said it sounds good,
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  right? It might even sound Christian, but is it actually biblical?
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  Don't just take somebody's word for it. Open the Bible and find out.
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  So, do you think we have another series coming? Oh, I've already started a new one.
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  Can't wait to share what that's going to be like. But I'm not going to tell
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  you until you download, subscribe, and share each episode to your friends.
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  God bless you. God be with you. Yoste bendiga.
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  And if you're on your way to work, stop over and get something to eat.
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  That's what my dad would tell me.