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Jesus Never said that Ep4 of 10: God Won't Give you more than you can handle · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

• 0:05
  Welcome to Have Faith, Let It Begin. This is Ariel Santana.
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  Can you believe I'm seven years old already? I'm old enough now to introduce my dad.
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  Ladies and gentlemen, your host, my dad, Angel Santana.
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  Two thousand came and the spark was lit. A testimony raw, it wouldn't quit.
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  His mother's voice, a guiding thread.
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  He walks the road.
• 1:01
  You've heard it at church. You've seen it online. And maybe you've even said it yourself.
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  It sounds biblical, but is it? Welcome to Jesus Never Said That,
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  a special series from Half Faith. Let it begin.
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  I'm Angel Santana. And together, we're going beyond the quotes,
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  cliches, and assumptions to discover what God's actual word says.
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  So grab your Bible and bring your questions. Half-Faith Let It Begin starts right now.
• 1:34
  Welcome to Half-Faith Let It Begin. This is Ariel Santana.
• 1:38
  Can you believe I'm seven years old already? I'm old enough now to introduce my dad.
• 1:44
  Ladies and gentlemen, your host, my dad, Angel Santana.
• 1:51
  2000 came and the spark was lit A testimony raw, it wouldn't quit His mother's voice, a guiding thread.
• 2:24
  Welcome back to Have Faith Let It Begin. Today we're talking about one of those
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  sayings that usually shows up when life gets really difficult.
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  Don't worry, God won't give you more than you can handle.
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  That's the saying. Maybe somebody has said that to you.
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  Maybe you've said it to somebody else. And I understand why.
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  We're trying to encourage someone. We're trying to say you're stronger than you think.
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  You're going to make it. Don't give up. Those are beautiful intentions.
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  But there is a problem. The Bible promises that life won't become more than we can handle.
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  In fact, Scripture shows us people who are completely overwhelmed,
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  people who reached their limits, people who couldn't fix what was happening,
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  people who needed God. And maybe that's the point.
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  Because Christianity isn't the story of how strong we are.
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  It's the story of how faithful God is when we're not strong enough.
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  Here's a heart check for you.
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  Let me ask you something. Have you ever reached a point where you genuinely
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  thought, I can't do this anymore? I know that.
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  Not, but not, this is convenient.
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  Not, I'm having a bad day. I mean, I don't know how I'm going to carry this?
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  Yeah, these are all sayings. Maybe you're there right now. You're exhausted.
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  It's hard, you know, trying to come up with the words here on the fly because
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  I'm kind of like spewing out sayings with you, right?
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  And I don't want to confuse you. So you're trying to hold your family together. Let me go this route.
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  You're worried about money. You're grieving. You're caring for somebody or you're
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  carrying responsibilities nobody else sees.
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  And everybody keeps telling you, you're strong. You've got this.
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  But somewhere inside, you're thinking, no, I really don't. Here's today's heart check.
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  What if admitting I can't handle this isn't a failure of faith?
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  What if sometimes it's where faith begins?
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  I mean, where did this saying come from anyway, right? There's actually a Bible
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  verse that probably helped create this saying.
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  And it came from 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13.
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  Paul writes, No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to humanity.
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  And God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
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  There it is. But notice what Paul is talking about, temptation.
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  He isn't saying nothing painful will ever happen that overwhelms you.
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  He isn't promising you'll never experience more stress than you can handle.
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  No, he's talking about temptation and God's faithfulness in providing a way to resist it.
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  That's very different from saying, quote, God will never give you more than you can handle.
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  End quote. Context matters. And this is exactly why we're doing this series.
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  Because sometimes we grab part of an idea from scripture, repeat it,
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  shorten it, but it, when we put it on a coffee mug, right?
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  And eventually it becomes something the Bible never actually said.
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  Biblical perspective. Let's go into that. Now listen to what Paul says somewhere else.
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  2 Corinthians 1, verses 8-9, word of the Lord.
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  Paul's going to describe suffering that he experienced in Asia. So here's the quote.
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  We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure,
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  so that we despaired of life itself.
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  Wait for a second. Far beyond our ability to endure. That doesn't sound like
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  God won't give you more than you can handle.
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  Paul basically says, this was more than we could handle.
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  But keep listening. He says, indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of
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  death, but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves,
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  but on God who raises the dead.
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  There it is. Sometimes life becomes bigger than our strength.
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  So we learn that our strength was never supposed to be the foundation. God is.
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  Here's Paul's weakness. And Paul returns to this idea in 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
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  He talks about what he calls a thorn in the flesh.
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  He asks God three times to remove it. and God doesn't.
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  Instead, God tells Paul, quote, my grace is sufficient for you,
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  for my power is made perfect in weakness, end quote.
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  And Paul's response is incredible. Paul says, quote, for when I am weak,
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  then I am strong, end quote.
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  Think about that. Not when I pretend I'm strong, Not when I'm,
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  when I convince everybody I'm okay, not when I successfully handle everything myself.
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  When I am weak. Why? Because weakness creates room for dependence,
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  and dependence creates room for grace.
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  Jesus himself felt overwhelmed. Think about Jesus in the Garden of Jessalyn.
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  Matthew 26, verse 38 records Jesus saying, My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.
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  That's overwhelmed. Jesus doesn't pretend the moment isn't heavy.
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  He doesn't deny what he's feeling. He prays. He brings Peter,
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  James, and John with him, and he pours his heart out before the Father.
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  There's something important there.
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  Sometimes faith doesn't look like, I got this. Sometimes faith looks like, Father, I need you.
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  Here's a personal reflection. I think a saying can put an unnecessary burden
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  on people because imagine you're already struggling.
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  You're barely keeping your head above water.
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  And then somebody tells you, God won't give you more than you can handle.
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  And now you're thinking, well, apparently I'm supposed to be able to handle this.
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  So you try harder. You hide your exhaustion. You stop asking for help.
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  You smile when somebody asks you, how are you doing? And you say, I'm good.
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  Meanwhile, you're falling apart inside.
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  But what if you don't have to pretend? What if you can say, this is too much for me?
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  And instead of God being disappointed, God says, finally, let me carry this for you.
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  There are things in life that are too heavy for one person. That's why God gives us prayer.
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  That's why God gives us community. And that's why God gives us people.
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  And that's why God gives us his presence.
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  You weren't created to carry everything alone.
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  So how do we live this out? So what we do is, so what we can do is, let's see.
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  When life becomes more than we can handle, first, we need to admit it.
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  We have to stop pretending and say, God, this is too much for me.
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  And that's not weakness. It's just honesty. And second, it's okay to ask for help.
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  Maybe you need to call somebody. Maybe you need to talk to your pastor.
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  Maybe you need to sit with a trusted friend.
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  Maybe you need practical help. Asking for help does not mean your faith is weak.
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  Sometimes asking for help is an act of faith.
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  Carry today's portion. Jesus says in Matthew 6, verse 34, Do not worry about
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  tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
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  Each day has enough trouble of its own.
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  So sometimes we're exhausted because we're trying to carry today,
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  tomorrow, next week, next month, and every possible outcome simultaneously.
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  Maybe you don't need strength for next month today. Maybe you need grace for this moment.
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  Here's your faith challenge for the week. Identify one thing you're carrying
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  that feels so heavy. Don't minimize it.
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  Please don't compare it to somebody else's struggle.
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  Name it. Then pray.
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  Pray, God, this is more than I can handle by myself. And then ask one more question.
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  Who have you placed in my life that can help me carry this?
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  Because maybe your faith challenge this week isn't doing more.
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  Maybe it's finally letting somebody else help.
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  That's just my theory. It's my opinion. Amen.
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  Let's pray. Heavenly Fathers, some of us are tired. Some of us are carrying
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  things nobody else knows about.
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  And some of us have been trying to stay strong for everybody around us.
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  And Lord, we're exhausted. So today, we admit something.
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  We can't handle everything. And we don't want to pretend anymore.
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  When life becomes bigger than our strength, remind us that it's bigger than yours.
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  It, well, it isn't bigger than yours, I should say.
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  When we feel weak, remind us that your grace is sufficient. When we're overwhelmed,
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  remind us that we don't have to walk alone.
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  Give us courage to ask for help. Give us humility to receive help.
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  And give us wisdom to know what belongs in our hands.
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  And faith to surrender what belongs in yours. You know, for the person listening
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  today who feels like they're at their limit, Meet them right there and remind
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  them that they don't have to prove how strong they are.
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  They can lean on you. They can thank you for being faithful when you're tired.
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  Thank you for being strong when you're weak. And thank you for carrying what we cannot.
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  In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
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  Here's today's takeaway. So does the Bible promise God won't give you more than you can handle?
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  No, sometimes life will be more than you can handle.
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  Paul experienced it. The people throughout scripture experienced it.
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  We experienced it. But there, here's the better promise.
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  What is more than you can handle is never more than God can handle.
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  You don't have to be strong enough for everything. You need to know where to go when you're not.
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  And maybe instead of saying, God won't give you more than you can handle,
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  we start saying, when I can't handle it, I can still trust God.
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  And that's a promise, a promise worth holding on to. So let me close with this.
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  This has been episode four of Jesus Never Said That, a special series from Half Faith. Let it begin.
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  And remember, it sounds good.
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  It might even sound Christian, but it's actually biblical.
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  Open the Bible, read the context, ask questions and don't confuse needing help with the lack of faith.
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  Because sometimes the strongest prayer you can pray is, God.
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  I can't do this. So pray that because sometimes the strongest prayer is that.
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  God, I can't do this without you. My name is Angel Santana.
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  And next episode, next time, we're talking about a saying most everybody has heard.
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  Money is the root of all evil. That's in the Bible, right?
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  Well, not exactly. Because one missing phrase changes the entire meaning of
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  the verse. Is money evil?
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  Is having money sinful? and what does scripture actually warn us about?
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  Grab your Bible because we're going to talk straight to 1 Timothy 6, verse 10.
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  That's episode five of Jesus Never Said That. Because it sounds good.
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  It might even be amazing. It might even sound Christian, but it isn't.
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  But is it actually biblical? I'm all over the place because I got Noah here with me.
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  Ladies and gentlemen, have a good day and never forget, have faith let it begin,
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  take care oh I got some editing to do have faith.