Latest / HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN® / Jesus Never said that Series Ep 7 of 10: “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”

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Jesus Never said that Series Ep 7 of 10: “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

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  So you've heard it in church. You've seen it online.
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  Maybe you've even said it yourself. It sounds biblical, but is it?
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  Welcome to Jesus Never Said That. It's a special series from Have Faith, Let It Begin.
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  I'm Angel Santana, and together, we're gonna be going beyond the quotes,
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  cliches, and assumptions to discover what God's word actually says.
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  So grab your Bible, bring your questions, because Have Faith,
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  Let It Begin, starts right now.
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  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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  Welcome back, everybody. Let me know if you have heard this one before.
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  Cleanliness is next to godliness.
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  Say that one three times fast, right? Come on. Some of us didn't learn this
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  one on a Sunday school lesson.
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  We've learned it while somebody was telling us, go clean your room.
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  Maybe your mother said it. Maybe your grandmother said it.
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  Maybe you heard it at church. And after hearing it enough times,
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  you might have thought, but well, I guess that's somewhere in the Bible, except it's not.
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  See, there's no Bible verse that says cleanliness is next to godliness.
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  Not before anybody listening decides this means they never have to clean their
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  house again. Let's just be clear on that.
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  Nice try, by the way. That's not what I'm saying. Please clean your room by
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  all means and wash the dishes, take a shower, brush your teeth.
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  Your family will then thank you. I know I would.
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  But none of those things make you godly. And that's where today's conversation
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  becomes much more important. Because Jesus.
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  Actually warned about something that looked very clean, very polished,
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  very religious on the outside. But inside, that was another story.
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  Let's do the heart check. So here's today's heart check.
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  How much energy do I spend making sure I look right compared with making sure
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  my heart is right? Think about that.
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  Now, we know how to look the part. We can dress for church, carry the Bible,
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  say the right words, post the inspirational quotes, smile, shake hands,
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  tell everybody I'm blessed.
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  And sometimes we can do all of that while something completely different is happening inside.
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  Anger, jealousy, bitterness, pride,
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  unforgiveness, judgment, secret struggles, and nobody else, nobody else,
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  well, nobody sees it because the outside looks great.
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  So maybe today's question isn't, is my life clean?
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  Maybe it's, what does God see when he looks beneath the surface?
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  Now, where did this saying come from? Cleanliness is next to godliness.
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  It's not scripture. The phrase became especially well known through John Wisely,
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  the 18th century preacher and founder of the Methodist movement,
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  although similar ideas exist before him.
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  You can tell I'm back in school, but Wesley wasn't quoting a Bible verse.
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  And somehow over generations, they say the saying became one of those phrases
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  people began assuming came directly from Scripture.
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  And that's exactly why we're doing this episode and this series.
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  Something can sound old. Something can sound religious.
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  Something can even come from a respected Christian leader. And still,
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  that doesn't make it Scripture.
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  We have to know the difference. And trust me, by being in school,
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  I'm learning the difference.
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  So I'm not here preaching to you and telling you what's right and wrong.
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  I'm just telling you the things that I've come across and say,
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  I got to share this with you.
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  Let's go into that. But doesn't the Bible talk about cleanliness? Absolutely, it does.
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  The Old Testament contains many instructions involving washing,
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  purification, and ceremonial cleanliness.
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  But those practices had specific purposes within Israel's.
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  Covenant life and worship. They weren't teaching. If your house is spotless, you're closer to God.
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  That's not what they were teaching. And.
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  When Jesus arrives, he repeatedly takes the conversation deeper because religious
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  leaders sometimes become or became so focused on,
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  external rules that they missed what was happening inside the human heart. And Jesus called it out.
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  So what Jesus actually said, if you go to Matthew 23, verses 25 through 26, this is what Jesus says.
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  You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside there are full of greed and self-indulgence.
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  Then he says, First, clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
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  Wow! Jesus isn't talking about dishes.
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  He's talking about people. He's saying you can polish the outside.
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  You can make everything look beautiful. You can convince everybody around you
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  that you've got it together.
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  But God sees inside the cup. And then Jesus gets even stronger.
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  In Matthew 23, verse 27, he compares some of the religious leaders to whitewashed tombs.
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  Beautiful on the outside, but inside filled with death.
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  That's one of the strongest images Jesus ever used.
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  Because apparently God isn't impressed by appearances when the heart underneath them is unhealthy.
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  The real source of cleanliness, let's talk about that. Jesus takes this even further.
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  In Mark 7, the religious leaders were concerned because some of the Jesus disciples
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  were eating without following traditional ceremonial hand-washing practices.
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  And Jesus redirects the whole conversation. You see, he explains that what truly
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  defiles a person isn't simply something coming from the outside.
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  In Mark 7 verse 21, now Jesus says, for it is from within, out of a person's
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  heart that evil thoughts come.
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  Then he lists things like greed, deceit, envy, pride, and even other sins.
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  In other words, the biggest mess in my life might not be the one everybody can see.
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  I can clean my house. I can wash my hands. I can put on my best clothes,
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  but soap can't wash away pride.
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  A vacuum can't remove bitterness. Laundry detergent can't clean jealousy.
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  And no amount of outward appearance can replace a heart being transformed by God.
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  We heard this with David because David understood this. Remember David's prayer in Psalm 51 verse 10?
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  Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
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  David doesn't pray. God make, he doesn't say, God, make me look better.
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  No, David didn't say that. He says, create in me a pure heart.
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  That's where transformation begins, inside. Because Christianity isn't cosmetic.
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  Jesus isn't interested in simply making us look religious.
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  He wants us to transform us. He wants to transform us. Let me give you a personal reflection.
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  This one makes me think about how easy it is to worry about what other people see.
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  What we all do, what all, well, let's better phrase that. We all do it.
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  We want people to think we're doing okay. And sometimes when somebody asks,
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  how are you? We automatically say, I'm good.
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  Even when we're nowhere close to God.
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  Sometimes we work really hard to keep the outside polish because we're afraid
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  of what might happen if somebody sees the mess inside.
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  But here's something I've learned. God already sees it. There's no point pretending with him.
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  God sees the frustration. God sees the questions.
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  And God sees the anger. God sees the temptation. God sees the things we're embarrassed about.
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  And he doesn't say, come back when you've cleaned yourself up.
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  No. He invites us to bring the mess to him. And that's grace.
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  God does the cleaning. Remember that. And this is important,
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  especially in Christianity.
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  Christianity isn't clean yourself up so God will love you.
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  No. The gospel is God loves you, comes to you, and begins transforming you. Let me repeat that.
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  God loves you, comes to you and begins transforming you.
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  There's a huge difference. Sometimes people think I need to fix myself before I come back to God.
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  I need to get my life together first. I need to stop struggling first.
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  But if we could completely clean ourselves from the inside out,
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  why would we need grace? Why would we need a savior?
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  We come to Jesus because we can't do that work by ourselves.
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  So how do we live this out?
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  First, stop performing. You don't have to convince God that you're okay.
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  He already knows what you're struggling.
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  Second, ask God to show you what's inside.
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  Psalms 137, excuse me, 139, verse 23 through 24.
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  Search me, God, and know my heart. See if there's any offensive way in me.
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  That's a brave prayer. because you're giving God permission to point something out.
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  And third, deal with the inside before obsessing over the outside.
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  Maybe you look fine publicly. Maybe there's bitterness you need to release.
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  Maybe there's somebody you need to forgive.
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  Maybe there's pride you need to confront.
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  And maybe there's something you need to confess.
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  Fourth, give other people grace. That's a tough one, right?
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  Give other people grace. Because once I realize how much work God is still doing
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  inside of me, I become a lot less interested in pretending I'm better than everyone else.
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  Here's your faith challenge for the week. And no, I'm not going to tell you
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  to clean your house. Although if it needs it, go ahead and do it.
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  Instead, find five quiet minutes. Five. No phone, no television,
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  no distractions, and pray this.
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  Search me, God, and know my heart.
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  Then sit quietly, ask God, is there something inside of me I've been ignoring?
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  Maybe it's resentment. Maybe it's pride. Maybe it's jealousy.
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  And maybe it's an apology that you've been avoiding. Maybe it's something nobody else knows about.
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  Don't run from it. Bring it to God because today's challenge isn't about cleaning your surroundings.
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  It's about allowing God into the rooms of your heart that you've kept closed.
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  Amen. Heavenly Father, we send and we send our love to you. we spend so much
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  time worrying about what people see, we try to look strong.
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  We try to look successful. Sometimes we even try to look spiritual,
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  but you see beyond appearances.
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  You know our hearts and you know the places that we're struggling.
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  You know the bitterness we haven't released.
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  I struggle with that one. You notice that one, haven't released.
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  The fears we haven't admitted, the pride we don't want to confront,
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  the wounds we're still carrying.
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  So today we pray the words of David, create in us clean hearts, O God. Yes.
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  Search us. Reveal what needs your healing. Reveal what needs your correction.
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  Reveal what needs your forgiveness.
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  Help us stop performing and start becoming.
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  We don't want to simply look like followers of Jesus. We want to become more like Jesus.
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  Transform us from the inside out and give us grace for everyone else who's still being transformed too.
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  In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So what's today's takeaway?
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  Is cleanliness next to godliness? not according to the Bible.
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  Cleanliness can be healthy.
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  Order can be good. Taking care of ourselves and our surroundings can absolutely be wise.
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  But none of these things make us righteous before God.
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  Jesus repeatedly pointed beyond outward appearances to the condition of the
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  heart. So here's today's takeaway.
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  God isn't looking for the spotless performance. He's looking for a surrendered heart.
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  Don't spend your entire life polishing the outside while ignoring what's happening
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  in the inside. Let Jesus work from the inside out.
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  And we'll talk about that more. I had to think there. So let me close this.
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  This has been an episode of Jesus Never Said That. It's episode seven.
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  And it's our series from Half Faith Let It Begin. Remember that if it sounds
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  good, it might even sound Christian.
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  But is it really actually in the Bible? Is it biblical?
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  Well, don't assume something is scripture simply because you've heard Christians repeat it.
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  Open your Bible, read the context, ask questions like I've been doing.
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  And remember, God isn't just interested in how our lives look.
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  He's interested in what we're becoming.
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  On tomorrow's episode, the next episode, episode eight, we're tackling one that
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  might surprise a lot of people.
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  You've seen it in the paintings, you've heard it in sermons,
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  and you've probably seen it in Christmas cards.
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  The lion will lie down with the lamb. Beautiful image. There's just one problem.
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  The Bible doesn't actually say that. Wait, what?
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  There is a prophecy in Isaiah about animals living peacefully together?
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  But someone, wait a minute, somewhere along the way, one of the animals got switched.
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  So what does Isaiah actually say? And more importantly, what is the prophecy
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  really pointing toward?
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  We'll find out on episode eight of Jesus Never Said That.
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  The lion will lie down with the lamb. Hmm. See tomorrow because if it sounds
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  good, it might even sound Christian, but is it actually biblical?
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  Have faith. Let it begin.