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This one comes from Dede.

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She says, "There are many people

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in churches overweight.

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Is obesity a sin?

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Are overweight Christians false converts?

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What does the Bible say?

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Thank you."

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I'll tell you this, in all indication,

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the high priest Eli in 
the book of 1 Samuel

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was a godly man.

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Grossly overweight,

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but seemingly feared the Lord.

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He was not the best high priest.

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He had two evil sons.

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He was rebuked by the Lord.

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Samuel prophesied of the Lord against him.

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That's just an example 
that comes to my mind.

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Let me tell you something,

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the size of a man isn't the sin.

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(incomplete thought)

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Now look, how a person is,

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what a person looks like,

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the condition a person's in healthwise

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may definitely be an 
indication of their sin.

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Before God saved me, I did crystal meth.

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Thank the Lord He delivered me from that.

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Have you seen some of the 
folks that have used that?

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I mean, you can see people,

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their teeth are rotted out of their heads.

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I saw what alcohol did to my dad.

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I can tell when somebody's old

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and they've been 
drinking their whole life.

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They have kind of a 
yellow hue to their skin.

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You look at folks that 
have been on heroin,

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that have been on crack,

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that have been on crystal meth

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for long periods of time,

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cocaine.

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People that overeat.

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One thing about some sins

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is you kind of wear it on your sleeve.

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I mean, some of the things 
we were talking about

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about the sins of the mind,

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the sexual passions of the mind,

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you and I can't see all those things.

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But some of the sins we commit,

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the effects of it are very noticeable.

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And there's no question about it

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that the size of a person may have

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some indication about their eating habits.

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What the Bible doesn't talk about

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is necessarily obesity or overweight.

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What it does talk about is gluttony.

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And typically in the Bible,

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it groups gluttony with the drunkard

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or drunkenness.

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What do you have there?

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Is eating sinful in and of itself?

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No.

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The fact is you cannot 
prove from the Scriptures

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that drinking alcoholic beverage

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is forbidden in the Scriptures.

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But what is forbidden

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is eating more than you need

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and drinking to the point of drunkenness.

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Those two things are definitely sin.

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In fact, so much so, the 
people that practice those

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don't inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

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Those fall into these areas too

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of being red flags

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that if you're in bondage to these things,

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there's a problem.

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Gluttons are tied to those who are lazy.

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"Cretans are always liars, evil beasts,

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lazy gluttons."

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"The one who keeps the law is 
a son with understanding,

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but a companion of 
gluttons shames his father."

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"Be not among drunkards

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or among gluttonous eaters of meat."

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Now look, obviously some people

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are bigger than others.

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I mean, one of the questions

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that has to be asked before judgments

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are made about anything

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is why a person is overweight?

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I mean, some overweight people

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eat less than those who aren't overweight.

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Now, that's not to let most 
overweight people off the hook.

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That probably does bring some thin people

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into the realm of the 
possibilities of sin too,

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even though they may 
have a higher metabolism

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and don't show it near as much.

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I mean, there are thin people

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that eat huge meals.

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And I'll be honest with you,

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I don't know exactly where that line is.

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You know, it does seem 
like sometimes in Israel

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they had feast times, did they not?

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Three major feasts, 
and they would eat, folks!

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They would eat.

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Some times of indulging in food

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seemed to be acceptable by God.

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But doing it all the time 
does not seem to be.

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I mean, the fact is this,

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not all people have the same metabolism.

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Gluttony basically comes down

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to eating more than the body needs.

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Eating more than we need to function.

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Well, where is that boundary?

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You know, in a lot of countries,

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they don't eat till they're full.

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In a lot of countries, they 
can't afford to do that.

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We have a tendency to eat in America

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unlike they eat in other places.

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Does that mean we're 
all guilty of gluttony?

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Maybe. Maybe more than we know.

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But you know, folks, I 
would come back to this.

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Remember Paul's words.

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He's not going to be enslaved to anything.

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You know just as much as my wife

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might not drink coffee for awhile,

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you know what?

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There's no question about it.

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Jesus Christ thinks that His people

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will fast regularly.

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Does He not say it?

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When you fast, don't 
be like the hypocrites...

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Don't be like the Pharisees.

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There's a way to do it.

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Well, let me just tell you,

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if you're a professing child of God here,

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you need to give yourself to fasting.

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If you can't do it;

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if you don't have that 
kind of self-control

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and that kind of discipline,

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then you know what?

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There may be a likelihood

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even if you're a thin person,

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you're in bondage to food

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in a way that maybe you never imagined.

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And I'll tell you,

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you don't realize it sitting here

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when you've still got a belly

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that's three quarter full from dinner.

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You get in a situation where you fast

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for 24 hours and fast for 48 hours,

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fast for three days,

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and you begin to realize

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how much food really controls us.

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Let's face it, the fact is,

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most overweight people are overweight

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because they do eat too much

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and they exercise too little.

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You know one thing I found?

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Traveling to China, traveling to India,

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traveling to Indonesia -

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there aren't lots of overweight people.

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And so, what is it?

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I think San Antonio - is 
that the number one

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biggest city in the country?

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Sometimes - it depends on the year.

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But we've had those honors.

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I tell you, you go over to other countries

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you don't see that.

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The fact is, you know,

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typically in those countries,

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the ones that are overweight,

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they're overweight 
because they're wealthy.

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The thing is too being overweight

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isn't healthy for you.

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It's not good for you.

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These are to be temples 
of the Holy Spirit.

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You know, basically, we have a picture

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in the Scriptures of Jesus Christ

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leaving His servants with things -

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whatever they might be.

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Sometimes, they're 
called talents of silver,

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whatever they may be called,

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but you know what 
that's representative of.

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That's representative of everything

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that's been entrusted to us.

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Not just money, but our time,

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our energy, our bodies,

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everything that's been given to us.

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And you know the ones who 
receive the commendation,

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"Well done, good and faithful servant"?

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They're the ones who invested wisely

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and brought a return for their Lord.

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And we need to take 
good care of these bodies.

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If you're eating and not exercising

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in such a way that your body

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isn't serving you well,

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what does the Scripture say?

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It says to redeem the time.

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You're not redeeming the time very well

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if you're in a body that requires

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a lot more rest,

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gets weary a lot faster,

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runs out of breath a lot faster,

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when you could by correct eating habits

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and correct exercise habits change that.

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That's not being a good steward.

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It just simply isn't.

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Folks, if you're going to run, run well.

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Run to your maximum efficiency.

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That's all I'll say about that.