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Test the Voices – The Formed Future · Still, Here

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is still here.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: A quiet moment to remember what is true.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to these words from the book of 1 John 4, verse 1.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Beloved,
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: don't believe every spirit,
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: but test the spirits,
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Not every voice that reaches you deserves to form you.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds obvious until we consider how many voices enter the inner life in an ordinary day.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: News voices.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Political voices.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Religious voices.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Marketing voices.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Family voices.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Social media voices.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Productivity voices.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: The voice of inner fear.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: The voice of an old wound.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And now there are digital voices that can produce confident words almost instantly.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Some voices are clearly harmful.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Most are more complicated than that.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: A voice can contain facts and still form fear.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It can raise a legitimate concern and still teach contempt.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: It can offer useful insight while quietly making us more anxious,
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: reactive, proud, or suspicious.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: That is why John says, do not believe every spirit, test the spirits.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: He is not asking us to become suspicious people.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Suspicion can capture the soul just as easily as gullibility.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: John is calling for discernment.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Discernment does more than ask whether something sounds convincing.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: It asks whether it is true.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: It asks whether it is coherent with the mind of Christ.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: It asks what kind of person this voice is helping me become.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: That last question matters.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because voices do not only give us information.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Repeated voices train our perception.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: They teach us whom to fear.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Whom to trust, what to want, what to resent, and what kind of response feels normal.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: A voice may sound urgent enough to bypass discernment.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: It may sound polished enough to seem wise.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: It may come from our own group and therefore feel safe before we have tested it.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: It may even use spiritual language.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: The future will bring more voices, not fewer.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, the answer cannot be hiding from every input.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: We have been called to live faithfully in the world, not pretend it is not there.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: The answer is to stop being passive at the doorway of the soul.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Before a voice gains access to fear, desire, imagination and response, we can pause.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Does this tell the truth?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Does it honor Christ?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Does it make love more possible?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Does it help me see other people as neighbors rather than threats, tools, enemies, or obstacles?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Does it help me become calm enough to obey God?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Or does it leave me captured and reactive?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Those questions do not require us to agree only with comfortable voices.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes truth confronts us.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes discernment leads us to hear something we would rather avoid.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: But truth in the mind of Christ will not require us to become less loving in order
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: to become more faithful.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, choose one voice that enters your life regularly.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: A news source,
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: a podcast,
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: a social account,
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: an AI tool,
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: a political or religious voice, maybe a family pattern, maybe your own inner fear.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Do not rush to accept it or reject it.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Test it.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: What does this voice keep forming in you?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Discernment begins at the doorway.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Take a moment for this prayer of presence.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: Spirit of Truth, help me test the voices.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Keep me from passive consumption, but also keep me from suspicion that has forgotten love.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Give me discernment that is clear, humble, and grounded in Christ.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Show me which voices are forming fear and which voices are helping me become faithful.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Guard the doorway of my soul and teach me what deserves access to my inner life.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: As you reenter the conversations and decisions ahead, carry this prayer with you.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Give me discernment.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Guard the voices that form me.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Give me discernment.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Guard the voices that form me.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Give me discernment.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Guard the voices that form me.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay steady, stay open,
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Stay present.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: You are still here.