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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Hello, and thank you for listening to your Daily Bible Verse,

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Speaker 2: the podcast that examines one verse each day to learn

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Speaker 2: more about God and his will for us. I'm your host,

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Speaker 2: Carol McCracken, and after a short word from our sponsor,

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Speaker 2: we'll dive into today's Bible Verse, verse Thessalonians five twenty one.

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Speaker 1: But test everything, hold fast what is good? If you've

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Speaker 1: ever wondered, is this really from God? Or is this

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Speaker 1: just someone's opinion? Today's verses for you. Many of us

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Speaker 1: want to be open to the supernatural work of God.

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Speaker 1: We don't want to dismiss what the Holy Spirit might

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Speaker 1: be doing. At the same time, we don't want to

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Speaker 1: be naive, used, or quietly pressured into believing something that

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Speaker 1: doesn't sit right in her spirit. Years ago, I had

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Speaker 1: someone step into my life who presented herself as kind

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Speaker 1: of a spiritual mentor. I was intentionally trying to grow

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Speaker 1: to be more open minded about how God might speak,

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Speaker 1: more receptive to his leading beyond my comfort zone, and

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Speaker 1: she told me she had visions for me. Before a

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Speaker 1: large event I was invited to attend, she said I

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Speaker 1: needed to pay close attention to a young boy who

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Speaker 1: would be there from the stage and he would have

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Speaker 1: a special word from God just for me. The event

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Speaker 1: came and the boy wasn't even there. Later she asked

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Speaker 1: me to give her another chance. This time she said

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Speaker 1: she'd seen a vision of me standing in a massive

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Speaker 1: auditorium speaking to people for Christ, and she made it

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Speaker 1: clear she wanted to be there with me when it happened.

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Speaker 1: On the surface, it sounded encouraging, spiritual, even affirming, But

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Speaker 1: something helt off, and that raises the question so many

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Speaker 1: believers quietly carry. How do you know when someone truly

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Speaker 1: has a word from the Lord for you and when

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Speaker 1: they don't our Verse today, Verse Thessalonians five twenty one.

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Speaker 1: But test everything, hold fast what is good. The apostle

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Speaker 1: Paul wrote this letter to the Church of Thessalonica. It

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Speaker 1: was a young congregation learning how to live faithfully in

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Speaker 1: a spiritually noisy world. Just one verse earlier, Paul says,

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Speaker 1: do not despise prophecies. In other words, don't shut the

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Speaker 1: door on God speaking. But immediately after he adds balance

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Speaker 1: test everything, he says. The Greek verb Paul uses for

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Speaker 1: test is pronounced do kien maso. It's a Greek verb,

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Speaker 1: and it means to examine, to prove or evaluate the

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Speaker 1: genuineness of something. The way Meddles tested for purity, Paul

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Speaker 1: is an encouraging suspicion. He's calling for discernment. And the

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Speaker 1: phrase hold fast comes from the Greek verb katako, meaning

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Speaker 1: to cling tightly, to retain with intention. In other words,

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Speaker 1: be open, be thoughtful, be grounded, be discerning. God never

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Speaker 1: asks us to bypass wisdom in order to appear spiritual.

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Speaker 1: Looking back on my experience, what stood out wasn't just

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Speaker 1: the words didn't come true. It was that the focus

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Speaker 1: slowly shifted. It went from God's glory to personal proximity,

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Speaker 1: from encouragement to influence. It almost felt like she was

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Speaker 1: saying I could only hear from God through her. And

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Speaker 1: a genuine word from God will always align with scripture.

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Speaker 1: It will always point you towards Christ, not dependency on

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Speaker 1: a person. It will always bring clarity, not confusion, and

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Speaker 1: it will always confirm what God's already forming in you,

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Speaker 1: not manipulate your future or flatter your ego. Now, God

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Speaker 1: maybe use people to encourage us absolutely, but he will

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Speaker 1: never outsource his authority over your life. If a word

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Speaker 1: requires you to ignore scripture, override your God given discernment,

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Speaker 1: or place someone in a position God never assigned. That

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Speaker 1: word does not need to be received. Let me tell

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Speaker 1: you something. You're not lacking in faith because you ask questions.

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Speaker 1: You're not quenching the spirit by testing what you hear.

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Speaker 1: You're being obedient. God isn't fragile. His truth can withstand examination,

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Speaker 1: and the Holy Spirit, who dwells within every believer is

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Speaker 1: faithful to God. You into truth, not confusion. So here's

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Speaker 1: your invitation today. Take a moment to reflect on the

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Speaker 1: voices you're listening to and ask yourself, does this draw

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Speaker 1: me closer to Christ? Does this align with God's word?

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Speaker 1: Does this bring peace? Clarity in humility? And then pray simply, Lord,

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Speaker 1: help me test what I hear and give me the

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Speaker 1: courage to hold fast to what's truly from you. You

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Speaker 1: don't need every voice, You need God's voice, and he

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Speaker 1: is faithful to speak. Will you pray with me? Lord,

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Speaker 1: Thank you for who you are. You are the creator,

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Speaker 1: You are omnipotent, You can do anything. You have the

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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit in each of your believers for a reason

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Speaker 1: to guide us to hear from you. Lord, help us

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Speaker 1: not be guilty about discernment, but yet teach us to

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Speaker 1: have a soft spirit that is willing to learn. Lord,

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Speaker 1: only you can show us the difference. And we ask Lord,

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Speaker 1: that we be wise and discerning, help us to understand

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Speaker 1: the difference as we come to you, and help us

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Speaker 1: to be an encouragement from others. Lord, we asked this

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Speaker 1: in your precious name. Amen. Mm hmm