Temple Builders – The High Calling
By John R. Lucas | June 10th,
2002 Version – TempleBuilders.com
The Temple Builders
book is not just reading material
...it is an experience
· “Temple Builders – The High Calling,” is a book for those in the body of Christ that desire to truly mature in the ways of Jesus. The Temple Builders reader is one that is convinced that the goal of being fully pleasing to Jesus has not been realized by the church as a whole, or even a segment (remnant) of the church, or any other individual believer, as compared to early church scriptural examples.
The Temple Builders is a book
that has been used in home churches, cell groups, as Sunday school curriculum,
and pulpit teaching, around the world. It is free to copy and distribute,
therefore it has been widely circulated for the past seven years. Folks have testified
that it has produced fruit that has remained, however, many times, they worked
hard for it. Most often, it causes you to see things different from believers
that you have relationships. Therefore, the challenge exists as to how you
respond in these relationships. Knowledge can puff up; knowledge can cause
separation. The message of Temple Builders is to have knowledge that is humble
in nature, and rescuing all those you know – from the pit.
http://TempleBuilders.com
Table of Contents
4 The Restoration of right thinking
4 Called To A More Excellent Way
4 Areas God deals with in the workplace:
4 God sends the scouts into the land
4 True Forgiveness – Binding and Loosing
4 The Root Purpose of Affliction
4 Categorically False Ministry
4 External Church Affiliations
4 Revival Manifestation IssueS
4 THUNDER OF ALIENATION – THUNDER 1
4 THUNDER OF JUDGMENT – THUNDER 2
4 THUNDER OF CONSECRATION – THUNDER 3
4 THUNDER OF THE COMING – THUNDER 4
4 THUNDER OF GOD’S GLORY – THUNDER 5
4 THUNDER OF ENEMY’S DEFEAT – THUNDER 6
4 THUNDER OF RESTORATION – THUNDER 7
Acknowledgments & Ordering:
I hope this book has edifies you. This book is the product of many who labored in the word of God for others. I have learned from these vessels, used of our Lord, and I have partaken of the grace given to them by God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of these men I know only through their writings. It is only because they gave in the labor of their writing that I can now give in this writing.
All of these men have one thing in common. They are ones that are forerunners in truth, and because of their forerunning nature, they suffered much for the sake of the Gospel. They paid a price in unveiling truth in scriptures, truth that was previously hid. They paid an even greater price when they spoke these truths to their present-day leadership, a leadership that was content with previous truth instead of present truth.
I would like to thank the editors that have worked on the book - Mike Hodges, Jan Teel, and my wife Dee Dee. They helped me stay on course with the message of the Lord.
My wife Dee Dee and my three children have been great encouragement in the writing of this book. They always look to the eternal value of the labor and they have always supported this labor with their whole heart. In the dark valleys and the opposition to truth - they have always stood as the consolation of God for me.
For those that have completed the entire book, we ask for your testimony, which may be published in final bookstore version. We are interested in both the experience that you had as you were reading the book, and we are most interested in the fruit that it produced in your daily life after you read the book. We desire to publish these testimonies in the preface.
FOR THOSE THAT LIVE IN THE LAKELAND, FL AREA:
As of This writing, June 10th, 2002, we are in the planning stage of a new gathering. It will be a unique church patterned after many of the principles laid out in this book. WE SOLICIT YOU HELP. We need co-laborers to help plan and implement this radical message in a local fellowship. Email me if you are interested.
John R. Lucas
PO Box 7822, Lakeland, FL 33807-7822
TempleBuilders.com Christian Web
Amos 7:14-15
Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, "I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock and the LORD said to me, 'Go prophesy to My people Israel.'” (NAS)
Amos, a prophet of the Lord, had a very menial occupation, one of working as a herdsman, and a grower. Nevertheless, there came a day when he was taken by the Lord, to prophesy. Likewise, I have an occupation outside of the “professional minister calling,” and yet I have been compelled by the Lord to speak forth some words on His heart. Just as Amos, God has chosen me, to be set like a trumpet to His lips, to proclaim a message to His people in this hour. The sound of this trumpet blast will be discernable to all those that have ears to hear it. One thing that is evident throughout this “trumpet blast” is God’s method of using the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. In other words, it is the pleasure of God to use the MOST UNLIKELY CANDIDATES to accomplish His will, and the message found in these “unlikely candidates” is in direct opposition to those that are wise in their own eyes. This indeed was Amos’ situation, and I find myself in this situation as I write this message.
Temple Builders is simply a teaching about Christians running a race of growing into maturity. Being born again is THE ENTRANCE into this race. Becoming a father to others is the FINISHING of the race. This is at the core of God’s communication to His church. Therefore, these writings are a collection of messages that are given to the church of our Lord as a gift. It is a gift that gives hope to run and finish the race set before us. In our race, obstacles and pitfalls have halted us. Some of these obstacles and pitfalls were erected by the struggles of obedience. Other obstacles hindered us when we accepted man’s teaching, although based on scriptures, it had the result of enslaving us to law and death. Sometimes the offending doctrine has the strategy of incrementally LURING US AWAY FROM THE RACE. In reality, all of these are teachings that take us away from the feet of the Master.
This book is much more than a means of acquiring knowledge; it is a journey. Experiencing God, and His way of life, becomes a long and perilous journey, starting with great ambition, and it soon becomes confronted with a multitude of choices that result in discouragement. To bring encouragement, the Temple Builders message will cause us to travel to many areas of our life that can hinder OUR FURTHER TRAVELING – OUR FURTHER RUNNING. We will travel to the crossroad of choices that caused in us discouragement and despair - to find answers.
Our final destination in this life is a mature and fruitful life that pleases Jesus, our Friend. Within every true believer, this is the desire that was birthed inside. This desire of pleasing Jesus has been hindered by many obstacles that produced immature thinking. This book is a journey that puts our hearts on the altar and examines the “immaturities” that hinder us from pleasing Jesus. Jesus is pleased when we think like Him; this is a sharing of His thoughts and desires. Jesus is pleased when we do like He does; this fulfills the desire of the Father for children who have learned obedience.
As we examine and imitate Christ, there is a dying. Therefore, this journey must also be a journey of death in order to produce His life. However, as we teach to crucify our flesh we must end in mercy and resurrection. Maturity in teaching will bind up the wounds of our brethren, and yet bring new wounds to the part of man that alienates himself from God. God’s way is both fire and ice, both wilderness and promise land. This is why many of us feel it is a roller coaster ride of anticipatory ups and frightening downs. One moment we are on top of the world, and the next moment we find ourselves crashing to new lows. Our total yielding to God brings us higher than we can imagine, but we find those resistant ways in us have brought us lower than one would dare to go.
As we grow, we find that our yielding to God also causes valleys that are quite low. Yet, because we know the fellowship of His sufferings and His abiding resurrection power, we are spiritually as high as the view of any eagle. Truly, it is the way of Christ to be conformed to His death, even to the lows of life, so we may find true life in Him. Therefore, it is right to say that there are two roller coasters we must experience, one that our physical life brings, and one that our spiritual life brings. To experience a relationship with Jesus, it is worth forfeiting life’s highs for life’s lows, in order that we experience the spiritual high of seeing from the heights of where He is, and living that manner of life. As we journey, we must commit to be dead to life’s roller coaster whether it is up or down, and simply go up to where God is, in the highest calling He has for our life.
The high calling that God has reserved for us is not a paved road, it is a treacherous road designed for the committed. It will take all the commitment in you to decide to follow Jesus in EVERY AREA. To think like He thinks when no one around you thinks like Jesus will take great courage. To lay down your life for your brethren that mistreat you will exact a great price from the stores of your bosom. To respond like Jesus in every crisis and every attack requires devotion that is completely genuine in every aspect of your manner of living. You will face the present day Caesars on one side and the present day High Priest on the other side. One you expect to kill you - he will use Herod and Pilate to carry it out. The other can catch you off guard: he will use your “kissing” Judas, ones you previously set free, and the crowds of fellow journeyers.
We are in dire need of messages with His trumpet sound, which carries with each spoken word a great measure of grace to get us through death and into resurrection. My prayer is that Temple Builders can accomplish this for you in some areas of your life. This is a grace that causes us to respond perfectly when put to death by Caesar OR BY false brethren. Even though our brethren may not be thoroughly false, their temporary falseness will be used to put you to death.
Gal 5:7
You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? NASU
As we travel onward, we are brought to the very crossroads of our beliefs. We must examine why we believe what we believe. If a convincing Bible teacher has misled us, we must have the courage that Peter displayed when he saw the vision of the sheet. Peter was mightily used of God and yet he held a doctrine that was hindering the plan of God. Peter was taught his entire life of the importance of the law, and the importance of such things such as refraining from eating an unclean animal. It was Peter’s doctrine and yet justified through the present day interpretation of that scripture. To change Peter’s view of the scripture, God shows an unclean animal and speaks to Peter “kill and eat.” God will do the same to us.
Peter struggled with the unveiled doctrine that Gentiles were no longer “unclean,” and that Gentiles that became saved did not have to perform the law requirement of circumcision. Peter did much damage, this was evident when he was standing aloof from the uncircumcised, standing along side of the circumcision party. Simply joining yourself with a sect of heretical belief is a problem to God. Paul called this act of Peter’s – HYPOCRISY. It resulted in bringing other ministers and believers into that same hypocrisy. What seems to some as a simple miscalculation on Peter’s part brought unfortunate consequences – in doctrine. Paul gave three things that the doctrine of circumcision (law) produced. Galatians 5:3, 4
1. You are obligated to keep the whole law.
2. You have been severed from Christ
3. You have fallen from grace
In every one of us is the “Peter” that is stubborn to hear what God is saying concerning His plan. The result is a “law” oriented gospel that severs others from Christ. “Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” This is what Paul asked the Galatians. Peter was part of the problem; Peter was part of the “hindrance.” Instead of admonishing the “law” type of leaders, he stood along side of them. We learn from the things Peter did that were an example of Jesus, but we also must learn from his failures as well. If Peter can learn, we who are just as stubborn – must learn as well.
In one breath, we can preach a walk that is full of grace, and the next moment we can preach a lifestyle of law and works. Our ambition to walk a disciplined Christian lifestyle can easily end up as a Galatian walk of circumcision. The answer is to learn God’s high calling for our life and press forward in the grace that produces a race that we can finish. Law is the counterfeit for the hope of your calling. It sets high standards on our life that cannot be achieved, and it encumbers your race with weights that choke the life out of you.
We must have the courage to see, hear, and do what is on Jesus’ heart no matter what we have believed all of our life. It is a struggle even for the “most used” of God, and yet God calls all of us to come to these crossroads, lest we remain immature in Him.
Our journey continues to deal with sufferings, revival, and all types of false doctrines. We must deal with church issues such as the popularity of those that call themselves heresy hunters. What is their purpose? Is it the way of God to expose other Christians? We must also deal soberly with the issue that seems to offend the heresy hunters – current revivals and their manifestations. Are current revival manifestations vital to the plan of God? How do I protect myself from being misled? In addressing these types of issues, “we open up a can of worms,” as the expression goes. These serious issues cause the church to stumble and remain immature. Many Christian bystanders have observed these issues and are confused about who is right. Other Christian bystanders have heard from God on these matters and simply have not dealt with these issues in a manner that will purge out the leaven.
By not confronting these issues with truth, we have allowed the leaven to spread throughout the body. However, improperly dealing with these issues can cause more damage than the issue itself. THEREFORE, WE MUST POSSESS THE FEAR OF GOD IN GREAT MEASURE WHEN CONFRONTING ISSUES THAT ARE GREAT IN CONTROVERSY. Temple Builders has been given grace to take the risks, to deal with these issues soberly, and yet producing fruit that remains. The risk of stepping out as “God’s Amos” is seen in the suffering that Amos endured – accusation and mischaracterization. We that do so will be accused as being unqualified; with expressions such as “who do you think you are.” Most prophets in scripture learned to be dead to these attacks, and so must we.
In this journey of ours, we also come to a place where we must understand the purpose of affliction. God will reveal the book of Job and the life of Job, as you have never seen it before, so that we may understand affliction as never before seen. Proceeding forward, we examine the book of Nehemiah to show us a man who displayed the response to attacks that pleases God. Further still, our journey deals with the many places we can be imbalanced in doctrine, and in activities, and we set that path straight. These books of the Bible, such as Job and Nehemiah, have applicable meaning to where we are hurting and stumbling.
God reveals how all these pieces of the puzzle will fit with the culmination of His plans for the Church. The “Temple Builder journey” ends with “Seven Thunders”; our last two chapters that unfold a mystery found in the book of Revelation, written over 1900 years ago. These last chapters reveal what the seven thunders are, using much scripture, and in a way that could never have come through a teacher trying to academically figure it out. The Apostle John received it through inspiration from the Spirit and it must be revealed, totally, the same way. It is a truth being unsealed in this last day. It is an unsealing that brings scripture alive as never before.
This book is not meant as an exhaustive teaching. Instead, it has a particular anointing of portraying truth in a manner that will give hope to reach our finishing line. When I was born again and water baptized on October 21, 1979, I saved the church bulletin for that day. In the bulletin it said, “If a hypocrite is between you and God, he is actually closer to God than you are.” I kept that saying as a trademark of my life to prevent the misbehavior of other Christians, separate me from Jesus. I have had valleys where I allowed this separation to occur, in spite of my convictions. Disillusioned with the current church and ministry wineskin, I disassociated myself from Jesus’ body. After restoration, I saw that the problem was never the church, the ministry, or the hypocrite. The problem always resided in my own heart. It is my heart that had to be dealt with. It is your heart that always must be dealt with – IN ANY ISSUE. No matter how many attacks from other believers we have endured, no matter how many poor witnesses have existed, we must never allow that to hinder our relationship with Jesus and the race that He has called us to finish.
This book gives me hope in finishing, in being accepted in His love, and in being fitted into His body. I believe that its’ contents will strengthen your hope as well. Instead of becoming bitter about church immaturity, God gave grace to become better. God’s grace causes us to be an instrument to bring light to His ways instead of remaining disillusioned by ministry immaturity. Our enemy is never our brother; our primary enemy is always what we have allowed to enter into our heart. Truth will set us free from this enemy if we allow our hearts to be circumcised.
Finally, I believe that this book is a FORERUNNER. These truths are fresh insight to scriptures that have been vague or misunderstood. It is not new revelation in the sense that God is speaking something He has not yet spoken. It is more simply an uncovering or unveiling of scriptures that has been hidden to the mainstream church in this generation. This unveiling has been occurring all through the 20th century through many of God’s servants who have been forerunners of truth. God will raise up many more servants that will handle God’s present truth and unveil it to the 21st century believers as well. The challenge exists throughout this message to abandon old wineskins completely and receive God’s new wineskin, full of the fruit of the vine. We must change our thinking, and likewise change our course to match this new thinking. It is not enough to learn these things; we are destined to walk in all these things if we choose Jesus’ way instead of man’s way. The Apostle Paul said “I HAVE FINISHED THE RACE.” We must come to a place where we follow this example that Paul set. This book gives God’s view of the race and the ability to run that race.
The Restoration of right thinking
I remember in the early 1980’s listening to Joy Dawson, a powerful minister of what I call hard truth. One Sunday morning she preached a message called “It is how you finish that counts.” She taught on the life of Solomon. As she taught, we witnessed Solomon, a man used of God in great measure, but there was a problem - he did not finish that way. Joy Dawson taught, in the last day, Jesus looks at how we finished instead of the journey. If we grow cold, get caught in a trap, maybe backslide, or give up – we lose the high calling that is our destiny, and its rewards. Solomon was a temple builder that did not make it to the finishing line. I do not want to be another Solomon; as well, I know you do not.
To finish, it is not enough to pray hard and read scriptures a lot. To finish, it is not enough to attend the right church, to read the right books, or to have the right friends. Your “finishing,” is a journey in God that requires wisdom intermingled with love, and ends with a life of deeds that have imparted truth and fruit to those who God placed in your path. To that end, we preach this message called “Temple Builders.” It is a hard message that few can bear, including me, yet we are all required of God to receive that which we know God is saying to us. The Temple Builders message must get us to a place of truth, and it must get us to a place of fruit – by first bringing us to a place of death. The division we witness in the church, of saints believing millions of different doctrines - must end, for us to finish maturely. Right thinking must become a reality in God’s last day people. Right living must be the outcome of this right thinking.
The days of reading scriptures and making these scriptures say whatever makes us feel good - must end. I use scripture, you use scripture, and every scholar and preacher will use scripture, yet we have no agreement from that same source of information. Maybe, it is because God never meant scripture to be a source of information. Maybe, the purpose of scripture is reserved solely to the Lord, Who reveals. Most Christians have the thought that they are like attorneys, defending their case, from printed words. In reality, we are all at the mercy of God in understanding the meaning of scriptures. Scriptures define our roadmap for the journey; scriptures MUST BE INTERPRETED CORRECTLY. Scriptures, when interpreted correctly from the Spirit - produce life. This life is what propels us to the finishing line. Without a relationship with Jesus, and without a relationship with the Holy Spirit, our Teacher, we are sunk when it comes time to understand the scriptures. Only Jesus can tell us what He meant when He included a story, an exhortation, or a rule. We always fall into the trap of thinking in “law” type terms when we read the New Testament. Why is this? Because, the “law” type of thinking does not require a relationship with the promised Holy Spirit of Truth. We can simply figure out what the scriptures mean apart from God. As well, we can also Christianize our activities. We take a scripture like “forsake not the assembling…” and turn it into law. In reality, most of us do not fulfill this scripture, even as we sit in the pew, but law has a way of providing SELF-JUSTIFICATION so we feel pretty good about ourselves. If we were to peer into the heart of God to see what He meant when He had Paul write this scripture, we would have right thinking concerning this verse.
Before God shows you anything, it is His way to have you read and study; that provides the information that HE will assemble in your thoughts. However, that does not mean you have to interpret as you read; that usually comes later, when God speaks to you His thoughts on the matter. Instead, most Christians are content with the tradition of man’s interpretation of scripture instead of knowing God through scripture. Interpreting scripture apart from knowing God results in the spirit of law, and the spirit of sin and death.
All of us believe goofy doctrines because of those that taught us from law instead of Spirit. As if a racing baton handed down from generation to generation, we have received the sayings of those that read scriptures wrong. History records a period of time that was disconnected from the traditions of the original apostles, prophets, and believers, a time many refer to as the dark ages. We started all over, with few exceptions. What happened? We have been in a period of transition that is much like the time of Jesus. Before John the Baptist, there was a gap of hundreds of years since the last prophet was seen in Israel. It was part of the plan of God to have that gap, and it is part of the plan of God to have this gap. This time, Israel (a picture of the church), will witness another John the Baptist (God’s present-truth message used to prepare God’s people), and another Jesus (a remnant church). I do not expect the whole church to grasp this message of “finishing” until a remnant of believers see and demonstrate it first. Allow me to qualify the definition of the term “remnant church.” It is a people that are considered mature Christians. What is maturity? It will take this whole book to paint a picture, and define this popular Christian word.
Most Christians will progress a little, maybe, but will be nowhere close to God’s finishing line for their life. They have decided the meaning of their pet doctrines and their favorite scriptures, and they refuse change. In other words, they possess the law; they are in a period of law. Please, do not misunderstand; I am not saying they are categorically law oriented. This book is not about whether one is in or out of the kingdom, it about areas of our life that are amiss.
Are “law type” of Christians doomed to law? Many “remnant doctrine” believers – think so. I do not think so at all. I see a display of mercy that reaches to those that are bound by law – to deliver. I see a remnant people, a core group of believers - that possess the promised relationship of John chapter 14 to chapter 16. In that relationship, they have learned to hear a voice that few have learned to hear. It is a voice that teaches scriptures accurately. No more controversies, no more misunderstandings, and no more debate. We yield to One of greater understanding. It is this people that will preach in the wilderness, and it is this people that lay down their life for their brother. Self-preservation, self-motives, and self-promotion, cannot be named among them. BEFORE we become a great witness to the world, I think we will become a great witness to the church. This would follow the pattern of the Gospel in the Early Church, “to the Jew first, then to the Greek.” I think that this “Temple Builders” message is a “John the Baptist” in the wilderness. Only those willing to go into a wilderness will hear it. It is not preached in the mainstream, it is preached in a place unfamiliar to the pious. It is not preached by the credentialed, it is preached by the simple. The authoritarian spirit stays far from this message, a message where the first in this life have made themselves last. Unrefined and yet packaged for those that are truly hungry for the things of God – truths that are deep within His heart. There is no preaching circuit, no fellow-comrades with similar teaching, and no broad ministry acceptance – in this message. Those needing a stamp of approval by the “ordained,” normally stay out of the wilderness message. Those that want casual implementation of truth, or a low profile spreading of a last days’ message, instead, will find a frontal attack and a violent assault on their senses.
Truth does not come through knowing what scriptures say, it is not received from listening to anointed ministers, and it does not even come from books like this. God can use all these vehicles to drive you to truth, but Truth is a Person that is received as the Lord of our life. He rules our thoughts, our deeds, and our beliefs. We do not get to choose anymore – what we hold to be true. He decided it already, and we will spend our whole life getting to know Him in such a way - where we can listen. It takes every affliction, every battle, and every human relationship, to get us in a place of submission to His voice. It does not come from pew sitting and Bible class, not even cell groups, it comes through pain designed to get our attention. It comes though being humbled in circumstances that are designed to get us to STOP, and read scriptures different, to read scriptures by listening. This is what is missing in the time of law.
Prophets in scripture are called Seers. In reality, they are see-ers. They see what others miss. When I teach, I see these things clearly. It is an experience that I liken to the Holy Spirit taking His eyes and placing them within me. This of course is not mystical, it is the experience of every Christian; many Christians just do not recognize it. Some, because of doctrinal beliefs, just will not admit it. Paul called it the eyes of the Spirit in Ephesians and he prayed it for every believer. The utmost I could ever hope to aspire to, in this life, is that you could read this message seeing with only His eyes. I pray that your eyes are open where they need to be, and they are closed where they need to be. I pray that you can look beyond that which causes me to be a stumbling block, and look to Him Who is the Author and Finisher of your faith.
This particular journey, which I have asked you to take with me, is a place of ascension. The voice of God’s Own Spirit is beckoning you to “come up higher.” It has been called “the mountain of the Lord.” In type and shadow, it is Mount Sinai, with the glory of God on top. There are varieties of craggy, rocky places along this climb that we will make, but His Word promises that He “…makes my feet like hinds feet.” It is His way to equip you for the climb. He would not make your feet to be like the feet of an animal that gracefully navigates the rocky precipices if there were not a need for you to do so. There is a higher calling that He is compelling His saints to answer. On Mount Sinai, there is only one real big obstacle that we must face. It is God Himself. If we truly navigate the slopes of Sinai, we are greeted at the top with a confrontation of Who God is, and how we are lowly in His presence. The Israelites saw a glimpse of Who God is, and it scared them. We do the same thing that the Israelites did. Most of us would rather stay in the valley and allow others to go up to the top. For most of us, it is enough just to hear the report from those that went. Ultimately, staying in the valley causes all of us to worship golden calves in our life. That calf is represented in our life by what consumes our thoughts and activities – apart from God.
We will cover a variety of different subjects that will provide the Christian church in the last days the enabling to cope with different areas of the Christian walk. These are areas that the adversary the devil seeks to devour. We must examine the devil’s strategies; and at the same time, we must hear from heaven, specifically hearing the strategies that come from God. The strategies that come from God make no “natural sense,” but if we will hear and obey, we will see the deliverance of our God. However, in all of these teachings, you are ultimately being confronted with God, whose awesomeness will scare you as He shows you what He really looks like. At that point, you choose your direction. Do you allow this awesome view to compel you to the top, to the high calling of God? Alternatively, do you allow the revelation of Who God is - cause withdrawal to that which is familiar?
Who is this book written for? It is written for any Christian who has a heart that is sick of the carnal nature that they have yet to overcome. It is written for those who pray to the Lord – THERE MUST BE MORE. It is written to those who have found in themselves an inability to grow up in Christ. Finally, it is written for those who have searched to find other Christians living the Gospel, and found disappointment instead.
This is a message to minister to these people of God that have come to a dry place, a desert place, where God has allowed a void to exist in our heart that can only be filled by knowing Him more. This is a place in our walk where we have come to the end of our own abilities and ideas, and have opened our heart to hear from heaven. This is a voice, which at many times cannot be heard in the thunders of the many voices spoken in today’s Christian media. It is a voice where we must be attentive and active to hear, without precluding as to what form it may appear in, a voice that does not originate from earthly things. The opinions of the world originate from the god of this world, but God’s voice does not spring from the emptiness of opinions. God’s voice will fill us, and we