New talk posted on LDS Talks

One of the nonmembers on our team, Ken West, went to church with us and it was awesome. First of all I got up and bore my testimony in sacrament and of course cred like a baby. Then, in Gospel Principles class we had a good lesson on Faith in Christ. Ken made a comment that I thought could get very confrontational, he said that nothing we can do will increase our faith, it is simply that you have faith in Christ and he will give unto us. One of the recently baptized members asked how to increase your faith when it gets low, and so we were talking about reading scriptures and I said that if we want an increase in faith we must sacrifice more for that. Anyway, Ken used Hebrew 11 to make his point, and so I turned to Hebrews 11 and prayed that the Lord would lead me to a verse that would prove that faith is increased through action, and sure enough the Lord answered my prayer. Hebrew 11:8-9 says:

8 By faith ^aAbraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an ^binheritance, ^cobeyed; and he went out, not ^dknowing whither he went.

9 By faith he ^asojourned in the ^bland of ^cpromise, as in a strange country, dwelling in ^dtabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

So, I told him that Abraham had great faith and as he obeyed his faith was increased and Ken's eyes began to be opened. Between Alma 34 and the lesson we were studying he began to break down walls of incorrect traditions and thinking that he had. It was so amazing the Spirit began to fill his soul and he was excited. Several times he said with excitement, I need to read this book of Alma. One of the missionaries were asked to give the closing prayer and he just kept saying I need to get me this book of Alma and read it, and finally the missionary just cut him off an prayed, it was funny. We got him a Book of Mormon and we talked for a few minutes before going into Priesthood. I told him that just like the Bible is a history of Judah, the Book of Mormon is a history of Joseph, I told him about a prophecy of Joseph who was sold into Egypt that a remnant of his seed would be persevered and I told him that what he was holding in his hands is the history of that remnant of Joseph. He asked me where in the Bible he could find that prophecy and I told him that I would find out for him. That is what inspired my talk. I went back to the hotel and wrote out a talk about that. I also spent the first few minutes of Priesthood to find many of the verses that I wanted to use to show him.

So if you get a few minutes jump over and read my talk. If you have other scriptures and/or quotes that pertain to this topic please make comments on my LDS Talks website so that I can make a complete compilation of ideas on this subject. This way anyone can use this in helping their nonmember friends to understand the reality of the Book of Mormon.

Thanks and enjoy!

Read the talk just click here!

Quick Update

It has been for ever since I have posted anything because our computer broke. I am at the public library for a few minutes and thought I would make a quick update.

We left Tampa for several reasons and moved to Jackson, Mississippi where we spent several weeks and did very well. We ran into a few issues and are now in Texarkana, TX for a week or so. It has been a crazy summer.

Yesterday, one of the guys, Ken, who is not LDS come to church with us and wanted a Book of Mormon. He is an amazing guy.

I also wrote a talk that I will post once my computer is up and running. It is more like a compilation on scriptures but it should be helpful. Ken asked me where in the Bible it talks about the stick of Joseph and I told him that I would find out and let him know, so the talk is some of my research.

Anyway, my family is doing great, they are actually in Illinois visiting Kevin and heather and then they are going to Iowa to visit Mark and Sherri. On their way to Illinois they met Kevin and Sherri in Nauvoo and watched the Nauvoo Pageant, they enjoyed that and some time in Nauvoo. So needless to say they are having a fun time.