Hope

I can't say it as good as Elder Steven E. Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy can. So here is his talk in words and video.

Steven E. Snow's talk in words is first.

Now for his talk that he gave.

I hope you all enjoy them.

Lost Sheep

You see this mentioned when Jesus Christ teaches a lot in the New Testament. Well its not a lot but it is one of the most famous parables that He gave. It is found in Luke Chapter 15 verses 4-7 and it says

4What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine ^ain the wilderness, and go after that which is ^blost, until he find it?

 5And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

 6And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

 7I say unto you, that likewise ^ajoy shall be in heaven over one ^bsinner that ^crepenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

 So if we have a friend who has gone astray we should really go and help them the best we can because the Lord would really like that. We should do the best we can to bring that lost one back to the ninety and nice that are waiting. Like it says in verse 7 the joy shall be good because that one was saved. So try your best to save that one and rejoice when it happens. Do your best that you can it may take years for them to come back or a few months or weeks. Whatever the time it will be well worth it.

Baptism

Baptism is really important. It is one major thing that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints do. Why is it important? Jesus Christ answered the question himself.

5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be ^aborn of ^bwater and of the ^cSpirit, he cannot ^denter into the kingdom of God.

This is found in John chapter 3 verse 5. Another one is found in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah chapter 18 verse 13

  13And when he had said these words, the ^aSpirit of the Lord was upon him, and he said: Helam, I baptize thee, having ^bauthority from the Almighty God, as a testimony that ye have entered into a ^ccovenant to serve him until you are dead as to the mortal body; and may the Spirit of the Lord be poured out upon you; and may he grant unto you eternal life, through the redemption of Christ, whom he has prepared from the ^dfoundation of the world.

Instead of Helam your name would go there if you are being baptized. So both of this scriptures have one thing in common yes baptism but entering into the kingdom of God. It is said two different ways one is eternal life. This is why we are baptized it is so we can have eternal life is the kingdom of God. Baptism is only one part but it is a very important part. Always remember that.

Something Cool

So I know I already posted something for today. But I found this awesome video. It has a really powerful message. It's amazing what a single invite to come to church can do.

Repentance

Why is this important? Well it is a very important step for many things and it also helps in many things. Say you screw up real bad. Now sure there's nothing you can do about it because you can't go back and undo it. So this is where repentance comes in. You admit that you did something wrong. So you are feeling bad about it right. Well through certain process in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints you will be able to repent of what you did. I am not going to go into major detail about them. Through this process you are able to feel better about yourself. You are also able to make amends with the Lord for what you did. Everything will be made better through repentance.

If what you did wasn't a major screw up you are able to repent through prayer. You ask the Lord for forgiveness and if He does forgive you it will be good. Use prayer if what ever you did was not a huge screw up and if it is a huge screw up then hopefully you can go through the process of repentance.

So I am using screw up but it could mean anything and this was the only word I could think of at the time.

Fiery Darts of the Wicked- Using the Sheild of Faith

So I thought I would focus on a part of what I wrote about last time. Just like the title says I what to write about the Fiery Darts of the Wicked. The scripture says

 16Above all, taking the shield of ^afaith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery ^bdarts of the wicked.

 Just like last time this is found in Ephesians 6 but I am only using one verse it is Verse 16. Faith is very important. We use it everyday in our life. Ok so this has probably been used before but you have faith that the sun will come up tomorrow. So faith is extremely important you always need it. It doesn't matter what it is. I have faith that Jesus Christ lives. That is one major aspect of faith. This draws my mind to a another scripture in is found in The Book of Mormon in the Book of Ether Chapter 12 verse 6

^afaith is things which are ^bhoped for and ^cnot seen

So this is only part of the scripture but this is the one part that came to my mind. It says it all what faith is in those 10 simple words.

Now the fiery darts of the wicked could come from anywhere. It could be a simple thought of hey take the candy no one will know that you did it there are tons more. Hey take that toy car your friend has tons more he will not notice that one is missing. Or it could be going out and staying out late and deciding to do something that you know is wrong. Or it could be something really bad. I don't know just imagine something really bad or what you consider something bad in your mind. These can all be considered fiery darts of the wicked. That is why you need the shield of faith. It is a major protection to you. It may be needed to be used in a minutes notice. So always have your shield ready. Never leave it behind because you will need it when you are least expecting to use it. That is when Satan always gets you is when you think you will not need it the most.

The Armor of God

There is this well known scripture in the Bible in the New Testament. It reads as follows

11Put on the whole ^aarmour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

 13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

 14Stand therefore, having your loins ^agirt about with ^btruth, and having on the ^cbreastplate of ^drighteousness;

 15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of ^apeace;

 16Above all, taking the shield of ^afaith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery ^bdarts of the wicked.

 17And take the helmet of ^asalvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

It is found in Ephesian 6 Verses 11, 13-17. Everyone of these pieces we need. Sure they are outdated in our times, but back in New Testament times they were the best of what was there. If it helps imagine more modern equipment. Anyways we can not just of one piece we need all of them. If you have everything but not the breastplate it wouldn't really work would it. You really need the sword because that is one of the most important pieces. It really helps because many people don't like or know the word of God. You need that to help you spread the word of God. The shield, everyone needs a shield, it helps in many things. So if you have the whole armor you are going to be alright. Always strive to have the whole armor never just have bits and pieces of it.

Hope you like the video it helps drive home the point.

Immersion

For some reason this topic has been on my mind for a while I don't know why. So I decided to start studying this for a little while. This is what I came up with. Immersion represents the death and burial of Christ. When we as members of this church talk about immersion it is usually about baptism. So as I was studying it a little bit I came upon this scripture

51They are they who received the ^atestimony of Jesus, and ^bbelieved on his name and were ^cbaptized after the ^dmanner of his burial, being ^eburied in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given—

I want to focus on the part were it starts at and. So we believe on Christ. So we are baptized by someone who can do the baptism. This is after the manner of his burial as it says. So the immersion like I said before is in the manner of his burial. Why? I don't know this is the way it was set up and this is the way us as members follow it. We follow it because Christ said to.