Main Points for talk:
Pulling especially from this week's Come, Follow Me study...
- Hone in on how Nephi testified of Christ
- Answer the question: Why did he care?
- Answer the question: How we can learn from him, the answer to that question, and how do we apply this to our lives
"To testify" is not nearly as formal as one might think. It can and should happen in a variety of ways, everyday.
Ultimately, it's the Holy Ghost that confirms your testimony, and that does the real work of convincing, and that should be relieving, as long as you're living worthily.
Times in this week's Come, Follow Me study wherein Testifying of Christ was mentioned, or specifically done.
- 2 Nephi 31:5-8 - Nephi testifies / prophesies of Christ's baptism, and His example that He set for us to follow.
- 2 Nephi 31:13 - Nephi testifies that we must follow Christ's example in repenting, being baptized, and we will recieve the Holy Ghost.
- 2 Nephi 31:15 - Heavenly Father Himself testifies of the truth in Christ's words, that we must follow Him and His example in order to be saved.
- 2 Nephi 31:16-17 - Nephi testifies that, because of Christ's words to him, he knows that we must endure to the end in order to be saved in the kingdom of God
- 2 Nephi 31:21 - Nephi testifies that the only name by which men can be saved in the Kingdom of God is Christ's name.
- 2 Nephi 32:3 - Christ's words will teach us all the things that we must do.
- 2 Nephi 33:6 - Nephi glories in Christ, who redeemed his soul from hell.
- 2 Nephi 33:10 - Nephi exhorts us all to believe in Christ, and in his words which are the words of Christ.
Think about Nephi, and what his intent was in writing all that he did in this week's Come, Follow Me study.
- Teaching, exhorting, Testifying
- We don't need to guess: 2 Nephi 33:3-4
- How can we know something that we can't see?
- The creation, the veil, faith, trials, the entire purpose of life
- It's how God has commanded that truth will be known: Witnesses
- Deuteronomy 17:6
- Deuteronomy 19:15-16
- Matthew 18:16
- 3 witnesses of the Book of Mormon, 8 witnesses of the Book of Mormon
3 Main Reasons (High-Level)
- Self-preservation (it's a commandment, and I want to be saved)
- Self-empowerment (I know that it will help me to grow closer to the Lord)
- Selflessness (I know that it will bless others)
Many different mediums for many different situations. No one silver bullet.
- Writing
- Teaching (formal teaching scenarios)
- Talking (day-to-day conversations)
- Heather's point about converting into your everyday language
- Texas vs. North Carolina vs. Chicago vs. Utah
- Social Media
- Preaching
- Singing
- Bearing formal Testimony
- Being an Example
Which is more effective? Depends on the situation.
Not mutually exclusive.
- Working at Bento: Fairly often would get questions about my faith
- Example
- Talking
- Teaching
- Current working situation
- Example
- Talking: Going to be hard, need to work on this more
- Raising small children
- Singing
- Teaching
- Example
- Time with Vocal Point
- Singing
- Example
- Social Media
- This Talk
- Teaching
- Preaching
- Bearing formal testimony
- Technology + Internet + Search Engines + Wikipedia = Society that is too used to getting "knowledge" too easily
- Makes it more daunting that you need to be able to back up testimonies with facts
- Mouth of 2 or 3 make sense today? (Yes, but ultimately it's the Spirit that's doing the work)
- Story of friend
- Story of Oliver Cowdery
- D&C 6:22-23
- 2 Nephi 33:1
You're just a tool in the Lord's hands. Don't make it about yourself, you'll just get in the way. Ultimately it's the Holy Ghost that's doing the testifying in reality.
Pulling especially from this week's Come, Follow Me study...
- Hone in on how Nephi testified of Christ
- Answer the question: Why did he care?
- Answer the question: How we can learn from him, the answer to that question, and how do we apply this to our lives
"To testify" is not nearly as formal as one might think. It can and should happen in a variety of ways, everyday.
Ultimately, it's the Holy Ghost that confirms your testimony, and that does the real work of convincing, and that should be relieving, as long as you're living worthily.