Week 11

2 August 2010

Hello!

So I am enjoying the Stoke accent still and apparently, not everyone in England calls you "duck" or "Love". I have been told it is just a Stoke thing! WEIRD HUH? haha.

I want to share with you a little bit from my study this morning. I am currently still trying to finish the Book of Mormon. I am in 3 Nephi, I will be close to done by the end of the week though! Yay!

3 Nephi 22:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall revile against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the aservants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.
3 Nephi 24:17 And they shall be amine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I bmake up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
18 Then shall ye return and adiscern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.
3 Nephi 26:20 And it came to pass that they did do all things even as Jesus had commanded them.
3 Nephi 27:25 For behold, out of the books which have been written, and which shall be written, shall this people be ajudged, for by them shall their bworks be known unto men.

So, Can you guess what these scriptures are about?...cricket...cricket...SERVICE YOU ARE CORRECT! Once again, the biggest issue facing the church today is how to involve or really activate members in missionary work and I know that we as a family can do better. We don't do too bad, BUT we are definitely not "consecrated" towards missionary work. And that comes in later, but here is a verse I came across a few days ago and this was one of the first things Jesus said to the Nephites when he appeared to them.

3 Nephi 12:13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the asalt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor wherewith shall the earth be salted? The salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.

We are the Salt and if we decide not to do missionary work, not to use our savor, we then get Helaman 13:18 And it shall come to pass, saith the Lord of Hosts, yea, our great and true God, that whoso shall ahide up treasures in the earth shall find them again no more, because of the great curse of the land, save he be a righteous man and shall hide it up unto the Lord.

Or in other words, if we have a talent or a testimony of a certain point of the gospel and we do not share it, then it is taken away, because we have decided not to use the gift of that testimony that the Lord has given us!

And let us move to a different parable. The olive tree! =D
3 Nephi 14:17 Even so every agood tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that abringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore, by their afruits ye shall know them.

So, here we see that by their fruits, ye shall know them. What happens when the Lord of the Vineyard sees that the Tree does not bring forth ANY fruit? If it is just a tree taking up space. Look at Verse 19. Because "it is good for nothing" and if we as members of the church expect to just walk in by ourselves into the Celestial Kingdom having done nothing and having shared the Gospel with no one, then we expect wrong. You can expect to be "hewn down, and cast into the fire". That is what you can expect.

Serve God. Share the Gospel. Help the missionaries.

It is a lot more fun as a missionary to work with the members that want to serve instead of the ones that say, well I guess I am free on wednesday..night...for an hour...ish...UGH so annoying. Don't be annoying!

I love you all! I know this work is God's Work and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is God's Church. The Priesthood is in this Church and Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet of our time, today, right now (and is probably receiving some great revelation this second =P)

I love you,

Elder Blackburn