Zane's Talk on Faith (October 9, 2016)

Hi grandparents:

Zane just read us the talk he prepared for tomorrow in church. It will give you goosebumps.

(Happy Saturday night to all of you):

For those of you who don't know me my name is Zane Ross. I am 12 years old and recently became a deacon.


Six years ago my father had a traumatizing experience. You see, he and I were in Jacksonville Florida and needed a place to go eat. Naturally my six-year-old Self asked if we could go to a McDonald's with a play place. This was back in the good old days when people didn't have smart phones and GPS. My dad replied that he didn't know if there was one in Jacksonville. I told him that if we prayed we could find a McDonald's. My dad then explained that we couldn't just pray and one would magically appear; we had to have faith and work hard to find one. While I was processing this information, my dad was deep in personal prayer. You can only imagine how scared he must've felt because if we didn't find that McDonald's my faith would've been crushed forever. Thankfully we found McDonald's and I'm still here to give this talk.


If you haven't guessed yet my talk is on faith. So what exactly is faith? President Uchdorf says in this most recent conference that faith is a strong conviction about something we believe that moves us to do something we otherwise might not do. Alma chapter 32 verse 21 states faith is not a perfect knowledge of things. therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen which are true.


Many great and powerful things can be accomplished by faith. Take Abinadi for example. It must have taken so much faith to preach to King Noah, who had the power to kill him at will. And look what that accomplished, without it we would never know the names of Alma the younger, Captain Moroni, or even Mormon who had the knowledge of the plates given unto him by Ammaron, a descendent of Alma. The lesson here is that God has the bigger picture in mind and through faith and trust he can help us accomplish things that range from finding a McDonald's to baptizing thousand into the church.


 In the talk I referenced earlier, president Uchdorf went on to say faith means trusting not only in God's wisdom but we also trust in his love. If you are, say, everyone in this room, you have had something go wrong in your life at some point in time and odds are you are also facing trials you cope with every day.  that's OK. In Alma chapter 1 verse 25 it states, now this was a great trial to those who did stand fast in the faith. nevertheless, they were steadfast and immovable in keeping the Commandments of God, and they bore with patience the persecution which was heaped upon them. It doesn't matter how difficult your trials are, if you stand fast in your faith and trust in the Lord he can help you work through them. Our family's favorite scripture is Proverbs chapter 3 verses five and six. It reads trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.

I have a true testimony that through faith and trust in the Lord he will guide us in our every day lives to help us accomplish things as simple as finding a McDonald's to working through major trials.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Section 108

2 Therefore, let your soul be at rest…

Worry has been my companion for as long as I can remember.  He is the upside down of me.  On the faith side of me, I am strong and courageous, ready to take on challenges. On the upside down, worry haunts me and takes away my balance.  Fear replaces faith and I walk on egg shells: sure that any moment wo, wo, wo, will be with me or my loved ones.  My dad counseled me against worry.  He said to me not to go from high to low. Instead, “go from up to rest,” he said.  If I followed that counsel, my upside down would be calm, peaceful, serene, confident.

Section 109

7 And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith;

15 And that they may grow up in thee, and receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost, and be organized according to thy laws, and be prepared to obtain every needful thing;

In the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith gave these words.  I stopped on “And that they may grow up in thee…” hoping that that is happening in our lives.

Section 107

 99 Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence.
There is a place for all of us to serve in the church. Sometimes it's just to be a good ward member.

Section 110

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-04-16-special-witness-president-packer?lang=eng

Please view this video.  Elder Boyd K. Packer discusses this section.  Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery saw the Lord Jesus Christ in person, in the Kirtland Temple.  Other heavenly messengers also visited them and bestowed priesthood keys upon them, including Elijah, who brought the sealing keys.  That is why we are sealed together as a family.

Section 106

4 And again, verily I say unto you, the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and it overtaketh the world as a thief in the night—

 5 Therefore, gird up your loins, that you may be the children of light, and that day shall not overtake you as a thief.

I want to highlight the phrase “gird up your loins.”  It comes from the ancient practice of a person pulling up their tunic and tying it in a way that allows the person much greater freedom of movement.  It means “prepare yourself for a difficult battle ahead,” or “get ready; there is challenging work for you to do.”  This call to readiness by the Lord is to all of us.  He is coming again to the earth to rule and reign. He warns us of his coming not to scare us into action.  Instead, he is giving us a challenge to prepare our hearts. He wants us to “be the children of the light.” Otherwise, his coming will be dreadful because we have ignored his warnings and are not ready to meet him.