A Study of the Book of Mormon

Alma 36:24-30 From the point of Alma's conversion moving forward, he states: I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. ( vs. 24 ) These verse actually summarize with testimony a lot of thoughts and feeling that I have experienced as of late. Alma's whole effort since the point of conversion forward had been to help others come to Christ, bringing them unto repentance and to experience the great joy that he had. His whole effort has been that others would be born of God and be filled with the Holy Ghost. These are the fruits of his labors and they were a source of great joy for him. This is reminiscent of the Savior's parable of the sower: those that received the good seed, bore fruit. (See Matthew 13:23 ) (I've made some personal notes on these verses elsewhere.) Again at the end of...

Mosiah 24:17 See also Exodus 3:12 and Alma 38:4 As the Lord is explaining how He will deliver the people of Alma, He says "I will go with thee." One of the footnotes on the word "with" in that statement is from Exodus. There the Lord reminds Moses to serve God in the mountain upon your deliverance. This is a reminder to not forget the temple. In Alma, it reads: For I know that thou wast in bonds; yea, and I also know that... thou didst bear all these things with patience because the Lord was with thee; and now thou knowest that the Lord did deliver thee.  There is a great deal of personal significance in these verses this morning, which any good scripture study should have. I do not go into details here though, except to point out that the Lord does from time to time require His saints to endure hardships and trials beyond what would appear to be normal and acceptable.

1 Nephi 16:18-32 The account of Nephi's bow breaking has several point of interest to me this evening. First, when Nephi's brothers and father murmur against the Lord because of their want of food, Nephi's first priority was to correct them in murmuring against the Lord. He spoke much unto them. This principle of truth, speaking much to persuade his brethren, was a principle of power in my mission. Even now I see it as a point of persuasion. Nephi had the truth. He knew he had it. And the way that he convinced his brethren and father of the truth was through much persuasion. This was even more important to him than making a new bow. Nephi understood that he had to have his brothers' support and his father's patriarchal guidance to overcome this obstacle. Secondly, immediately after they humbled themselves because of Nephi's words, he was able to make a new bow and find food. He was led directly to it. This clearly demonstrates that the Lord could have at any tim...