"Good morning brothers and sisters, I'm very grateful for all of the support that has been given
to me and to show that I am, I'm going on my mission just like I said I would. In order to do this
I needed to know what it was to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, this is indeed different than simply
following him. At first, I thought there was no difference between being a follower and a disciple.
Upon further study, I found that being a disciple of someone is a state of being. A true disciple
of Christ has the characteristics of The Prince of Peace woven into their soul. I love this
metaphor because it is true and can be applied to almost anything. Individual strands of any
substance is fairly easy to break, but once woven together with many other strings, they gain
so much strength. It doesn't just double the amount of strain it can take either, it can multiply
it many times over. In fact this method is so effective that many times on my welding job,
we would use ropes of metal strings rather than chains. There are many reasons for this but the
main one is simply because of how much stronger it is. We did use chains attached to the indoor
crane to move many things but when something was too heavy we used the metal rope instead.
Now imagine that if a few of these strands were rusted or corrupted or even just not there. It
wouldn't be nearly as useful as it could have been right? Well, it's similar to how disciple of
Jesus Christ need to be worthy and follow his example. Like the Apostle Peter said,
"Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge
temperance; and to your temperance patience; and to your patience godliness; and to
godliness brotherly kindness;and to brotherly kindness charity." All of these threads help
us to become as Jesus Christ is. I can see that people everywhere are choosing only
one or two of these threads. It's OK of you're working on becoming a better disciple of
Jesus Christ, but if only a couple of these threads are used or as little of them as possible,
it actually works against you and whomever you are trying to help. You start lifting someone
else up and then the cord breaks and both of you are spiritually injured in some way. It's like
in the Savior's day, they kept the commandment of refraining from working on the sabbath day but
criticized Jesus for healing on that day. It stopped them from doing more good in the world.
When they prayed, it was only to be seen by other men. They fasted but forgot the purpose of
doing so. It's as Jesus said, "They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from
me." It's also like lifting weights. You could to ten dead lifts at a time then take a break, but
doing one should OK. Eventually after doing this for a while, you do become strong but not
as strong as you could have been. Then when you need to Lift someone that is really heavy
and someone's life is on the line, what then? You've gotten stronger but because you've only
done one dead Lift at at a time so you're nowhere near as strong as you could have been. I
will ensure that these characteristics of Christ are woven into my soul so that this doesn't happen.
I cannot even miss one of these threads because if I do, then that gives the opportunity for the
destroyer to slip through. I testify that this gospel is true and that we all can't make it back to
Heavenly Father on our own, but through Jesus Christ we are able to return and be comforted
in this life. Heavenly Father wants all of his children to return to him and I know that because of
this path be can. I have chosen to follow this path and it has lead me here and shall continue
until my body and spirit are separated and even then I will continue in the name of Jesus
Christ, Amen".
to me and to show that I am, I'm going on my mission just like I said I would. In order to do this
I needed to know what it was to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, this is indeed different than simply
following him. At first, I thought there was no difference between being a follower and a disciple.
Upon further study, I found that being a disciple of someone is a state of being. A true disciple
of Christ has the characteristics of The Prince of Peace woven into their soul. I love this
metaphor because it is true and can be applied to almost anything. Individual strands of any
substance is fairly easy to break, but once woven together with many other strings, they gain
so much strength. It doesn't just double the amount of strain it can take either, it can multiply
it many times over. In fact this method is so effective that many times on my welding job,
we would use ropes of metal strings rather than chains. There are many reasons for this but the
main one is simply because of how much stronger it is. We did use chains attached to the indoor
crane to move many things but when something was too heavy we used the metal rope instead.
Now imagine that if a few of these strands were rusted or corrupted or even just not there. It
wouldn't be nearly as useful as it could have been right? Well, it's similar to how disciple of
Jesus Christ need to be worthy and follow his example. Like the Apostle Peter said,
"Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge
temperance; and to your temperance patience; and to your patience godliness; and to
godliness brotherly kindness;and to brotherly kindness charity." All of these threads help
us to become as Jesus Christ is. I can see that people everywhere are choosing only
one or two of these threads. It's OK of you're working on becoming a better disciple of
Jesus Christ, but if only a couple of these threads are used or as little of them as possible,
it actually works against you and whomever you are trying to help. You start lifting someone
else up and then the cord breaks and both of you are spiritually injured in some way. It's like
in the Savior's day, they kept the commandment of refraining from working on the sabbath day but
criticized Jesus for healing on that day. It stopped them from doing more good in the world.
When they prayed, it was only to be seen by other men. They fasted but forgot the purpose of
doing so. It's as Jesus said, "They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from
me." It's also like lifting weights. You could to ten dead lifts at a time then take a break, but
doing one should OK. Eventually after doing this for a while, you do become strong but not
as strong as you could have been. Then when you need to Lift someone that is really heavy
and someone's life is on the line, what then? You've gotten stronger but because you've only
done one dead Lift at at a time so you're nowhere near as strong as you could have been. I
will ensure that these characteristics of Christ are woven into my soul so that this doesn't happen.
I cannot even miss one of these threads because if I do, then that gives the opportunity for the
destroyer to slip through. I testify that this gospel is true and that we all can't make it back to
Heavenly Father on our own, but through Jesus Christ we are able to return and be comforted
in this life. Heavenly Father wants all of his children to return to him and I know that because of
this path be can. I have chosen to follow this path and it has lead me here and shall continue
until my body and spirit are separated and even then I will continue in the name of Jesus
Christ, Amen".
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