Christian Larsen's Baptism – Talk on The Holy Ghost

Do you have an ear? How do you know? Can you touch it?

Do you have a heart? How do you know? Can you touch it?

Does your heart have an ear? How do you know? Can you touch it?

The Holy Ghost is going to touch your heart's ear. You have to listen very carefully to hear The Holy Ghost. So what is The Holy Ghost like? Doctrine & Covenants 130:22 teaches us: “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.”

Christian, this afternoon, I am going to share two musical examples of listening to The Holy Ghost. To introduce the first I will quote from Henry David Thoreau's conclusions describing his time living at Walden Pond”:

“Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple tree or an oak. Shall he turn his spring into summer? p. 216

Drums from Nigeria, Benin, Mongolia, and Australia.

“Our Class”

C: Our class is the CTR-8

This year we pass baptism's gate

We Truly are CTR-8

And there's no question we are great

My name is Roice

I teach this choice

Group of young people

Who are finding their voice

I'm Thor Larson's

I'm not Johnny Carson

I help keep control

As a substitute Parson

I'm Christian

I like to listening

Sometimes to a different drummer

Getting baptized is my missionary

In Doctrine & Covenants 68:25 we are taught:

“ And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by th laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.”

Did your parents teach you to be baptized and to receive the Holy Ghost? Is this how I knew it was your mission to get baptized? So what happens now that you have been baptized? Well sometimes you will feel very much alone. As Henry David Thoreau wrote in “On Walden Pond”:

“A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows. The really diligent student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as solitary as a dervis in the desert. p. 95

My experience is that these time when we are alone are when we can be taught by The Holy Ghost. Doctrine & Covenants 121:46 teaches us:

“The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.”

Please listen with your heart to the words of this next song. This song describes how The Holy Ghost answered my first prayer: The First Prayer:

Be still, my son (Christian), be still

Be still, my son (Christian), be still

Be still, my son (Christian), be still

And know that I am God

You ask: “Who am I?”

You want to come to know me.

You ask: “Where am I?”

And, “How will I answer your plea?”

Yes, I'm close when you're on your knees

Yes, I hear you calling out to me

Yes, I'll touch your thoughts of truth

The spirit will answer for me

Look, down inside your heart

Can't you feel the burning there's

It's a voice witnessing for me

The love of God is everywhere

Help, this tiny seed to grow

This message is for everyone

Let all my people know

Tell them what Jesus Christ has done

I want to close with another quote from Henry David Thoreau: “Though the view from my door was still more contracted, I did not feel crowded or confined in the least. There was pasture enough for my imagination.” p. 63 As you go through your life, listening to your own drummer, may you always find enough pasture for your imagination and may The Holy Ghost always be your guide.

2007-03-04T15:20:21