My First Sacrament Meeting Talk by Carter

     This past week  I was asked to speak in church. My heart was racing, and I hadn't been preparing anything for the past week.

 

     Well, Sunday morning rolled around, and I had nothing prepared. I was running around trying to put a talk together. I finally chose a topic from the Duty To God Pamphlet. I chose Spiritual Strength. I noticed This is what I said in my talk...

 

     "I was asked to speak about a topic of my choice from the Young Men's Duty To God. I chose the topic Spiritual Strength, which is the first topic in the Duty To God.

 

     So a question I had was; How can I strengthen my Priesthood Power by having a strong spirit? Well, what do the scriptures say about this? I looked through the Scriptures and found Doctrine and Covenants section 121 verses 34-36. They state that men should not partake of  or get caught in the worldly things because only righteous men can have powerful priesthood, where as an unrighteous man cannot, and will not, have a powerful priesthood.

 

     Another question that I had was;  How can I gain the Spiritual Strength I need to stay on the path of righteousness? Well, I told my self,  I can pray daily (morning and night), and study the scriptures. I can use the Atonement for repentance so that I can live worthily. Gaining and growing a testimony can helped when faced with trials.

 

     I had a trial not too long ago that I would like to share, and how I dealt with it. I had been invited to one of my friend's birthday party. We played games, ate snacks, and did what you normally do at  birthday party. Later in the evening, after eating our dinner, we all piled downstairs on the couches to watch a movie. They got out this one movie and asked if everybody could watch it. It didn't look like one of those movies that a twelve year old should be watching, so I asked what it was rated, and they all replied," Oh it's just PG13," and explained what it was about. I didn't think it looked like a good move to watch, so I said that I would have to ask my mom first. They all laughed and said," Well, your mom's not here." I said that I'm not allowed to watch PG 13 movies, and they eventually put something else in.

 

     So, from this experience I know that if I had not been gaining my Spiritual Strength, I would not have said or done what I did. I know that Heavenly Father gave me the courage to stand up for what I knew to be true. I know that if we pray and study the scriptures daily we can strengthen our Spiritual Strength. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."