Day 274 Preach from the Wall: Samuel's Persistence

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me and know that I'm cheering for your every success. Have you ever tried and failed and just said, man, you know, I tried that and it didn't work for me?

Perhaps Samuel has something that could help you out with that a little bit. Welcome to day 274 on our 365 day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today, you're going to be reading Helaman 12:12-26.

Helaman 13:1-5. Preaching and Teaching of Samuel, a Lamanite. Now the interesting thing with Helaman chapter 12 on the tail end there is I think we're actually getting a little foreshadowing from Mormon as he puts these records together.

He's going to talk about the power of God and he's going to do it in a way that we really haven't seen in other parts of the Book of Mormon. He's going to talk about how God has the ability to make valleys out of mountains and make mountains out of valleys and make dry places lakes and make lakes dry places and kind of this rearrangement of geography type power and all sorts of things. And I think it's interesting because we're going to see that happen for us in just a few chapters inside of 3 Nephi.

And yet for Mormon, I think he's trying to say, remember the power that God has. And then he goes into this seemingly isolated story of Samuel, who is a Lamanite that has the spirit tell him to go and preach amongst the Nephites. And so he does.

And he fails miserably. And then the Lord says, go and do it again. And this is the part that we're going to have for our verse today.

We're going to look at Helaman chapter 13, verse 4. And it came to pass that they would not suffer that he should enter into the city. Therefore he went and got upon the wall thereof, and stretched forth his hand, and cried with a loud voice, and prophesied unto the people whatsoever things the Lord put into his heart.

Oh my goodness, he's told by the Lord, go back and preach, and he literally gets to the doors of the city and the people say, no, you are not welcome here. Now, my friends, it is at this point, I would imagine, I'm picturing like missionary times, right, when I served on my mission, but there are times as a missionary where you are just rejected pretty outright directly. "No, no thank you." "No, we don't want you here." And it is at those times that typically, and I'm included in that typical situation, we turn and leave and go the other direction. Not Samuel!

What does Samuel do? Samuel knows that he has been prompted by the Lord and told directly, "Go and preach." So Samuel says, "Well, if I can't get in the doors, I may as well just scale this wall right here!" And up he goes and begins to preach unto the people. And what does he preach?

Well, he sounds a lot like Nephi. He preaches repentance. And my friends, I know that repentance has been a major theme inside of Helaman here.

And some of you may be listening and saying, Allen, I get that they're preaching to people and saying that repentance is important, but what's the message for me? Well, I think the message for you and for me is to read it and go, where can I continue to repent? So, perhaps from this, as we get into the beginning of Samuel, this is a moment for me to remember that when I've been prompted by the Lord, do the thing I've been prompted by the Lord to do.

And sometimes it's not easy and it looks like I might fail. I can think of specific times where I've been very nervous in my secular job, right? As I go and I train with companies or family businesses or those types of things, there have been times where I am prompted very very strongly to say something specific that's kind of gospel related or even specifically gospel related.

And I, like, pause, and I'm like, "Oh man, can I say this in my job?" This is a... this is secular, right? This isn't religious work. I'm not here as a missionary.

And I have found that when I say the things I'm prompted to say, the Lord has my back. I have never had anyone come back to me and say, "Shame, shame, double shame! You should not bear testimony in front of us." And those are times I can look at and stand proudly and say, "Wow, I kind of had a mini Samuel." I'm going to read a little moment there.

Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't preaching repentance, so Samuel and I had slightly different messages, but when I'm prompted by the Spirit to testify, do it. I love that. My friends, testify of Jesus Christ every chance you get, in every place, in every scenario.

Climb the walls, preach from the rooftops, do it whenever you are prompted to do it, and the Lord will protect and magnify that testimony. I promise you that. That's all for today, my friends.

Remember that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt. I'll be here tomorrow, and I hope you are too.