3.185 He Is or Isn't...But If He Is...

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

My friends, how many of you have ever tried to play a game on both teams at the same time? If you have, how did that go for you? Now, some of you may be thinking about sports examples, The Bibles, which is fine.

That certainly counts as a game. For me, I think of times when I was a kid learning to play chess and I tried to play the white side of the board against the black side of the board. You know what happened every time I played that?

Eventually, I picked a side to win and the other side just lost out. As we dive into our reading this week, we're going to stay inside of 1 Kings 18. I warned you that we might not leave there.

We're going to continue to read. We're going to continue in Elijah's story. We're not going to go too far off from yesterday verse wise as we get Elijah responding a little bit to Ahab here and to the people.

But I think it important to keep this perspective of trying to play a game on both sides as we go into our verse for today. We're going to look at 1 Kings 18 verse 21 here as Elijah has an opportunity to talk to everyone in attendance. Verse 21 says this, "And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions?

If the Lord be God, follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him." And the people answered him not a word. There is so much happening inside of this verse here.

First of all, the question is so good for us. If you get stuck in making decisions, how long are you going to sit there between two opinions? The Bible says that the Lord is God, and that the people answered Him not.

What a word. Nobody wanted to get off the fence, my friends. Nobody wanted to pick a side.

We've talked about picking a side before in Savory Salt. Now, what does this mean when it comes down to playing games, and what does it mean for our lives? My friends, we cannot play on God's side and the world's side at the same time.

It is impossible as trying to play offense and defense in any sport where you play offense and defense. If you're playing any sort of netted sport, you certainly can hit a ball on one side, run over to the other side of the court, and return the ball. If you're playing football or soccer, you can be trying to hit a ball on one side, run over to the other side of the court, and return the ball.

I'm going to read a passage from the Bible. If you find out He does exist, follow Him. It's such a powerful part of our lives.

I want to give you a little bit of a snippet from a great talk that I came across in studying this one. It's from October of 2018. Elder Christofferson shared this.

It's called "Firm and Steadfast in the Faith of Christ." He's talking about this specific instance with Elijah. And he says this so good. He says, "The Book of Mormon is the Word of God or it is not.

But if it is, then get nearer to God by studying and abiding by its precepts. Either Joseph Smith saw and conversed with the Father and the Son that spring day of 1820, or he did not. But if he did, then follow the prophetic mantle, including the keys of sealing that Elijah bestowed upon him." My friends, I can add my witness to those that have scripturally testified.

I know Heavenly Father lives. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know the Book of Mormon and other scripture to be the Word of God.

I know Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, restored the Church, the Church of our Heavenly Father, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the earth today. I know these things, I know they are real, and as they are I do my best to follow them today. May you do so as well is my hope.

That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope you are too.