How to Treat the Sinner: 2nd Corinthians

From our lovely video that we watched tonight, we saw the point of view of the young lady that was esperinceing worldly sorrow for her sins. We closed the night thinking if we were the fiance who she had to tell. What would you say to her, how would we treat her? Read the following scriptuers and lets find how we should treat them. (We should be careful to pass the judgement considering that we all play the part of the sinner at one time or another.) If the worldly consequences of sin or minimized by better treating the sinner I wonder if we could sooner get to godly sorrow. 

How to Treat the Sinner: 

2nd Corinthians 1:3-4

2nd Corinthians  2:7-8

2nd Corinthians 2:10-11

2nd Corinthians 3:3

2nd Corinthians 5:17-18

2nd Corinthians  5:20

2nd Corinthians 13:9

Read these and comment how we should treat them. Thanks for coming tonight great princples were share, I truly am grateful that you all show up so I can learn from you!

Bro. Boyce

Simple Statement of Truth: The prophet and the Lord want us to be educated and learn all that we can: But that does not mean we should consider ourselves wise. We should always be progressing and glorifying in God.

1 Corinthians 3:19-21
19 For the awisdom of this bworld is cfoolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own dcraftiness.
20 And again, The Lord aknoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are bvain.
21 Therefore let no man aglory in men.

For me, the line between being educated and being "learned" seems to be a gray one: The prophets, our parents, and other church leaders are always advising us to learn as much as we can and get as much education as possible. At the same time, however, we are cautioned not to become "learned." I think what finally helped me distinguish between being educated and being learned is the notion of pride. In verse 20, it says that "the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." I think the vanity that the Lord sees in the thoughts of the wise is that they put the glory of their wisdom in themselves and not in the Lord. I think that the Lord wants us to learn all that we can, but we should always keep the mindset of humble students. Sidney Rigdon said, "Intelligence is the great object of our holy religion," and I think that's a profound statement. We want to be intelligent disciples of Christ, but we do not want to be lifted up in the pride of our own wisdom.

God Loveth a Cheerful Giver

2 Corinthians 9:7 ...God loveth a cheerful giver.

This concept reminded me of Moroni chapter 7. (I will only include a couple versus here)

5 For I remember the word of God which saith by their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also.
6 For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.
7 For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.
8 For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God.

11 For behold, a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water;


Both of these passages of scriptures reminded me of a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ophelia says, "Rich gifts wax cold when givers prove unkind."

Whenever I have given service with a cheerful heart I can feel such a difference. I feel so much better about what I am doing and I can tell it makes a difference to whom I am serving as well.

What are you taking home? 17-February-2008 1st Corinthians

What did you remember the most from class? What thoughts did the spirit teach you that you felt applied to you! That way people who missed can see what we did! What did you learn from 1st Corinthians respond to this post with your comment! Thanks

Put Sin In It's Place

In Romans 6:2 Paul is writing and he says "God forbid, how shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
This verse is just really awsome, it is simple and powerful. So much so that I missed it many times and never figured it out. All it really says is that if we live our lives rightousely with an eye single to his glory with all the vigor of our hearts that we can be dead to sin.
My favorite part is "dead to sin" We can be dead to sin. When devils try and tempt us we can be dead to sin and pass over not threw the trial or timtation at hand. And because we are dead to sin and sin dead to us we will not intertain it at all and we will be like Paul or like Christ when he was tempted after fasting for 40 days. Get thee behind me!

If we put first things first and obay our rightous disires we can become dead to sin and not get bogged down in the termoil of the world. Not get slowed and held back but use the evil of the world to keep our heads on striaght and go the distance.

Martin Luther

Simple Statement of Principle: We are saved by grace.

Romans 5: 1-2
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Whenever I read this scripture, I inevitably think of Martin Luther. During the sixteenth century, Martin Luther (and the rest of the Catholic Church) believed that man and woman were fallen with no real hope for salvation. God's "righteousness" was the fact that He was a just God. When Luther read this scripture, though, he realized that the righteousness of God was the fact that through Christ (and our faith in Christ) we can be justified. For me, this is a really powerful scripture. I know that our works will affect our place in the hereafter, but I also have such a strong testimony of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

President James E. Faust said, "Our salvation depends on believing in and accepting the Atonement. Such acceptance requires a continual effort to understand it more fully." I hope I'm still in the process of trying to understand the Atonement, but I'm also so incredibly grateful that I'm a part of the Lord's restored Church where I know Heavenly Father's plan of happiness.

Nothing Can Separate us From God's Love

Romans 8:35, 38-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I love scriptures like this! I love knowing that God's love for us is stronger than we could ever imagine. I love the comfort and joy that I feel when reading verses that speak to me about the love our Heavenly Father and Savior have for us.
I know that Heavenly Father loves me individually and that I am literally His daughter. I know that when I am in need of help I can turn to my Father in Heaven and that He is there to help me. I have felt His love in my life and I know I will continue to feel His love throughout this life.

What are you taking home? 10-February-2008 Romans

What did you remember the most from class? What thoughts did the spirit teach you that you felt applied to you! That way people who missed can see what we did! What did you learn from Roman's respond to this post with your comment! Thanks!

Joint-heirs

“The spirit communicates directly with our spirit relaying our nature as children of God and also our full potential as heirs to His kingdom.”

Romans 8: 14-17

14 For as many as are aled by the bSpirit of God, they are the csons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of abondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of badoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth awitness with our bspirit, that we are the cchildren of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; aheirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we bsuffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the asufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the bglory which shall be revealed cin us.

This New Testament passage of scripture stands as a witness of our true nature as children of God the Father. Since the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ the truths that were once distorted by the apostasy have become clear. Although these truths have been distorted throughout the Bible; this New Testament scripture remains as another witness that we, as children of God, are heirs to all that He has. Our nature and potential is reflected in the phrase “joint-heirs” with Christ. Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, thus enabling Him to complete His eternal Atonement in our behalf. He “won” the race of life and received the “prize” of eternal life. Although the race has already been won we must continue fighting through the finish line. As we finish our race Christ shares his prize with all of us and thus we become joint-heirs of the prize. It is through the spirit that we come to know that these principles are true. The spirit communicates directly with our spirit relaying our nature as children of God and also our full potential as heirs to His kingdom.

True shepherd

We have been entrusted with talents, callings and responsibilities that we must “watch over”.

Acts 20:28-30
28 ¶ Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the aflock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you boverseers, to feed the cchurch of God, which he hath purchased with his own dblood.

29 For I know this, that after my departing shall agrievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking aperverse things, to bdraw away disciples after them.

As we take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and become members of His church we receive the responsibility to watch over our “small flocks”. This reminds me of the talk given this last conference priesthood session where we were commissioned to “lift where we stand”. We have been entrusted with talents, callings and responsibilities that we must “watch over”.

Don't fall out of windows.

If we don't listen to our Church leaders we may fall out of windows.

Acts 20:7-12
7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
8 And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.
9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
10 And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.
11 When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.
12 And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.

So many times our Church leaders are teaching us but we zone out thinking it is not important, or it is not God speaking to us. But in reality it is the Lord speaking to us through His servants, so we should strive to pay attention to them and really listen. We should avoid the tendency to knod off and risk ourselves, maybe not to falling out windows, but to falling out of chairs or falling out of our testimonies.

As we strive to live the gospel the Lord will fill us with joy and peace, and we may have hope.

As we strive to live the gospel the Lord will fill us with joy and peace, and we may have hope. Romans 15:13

13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

As members of the Church we know that as we live the Gospel we are blessed to have the Holy Ghost as our companion; and we learn from this scripture in Romans that as we have the Holy Ghost, we are filled with hope. I am always amazed by the idea of doing our part to follow the commandments, and being blessed by our Heavenly Father to not just have joy and peace, but to be filled with joy and peace, and that we may be abound in hope. We can't be perfect as we strive to keep the commandments, but the Lord will be perfect in blessing us as we do all we can; and He will be perfect in filling us with joy and peace and the Holy Ghost allowing us to abound in hope.

Be like Paul

Romans 1: 16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

I think this is a really powerful scripture because Paul bears his testimony about the appropriateness of the gospel for all persons. In high school, I think that I often felt "ashamed" of the gospel - and I don't mean embarrassed of my beliefs, but I mean that I didn't feel comfortable expressing all of my beliefs to other awkward seventeen year-olds, because I didn't think that my way of life was necessarily the best way of life for them. I've since matured (I hope!) and I really have a testimony that the power of the gospel can enrich all lives.

In M. Russell Ballard's talk "The Truth Shall Go Forth," I really think he captures this spirit of missionary work: We should be preaching to all nations, all peoples, and M. Russell Ballard testifies that "conversion [will] happen in many lands despite every adversarial attempt to thwart the Lord’s work or discourage the Lord’s workers."

I really want to try and be more like the apostle Paul in sharing my testimony with those around me.

Hardships ahead but joy in the end

One scripture that I found interesting this week in my reading is found in Acts 20:22-23. Paul declares, "I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide with me." It impresses me that even knowing how hard his journey would be Paul was willing to go wherever the spirit prompted him to go. In life we know that our lives will not be easy. I used to tell people on the mission that to become a member of the true church of God does not mean that with its membership all of a sudden all of your troubles will vanish. It is quite the opposite at times. Sometimes because we have chosen to become members of Christ's church our lives become even harder. As Elder Holland said once, "we all need to take a few steps up towards Calvary." We all need to go through trials and many of us will be persecuted because of our beliefs. If we are faithful, however, the Lord will strengthen us and we will find true joy at the end of the struggle. In the april 2008 address Elder Zwick mentioned the story of the young prophet Joseph Smith. Even as a small boy after his miraculous vision "men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create bitter persecution." Joseph continued through all the perseuction believing that "no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing." Joseph knew that he would be required to make many sacrifices for the Lord but he would not be the weak link and give up when the road became rough. Moses did not give up when told to return to Egypt and tell the pharoah to let his people go. Nephi did not give up when his brothers beat him or tied him to the boat. Most importantly, Christ did not give up when in the garden, all alone, He suffered so that all of us would have a chance to return home. So it is with us. We all must be willing to accept the trials that are alloted us and push forward when the spirit commands us to move forward. I know that the Lord truly will help us through those trials just as he helped Paul and so many before us.

Walk the walk and Talk the talk

Don't be a hypocrite- the way you live your life should be a testimony of the words you speak.

19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,

20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the ^aform of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

21 Thou therefore which teachest another, ^ateachest thou not thyself? thou that ^bpreachest a man should not ^csteal, dost thou steal?

22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit ^aadultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou ^bcommit ^csacrilege?

23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?

Be Thou an Example

"The Apostle Paul provided sound counsel to guide our performance: 'Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity' (1 Timothy 4:12).

"Remember that the mantle of leadership is not the cloak of comfort, but the robe of responsibility. Accountability is not for the intention but for the deed. You must continue to refuse to compromise with expediency. You must maintain the courage to defy the consensus. You must continue to choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong."

Thomas S. Monson, "Three Gates to Open," CES Fireside for Young Adults, Jan. 14, 2001

One Can Make All the Difference

Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Because we cannot escape the influence we will have on others it is important we strive to be a positive influence. A quote I found that discusses the impact of our influence on others is
"...home and family influence is much more significant than that exercised by peer groups or by programmed participation. In fact, the influence of the home, whether it be positive or negative, is overwhelming.” (Regional Representatives’ seminar, 1 April 1983.)
I believe this quote to be true and think it is important to remember we influence our homes and have a huge impact of whether our homes are a positive or negative environment.

Higher includes the Lesser

Simple Statement: Christ came to give a higher law which embodies the old law.

Romans 13:8-10
8 aOwe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that bloveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit aadultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not bsteal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not ccovet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy dneighbour as thyself.
10 aLove worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the blaw.

It is so important to remember that the gospel preached by Jesus Christ and his followers is the old law with harder rules. Paul is teaching that the law of loving everyone embodies every law in the Ten Commandments. If you love your neighbor then you will never commit adultery with someone you truly love and respect. You’ll never kill a man you love. If the true spirit of love is in you then all that you do will be according to the Ten Commandments.
This puts a whole new spin on driving home and wanting to…say bead things to those driving around you. Do you love then as Christ does? If not are you really keeping the law?

God = Fair

Romans 2:11,13,25-29
I really love this chapter and how Paul lays things out for us. It seems to me that in this chapter and espescaly in the above mentioned verses that Paul is really telling us about the charater of God. He is saying that he is just, understanding and fair; He is no respector of persons, he respects our actions not our words, and that just because someone does not or does have more knowlegde then another or was brought up a sertain way does not make them any more eleigible for the kingdom of god.
Our Heavenly Father loves all of his childeren very much and will give them all a chance to return to him. Our Father judges us on our rightous action upon the intent of our hearts. It's less, so and so lived a perfect life and more, so and so did the very best they could with what they were given, and it was there Charater and disire of goodness that really is the measure of a man or a woman.
So thinking about this chapter I would say that a statment of principle would be......
Though we live our lives according to the laws of earth and heaven, we are not nessasacraly worthy of the kingdom of God. It is why we live those laws that make us worthy of the Kingdom.
Charity (the PURE love of God) the true measure of a man.

Use the Power of Knowledge

The power of Knowlegde is a power to be a powerful wittness of Christ.
I find it so amazing how Paul reacts to the questioning of the courts of Agrippa, Felix and Festus. In all cases, he is calm and collected, and uses the knowledge about the law to his advantage. IE that he is a Roman, and always remembering that they really don't have anything on him. He does not fear man more then God.
I think that if we do the same as Paul and get ourseleves a little knowledge about everything that we will be able to be greater wittnesses for Christ. Going along the same lines, we are commanded to search out learning out of the best books.

If we let the lord shape us as we strive to become like him, then we will become a fine tuned instrument in the hands of the lord that he can use in a very wide variety of ways, to fill the mesure of our creation.

God is our loving heavenly Father.

Simple Statement: God is our loving heavenly Father.

Acts: 29. Forasmuch then as we are the aoffspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto bgold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s cdevice.

The one little sentence can teach us so much about the relationship he have or should have with God. He is our Father and we need to speak to him as such. Paul was trying to have common ground with the people of Athens; who have been worshiping idols of gold, silver, and stone for centuries. The Unknown-God that they worshiped was in fact the only God; The Father of us all.

I take great comfort in knowing and understanding that the one that is in charge of us all is in fact our Father. Life for me makes more sense if someone that is in charge of us loves us rather then an all powerful being that will only be nice to me if I give them something. God loves me even when I do wrong.

"To be spiritually minded is life and peace"

Romans 8:6 "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

When I read this scripture it really impacted me and made me think about my life and when I have truly been at peace and like the scripture says, I have only been truly peaceful when I have been living righteously. I remember when I was on my mission, we were teaching a lady named Elizabeth and seeing a great change come upon her family. When she first received the missionaries she told them that she would never go to Church, but three weeks later after receiving a testimony that the Church was true, she was in Church every week afterwards. Her family however was not quite as responsive, but after three months her husband finally started to listen to us and accepted our invitation to go to Church. We promised him that if he came to Church that his family would be blessed. Well, the entire family went to Church, but the blessings we had promised them did not quite happen the way we expected them to. The very next day their washing machine broke, so Elizabeth was forced to do all of the laundry by hand. The following day their refrigerator stopped working and all of their food, including all of their meat that they had just bought went bad and had to be thrown out. The following day the husband, Daniel, lost his job. Then to top it all off, their grandaughters who were living with them decided to go to a party but needed some money, so they stole Elizabeth's money that she had saved for a rainy day and spent all of it at their party. I remember passing by each day and I kept asking myself why all of these terrible things were happening to this family after they had completed with their end of the bargain by attending Church. Well needless to say I didn't expect to see any of them in Church the following Sunday, but to my surprise they were all there and they were happy. When I asked Elizabeth why they had come, she told me, "Elder we don't have anything of value and we are poorer than we've ever been, but for the first time in our life we are truly happy." The Lord had blessed this family in a way that we had not seen; He had given them peace and happiness that only comes when we are living worthy. Despite all of their trials the Lord blessed them with his spirit, which they valued more than all their possesions. I know that we truly do receive peace when we keep the commandments of God and are spiritually minded.

John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Paul's testimony

In Acts 20:24-35 Pauls testifies of his teachings and prophisies that the people will fall away in apostacy. In Verses 29 and 30 he talks about geivous wolves entering in among them and leading the people away. He also reminds the people of their responsibility to oversee the church and that they have a duty to the gospel becasue it was purchased with the blood of Christ. I think this can be applied to our lives becasue we live in a time when there are so many things pulling us in all directions that it is hard to stay focused on our spiritual goals sometimes. If we allow ourselfs to be seperated from the spirit it makes it easier for the grievous wolves of sin and human nature to establish themselves in our lives. We need to always remember to do the small and simple things to fortify ourselfs from going astray.

Arise and Go

Acts 9:10-11 teach an interesting lesson. Ananias hears the Lord call and his response is quick, "behold, I am here, Lord". Ananias is instructed of the Lord to go find Saul who was persecuting the saints and cure him of his blindness. He then responds, "he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name"(vs 14). It is almost as if he is simply reminding the Lord that if he goes he could be thrown in prison or worse. Nevertheless, "Ananias went his way, and entered into the house" and did what was required of him. (vs17) Even though he knew the dangers of his task Ananias was willing to do whatever was asked of him. He believed, like Peter , that it was better to "obey God rather than men".

It impresses me how quick he responded. He did not waste time but straightway left his home and went to Saul. A similar story is found in the Book of Mormon in 1 Nephi 17:7-8 where the Lord speaks to Nephi and instructs him to "get into the mountain" and immedietly Nephi did. I could just imagine if the Lord came to me after I had just woke up and said go up to the top of the Y and pray. I think that it would be hard for me just to do that but when the Lord tells us something it is always best to react as soon as we can. The Lords time may not always be the most convenient for us but if we obey we will always be better off.

Simple Statement of Truth: We have a sacred responsibility to strengthen the church of God

Scriptural Reference: Acts 20:28 "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

I think it's really interesting that so many scriptural references include metaphors pertaining to food. This scripture tells us that we must "feed the church." Feeding, obviously, connotes a sense of nourishment. I think that our responsibility as members of the church is to nourish ourselves by going to Church weekly, reading scriptures daily, saying prayers. Also, however, we have a call to nourish others.

I think a great program that calls for nourishing others is Visiting Teaching and Home Teaching. I have a testimony of Visiting and Home Teaching and I know it is a way for us to strengthen ourselves, our brothers and sisters, and our church. I think this is a really sacred call that I know that I need to take more seriously.

Silvia Allred said, "One of the ways Relief Society sisters can feed His sheep is through visiting teaching. The purposes of visiting teaching are to build caring relationships with each sister and to offer support, comfort, and friendship.” Although this specifically talks about visiting teaching, I think it applies to all members. As members of God's Church, we can strengthen each other and ourselves.

When the Lord Speaks...

When the Lord speaks we should respond swiftly.

The Acts 16: 9-10

9. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
10. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.

There are few things that we are asked to do while we are here on the earth. Sometimes we might feel overwhelmed or inadequate or that what is asked of us is too much. If we have an eternal perspective then we will realize that it is not much at all that is required of us. The Lord has promised has promised His spirit to be with us if we strive to be obedient and follow him. Through His spirit we can receive answers to prayers. Sometimes we are asked to be instruments to answer someone else's prayer. When we are blessed to do the Lord's work we should be willing to swiftly respond to whatever is asked of us.

He Will Lead Thee by the Hand

“The Lord has said, ‘Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers’ (D&C 112:10).

“What a tremendous promise is given in this statement. If we are without conceit and pride and arrogance, if we are humble and obedient, then the Lord will lead us by the hand and answer our prayers. What greater thing could we ask for? There is nothing to compare with this.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, “A Prophet’s Counsel and Prayer for Youth,” Ensign, Jan. 2001, 10

God's mercy to the ignorant

God will show us our ignorant ways if we ask him, and even sometimes when we don't.

Acts 22:4 in reference to 1 Timothy 1:12&13
4And I apersecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath aenabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
13 Who was before a ablasphemer, and a bpersecutor, and cinjurious: but I obtained dmercy, because I did it eignorantly in unbelief.

Paul says he was grateful for the chance which he had to be a part of the ministry of Christ despite the fact that he ignorantly persecuted believers. Becoming a member of Christ's church was the most important thing that happened to Paul in his life. I think that for many of us we may be ignorant to some of the greatest changes in our lives that will give us the most happiness. Until we ask the Lord to open our eyes to see these things we may never discover them. I think that our pride can get in the way too often, keeping us from being humble enough to change. God is so merciful in giving us second chances.