Teach by the spirit or it is not edifying

A good week. To be honest not a lot happened haha we taught, we walked in the sun, its hot... haha what more can be said. 

Naw actually I did relearn a good lesson this week and it's actually a lesson I have learned a lot on my mission. To start here in mexico there is a certain religion that I'm not gonna name but they teach with their understanding of the bible and are actually really aggressive in their teaching style, they make those crazy Mormon kids look tame. We come across one of these people in the street one day and start to talk to him. Before we say anything he asks us for our bible, like a couple of idiots we hand over our bible and he starts telling us a bunch of "in Joshua it says blah blah blah, in Matthew it says blah blah blah, in this, in that, blah blah blah." So instead of doing the smart thing, bear our testimonies, ask if he would like to hear our message and if no say goodbye, we start to argue about what the bible says and we start off with the blah blah blah as well. And guess what happened? The Spirit was no where to be found, and the "lesson" was anything but edifying... 

The teaching of the gospel is by the power of the Spirit and not by the interpretation or knowledge that we have of the scriptures. The scribes in the times of Christ were "experts of the law" and yet Christ called them hypocrites and said they were just "the blind leading the blind". In the time of Joseph Smith the people causing the most confusion were the leaders and the priests of the different churches that supposedly used the scriptures as means to prove their point, but only left their followers with more confusion. One of Satan's  favorite methods of confusing is to teach "the philosophies of men mixed with scripture". Obviously the scriptures are the word of God and I love to study the scriptures on my mission, but if we do not first have the Spirit, if we are going to teach by our own interpretation of the scriptures and not with the guide of the Spirit and of living prophets to help us truly understand the word of God, than man and Satan turn them into weapons to confuse and cause contention. 

 Matt as you leave on your mission, study and restudy the scriptures, they are the word of God, but more than anything, develop the ability to share your testimony, to feel, understand, and share the impressions of the Spirit. 

STUDY 1 Cor. 2 and Chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel a lot. 

1 Cor 2: 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Joseph Smith said, “Salvation cannot come without revelation; it is in vain for anyone to minister without it”