The Holy Ghost: Testify of Truth

In my church I teach 10 and 11 year olds each Sunday. We are studying the New Testament this year and a couple of weeks ago I taught a lesson about the Day of Pentecost. As we discussed the Holy Ghost and what happened that day, I gained a few insights of my own.

I had prepared a few things to teach, and I had a manual to follow with stories and suggestions on how to conduct the class discussion. In the hour before class began, I revisited the lesson and spent some time pondering on the things I had prepared. I had a couple more things make their way into my mind, and I felt impressed to use them in the lesson, though it seemed to deviate a bit from my earlier preparations. One of those things was the "fruit of the spirit" scripture found in Galatians 5:22-23:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Through this scripture I taught the class how to recognize the influence of the Holy Ghost. Then it was my turn. As we discussed the Holy Ghost, another scripture was brought to mind. In Moroni 10:4-5 it says of the Holy Ghost:

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

We then were able to discuss how the Holy Ghost will assist us in discerning truth. Through the gift of the Holy Ghost we can all know what is right and true.

To this point I had not followed much of what I had prepared. Now, as time was running out, I was prompted to make one final point. Acts chapter 2 is where the scriptural account of the day of Pentecost is found. You will remember that it was on this day, 50 days after Passover and the Last Supper, that the Holy Ghost was given to the disciples and they began speaking in tongues. Since this was a festival time in Jerusalem, there were people there from all over Israel, and all over the world, with many languages and dialects represented. Yet all these people "heard them speak in his own language". We talked about how amazing this experience was. What an incredible thing to have been there, to have witnessed this remarkable event and to know through the power of the Holy Ghost that what Peter was preaching was the truth. As a result, thousands of people were baptized. Nevertheless, many were not. And why not? How could someone be present for something so wonderful and not have the Spirit "manifest the truth of it unto you"? Again, the scriptures gave us the answer:

And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

Our own state of mind can prevent the Holy Ghost from testifying of the truth. If we mock, or insist on flippancy, we might keep ourselves from learning truth.

As I closed the lesson, I was able to testify of the power of the Holy Ghost to guide us and teach us truth. Through teaching, and following the Spirit, I had learned the selfsame lesson.