June 25th, 2025, 12:00 PM MDT
“I call you a fellow student,” said Elder Raymond Egbo, when he began his prayer speech at BYU-Idaho on Tuesday, June 24th, “The key to disciples is learning and studying, as we are all disciples.”
With those words, he set the tone of his message centered around testimony, spiritual growth and the pursuit of the life of Jesus Christ.
Elder Egbo expressed his praise for the students present. “I salute you for taking a bold step to improve yourself, improve your abilities and gain knowledge to be more suitable for the kingdom.”
His message reflects the same desire to help listeners strengthen their faith and deepen their personal relationship with the Savior.
Questions to find the soul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbb_jg_sb_y
Elder Egbo focused his message around a powerful moment from the New Testament. In Matthew 16, Jesus turns to his disciples and asks, “Who does man say I am the son of a man?”
Some respond to speculation – John the Baptist, Elias, or one of the Prophets. But then comes the Savior’s more personal questions.
But Peter’s response is simple: “You are artisticating Christ, the living Son of God.”
Elder Egbo explained, “Jesus gave him a welcoming response, “come and look.”
Elder Egbo invited his students to reflect on that same question to himself, not as a hypothesis, but as a moment of searching for a real soul. “Jesus asks the same questions and gives you and me the same answer.”
At that moment, Elder Egbo explains how Christ built his church on the rock of personal testimony.
Missions and Ministries
Drawn from the Bible and modern prophetic witnesses, Elder Egbo taught us two critical aspects of Jesus Christ’s life: his mission and ministry.
Christ’s mission “focused on tone sin, and he achieved a resurrection for all eternal life for those who repented and kept the covenant.”
Elder Egbo continued. “The mission of Christ was essential to fulfilling the glory of God’s work and the immortality and eternal life of all God’s children.”
However, his ministry “encompasses his teachings, examples, and acts of service, which provides a pattern that everyone should follow.”
Elder Egbo testified that pursuing knowledge and testimony of Christ and his mission and mission would lead to “joy and happiness, salvation, and personal relationships between God and Jesus Christ.”
“What are you looking for?”
Elder Egbo then returned to the gospel of John, where two of the disciples of John the Baptist began to follow Jesus. The Savior realizes and asks a gentle and inspiring question: “What do you want?”
“They really didn’t answer directly,” Elder Egbo observed. “Instead they asked, ‘Rabbi, where do you live?’ ”
Elder Egbo said that the Lord’s response was an invitation that echoed throughout the church today.
Elder Egbo also cited the prophet Ether from the Book of Mormon. He testified: Elder Egbo promised that those who seek faithfully will be guided by the Holy Spirit and find peace, purpose and salvation.
Living testimony
When he concluded his speech, Elder Egbo gave birth to a personal witness: “I testify that Jesus Christ is the living son of our living Father in heaven. He encourages each of us to know him and cast our burden on him.
Before his remarks, Elder Egbo invited his wife’s sister, Egbo, to share her testimony. “I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that he loves me,” she said.
Quoting Moses 1:41, she testified to God’s foresight in maintaining the truth of the last days. “Because many obvious and precious truths are taken away from the Bible,” she said. “He has promised the Book of Mormon.
Sister Egbo expressed her gratitude to the living prophet President Russell M. Nelson, and shared the joy of today’s students having access to the charges of the gospel. Quote 25:26, she declared: “We talk about Christ, we preach Christ, we are delighted with him… our children may know the sources where they seek remission of their sins.”
“I know this is the Lord’s Church,” Sister Egbo said. “And we know that, hearing Elder Egbo’s words and living what we have learned, we will become richer and better, because Jesus Christ is alive.”
