Mother's can continue to teach long after
the Lord has taken them home.
I was asked to speak today on being Firm and Steadfast
as spoken of by Elder Christofferson
in General Conference Oct 2018.
The following is the outline of my talk.
Mother's testimony is a part of it.
Sacrament Meeting Talk 12/8/2018
“Firm
and Steadfast in the Faith of Christ”
Elder
D. Todd Christofferson
1.
(Prayer of the Zoramites.)
15 Holy, holy God; we believe that thou art God, and we believe that thou art holy, and that thou
wast a spirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a spirit forever.
16 Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in
the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that thou hast elected us to be thy holy
children; and also thou hast made it known
unto us that there shall be no Christ.
17 But thou art the same yesterday, today, and forever; and thou hast elected us that we shall be
saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee; and we also thank thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led
away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth bind them down to a belief of Christ,
which doth lead their hearts to wander far from thee, our God.
18 And again we thank thee, O God, that we are a chosen and a holy people. Amen.
Alma 31: 15-18
(sit down, a pregnant
pause)
2.
Paraphrase and Read Alma’s
prayer following the Zoramites.
Alma 31:19-38
3.
( Zoramites and our shortened
worship service.)
4.
Are we like Alma or the
Zoramites after we were told about the 2 hour Sunday meeting schedule?
That was a shortened worship service. Just think, we could shorten our 120 minutes of
meeting starting in January to 97
minutes if each brother in our ward came up, offered the prayer and then
sat down and probably less than 60 if we didn’t count those that were visiting
somewhere else that day, and then again even shorter if we had our 12 infants be responsible to
offer the prayers.
I don’t believe that is what has been intended by the
announcement of shortened worship services on Sunday. However do we sometimes
think, “another hour to watch football or another hour on the lake, or another
hour to do what we want to do.
5.
(Lamanites and being Firm)
Let’s
look at another section of the Book of Mormon.
“And thus there became a great inequality in all the land, insomuch that the church
began to be broken up; yea, insomuch that in the thirtieth year the church was broken
up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and
they would not depart from it, for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all
diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord.”
3Nephi 6:14
6.
(Elijah by Elder Christofferson)
Elder
Christofferson after relating the story of Elijah and the priests of Baal suggested that if Elijah
were to return in our day he might say;
“Either God, our Heavenly Father, exists, or He does not, but if He exists, worship
Him.”
“Either Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the resurrected Redeemer of
mankind, or He is not, but if He is, follow Him.”
And
might I add:
“Either Russell M Nelson is a true and living Prophet today, or he is not, but if he is, follow his counsel and guidance which he receives from Jesus Christ.”
7.
(How to stay firm and shortened
Sunday meeting schedule)
So how are we to rain firm and
steadfast like those Lamanites and as suggested by Elder Christofferson?
I
suggest we become like the Lamanites rather than the Zoramites by being converted unto the true faith and not departing from it. I find it quite inspirational to read
about the Lamanites that were converted in the Book of Mormon that they never
did turn away from the church after being converted.
We have
been given the direction from our prophet on how to become converted in this
manner. We have been given a shortened meeting schedule on Sundays so that we
can spend more time;
first, to learn the gospel more deeply for ourselves and,
second, to teach our families to believe more
deeply and to
develop strong testimonies that will carry them through the trials that will
come to them as Satan tries to draw them away as he did the people of Nephi
after having had so many testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel as
taught to them by their prophets.
8.
(2,000 warriors mothers) &
Mother’s Book of Mormon
Let’s
look back again to the Book of Mormon for some instruction on how to remain
firm and steadfast and immoveable and this is what Sister Poulson referred to
so well.
We are told by Helaman in speaking of the
2,000 stripling warriors:
Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon
the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by
their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.
48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt
our mothers knew it.
What do we learn
from this? The mother’s had taught their son’s about God and Christ. They were
taught so well that they did not fear death but rather believed that if they
were faithful that they would be protected. Now I would venture a guess that their home evenings were
probably not any easier to hold then than they are now but they
apparently did it and probably
not just one day a week.
My mother taught me also
Read Mother’s
testimomy in her Book of Mormon
Elder Christofferson continued by stating:
“Most of us find ourselves at this moment on a continuum between a socially motivated participation in gospel rituals on the one hand and a fully developed, Christlike commitment to the will of God on
the other. Somewhere along that continuum, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ enters
into our heart and takes possession of our soul. It may not happen in an instant, but we should all be moving toward that blessed state.”
“It is challenging but vital to remain firm and steadfast when we find ourselves being refined “in
the furnace of affliction,”19 something that comes soon or late to all of us in mortality. Without God,
these dark experiences tend to despondency, despair, and even bitterness. With God,
comfort
replaces pain, peace replaces turmoil, and hope replaces sorrow. Remaining firm in the faith of
Christ will bring His sustaining grace and support.20 He will convert trial into blessing and, in Isaiah’s words, “give … beauty for
ashes.”21
9.
(Personal Spirituality Tracker) SPIRITBIT
I bought a Fitbit two years ago to track my exercise
or more specifically my heart during my sleep and my steps during the day. I
wanted to know just how far I traveled on any given game day at the stadium or
in the arena. I think the longest day has been somewhere around 18 to 20 miles
with the most sets of stairs being at 101. (I was truly exhausted at the end of
that day.) Each day it starts over at exactly 12:00 am and it isn’t until I
receive an email on Monday that I find out which day had the most steps, so on
days when work keeps me past 12 am I look at it as close to 12 as I can and the
write that down and add the remaining steps when I go home.
As I was pondering my talk I realized that it would
pretty cool to have a spirituality tracker or a Spirit Bit. Something to help keep track of prayers, of how many tender mercies, spiritual experiences, and promptings I had received on any given day and
especially when talking about the gospel or attending church. I figured that
the biggest days would probably happen twice each year as I listen to
conference and have those spiritual steps come into my mind and heart. But that
probably shouldn’t be the case since almost instantly I can listen to them
again and again and there always a lot of times on Sundays that I receive
plenty of them.
But then I realized that the Lord has given me a spirit bit. Each morning as I pray for guidance through my day, my slate is cleared at the end
of the day and the tracking starts anew the next morning. I begin to start a
count of those spiritual promptings and then each night I can account for those
experiences as I give thanks to my Heavenly Father in prayer for those special
experiences that He gave to me to remind me about Him and our Savior Jesus
Christ and to strengthen my testimony. And then record them in a PERSONAL JOURNAL I thought about some of those things that would register each day as
I would see the sun rise
and see flowers in bloom
or even see the earth replenished with life giving water as I gaze out over the
20 inches of new snow.
I would worry about how to remove it later and then realize in that too I am
given a chance to rack up a few more things on my spirit bit as I could serve my neighbors helping them to clear the snow.
10.
Come Follow Me
We will be given
more instruction in the third hour today on the way we can become like to mothers
of those young men as we follow our Prophet Russell M Nelson and use
the “Come Follow Me” help that we have or will receive.
Come Follow me gives us direction of how to study starting each Monday and going through each day of the week so we can be prepared to share what we have learned the following Sunday in our quorums and classes and then to return home and discuss what we learned that day before starting the process all over for the next week.
4 Goals for COME
FOLLOW ME
· Deepening conversion
to Heavenly
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthening faith in Them.
· Strengthening individuals and families through
home-centered, Church-supported curriculum that contributes to joyful gospel
living.
· Honoring the
Sabbath day, with
a focus on the ordinance of the sacrament.
· Helping all of
Heavenly Father’s children on both sides of the veil through missionary work and receiving ordinances and covenants and
the blessings of the temple.
11.
Conversion is our goal
…we’re not just looking for new
information; we want to become a “new
creature” (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). This means relying on Christ to change our hearts, our
views, our actions, and our very natures.
…the kind of gospel learning
that strengthens our faith and leads to the miraculous change of conversion doesn’t happen all at once. It extends beyond a
classroom into an individual’s heart and home. It requires consistent, daily
efforts to understand and live the gospel. True
conversion requires the influence of the Holy Ghost.
…We should seek after whatever
invites the influence of the Spirit and reject whatever drives that influence
away—for we know that if
we can be worthy of the presence of the Holy Ghost, we can also be worthy to
live in the presence of Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
12. Ideas to Improve Your Personal Scripture
Study
·
Look for truths about Jesus Christ
·
Look for inspiring words and phrases,
write them in a study journal
·
Look for Gospel Truths
· Listen to the Spirit
Pay attention to your thoughts and
feelings, even if they are
unrelated to what you are reading.
Those impressions may be the very
things that your Heavenly Father wants you to learn.
·
Liken the Scriptures to
your life
·
Ask questions as you
study
·
Use
scripture study helps
·
Record your thoughts and
feelings
·
Study the
words of Later-day
prophets and apostles
· Share Insights
·
Live by what you learn
President Thomas S.
Monson said: “As we
read and ponder the scriptures, we will experience the sweet whisperings of the
Spirit to our souls. We can find answers to our questions. We learn of the
blessings which come through keeping God’s commandments. We gain a sure
testimony of our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of Their
love for us. When scripture study is combined with our prayers, we can of a
certainty know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. … As we remember prayer
and take time to turn to the scriptures, our lives will be infinitely more
blessed and our burdens will be made lighter” (“We Never Walk Alone,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov.
2013, 122).
Bear Testimony
