Our Music Offering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK7XnmUzUUA
The gospel of Jesus Christ does truly make us brothers and sisters and a great family of Jesus Christ as we seek to follow him and become his sons and his daughters (see John 1:12
I was looking for the truth, and although I had read the Bible and believed that Jesus Christ had lived on the earth and had been resurrected, yet I had so many unanswered questions—questions such as: Why doesn’t God speak to man today as he did anciently when the Bible was being written? How can Jesus be his own father and the Holy Ghost too? Why did Jesus have to be baptized when he had no sin? Where was I before I was born, and where do I go when I die? How can just believing in Christ save me when I haven’t kept God’s Ten Commandments?
I have found the gospel to be very simple but also very profound. Once we have sufficient faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we believe he has paid for our sins, then we will repent. And no one truly repents until they believe in Christ.
You see, there is a difference between stopping sinning and repentance. In the first instance we are still guilty; in the second we are free of the sin and guilt. People stop sinning all the time because they are afraid they will get AIDS or die of lung cancer or some other reason, but they do not get rid of their sins. That can happen only when a person follows Jesus Christ down into the waters of baptism, then comes forth and receives the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by priesthood authority.
Again, in the first instance, we are still in our sins, but in the second instance, we are free from our sins.
Then after baptism by the water and the Spirit, it appears that all the Father requires of us is that we endure to the end. What does that mean? I believe it means basically three things.
One: We must continue to repent for the rest of our lives because we will still make mistakes, and we must go home clean or we can’t dwell with the Father and the Son.
Two: We must continue to forgive others. If we do not forgive others, we cannot obtain forgiveness ourselves And three: Yes, we must be nice. If we’re not nice, I don’t think we’re going to make it. In other words, we must have charity, which is really love plus sacrifice. We must serve our fellowmen, women, and children, and if we do all else but we do not serve the poor, the needy, the downtrodden, the oppressed, the sick and afflicted, both temporally and spiritually, according to their wants, we cannot retain a remission of our sins from day to day. Without serving others, we cannot “walk guiltless before God” (Mosiah 4:26).
It is a fact that God is no respecter of persons. He loves all of his children, and I believe he loves them equally. Of course, he cannot bless his children if they do not keep his commandments, for he has said: “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—
“And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” God tells us he cannot deny his words. Quite obviously, he is much more pleased with us when we keep his commandments, and he delights to bless us when we do. But if we do not keep his commandments, he will chasten us. It does not mean that he doesn’t love us, any more than when parents discipline children. In fact, it is because he does love us that he chastens us that we might learn obedience (see Heb. 12:6
Then to walk guiltless before God, we must love and serve others. His statement through King Benjamin that “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17), I believe, can properly be turned around to say that “unless you are in the service of your fellow beings you are not in the service of your God.
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. …
“And whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. …
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure”
I am persuaded that only this charity, this pure love of Christ, this love plus sacrifice, which is exemplified in the work that goes on in our temples, can save this nation and the world, for that matter when the Lord comes. The Lord was willing to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if Abraham could find just ten good men, which he could not do. I presume I could not have a more important hope for you and me than that we may be filled with this charity, this pure love of Christ, to serve our fellowman. I express this hope to you in the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Hartman Rector, Jr.
And our own prayers
Father,
Help us to endure to the end. We know troubles, strife, health problems, illness and loss must be trials in our journey. We'd ask Father, that we might come through these valiantly with thy guidance and help. We'd ask for comfort from the holy Spirit, we ask for that blessed assurance when things seem absolutely insurmountable. Please lay thy loving hand upon us and push when we need it, or pull when we can't do what's needed. Father we love thee. Help us keep thy Commandments. If it be thy will, heal those around us and even our own mortal bodies.
Please guard our military and the missionaries who take thy Word throughout the World.
Raise our minds to thy standards; let us keep our hearts, minds and souls worthy of being children to Thee; the living God.
Please keep safe from the weather and elements all thy children, Father.
We ask these favors and blessings in the precious name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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