(Copy of talk given in sacrament meeting on July 30) Good morning brothers and sisters, I’m Austin Steele. I’m from the Allen 1st ward and about 6 weeks ago I finished serving in the Argentina Buenos Aires North mission. This is also my last Sunday here in Allen before I go back up to BYU Provo next week. President Jacobson said that he couldn’t give me a calling because I’m leaving, but that doesn't mean I can’t give a talk. Thought I got out of it.
Like I said, I served in Argentina, and obviously I loved all of if. One of the things I really grew to love is soccer and the Argentina players and teams including Lionel Messi, the world’s best player. On February 14 of this year Messi and FC Barcelona played Paris St. German and lost 0-4. The way the playoffs are set up, 2 games are played and the goal total of both games determines the winner. That meant that FC Barcelona would have to overcome an almost impossible 5 goal deficit to win. 3 weeks later the stage was set. One goal was scored. Then another. And another. and then 3 more. Barcelona pulled off probably one of the greatest comebacks in the history of soccer. When I was asked to speak about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I thought about this game. But why? The atonement of Jesus Christ makes life’s seemingly impossible challenges possible. We always get 2nd chances. But what really is the Atonement of Jesus Christ? How does it apply to us? Today I would like to cover the 2 main points in how it effects our daily lives and our eternal progression. Like all things in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the atonement of Jesus Christ is part of a greater plan. So to understand a little better, let us review our pre mortal existence. It is important to highlight 3 events; The pre mortal council, the creation, and the fall. As we read, God’s only purpose is us and our progression. His desires are that we become like him and participate in all that He has. First we would need a place to start that journey, so the earth was created. Then so we could continue on that journey God allowed Adam and Eve to choose. Because of their choice, known as The Fall brought both physical and spiritual death into play. Physical death, is well, dying. Spiritual death on the other hand means a separation from God’s presence. No unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God. And this doesn’t mean physically dirty, but spirally unclean. Sin stains us. It dulls the spirit and does not make us worthy to return with God or in other words, frustrates God’s entire plan. So something had to be done. It’s just like my Grandpa says “If you do the crime, you do the time! Unless you know someone who will bail you out. But then you owe him” That’s where the atonement of Jesus Christ comes in. He is the one who “bails us out” He is the one who will help us because we cannot help ourselves. Everyday we do things that disqualify ourselves from returning to live with our Heavenly Father. It’s just how we are. Every day the debt grows and repentance is the only way we can get out of it but I’ll get back to that later. Moving on, We already know that being worthy is required to return back to our Heavenly Father. But we also learn that we need attributes like; faith, hope, charity and patience. But our weakness get in the way of us fully possessing these attributes of Christ. That’s another way the Atonement of Jesus Christ helps us. Alma taught us “And he shall go forth suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” Jesus Christ did not just suffer for our sins. He doesn't just cover that part of life. He also is how we get over weaknesses, sicknesses, challenges both mental and physical. That’s what I learned a lot about the atonement on my mission, and I continue to learn it today. On one p-day this year in May, we got together as missionaries to play soccer at the church like we normally did. And like always, none of us were that good so it was all fun. And then I stepped wrong. No one is still sure what exactly happened, but whatever happened resulted in having both my legs going up in the air and me landing directly on the top of my back. I couldn't breathe for what seemed like a whole minute (It was really only about 15 seconds). Life literally knocked me on my back. Later, the adrenaline calmed down and the pain started. I had already sent a companion home with back problems, and I was starting to get really worried. I talked to the mission nurse and she told me I needed to rest, apply heat, and take ibuprofen. This was my last transfer and I wanted to end “on top.” I felt that I had suffered a lot in my mission between disobedient/challenging companions and not having the most likable areas. I felt that God owed me. But that’s not how life goes. So here I was, week 2 of my last transfer and I would have to spend it resting in bed. But it didn’t stop there. A few days later I started getting really bad knee pain. I felt useless. We only left the apartment to get lunch, and then I would try to leave a little bit but I couldn’t get very far. If only that was the end to my problems. After 4 and a half months and a lot of miracles, we finally had baptism lined up. 8 baptisms. Well, almost. In that same week we lost all 8 baptisms. I couldn’t believe it. I was basically bedridden and we had lost all our work. Things were not going according to my plan. My back pain slowly started to go away, but the knee pain got worse. I tried everything. When I got a blessing from my companion and the elders that lived downstairs, I was promised that things would get better. I held on to that with what little faith I had left. The weeks went by and things didn’t get a whole lot better. We had lost every investigator and I still could walk that much. I called the mission nurse to ask, and when I told her I had 2 weeks left she told me to “suck it up and just wait until I get home.” I was so angry at God. I spent many prayers expressing my frustration. This wasn’t how I was supped to finish my mission. I’m supposed to baptize and work hard and have all these cool experiences but I’m stuck in my apartment. Even with all that, deep down I felt at peace. I knew that my work was still accepted and that things would be ok, but I didn’t always pay attention to that. By the time I came home my knees weren’t any better. The 16 hours of travel were agonizing. I came home feeling broken and defeated. On top of the already difficult experience of readjusting to life back from the mission, I had to deal with all of this. I went to the doctor and he didn’t really know what was wrong. A month later I got to another doctor and he was able to give some answers and just last week I finally got to start physical therapy. Only in the past few weeks have things started to turn around. Tiny miracles have started happening, like going to see the US men’s soccer team win in the semi-finals, or going to the temple every week with my family, or making new friends, and simple feelings of peace and hope. Trusting in Jesus Christ is what has helped me get here. It’s still hard readjusting and my knees still hurt, but I have hope and faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ to help me not only “get through” this trial but to learn from it. I testify that atonement of Jesus Christ isn't just for our sins. It’s to help us overcome whatever we face in life. Brothers and sisters, life is not easy. It’s not fair. There is a lot we don't understand. One of my favorite scriptures is found in Doctrine and Covenants 58:2-4 and it says “For verily I say unto you, blessed is he that keepeth my commandments, whether in life or in death; and he that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven. Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.” We can have hope. Jesus Christ is the One who lets us know that things can change and get better. But like it also says, there is something we have to do. While prayer is an important action, it is not the only one. Repentance and learning about Christ are two other ways we may fully take advantage of the atonement of Jesus Christ. Repenting is saying more than “I’m sorry.” We need to recognize that we did something against the will of God and that we need to change. After we stop doing it, we find all ways possible to fix it. We ask for forgiveness from God, others, and even ourselves. Then we keep the commandments and keep doing our best to be a little better each day. So it’s a constant process, repentance. It’s not a one and done moment, but instead something we do knowing that we will have to do it again and again to maintain ourselves. It’s like how a companion taught me when I got fed up with cleaning our apartment. I had always spent a lot of time making sure it was clean, but there always seemed to be something else dirty. One day in my frustration, I told him that I was going to give up on cleaning because it gets dirty again right away. He then told me “It’s just like repentance. Are you going to stop repenting just because you know you’ll have to do it again? Well obviously not! So keep doing both” The atonement of Jesus Christ is all about change. We can overcome our weaknesses just as much as we can overcome sin. Is it easy? No! Something that helps is learning about Christ. Who He is and how He lived His life. The more we learn about Him, the more we love Him. The more we love Him the more we are willing to keep the commandments we have received and the more likely we are to repent. The more we learn about Him, the more we can trust that things will get better. The more we can trust that although we don’t see or know everything, there is someone who does. It is essential to our earthly and eternal happiness that we do all we can to follow Christ.
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January 2018
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