(Copy of talk given in sacrament meeting 10/29/17)
Promises of the Book of Mormon Let’s imagine for a second. You’ve lived your life the best way you could. You had some hard times, but you also had amazing times. You look back and have very few regrets and are very pleased with how you lived your life. And most importantly, you remained faithful to the covenants you made. The resurrection and the millennium pass and you reach the final judgment. But something interesting happens; your Heavenly Father isn’t the only one there. A man steps forward and introduces himself as Nephi and he asks you what you think of his words found in the Book of Mormon. Then Jacob and Moroni do the same thing. At this point, you’re glad you’ve read and studied the Book of Mormon throughout your life, applying its principles. You might not have every page memorized, but you let the teachings be a model for how to live your life. This situation (found in 2 Nephi 33:11, Jacob 6:13, and Moroni 10:27) has always interested me and, in a way, has been one of the many reasons I have found why to study the Book of Mormon. Well before I get to the real point of this talk, I figure I should introduce myself because most of yall have no idea who I am. According to the program I'm Ausrin, but I’m Austin Steele and I’m from Dallas, TX. I got home four months ago from my mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Currently I am studying Civil Engineering. But anyway, back to the Book of Mormon. Like I was saying, there are many reasons to read the Book of Mormon. Some come from the teachings and counsels of church leaders and others come from personal experience and testimony. All of these are very important. When we have a reason, we embrace the task and feel motivated to do all that is required. Something interesting to note is that the Book of Mormon is filled with promises directed to us. Not only if we read it, but also if we live our lives in harmony with its teachings. What I would like for yall to think about is “Am I taking full advantage of all the promises offered in the Book of Mormon?” Today I want to highlight two of these. One of the most incredible and most repeated (the last time I counted I noticed about 54 instances of some sort or variation of this) promises is basically the idea that “Inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land.” or simply put keep the commandments and you will receive blessings. Now these blessings can be temporal, spiritual, or both. The question is why? Why would this promise be repeated so much? I think one of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon gives a hint why “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.” (Mosiah 2:41). The blessed and happy state. I think that’s the key. Heavenly Father loves each of us so much. Many times, we do not understand why things do or don’t happen in our lives and that makes it hard. I think the Lord taught this principle to help us remember what’s really important. That if we fail a midterm, lose in Fantasy Football, get our heart broken, we can still find peace and happiness, and that comes through keeping the commandments. But the Book of Mormon wouldn’t just tell us what we get without helping us understand what we should do. We know that we get blessings, but the question is how? The Book of Mormon has those answers. In the Book of Mormon we find: the ten commandments, the sermon at the temple when Christ visited the Americas, lessons on tithing and chastity, and other guidelines outlining how to live the life that God would have us live. One of the ways I have personally seen this was last June. I was in a place called Maquinista Savio, which I'm pretty sure translates to "the upside down" because it was just as cold and depressing . It’s a smaller town halfway to the middle of nowhere in Buenos Aires and I hated it. It was winter at the time and it was so cold and rainy. The roads all turned to mud and the power kept going out so we could never get warm at night. And to top it all off the members couldn’t give us lunch and due to inflation, we couldn’t afford to buy food every day. I didn’t think I was going to get out of there alive. All of this hurt my attitude as well as my companion’s and the other two elders who shared the ward with us. We were miserable and weren’t afraid to complain. But one day after studying the Book of Mormon and the promises of missionary success found in Mosiah and Alma we felt we should stop feeling sorry for ourselves and try to do something that would actually help this ward. After many prayers and fasting one of the other Elders sent us a text saying he found the answer. He had cleaned out their apartment and found an old Book of Mormon reading calendar. His idea was to get the whole ward to start reading the Book of Mormon so they could start to enjoy the blessings that come with it. So, we made a ton of copies and “Operación Jesucristo en Casa” (Roughly translated to Operation: Jesus Christ at home) was born. After a few weeks of gently encouraging the ward to read, things finally began to change. The leaders took charge and reached out. Home teaching was actually done! The attendance grew and there seriously was so much love to be felt in that ward. The ward was ready to welcome any investigator we might bring. There was Facundo who showed up with a change of clothes saying he was ready to be baptized. There was Gina whose boyfriend finally left so she and her kids could get baptized. There was Cecilia who was married (something very rare) and had 8 children. There were countless miracles we witnessed in that ward, and we owed it all to the power of studying the Book of Mormon and taking advantage of its promises. This is one of my most treasured times in the mission where I learned about the power of the Book of Mormon. I love the Book of Mormon and I know it is so true and so powerful! The other promise I wanted to touch on today is one found in Moroni 10:3-5 and the introduction. This has to do with obtaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. When you look at the last paragraph of the introduction of the Book of Mormon and Moroni 10:3-5, you begin to realize that it’s a lot more than just knowing the Book of Mormon is true. We receive promises of knowledge of specific things which are very important for us here on Earth and in the life after. In Moroni 10:3 we learn that our testimony is based off a newfound knowledge of just how merciful the Lord has been (and will be with us). Having a testimony of a loving God is pretty special, right? That is definitely something that has helped me. But it’s not only that. In the introduction of the Book of Mormon we are told that after receiving this testimony of the Book of Mormon we will also know “by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah.” Not only are we promised we can have a testimony of the Book of Mormon but look at what we are also promised to have a knowledge of. To know Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world?! How incredible is that? That is one of the most important things we can gain in this life is a testimony that Christ lives and is our savior. Over the past few sessions of General Conference, I have noticed an emphasis on the importance of a personal testimony of the Book of Mormon. We don’t know what lies ahead in the future, we can be sure that the attacks on the church and the Book of Mormon won’t let up so a testimony of the Book of Mormon is essential in having us stay strong. Following the promises of the Book of Mormon if we do all we can, we will receive the Lord’s help, protection, and blessings. One example I loved that illustrates the importance of personal testimony is one that originally was given in context to fathers, but it applies to all of us. Elder Texeira, an area 70 from Paraguay told a story of when he and his sons went camping. "We went to the store to buy supplies. We probably ending up buying a weeks worth of food for the one night trip. We were all very excited for what adventures awaited us. We set up camp and started exploring and before we knew it, the sun had gone down and it was pretty dark. It was then when I realized that I didn't have a flashlight. We had no way to guide us back to camp. Not even one lousy match. I provided temporally for my children with the food, but I couldn't guide them back to safety. We need to focus on being a light to others. We need to read the Book of Mormon to have that light." Today I only touched on 2 promises found in the Book of Mormon and I encourage yall to find the many others and then do all you can to secure those blessings. I know that the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith. I know that it contains the words of Christ. I know that Christ lives and that our Heavenly Father has a perfect plan. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.
0 Comments
|
Austin "Apex" SteeleSports. Cars. Sports cars. Archives
January 2018
Categories |