Wednesday, March 20, 2019

THE TALK NEVER GIVEN



Marci and I were asked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting, but Marci got sick and so the Bishopric asked the missionaries to speak with me and they took up all the time. I simply bore my testimony and sat down. This is the talk I was to give.....  I have included portions of the talk that Marci was to give.

Based on a Talk by Russel M Nelson “Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into our lives”

As my wife and I discussed POWER we asked each other “what is Power?” There are many kinds of Power….political power, muscle power, electrical power, horsepower, social power and God’s power – the greatest of all powers.  What is the power we need now in this life? What power from Christ?

I believe that we are witnesses to the Power of God in the sustaining of President Nelson and how he has been renewed physically in his role as Prophet and President of the church. We heard wonderful testimony from his wife 2 weeks ago when she gave us a little insight into the living with a modern Prophet.

We may need additional power in different ways, because we are all different from each other.

In many instances more power is better. In the world of horsepower, the saying is “There is no replacement for displacement” meaning that the bigger the motor or size and stroke of the piston, the better and for many types this is true, but in other areas this is not true. I like to ride dirt bikes and this is not true for dirt bikes. The power must be useable, tractable and manageable. A large displacement motor on a tight, slow single track trail can be rough, tiring and difficult to control. Typically a smaller motor and lighter bike will be a better tool to use in this application. There is no dirt bike that is perfect for all types of riding. I compare this to the customized power that our Heavenly Father and His Son can give us. He can provide the perfect power we need for every application in our lives.

In 3rd Nephi Christ was preparing to leave the Nephites because they were tired and weak and were not understanding all of what he had been teaching. He told them to go to their homes and prepare for the morrow.

And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were in tears, and did look steadfastly upon him as if they would ask him to tarry a little longer with them.

And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you.

Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.

 

This is the Power of our Savior.

 

From Marci’s talk

“At the end of the day, Satan doesn’t need to convince us to openly rebel against God, he’s perfectly content with getting us to ignore God, to be apathetic towards Him and our circumstances.  If he can’t get us to sin at least he can get us to sit in stagnation.  If he can’t turn us into a sinner, he’ll do his best to turn us into a sitter.  Life is an uphill drive, but putting the car in neutral is just as good as putting it in reverse.  If he can’t incite us to rebellion, he’ll try to surround us, cut us off from the scriptures, prayer, church, love, compassion, feeling, honesty, charity “and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell”.”

How can we bring the power of Jesus Christ into our lives?

·        Seek Him

·        Obey Him

·        Ask Him

We learn of him… and we continue to learn of Him....

·        through the daily study of His words through Prophets (scriptures, conference talks, lessons, etc)

·        by doing His will and exercising faith in Him and in ourselves, because we are in his image and are His disciples

·        by going through Him to our Father in prayer and utilizing His Atonement in our lives to overcome our weakness.

We exercise sincere faith to be like him and he will help us. (from Pres Nelson)

“Faith in Jesus Christ propels us to do things we otherwise would not do. Faith that motivates us to action gives us more access to His power.

We also increase the Savior’s power in our lives when we make sacred covenants and keep those covenants with precision. Our covenants bind us to Him and give us godly power. As faithful disciples, we repent and follow Him into the waters of baptism. We walk along the covenant path to receive other essential ordinances.  And gratefully, God’s plan provides for those blessings to be extended to ancestors who died without an opportunity to obtain them during their mortal lives.

Covenant-keeping men and women seek for ways to keep themselves unspotted from the world so there will be nothing blocking their access to the Savior’s power.

From Marci’s talk…

“…Our covenants bind us to Him and give us Godly power.  There is a strength and increased sense of perspective that comes with regular Temple attendance.  I love how he used the word “with precision”.  That immediately jumped out at me when he said it.  The word precision is not one I have associated with covenant keeping, yet it opens my understanding to a new way of thinking about my accountability in the exactness of my fulfillment of my binding promises to God. There are times when nothing is blocking access to the Holy Spirit in my life; could I seek more often to keep unspotted from the world, extending the amount of time from moments to hours or even days, and so recognize that the Savior's power is being drawn into my life more fully? “

(I believe that this is why we are promised increased power in our lives by attending the temple. My wife has been attending the Temple every week for several years and has a tremendous testimony of this. She has inspired me to attend each week and I have felt the increased power to be a better person.)

She continues...To help us understand this focus and diligence, President Nelson uses the example of the woman who stretched her hand out to touch the hem of Jesus' clothes, knowing she would be whole.  He reminds us that this "faithful, focused woman needed to stretch as far as she could to access His power."  Because drawing the power of Jesus Christ into our lives is conditional, he continues with these three "when" statements followed by three promises –
When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours. When the Savior knows you truly want to reach up to Him—when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life—you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do.
"When you spiritually stretch beyond anything you have ever done before, then His power will flow into you…”
When will we reach up in this way?  
What are we willing to do to draw the power of Jesus Christ into our lives?
Who could we become, what could we do if His power flowed into each of us?

Let us be more focused on moving beyond the still waters of complacency, to do more, to serve more, to search out the scriptures and learn more, to pray more diligently, to love more, to be more like our Savior and to utilize His redeeming power in our lives.   As we tap into His power and increase our understanding we become more capable, more willing, more focused, and more enabled to be of service to one another and to our Father in Heaven, as our Savior taught us.”

Brothers and Sisters – THIS IS HIS CHURCH

I was impressed with Sister Nelsons talk a few weeks ago. She reminded us of this. Everything belongs to Christ. This is His Church

·        His Doctrine

·        His Covenants

·        His Ordinances

·        His Priesthood

·        His Apostles

·        His Prophet

To extend this....His ward, His Bishop.

This church building is not a new car show room. This is a mechanics garage. Some of us need frame off restorations, some need the engine rebuilt or a new wiring harness we are just not able to see each other up on the lift or all apart waiting for renewal, but I hope you all know that we all need the Savior power and deliverance from death and hell.  I bear testimony that Jesus Christ is our master mechanic, the Savior of us all and will restore us as we:

·        Seek Him

·        Obey Him

·        Ask Him

 TESTIMONY


 

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