Homecoming Talk

One of the most important things I learned about in my mission was the significance of the doctrine of Christ. Our purpose as missionaries was the doctrine of Christ. Our purpose was to “invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.” My love for those principles and ordinances has greatly increased because of my mission. I will start off by talking about faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ is such a vital principle. Faith is a principle of action. If you have faith in Jesus Christ you trust in Him. You do what He has asked of you. You will learn more about Him and His teachings. You will strive to be more like Him and strive to keep all of His commandments. In the Book of Mormon, in Ether 12:4 Ether says, “Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.” And then Moroni continues in verse 8 saying, “But because of the faith of men he has shown himself unto the world, and glorified the name of the Father, and prepared a way that thereby others might be partakers of the heavenly gift, that they might hope for those things which they have not seen.” And then in verse 12, “For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.” One of my investigators, she was a 19 year old girl. Before she met with us, she had read the entire Book of Mormon and knew it was true. As she met with us, her faith kept increasing. She just knew the gospel was true. She knew that this truly was God’s church. She already had a strong faith in Christ, but the teachings of this church, of the Book of Mormon, and of God’s gospel increased her faith in Christ even further. But as time went on, the trials came on. Family had always been so important to her. But her entire family was against her joining the church. They even threatened to disown her. Yet, she preserved and relied on the atonement of Christ. He was her anchor. She knew that He could strengthen her to endure. She didn’t know what would happen to her, but she trusted in God. As time passed, her family’s hearts started to soften bit by bit. When she was baptized into God’s church, they were okay with it, although they still didn’t support her. Even though her baptism was a happy day, it was a hard day with no family there to support. But she definitely saw how her faith in God blessed her in the end. So after faith, you are led to the step of repentance. If you truly love Christ, if you truly are His follower, you will repent and line yourselves and your hearts to His will. In the Bible dictionary it says, “Without this there can be no progress in the things of the soul’s salvation, for all accountable persons are stained by sin, and must be cleansed in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Repentance is not optional for salvation; it is a commandment of God.” I know this is this so true! As President David O. McKay said, “The purpose of the gospel is… to make bad men good and good men better.” And the only way you can do that is by repenting! But in order to really repent, you must go through the process of repentance. And I like to call this the ABC’s of repentance. First, you must Admit your problem and recognize that it was wrong. Second, you must Be sorry for doing it. You must have sincere and true sorrow. Third, you must Confess your sin to the Lord. Ask Him and those you sinned against for forgiveness. And you must do it sincerely or it will not count. The Lord knows your heart. He knows whether or not you are intent in your repentance or not. And so if you are doing it sincerely, you will do all you can to correct and fix the problems you may have caused. And the fourth step is Don’t do it again! You will recommit yourself to living God’s commandments. You will recommit yourself to never fall into the same temptation. You will do all you can do to follow God. And you will continually acknowledge that He is your Lord and your Savior. One of my more recent investigators experienced a lot of the repentance process. When we taught her the word of wisdom, which is a health code God has given us, she had to go through the repentance process. When she realized that tobacco was bad, she admitted her problem right there and then. She recognized that according to what we had taught her that tobacco “was not for the body”. She then was sorry for her habit and confessed it to us and to God. She prayed for his help to quit. Then she never picked up a cigarette again. She quit cold turkey. My companion and I were very impressed by her strong dedication to God. For every commandment we taught her, she committed to live it right away. She was always repentant, ready to follow God, to give up everything she had in order to be right with him. After having faith in Christ and repenting, the next step is Baptism! Some people ask, why must we be baptized? Well, one of the answers is because it is a commandment of God. In 2 Nephi 31:13 Nephi says, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism.” And then in verse 20 Heavenly Father states that if you do all of this, “Ye shall have eternal life.” Not only does baptism affect your eternal salvation, but also the now. As you are baptized into God’s church with the correct priesthood authority, you are also making a covenant with God. As I quoted before, you are promising God that you are willing to take upon the name of Christ. You also promise to always remember Him and to keep His commandments. In return God promises to forgive your sins, that you will be reborn in the waters of baptism, and that you will have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. What beautiful promises He has given to us who accept His will! What beauty! One man that I know who has seriously taken His baptismal covenant, even before he was baptized he was always eagerly helping out the elders quorum, volunteering for different projects and the such. From the first day we met him, he had such a glow about him. We could tell he had pure desires to know God and to come closer to Him. He was always looking for ways to serve others and to come closer to God. 6 months after his baptism, he was called to be the elder’s quorum president. He truly was keeping his baptismal commitment. After being baptized by water comes the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is conferred upon you by the priesthood. Here you are promised to the right to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost always! What a sacred, special blessing God has promised. The Holy Ghost has many roles which can include: cleansing you, testifying of truth, comforting you, giving you added strength, guides you to do right, helps you feels God’s love, gives you feelings of peace, and much more. In 2 Nephi 32:5 it says, “For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.” The Holy Ghost is really there to help you through all things. He is our constant companionship, our constant guide – if we ask, he will help us with anything and everything. In 2 Nephi 32:9 it says, “But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.” I love this scripture because really, if we pray to have the spirit to be with us in our activities, he will help us through. I know this for a fact! The first investigator I ever had, he told us of an experience he had. He was asking his wife about the law of tithing. She was trying to explain to him why we do it, but it came to a point that she was frustrated in trying to explain it to him. So she told him she was just going to go to bed. But he really wanted to trust in God’s law of tithing. So he prayed and opened up the scriptures. He turned to Genesis 28 and it happened to be the very last verse that he read (verse 22) where his namesake, Jacob stated to God, “of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Right then and there my investigator knew that if his namesake paid tithing so could he. And that was that. He knew that the Spirit of God definitely lead him to that scripture so he could believe and accept God’s law of tithing. After having faith, repenting of all your sins, being baptized into God’s church, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, all that is left is enduring to the end. Which sometimes can be the hardest part, but also the most rewarding. In 2 Nephi 31:20 Nephi says, “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.” So really all we have to do is continue keeping the commandments, keep our baptismal covenants, and one day enter into the temple so we can continue to progress. One of my investigators just recently went through the temple with his wife. That day was a happy day for them. They had been waiting to be able to be sealed together forever for over a year – ever since he first believed in that principle of the gospel. And overall, he is doing really well. He still going to church. He’s still reading his scriptures every day. He’s still praying. He’s still nourshing his testimony every day. He’s still going to the temple often. He’s just loving being a member of God’s church. He always knew it had to be out there, but he didn’t know it until he met his wife. He definitely has committed himself to endure to the end. I know this church is true. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint has the fullness of God’s gospel. I know without a doubt that God exists. That He loves each and every one of us fully! I know that our purpose here on earth is to learn to become more Christ-like. I know that we can become better, overcome our natural weaknesses. I know that serving a mission was the right thing for me. I know that because of it my testimony has grown, I have grown. I know these things are true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.