My husband was home today because of some Holiday. Yay! I love it when he is home and we can do whatever. We ended up staying home to catch up on some reading and at night went out to eat. Found a good Italian Restaurant at that Agora mall. Daniel was craving pizza so we ended up there, best pizza ever!
But before that I was cleaning my office and found this talk by Tom Gay given when I lived in the Mount Olympus 4th ward April 19, 2009. He stated: You teenagers live in a world that is far different than that experienced by your parents. Your parents experienced their fair share of temptations, difficulties but I believe yours are not only different but far more intense. The world has experienced more change in the last few decades, faster than any other time in history. It used to be that the parent would teach the child but I think that young men and women teach your parents as much as they have ever taught you! Case in point: My father graduated from MIT and if you asked him where the power button is on a computer, he could not tell you.
The world today is a different place! I think that the bad is getting worse and the good is getting better. The gap is growing at a very fast pace. As the world gets more and more wicked it is more important that you understand who you are. That you understand the promises that God has made to the righteous. 1 Peter 2:9 Peter writing from Rome to the scattered Saints, understood their trials and temptations to leave the faith and go back to their own ways. He encouraged the Saints as he wrote: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of him who has called you out darkness into his marvelous light. Brothers and sisters, we are a peculiar people. Young men and young women, you are different! You must be different!!
What is that make us peculiar and different? Why are you different? On the outside: We don't drink or smoke or drink coffee, we go to 3 hours of church on Sunday, we don't play sports or participate on social activities on Sunday. We give two years of our lives at the age of 18 to serve the Lord. I don't think that anyone outside the Church can really comprehend why we would do this. 19 is considered the prime of our lives. A time when most young men think of only one thing. Girls! you young men and women might feel at times that the Lord's commandments restricts your freedom. Freedom does not imply the absence of restrictions or discipline. In John 8:32 when the Savior said: "know the truth, and the truth shall make you free". He is telling us that: His truth if followed would free us from deception. His Gospel, if followed would free us to gain eternal life. As the light of the Gospel fills our lives our abilities will increase and our desire to be righteous will continually grow.
Elder Haight tells us this story in an ensign article in Jan 1974. "Debbi Brown, the only Momon in her Roanoke, Virginia high school senior class, said: It is so important for us to live the standards of the Church. Most people who know anything about our Church know that it maintains the highest moral standards. There is never a need to apologize. We are so lucky to have the true gospel. By making the Church standards our standards, we can share this gospel with others. She continues: " A good friend ( not a member of our church) invited me to a party celebrating our victorious football season. He was a popular football player. I was hesitant. He knew I was a Mormon. My hesitation much have been evident. He quickly added. No drinking allowed. People know our standards and respect us for them. To be different from a crowd is a privilege." Now young men and young women, what makes you different?
You have been baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ! By the exact same authority by which Christ himself was baptized.
You have received the gift of the Holy Ghost! Do not under estimate this great gift! You have the privilege and if you are living righteously the right of the companionship and guidance of a member of the Godhead is yours.
You know where you came from and exactly why you are here! This is again something you can't under estimate. You know and understand God's plan for you. This is something that many of the worlds brightest minds and educated don't know.
Young men: you have been given the Holy Priesthood of God. Elder Scott said this words on Nov 2008 How blessed we are to be among the very few men on earth trusted to be authorized to act in the name of the Savior to bless others through the righteous use of His priesthood. I wonder brethren, how many of us seriously ponder the inestimable value of holding the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood. When we consider how few men who have lived on earth have received the priesthood and how Jesus Christ has empowered those individuals to act in His name, we should feel deeply humble and profoundly grateful for the priesthood we hold. It is by the authority that this world was created, that miracles can be and are performed. When you become an elder You can if worthy even perform miracles which makes you different from the rest of your friends; to heal the sick, cure all manner of disease. Healing are among the signs that follow true believers. Faithful young elders have this power. In D & C 84:33 we read: " For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, an the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies".
Your testimonies make you different! My guess is that the testimonies in this room vary by about as much as the number of people in it. But it is your testimony and your trust in your Heavenly Father and your Savior Jesus Christ that can get you through any situation (good or bad) Mormon 9:25 Jesus said: And whosoever shall believe in my name, doubting nothing, unto him will I confirm all my words, even unto the ends of the earth. Young men and young women, this Gospel of Jesus Christ gives you a reason to be different!... And it gives you a reason to be confident and Happy in that difference!
For the strength of youth tells us go forward with faith and " Be true to the Lord and to His Church in all circumstances, The authorities of the Church will lead you in paths of happiness. Be grateful for your membership in God's kingdom." In closing 2 Nephi 31:17,20 Wherefore do the things which I have told you I have seen that our Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost. Wherefore ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all me, 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.
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