I love teaching and attending classes at the Institute. Nuria Martinez is now teaching about the life of the prophets. There have been 16 so far and each one has done so much for the members. Today I felt a strong impression that we are indeed in the last dispensation of times. The best of times and the worst of times. These students live in a world that is far different than that experienced by their parents. We experienced our fair share of temptations and difficulties but I believe theirs are not only different but far more intense. I recall a talk I heard form Tom Gay on April 19, 2009. I remember this date vividly because I had just met Daniel that month and I recorded almost everything we did together and going to Church was one of them.
We learned about the birth and life of Joseph Smith. He was born on December 23, 1805 and when you think of it, that wasn't so long ago considering how the world has experienced more change in those last 200 years, faster then any other time in history. It used to be that the parent would teach the child! But I think the youth now are the ones teaching their parents as much as parents have ever though them. Case in point: my grandson can navigate the internet and do things on a computer I wouldn't know how. 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 so important that we understand who we are; that we understand the blessings available to us and that we understand those promises that God made to the righteous. It is a struggle always to endure to the end. Peter, writing from Rome to the scattered saints, understood their trials and temptation to leave the faith and go back to their old ways. He encouraged the saints as he wrote: " But ye are chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth praises of him who hath called you our of darkness into his marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9 We are the peculiar people he was referring to. We are different, we must be different!
What is it that makes us peculiar and different?
Besides the fact that we don't drink or smoke, or even drink coffee.
We go to three hours of Church on Sundays, we don't play sports or participate on social activities on Sunday. Our young men and young women give two years of their life at age 18 or 19 to serve the Lord! I don't think that anyone outside the Church can really comprehend why we would do this. 19 is the prime of your life. A time when most young men think of only one thing, girls!
Some young adults might feel at times that the Lords commandments restrict your freedom. Freedom does not imply the absence of restrictions and discipline. In John 8:32, when the savior said: "know the truth and the truth shall make you free" He is telling us that if His truth, if followed would free us from deception and 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. To be different from the crowd is a privilege. This does not mean that we are going to be judgmental of others who do not share our beliefs. We have been told over and over again to be tolerant, kind and Christ like.
Now, what really makes us different? We have been baptized in the Church of Jesus-Christ by the exact same authority by which Christ himself was baptized. We have received the gift of the Holy Ghost, do not under estimate this great gift. We have the privilege if we are living righteously the right of the companionship and guidance of a member of the Godhead.
We know where we come from and exactly why we are here. This is again something that we can't under estimate. We know and understand God's plan for us, this is something that even the worlds most educated, famous and wealthy don't have. We have been given the Holy Priesthood of God all because a young boy at age 14 had a question and he acted upon a prompting. To the men of the Church elder Scott said: "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 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 had empowered those individuals to act in His name, we should feel deeply humble and profoundly grateful for the priesthood we hold." It is by this authority that: this world was crated, that miracles can be, and are performed.
If worthy, even we can perform miracles. Which makes us different from the rest of the world, to be able to heal the sick, cure all manner of disease. Healings are among the signs that follow true believers. Faithful young elders have this power. " For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the spirit unto renewing of their bodies." D & C 84:33
Our testimonies makes us different! My guess is that the testimonies in any given Church setting vary by about as much as the number of people in it. But it is our testimony and our trust in our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ that can get us through nay situation good or bad. 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." Mormon 9:25
I was talking the other day with a friend who didn't agree with me on the topic of being virtuous and modest so I thought, I feel so blessed to know that the Gospel of Jesus- Christ gives me a reason to be different!! For the strength of youth tell us... Go forward with faith. 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 the membership in God's kingdom...be humble and willing to listen to the whisperings of the Spirit. Place the wisdom of the Lord above your own wisdom."
My favorite scripture: 2 Nephi 31: 17,20 "Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen the 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. whatever ye 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.
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