Mount Royal/Mandarin South- Week 17

Katherine wanted to hear Dad talk. She was under the impression he would every fast Sunday and I did not tell her otherwise, she was happy to hear you speak and sent me a snippet of what you said. I have actually memorized quite a few new scriptures in the past few days. 

I think the single most thing that prevents us from letting God prevail in our lives is ourselves. Often we turn inward and look at our inadequacies and then decide we aren't up for something before we have even tried. Or, we look on our past performance of something and then decide we wouldn't ever improve. I think this is prideful. The times I have been happiest have been when stop worrying about teaching skills or language and just go forward. It just takes some faith, hope and trust to do this. 

I thought we might as well post this talk as the blog, (This past Saturday, Katherine was baptized and Elder Pinkney gave the following talk at the baptism as well as played "Consider the Lillies of the Field" on the violin for the musical number.)

Baptism is our first covenant we make with God. A covenant is a binding and solemn agreement between God and us in which God promises to bless us and we promise to obey him. God sets the terms of the covenant and it is our choice to either accept or reject. When a person is baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, they covenant to take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ, always remember him, and keep His commandments. In turn, God promises the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, a remission of our sins, and being born again. I particularly admire the attitude of the Nephites after they had been taught by the righteous King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon. What they say highlights their readiness to make a covenant. They say quote " we believe all the words which thou hast spoken… We know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord which has wrought a mighty change in us,or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil but to do good continually.. And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the remainder of our days: close quote. 

I also like the response King Benjamin gives to his people after hearing their words. He says "And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters". 

Baptism must be preformed under proper priesthood authority in order to form this covenant with God. Christ gave this authority to his disciples, but because of persecution, Christ disciples were killed and priesthood authority was lost from the earth for a time. The Priesthood authority was restored along with the right to preform baptism in 1829 when John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith, laid his hands on his head and spoke these words quote " Upon you my fellow servant in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels and of the gospel of repentance and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and this shall never again be taken from the earth" close quote. 

Even after we are baptized, we may still fall short of our covenant and struggle to keep our promise. Regardless of the magnitude and frequency of our mistakes, our loving Heavenly Father and merciful Savior provides us with a way we can try again. Each time we partake of the sacramental bread and water, we recommit to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, always remember Him, and keep His commandments. God again forgives us of our mistakes and blesses us with His Spirit. Partaking of the sacrament is a time where we can look to the Savior and realign our hearts with his will. After the Israelite children were bitten by poisonous snakes in the Old Testament, God commanded Moses to make a brass serpent and put it on a rod. Those who looked at the brass serpent were healed and those that refused to look died of the poison. In a similar way, baptism and the sacrament is how we look to Jesus Christ  and are healed. The Savior himself was baptized by his cousin, that same John the Baptist that appeared to Joseph Smith, in the river Jordan to show us the example. He invites each of us to follow him and says to each of us personally  "Look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not" 

I bear my testimony that when we take upon ourselves the name of Christ, always remember Him, and keep his commandments, we will be blessed with his Spirit and receive a remission of our sins. I also bear witness that the authority to baptize was restored to the earth to the Prophet Joseph Smith. When we look to the Savior, we can be healed by all the struggles and pains that would otherwise be detrimental to our souls. Jesus Christ lives. He loves each of us and I know he is happy with the decision Katherine is making today. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen