Good Morning Brothers and Sisters!
Homecoming Talk
In Cambodia when you give a talk in sacrament meeting you acknowledge the bishopric and then welcome everyone in attendance with this gesture, starting with the grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles and all others who come. I would just like to welcome all of you and hope that we can all be edified by the Spirit and draw closer to our Savior as we worship together today.
In the Bible Dictionary it says” To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone... strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness... Faith is a principle of action and of power...The effects of true faith in Jesus Christ include (1) an actual knowledge that the course of life one is pursuing is acceptable to the Lord (see Heb. 11:4); (2) a reception of the blessings of the Lord that are available to man in this life; and (3) an assurance of personal salvation in the world to come.”
I pray that the Holy Ghost will enlighten us as we consider how to deepen our personal faith in the Savior Jesus Christ, and why it is so important to center our faith in the Savior to draw closer to Him.
Why is it so important to have our personal faith in the Savior Jesus Christ?
Having faith in Jesus Christ means relying completely on Him—trusting in His infinite power, intelligence, and love. It includes believing His teachings. It means believing that even though we do not understand all things, He does. Because He has experienced all our pains, afflictions, and infirmities, He knows how to help us rise above our daily difficulties, He descended beneath all things to succor us. (Alma 7:11–12; D&C 122:8). He has “overcome the world” (John 16:33) and prepared the way for us to receive eternal life. He is always ready to help us as we remember His plea: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (D&C 6:36). It is only by and through Him that we can be saved. (Mosiah 3:17)
“A critical question to ponder is “where do we place our faith?” Is our faith focused on simply wanting to be relieved of pain and suffering, or is it firmly centered on God the Father and His holy plan and in Jesus the Christ and His Atonement?” (Has the day of miracles ceased? October 2017)
I had an investigator – បូរ – whose faith was focused on simply wanting to be relieved of pain and suffering. She has a rare disease and the doctors told her that there was no cure. She was taking all of these medications but growing weaker. As a last result, she decided that maybe if she learned about Christ, He could heal her. She began to progress very quickly, and
her condition began to get worse. She said “Sisters I don’t understand, I am trying so hard to change my life around for Christ, but I just keep getting weaker, and sicker. Your church must not be true because Christ isn’t healing me.” I then said to her, “Well do you have the faith not to be healed?” Of course, Christ has the power to heal you, but if we truly do have faith in Him then we trust Him and His timing, and maybe it is not in His plan for you to be healed at this time. “We cannot have true faith in the Lord without also having complete trust in the Lord’s will and in the Lord’s timing.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson said “To persevere firm and steadfast in the faith of Christ requires that the gospel of Jesus Christ penetrate one’s heart and soul, meaning that the gospel becomes not just one of many influences in a person’s life but the defining focus of his or her life and character. “
ៀវមុី is one of my recent converts who truly has the gospel of Jesus Christ as the defining focus of her life and character. I met her as I was handing out English class flyers, she came up to my companion and I and said that she wanted to learn English and to learn more about our Church. She was baptized within a month, and her whole life has completely changed because of her decision to get baptized. She is the only member in her family, and her parents weren’t super supportive of her decision to join the Church. She began to express to me her desires to serve a mission, because of the immense joy that the gospel has brought her life since she started learning with us. I knew that she didn’t have the funds necessary to serve, but she pressed forward with faith, trusting that the Lord would provide a way for her to serve. Her parents don’t want her to serve and aren’t willing to help her pay for her mission but she knows that the only way to lasting happiness is through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and so she has set everything else in her life aside to get ready to leave on her mission to serve Him and help others draw closer to Him.
How can we become “firm and steadfast” in our faith in Jesus Christ?
Simply put, to become “firm and steadfast” in our faith in Jesus Christ we must work at it. Faith is a principle of action, and if we aren’t acting, our faith weakens. We need to “pray constantly, to feast on the scriptures daily, to serve and worship in the Church, to worthily take the sacrament each week, to love our neighbors, and to take up our cross in obedience to God each day. “(D. Todd Christofferson)
It is in keeping our covenants with exactness that we avoid deception and remain firm in the faith of Christ. We need to be responsible for our discipleship and we need to be 100% all in and committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to remain firm and steadfast. God works with us according to our faith, and so we need to constantly be nourishing our faith to receive His divine assistance.
“It is challenging but vital to remain firm and steadfast when we find ourselves being refined “in the furnace of affliction,”19 something that comes soon or late to all of us in mortality.” (D. Todd Christofferson)
I was at តុ’s house, a newly baptized convert, teaching her and she just started telling me about all the hard things that are happening in her life. She had been sick the entire week and if she doesn’t go to the factory to work, she doesn’t have money to eat so she told us she hadn’t eaten in 3 days and she didn’t know what to do because she was too sick to go to the factory. She said she thought everything would just be easier once she joined the Church and felt like she was in a sense going through the furnace of affliction. She didn't have anyone that could give her some money and so she and her cute little 3-year-old son were starving. Her son was just crying at her begging her to give him some money and she was just yelling/crying at him that she didn't have any money. He sat on the ground and just started crying and literally out of nowhere 500 riel (which is about 12.5 cents) just appeared in between the little boys’ legs. I pointed it out to him, and he looked down, looked back up at me, grabbed the money and ran to buy something to eat. My companion and I just looked at each other in awe at what just happened.
I know that as we face adversity and as the Lord is refining us, He always has His hand outstretched in love. He will convert trial into blessing. In Luke 11:9-13 it reads “9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
All things from God are good; and sometimes if what we desire is different from what we need, if what we expect is different from what we are given, we may, if we aren’t careful, turn the given bread into a stone. We sometimes turn the given fish into a serpent or view the egg as a scorpion because it is not what we anticipated, what we asked for, or what we hoped/desired rather than what we need. But we all need to understand that our Father in Heaven only gives bread. He never gives stones. He only gives fish; He never gives serpents. He only gives eggs; He never gives scorpions. He never gives us useless or harmful things. It is always a part of His perfect plan, and we just need to put our complete trust in Him.
“The temptations and tribulations we experience, plus any testing that the Lord sees fit to impose, can lead to our full conversion and healing. But this happens if, and only if, we do not harden our hearts or stiffen our necks against Him.” (D. Todd Christofferson)
In Mark 6:46-48 it says "And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea."
There are times in our lives when we toil, rowing against the wind. We try so hard to make progress, but we feel like there are all these forces against us. There might be some trials that we wish badly to be over, or some blessings we desire with all our hearts, and it doesn't seem as though we are making any headway against the wind and we start to wonder if the Lord is really listening.
But something I think a lot of us need to understand is that Heavenly Father is a fourth watch God. And sometimes we wish and even expect that things will come immediately, and we get discouraged and think maybe He isn't listening or maybe He isn't there but, in this account, it says that he saw them. He was watching and is always watching. He watched them as he watches us toiling in rowing. But ultimately, He knows that it will be for our good so we can learn and so we can be prepared to receive His answers. Because sometimes we aren't in a place to receive the answers. But as we struggle and go through these challenges it refines us and creates a way for our Father to reach us, humbling us and preparing us for the reassurance we need.
So, when we have trials that are seemingly endless, and blessings that aren't coming we just need to assume we haven't reached the fourth watch. He is always there; He is always listening, and He always cares about us. We just need to be patient and wait until the fourth watch comes, because it always does. He will never leave us.
The Lord knows what will lead to our full conversion and healing. Do we have the faith sufficient to trust Him?
What blessings have you seen as a result of faith in Jesus Christ, either personally or those you have ministered to on your mission?
“If we remain firm and steadfast, come what may, we achieve the conversion the Savior intended when He said to Peter, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren,” a conversion so complete that it cannot be undone. The promised healing is the cleansing and sanctification of our sin-wounded souls, making us holy.” (D. Todd Christofferson)
“Exacting faith, mountain-moving faith, faith like that of the brother of Jared, precedes the miracle and the knowledge. He had to believe before God spoke. He had to act before the ability to complete that action was apparent. He had to commit to the complete experience in advance of even the first segment of its realization. Faith is to agree unconditionally—and in
advance—to whatever conditions God may require in both the near and distant future” (Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon [1997], 18–19).
យ ប៉ុន – Is one of my favorite grandmas in Cambodia, who saw so many blessings as a result of her faith. She has a husband who is really sick, and she is raising her grandchild. She is the only person receiving income for her family and basically just walks around selling spoons to all the little villagers to pay for her grandchild’s school, and her husband’s health. As we taught her the importance of the Sabbath day, she committed to never working on Sundays and told us that she knew if she worshiped on Sunday and truly kept the sabbath holy she would be okay, and the Lord would watch out for her. She had the faith that everything would work out before she knew what would happen, she acted before the ability to complete that action was apparent. She never works a Sunday and always has enough to eat and to send her grandchild to school.
I remember in one of my areas, the work was really slow, and it seemed as though nobody wanted to listen, and those that accepted to hear our message weren’t progressing. We had about 5 investigators, but none seemed prepared to really receive the gospel of Christ. So, my companion and I decided to start over, to drop all our investigators and press forward in faith that as we were seeking the elect and making room for them to come that we would find them. We went out contacting all week and didn’t even get a potential. Discouraged, we showed up to church where we had 2 people randomly walk in wanting to learn. Each Sunday that followed that transfer we had someone walk into church asking us to learn.
“Brothers and Sisters, we can have the faith to trust Him! He wants what is best for us (Moses 1:39). He will answer our prayers (D & C 112:10). He will keep His promises (D&C 1:38). He has the power to keep those promises (Alma 37:16). He knows everything! And most important, He knows what is best (Isaiah 55:8-9)” (Do we trust Him? Hard is good – October 2017)
The blessings of faith are endless:
Our sins can be forgiven because of faith in Christ (Enos 1:5-8)
As many as have faith have communion with the Holy Spirit (Jarom 1:4)
Salvation comes through faith on Christ’s name (Moroni 7:26,38)
We receive strength according to our faith in Christ. (Alma 14:26)
None enter the Lord’s rest save those who wash their garments in Christ’s blood because of their faith. (3Nephi 27:19)
Prayers are answered according to faith. (Moroni 7:26)
Without faith among men, God can do no miracle among them (Ether 12:12).
Elder Quentin L. Cook stated” In the end, our faith in Jesus Christ is the essential foundation for our eternal salvation and exaltation. As Helaman taught his sons, “Remember
that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation ... , which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”
I know that as we put our trust in Him and press forward in faith, all of our trials will become blessings, and the Lord will refine us into the disciples that He needs us to be. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that He lives. I know that God has a divine plan for each of us and that if we have the faith sufficient to trust Him we can truly become converted forever. He has our interest at heart. I know He loves each and every one of us and I say these things in the name of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, Amen.
