Sacrament Talk

Today I was asked to speak on Faith in Jesus Christ.  It was my faith that led me to speak today. A few weeks ago I was struggling spiritually when I received a prompting that I should pray for the opportunity to speak. I thought to myself no way, you are in no position to speak right now and so I ignored the prompt. I then received the prompting again, but this time it was slightly different. This time the prompting said pray for the opportunity to speak and ask your dad to come listen. As most of you know I am a convert and aside from my mother who converted six months after I did, the rest of my family are different denominations. I again thought this prompting was crazy, but I would love the opportunity for my dad to hear me speak and so I prayed. Two days later, Brother Garner showed up at my doorstep asking Clint and myself to speak. I gave him a hard time and told him he wasn’t allowed back to my house again, but now he knows the truth. I asked for this. As you can see today by the handsome man who came with us today that I did in fact follow the prompting and invited my dad. I was given what I feel to be the best topic for me to speak on while he is here to listen because this is one thing we have in common in our different denominations: our faith in Jesus Christ.

  The bible dictionary defines faith in many ways and a few things that stood out to me were that faith is a principle of action.  Also that faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true. In the Article of Faith number 4 it starts off saying,  “ We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” In order to have faith in Jesus Christ we must trust in Him completely. We must follow his teachings, trust in His power, and trust in His love.  It is because of Him that we can live with our Heavenly Father again.

  When I started investigating the church 5 years ago the easiest part for me to believe was that Jesus died for me. While I did not grasp how strong His love was I knew that He was crucified. What I have come to learn was that He not only died for me, but He had to pay for my sins. He had to feel all the pain I have felt in my life and every mistake I have made. In Matthew 27 verse 46 it says, “ And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  The first time Clint read this scripture to me I started to cry and I didn’t quite understand it. When I asked him to explain it to me he said, it was basically Jesus asking why Heavenly Father had left Him there in those moments.  I have since read this scripture again and came to realize that I will never have to feel that way. I will never have to feel alone because Jesus is always there. He will never leave me. 

  In a talk from Elder Dallin H. Oaks he said, Faith must include trust. When we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must have trust in him. We must trust him enough that we are content to accept his will, knowing that he knows what is best for us.” I will admit that while I have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ I have recently had a hard time accepting that He knows what is best for me.  Recently, I was released from a calling I loved. I truly love the young women and I felt like I was making an impact. I will admit I was angry. My anger was aimed at many during the week, but last it was aimed at Him. I went thru many emotions and cried for two days. I was then given great advice that I needed to trust His plan. That maybe something would happen in my life and this was preparing me for that. This calling helped me build my testimony in the gospel and maybe someone else needed that opportunity. Whatever the reason I needed to trust in it. While crying to Clint one night I came to a realization I had asked for this, but I wasn’t prepared for the answer. A couple months ago I felt myself slipping away slowly.  I hadn’t read scriptures in a long time aside from when I had to prepare a lesson and I prayed every day, but I said the same prayer over and over. I hadn’t been to the temple in awhile. One night while talking to my dad, he said he was reading. He said he had a bad day and that reading would help. When I asked what he was reading he said the bible. After we hung up I thought to myself that I should be doing the same and so I tried. I again felt like I was reading as a routine and not to learn or find answers. So I decided to pray. I asked for guidance or help on what to do because I was so lost. I hadn’t told anyone that I was struggling spiritually not even Clint. I was trying so hard to work my way out of it alone. A few days after I prayed I was laying in bed when there was a knock at my door. A woman stood at my door and said, “ I know you don’t know me, but I came here to let you know that Heavenly Father is aware of your struggles.”  I immediately started to cry. This woman then said that she had attended the temple and throughout the session was receiving my name. Once she got home she looked up my name on LDS tools and found that I was in her stake. She then got my address and came to my home.   Because I had faith that he would hear my prayer I was able to feel His love for me thru someone else.  Soon after this incident it was my time to move on from young women’s and I still don’t know what the plan is, but I know He is trying to help me.  Jesus knew my struggles before I did. What I have come to realize is that I forgot one thing while serving Him. I stopped nourishing my own testimony. I wanted so badly to serve Him at my fullest capacity and help the young women find their testimonies that I began neglecting my own.  Going thru this was important because it taught me that I must always nourish my own testimony in Jesus Christ. I always felt like it was so strong that it was ok to miss scripture reading for a couple days, but then a couple days turned into a couple months. In Alma 32 verses 40 – 43 it says, “And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life. But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life. And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst. Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you.”  What I have learned through this experience is we all must nourish our testimonies every day. Just as a tree will die without water our testimonies will weaken without constant nourishment.  We must keep our faith in Jesus Christ alive.  We must also trust in His plan and have an understanding that the answer we receive might not be something we like it is something we need.

     For those struggling with gaining faith in Jesus Christ I suggest going back to the basics and work on your testimony there. Our overall testimony can consist of individual testimonies of different principles of the gospel.   In the midst of my struggles I decided to try to go back to the basics and read about gaining a testimony. I chose a book by John Bytheway called How Do I know if I know? As most of you know I am a football fanatic so this example of how faith works really stuck out to me and made me see it in a simpler way.  John wrote, “ Former NFL quarterback Steve young compared the experience of gaining a testimony to adjusting to playing football in the NFL The game was so much faster than the college game that, instead of waiting to throw until he sad the open receiver, he learned he had to throw the ball with a little faith. He had to throw to where the receiver should be- in other words; he had to act before he knew. Steve Young said about this experience, “ I do believe. I believe because I practiced my faith first without knowing and then felt the answers in my heart. Over time this faith produced conviction that I know more than anything else in my life, seen or unseen. I have felt God, I savor His written word, I love and listen to His ordained prophets, and He speaks to my heart…All you have to do is start “throwing the ball without seeing” and that faith will develop until you know that our Father in Heaven and his Son Jesus Christ live and are our hope individually and the hope for the whole world. “ I love this example and it made it easy for me to understand. We must trust that the Lord will be there at all times. And just like the game of football when the receiver isn’t there to catch the ball, Jesus isn’t there to stop us from trials, but He is always out there with us.

  About a year into being a member I had a friend who is an atheist ask me how I could believe such nonsense and my reply was simple. I did not understand much about the gospel or the church doctrine, but I knew I had faith. I said to him you know maybe I am wrong in believing this, but what is the alternative to believe in nothing? I would rather spend my life serving others, trying to live a good life and believing in something then the alternative. He asked what the alternative would be and I said, “How would you feel if you tried to convince everyone you know that Jesus does not exist only to leave this Earth and find out that He does?”  His response was, “ I suppose your right.” I now have a much better understanding of the church and might respond differently, but I would have the same message. I have faith in Jesus and when I have to answer to Him at judgment day I will be able to say that I believed in Him. I was being prepared for this talk before the opportunity was even extended to me. I was reading the scriptures and I came across the story of Thomas or as some refer to him as Thomas the Doubter.  In John Chapter 20 verse 25 it says, “The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” This scripture caught my attention as I questioned Clint about it. I said did the disciple of the Lord really not believe that He had returned?  He told me the story of Thomas and I read further. On Thursday evening I went to a play with a friend about the Savior’s birth and resurrection.  The spirit was strong at the play, but I hadn’t gotten emotional until the person playing Jesus walked on the stage all dressed in white. I knew what was coming. This was the part where He would question Thomas on his lack of faith. The conversation went like this, from John 20 verses 27-28 the Lord said, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands: and reach hiter thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believed.”  This scripture is so powerful because I am sure at some point in many of our lives we have all played the part of Thomas the doubter.  We want solid proof that he is real and while some get answers where they can not deny like a vision in the grove not all of us do. The Lord communicates with us all in different ways. But if we just believe we will be blessed. The scriptures tell us this to be true. It is easy to see something and believe then believe it something we’ve never seen. But most of us are here today because we believe in Jesus Christ, but we need to remember to study him always and read about him so we may grow our faith in him.

 Brothers and Sisters my questions today are some you might ponder. How strong is your faith? Can you have enough faith without seeing Jesus Christ? How will you feel on judgment day when Jesus tells you the same words He spoke to Thomas on his lack of faith? I do not want to have that conversation with Him. I want Him to tell me that I have been blessed because I believed without seeing and I pray that you all want the same. 

 I know that my Savior lives. I know He died for me. He has felt all my trials and tribulations. He was crucified to pay for my sins so that I may live with my Heavenly Father again. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen