A Church Talk

This is a talk I gave in church several months ago.

Good morning. We've been in this ward for a couple of months, so a few of you might know us by now. We went to school at BYU, where I studied electrical engineering and my husband studied computer engineering. We had mutual friends, and finally we ended up in a class together, where we spent at least 15-20 hours every week in the same computer lab. We started talking, became friends, and started dating. So basically, we're two nerds who fell in love. We've been married five years, and after school we moved into the Seattle area to take a job. This is where I grew up, so it felt like coming home to me. We've been living in a little apartment for three years, and this year we finally took the plunge and bought ourselves a (little) house. And that's how we ended up here with you.

Enough introduction - I guess it's time to move on to "the talk".

I need instructions in order to do a lot of things. I need directions (recipes) to cook, I need directions and usually a map to drive places, and I really need the directions to put together IKEA furniture.

I especially need instructions on how to live my life to have happiness and joy. Some people get these instructions from their parents, some from self-help books, and some from watching Oprah. As for me, I try to get instructions on how to live my life from the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored to the earth in the latter days through the prophet Joseph Smith.

I said the gospel was "restored" - why did it need to be restored? In the November 2005 Ensign, there is a talk by Elder Richard G. Scott called "Truth Restored", where he says, "Our Holy Father, who knows each of His children perfectly, realized that over time many would be tempted, become worldly, and reject the testimony and teaching of His prophets. Spiritual darkness would replace the light of truth in a condition called an apostasy. The period from the introduction of truth to its general loss through sin would be called a dispensation. Prophet after prophet would be chosen in a series of dispensations to keep truth on earth for the faithful despite its distortion or rejection by many."

Prophets such as Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Moses restored gospel truths in their dispensations, and Jesus Christ restored the truth and personally reorganized His Church when he lived on the earth.

The Old Testament Prophet Amos described times of apostasy in Amos 8:11-12, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."

Famine is more than just being hungry - we get hungry all the time. Famine is a desperate hunger when there is no food to be found. The apostasy as described by Amos, is a famine where there is no true gospel to be found, no matter how much people hunger for it.

In the Book of Mormon, Nephi also prophesied about the period of apostasy after Christ would come to the earth. In 2 Nephi 26:20 he wrote, "And the Gentiles are lifted up in the pride of their eyes, and have stumbled, because of the greatness of their stumbling block, that they have built up many churches; nevertheless, they put down the power and miracles of God, and preach up unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning, that they may get gain and grind upon the face of the poor."

So, without the truth, people "stumble" and they "starve". And then a boy named Joseph Smith prayed to know which church was true, and he was answered by God the Father and His son Jesus Christ, who told him none of the churches on the earth were true. The Lord proceeded to restore His church to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith.

So, what exactly was restored?

In the May 2006 Ensign, President James E. Faust said in his talk "The Restoration of All Things" that, "With this falling away, priesthood keys were lost, and some precious doctrines of the Church organized by the Savior were changed. Among these were baptism by immersion; receiving the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands; the nature of the Godhead-that They are three distinct personages; all mankind will be resurrected through the Atonement of Christ, 'both ... the just and the unjust'; continuous revelation-that the heavens are not closed; and temple work for the living and the dead."

On May 15, 1829, John the Baptist gave Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the Aaronic Priesthood.

About a month later, they received the Melchizedek Priesthood from Peter, James, and John.

The ordinances of baptism and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost were also restored.

The restoration included the laws of tithes and offerings, and the blessings of obeying them; and it included the sacrament.

Many lost truths and history were in the Book of Mormon, which Joseph Smith translated.

The Lord commanded His people in Doctrine & Covenants 124:27-28, "With all your precious things of the earth; build a house to my name, for the Most High to dwell therein. For there is not a place found on earth that he may come to and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fullness of the priesthood."

President Faust said, "In the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836, Moses appeared and gave the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the keys of the gathering of Israel. After this, Elias appeared and committed the gospel of Abraham, that in "our seed all generations after us should be blessed." After this, Elijah the prophet appeared and gave to them the keys of this dispensation, including the sealing power, to bind in heaven that which is bound on earth within the temples." And the ordinances of the temple - the endowment, sealing, and work for the dead - were restored.

On April 6, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ was restored as Paul described in his epistle to the Ephesians, "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone."

I can't imagine what my life would have been like without the restoration of all these things. Last week I went to the funeral of my great Aunt, and I felt the comfort of knowing that I will see her again someday. I am blessed to know of the Plan of Salvation, and to know my relation to God. I am blessed with personal revelation when I need guidance or comfort or strength. I am blessed to be sealed to by husband and my family. I am blessed to have the Holy Ghost with me when I am obedient to the commandments. I am blessed to have the power of the Priesthood available, held by friends and family. I am blessed because the Lord keeps His promises which He has made to me in the covenants I have made. And most of all, I am blessed to have times of peace and joy when I follow the commandments and try to live according to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.