July 26, 2020 – Elders Quorum Lesson

July 26, 2020 – Elders Quorum Lesson
from Ron Green

Hello my fellow Chesterites, I hope you and your family are doing well and during this crazy pandemic.  I hope you are all keeping in touch with the families you minister to and enjoying having the sacrament at home.

I really like the Come Follow Me lesson this week and the special council Alma gave to his son Helaman, especially the council given in Alma 37:37 “Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.” President Nelson has asked us to learn to “Hear Him!” I believe Alma’s council can help us learn to hear Him.

When I was Baptized there were 12 operating Temples and when I served my Mission there were 16.  We now have 168 operating temples and 49 additional temples are under construction or have been announced. It is amazing how much the church has grown.

We encourage you to read and study the talk given by Elder David A. Bednar in our last conference.  It is entitled “LetThis House Be Built unto My Name.” Elder Bednar says “the covenants received and the ordinances performed in temples are essential to the sanctifying of our hearts and for the ultimate exaltation of God’s sons and daughters.”

Following are a few highlights that I enjoyed from his talk.

In the Sacred Grove 200 years ago, young Joseph Smith saw and talked with God, the Eternal Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. From Them, Joseph learned about the true nature of the Godhead and of ongoing revelation as this supernal vision ushered in the latter-day “dispensation of the fulness of times.”

Approximately three years later, in response to earnest prayer on the evening of September 21, 1823, Joseph’s bedroom filled with light until it was “lighter than at noonday.” A personage appeared at his bedside, called the young boy by name, and declared “he was a messenger sent from the presence of God … and that his name was Moroni.” He instructed Joseph about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

Importantly, Moroni’s instruction to Joseph Smith about Elijah’s mission initiated temple and family history work in the latter days and was a key element in restoring “all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

I begin by asking a fundamental question: why was the return of Elijah important?

“We learn from latter-day revelation that Elijah held the sealing power of the Melchizedek Priesthood” and “was the last prophet to do so before the time of Jesus Christ.”

The Prophet Joseph Smith explained: “The spirit, power, and calling of Elijah is, that ye have power to hold the key of the … fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood… ; and to … obtain … all the ordinances belonging to the kingdom of God, even unto the turning of the hearts of the fathers unto the children, and the hearts of the children unto the fathers, even those who are in heaven.”

The restoration of the sealing authority by Elijah in 1836 was necessary to prepare the world for the Savior’s Second Coming and initiated a greatly increased and worldwide interest in family history research.

We do not build or enter holy temples solely to have a memorable individual or family experience. Rather, the covenants received and the ordinances performed in temples are essential to the sanctifying of our hearts and for the ultimate exaltation of God’s sons and daughters.

The most sacred covenants and priesthood ordinances are received only in a temple—the house of the Lord. Everything that is learned and all that is done in the temple emphasize the divinity of Jesus Christ and His role in Heavenly Father’s great plan of happiness.

President Ezra Taft Benson described an important pattern the Redeemer employs in bringing “to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” He said: “The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.”

Covenants and priesthood ordinances are central in the ongoing process of spiritual rebirth and transformation; they are the means whereby the Lord works with each of us from the inside out.

We do not come to the temple to hide from or escape the evils of the world. Rather, we come to the temple to conquer the world of evil. As we invite into our lives the “power of godliness” by receiving priesthood ordinances and making and keeping sacred covenants, we are blessed with strength beyond our own to overcome the temptations and challenges of mortality and to do and become good.

Understandably, the announcement of each new temple is a source of great joy and a reason to give thanks to the Lord. However, our primary focus should be on the covenants and ordinances that can change our hearts and deepen our devotion to the Savior and not simply on the location or beauty of the building.

The fundamental obligations that rest upon us as members of the Lord’s restored Church are (1) to “Hear Him!”²⁴ and have our own hearts changed through covenants and ordinances and (2) to fulfill joyfully the divinely appointed responsibility to offer temple blessings to the entire human family on both sides of the veil. With the Lord’s direction and help, indeed we will fulfill these sacred duties.

“The building up of Zion is a cause that has interested the people of God in every age; it is a theme upon which prophets, priests and kings have dwelt with peculiar delight; they have looked forward with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live; and fired with heavenly and joyful anticipations they have sung and written and prophesied of this our day; but they died without the sight; … it is left for us to see, participate in and help to roll forward the Latter-day glory.”²⁵

I solemnly testify that the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith, and Elijah restored the sealing authority. Sacred temple covenants and ordinances can strengthen us and purify our hearts as we “Hear Him!”²⁷ and receive the power of godliness in our lives. And I witness that this latter-day work will destroy the powers of darkness and bring about the salvation of the human family. Of these truths I joyfully testify in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.