ELDERS QUORUM LESSON – 25 SEPTEMBER 2022
Hello Elders,
This week’s Elder Quorum Lesson topic
will be “We Are the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints” by Sister Reyna I Aburto.
The Relief Society will be using the same
talk for their lesson.
Our instructor will be Mike Hampton
REMINDER – This month’s Ward Temple
Night will be Wednesday, September 28th, at 7pm at the Rexburg
Temple, for those of you who have made reservations
Here is Sister Aburto’s Talk
We Are
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church is more than the buildings
and the ecclesiastical structure; the Church is us, the members, with Christ at
the head and the prophet as His mouthpiece.
After receiving an invitation to
“come and see,” I attended The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
for the first time at the age of 26. I had recently separated from my first
husband. I had a three-year-old boy. And I felt powerless with fear. When I
entered the building, I was filled with warmth as I perceived the faith and joy
of the people surrounding me. It was truly “a refuge from the
storm.” Three weeks later, I made the baptismal covenant with Heavenly
Father and started my journey as a disciple of Christ, although my life has not
been perfect along that journey.
For me to receive those eternal
blessings, many physical and spiritual elements had to be in place. The gospel
of Jesus Christ had been restored and preached; that meetinghouse had been
built and maintained; there was an ecclesiastical structure, from the prophet
to local leaders; and a branch filled by covenant members was ready to embrace
me and my son as we were brought to the Savior, “nourished by the good word of
God,” and given opportunities to serve.
From the beginning, God has sought
to gather and organize His children “to bring to pass [our] immortality
and eternal life.” With that purpose in mind, He has instructed us to
build places of worship where we receive knowledge and the ordinances of
salvation and exaltation; make and keep covenants that bind us to Jesus
Christ; are endowed with “the power of godliness”; and gather
together often to remember Jesus and strengthen each other in Him. The
Church organization and its buildings exist for our spiritual benefit. “The
Church … is the scaffolding with which we build eternal families.”
While talking to a friend going
through a difficult time, I asked how he was surviving financially. In tears,
he replied that his bishop was helping him using fast-offering funds. He added,
“I don’t know where my family and I would be if it wasn’t for the Church.” I
replied, “The Church is the members. They are
the ones who willingly and joyfully give fast offerings to help those of us in
need. You are receiving the fruits of their faith and determination to follow
Jesus Christ.”
My fellow disciples of Christ, let
us not underestimate the marvelous work the Lord is doing through us, His Church, despite our shortcomings. Sometimes we
are givers and sometimes we are receivers, but we are all one family in Christ.
His Church is the structure He has given to guide and bless us as we worship
Him and serve each other.
Some sisters have apologized to
me, thinking they are not active members of Relief Society because they are
serving in Primary or Young Women. Those sisters are among the most active
members of Relief Society because they are helping our precious children and
youth strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ.
Relief Society is not limited to a
room in a building, a Sunday lesson, an activity, or a presidency at the local
or general level. Relief Society is the covenant women of the Church; it
is us—each
of us and all of us. It is
our “global community of compassion and service.” Anywhere and everywhere
we go, we are always part of Relief Society as we strive to fulfill its divine
purpose, which is for women to accomplish God’s work in individual as well as
collective ways by providing relief: “relief of poverty, relief of
illness; relief of doubt, relief of ignorance—relief of all that hinders … joy
and progress.”
Similar belonging exists in elders
quorums and organizations of the Church for all ages, including our children
and youth. The Church is more than the buildings and the ecclesiastical
structure; the Church is us, the
members. We are The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, with Christ at the head and the prophet as His
mouthpiece. The Lord has said:
“Behold, this is my
doctrine—whosoever repenteth and cometh unto me, the same is my church. …
“And … whosoever is of my church,
and endureth of my church to the end, him will I establish upon my rock.”
Sisters and brothers, let us
realize how privileged we are to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, where we
can unite our faith, hearts, strengths, minds, and hands for Him to perform His
mighty miracles. “For the body [of Christ’s Church] is not one member, but
many.”
A teenage boy told his mother,
“When I was little, every time I gave one dollar in tithing, I thought that
with that one dollar a whole meetinghouse would be built. Isn’t that
silly?”
Touched, she replied,
“That is lovely! Did you picture them in your mind?”
“Yes!” he exclaimed. “They were
beautiful, and there were millions of them!”
My dear friends, let us
have the faith of a child and rejoice in knowing that even our smallest efforts
are making a significant difference in God’s kingdom.
Our purpose in His kingdom
should be to bring each other to Christ. As we read in the scriptures, the
Savior extended this invitation to the Nephites:
“Have ye any that are sick
among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are … afflicted in any manner?
Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my
bowels are filled with mercy.
“… I see that your faith is
sufficient that I should heal you.”
Do we not all have afflictions
that can be brought to the Savior’s feet? While some of us have physical
challenges, many more battle with emotional strife, others struggle to nurture
social connections, and we all seek respite when our spirits are
challenged. We are all afflicted
in some manner.
We read that “all the multitude,
with one accord, did go forth with their sick and … with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and
he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him.
“And they did all, both they who
had been healed and they who were whole, bow down at his feet, and did worship
him.”
From a little boy who pays
tithing with faith, to a single mother in need of the Lord’s empowering grace,
to a father struggling to provide for his family, to our ancestors in need of
the ordinances of salvation and exaltation, to each of us who renews covenants
with God every week, we need each other, and we can bring each other to the
Savior’s redeeming healing.
My dear sisters and
brothers, let us follow Jesus Christ’s invitation to bring ourselves and our
afflictions to Him. When we come to Him and bring those we love to Him, He sees
our faith. He will make them whole, and He will make us whole.
As “the peaceable followers of
Christ,” we are striving to become “of one heart and one mind” and to
be humble; submissive; gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and
long-suffering; temperate in all things; diligent in keeping the commandments of
God at all times; full of faith, hope, and charity; and abounding in good
works. We are striving to become like Jesus Christ.
I testify that as Christ’s Church,
we are the means through which, as President Russell M. Nelson taught,
“our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest
works between now and when He comes again.”
The Lord has said:
“Behold, I will hasten my
work in its time.
“And I give unto you … a
commandment that you assemble yourselves together, and organize yourselves, and
prepare yourselves, and sanctify yourselves; yea, purify your hearts, and
cleanse your hands and your feet before me, that I may make you clean.”
May we respond to this
divine invitation and joyfully assemble, organize, prepare, and sanctify
ourselves is my humble prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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