Good morning brothers and sisters. I’ve been called to serve in the Tennessee, Nashville Mission. People have asked me if I’m nervous about going into the MTC, and the mission field, and I’ve told them no, in fact I’m more nervous now than I’ve been this past week, though ask me Wednesday morning, I’m sure I’ll be just a tad bit more nervous than I am now.
Why do we need to know God and Jesus Christ? What are the ways we can get to know Them? How do we maintain, and increase our knowledge of God and Jesus Christ?
Elder Hales said, this past General Conference, "As prophesied, we live in a time when the darkness of secularism is deepening around us. Belief in God is widely questioned and even attacked in the name of political, social, and even religious causes. Atheism, or the doctrine that there is no God, is fast spreading across the world.
"Even so, as members of the restored Church of Jesus Christ, we declare that ‘we believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.’ " Some wonder, why the belief in God is so important. Moses 1:39 says, "For behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."
"Without God, life would end at the grave and our mortal experiences would have no purpose. Growth and progress would be temporary, accomplishment without value, challenges without meaning. There would be no ultimate right and wrong and no moral responsibility to care for one another as fellow children of God. Indeed, without God, there would be no mortal or eternal life." I suppose another way you could say that is: "Life is just busy work, it doesn’t really matter," but it does. In order to get back with the Father and the Son we need to know and love Them.
Elder Hales councils, "If you or someone you love is seeking purpose in life or a deeper conviction of God’s presence in our lives, I offer, as a friend and as an Apostle, my witness. He lives!
"Some may ask, how can I know this for myself? We know He lives because we believe the testimonies of His ancient and living prophets, and we have felt God’s Spirit confirm that the testimonies of these prophets are true.
"From their testimonies, recorded in holy scripture, we know that ‘[God] created man, male and female, after his own image and in his own likeness.’ Some people may be surprised to learn that we look like God. One prominent religious scholar has even taught that imagining God in the form of man is creating a graven image and is idolatrous and blasphemous. But God Himself said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’
"The use of the words us and our in this scripture also teaches us about the relationship between the Father and the Son. God further taught, ‘By mine Only Begotten I created these things.’ The Father and the Son are separate and distinct individuals—as any father and son always are."
When we are young we lean on our parents’ testimonies before we stand on our own. We learn from others the way we talk, the way we walk, and the way we behave, are just to name a few.
Reading the scripture is another way we learn. From the New Testament we "know that Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, have a physical presence. They stand in one place at one time.
"We also know that the Father and the Son have voices. As recorded in Genesis and the book of Moses, Adam and Eve ‘heard the voice of the Lord God, as they were walking in the garden, in the cool of the day.’
"We know that the Father and the Son have faces, that They stand, and that They converse. The prophet Enoch declared, ‘I saw the Lord; and he stood before my face, and he talked with me, even as a man talketh one with another.’
"We know that God and His Son have bodies, in form and parts like ours. From the book of Ether in the Book of Mormon, we read, ‘And the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood.’ Later the Lord revealed Himself, saying, ‘Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and . . . I [will] appear unto my people in the flesh.’
"We know that the Father and the Son have feelings for us. The book of Moses records, ‘And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept.’
"And we know that God and His Son, Jesus Christ, are immortal, glorified, and perfected beings. Of the Savior Jesus Christ, the Prophet Joseph Smith recounts, ‘His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters.’
"No testimony is more significant to us in our time than the witness of Joseph Smith."
What about personally? It’s easy to say "we," but what about "I"? "In matters of personal belief, how do we know what really is true?
"I testify that the way to know the truth about God is through the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead, is a personage of spirit. His work is to "testify of [God]" and to "teach [us] all things."
"However, we must be careful not to constrain His influence. When we do not do what is right or when our outlook is dominated by skepticism, cynicism, criticism, and irreverence toward others and their beliefs, the Spirit cannot be with us."
And how can we keep the Spirit with us, and truly seek to know God, Our Father, and His Son Jesus Christ? Elder Hales says, "You may already know, deep in your soul, that God lives. You may not know all about Him yet and do not understand all His ways, but the light of belief is within you, waiting to be awakened and intensified by the Spirit of God and the Light of Christ, which you are born with.
"So come. Believe the testimonies of the prophets. Learn of God and Christ. The pattern to do so is clearly taught by prophets of old and prophets today.
"Cultivate a diligent desire to know that God lives.
"This desire leads us to ponder on the things of heaven—to let the evidence of God all around us touch our hearts.
"With softened hearts we are prepared to heed the Savior’s call to ‘search the scriptures’ and to humbly learn from them.
"We are then ready to ask our Heavenly Father sincerely, in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, if the things we have learned are true. Most of us will not see God, as the prophets have, but the still, small promptings of the Spirit—the thoughts and feelings that the Holy Ghost brings into our minds and hearts—will give us an undeniable knowledge that He lives and that He loves us."
I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us and want us to succeed in all that we do, and when our hearts are turned to Them, we can accomplish anything we set our minds to. I know that when we follow the promptings of the Spirit we will be blessed in more ways than just one.
And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
