So, I Spoke in Church Today....

I spoke in church today and I thought that I would share my talk with you all as well! I was so grateful that I had the opportunity to ponder, pray, and study about Christ so much this past week as I prepared to speak in church.

I love our Savior and I love his gospel. I am so glad that I am able to share my testimony of him.

Today I was asked to speak on the topic I Believe in Christ. I wanted to start by addressing the question, what does it mean to be a believer?

This is not to be confused with a “Belieber” who is one with an almost unhealthy love of Justin Bieber.

In Mormon Doctrine it says that a believer is one who believes in Christ, accept his doctrines, and cleave unto the disciples whom he sends to declare those doctrines and to administer the ordinances of salvation.

What does it mean to be a believer in Christ? I would like to briefly talk about four qualities that are found in believers of Christ.

1. A believer in Christ has sought after and received a confirmation that Jesus is the Christ.

This means that you have actively worked towards receiving a testimony of Jesus Christ as our Savior. For some of you this testimony may have come as a lightbulb, suddenly and brightly. For most of us it came as the sun does each morning, slowly and almost imperceptibly. Either way it is a testimony which you have worked to receive and that now enlightens your soul and your life. This knowledge, or this light, ultimately influences your thoughts and actions, which ultimately determine who you become. If you feel that you do not have a testimony that Jesus is the Christ, I would invite you seek after one. Study and prayer so that you can know for yourself that you have a Savior who loves you perfectly, personally, and completely.

2. A true believer in Christ obeys Christ's commandment “Come, follow me”

Christ asked in 3^rd Nephi “What manner of men ought ye to be? His answer was “Even as I am”. Part of following Christ means that we become like him, in word, thought, and deed. We become Christ-like. This process of becoming like Christ requires daily spiritual growth and takes a lifetime to achieve. One of the best ways to become like him is to study him. Find out who he is, what he has done, and in what ways we can follow him.

In Preach My Gospel there is an entire chapter devoted to this process of becoming Christ-like. Chapter 6 which is entitled “How Do I Develop Christlike Attributes?” teaches about several attributes including: Faith, Hope, Charity, Virtue, Patience, Humility, and Obedience. By studying individual attributes our minds will be enlightened to ways that we can change and become more like our Savior.

3. A true believer uses the power of the atonement in their life to be forgiven, but also to be enabled.

A person who is a believer of Christ, also believes Christ – they believe that he can set them free from Satan's grasp, the woes of sin, and their grief and pain. They seek forgiveness from sins and strive to do and be better. They also recognize that the atonement is for more than overcoming sin, it is a source of strength and power. It enables us. In Elder Bednar's talk “In the Strength of the Lord” he says:

“Thus, the enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement helps us to see and to do and to become good in ways that we could never recognize or accomplish with our limited mortal capacity. In the strength of the Lord and through His grace, I know that you and I can be blessed to accomplish all things.”

4. A true believer testifies of Christ in both word and in deed.

It is important to ask ourselves often, if not several times each day “Do I carry myself in such a way that people recognize me as a believer? Do we testify in the way we talk and the things that we do that we believe in Christ and follow his example?

I would like to take this opportunity to testify of Christ.

I first echo Elder Bruce R. McConkie in his final testimony when he said quote “In speaking of these wondrous things I shall use my own words, though you may think they are the words of scripture, words spoken by Apostles and prophets. True it is they were first proclaimed by others, but they are now mine, for the Holy Spirit of God has borne witness to me that they are true...”. close quote

I believe in Christ. I believe that before we came to this earth, the great plan of salvation was created by our Heavenly Father, to enable us to advance and progress and become like him.

We dwelt with our Father in the eternities that preceded this life. We were present when the great cry went forth from him through the midst of eternity: “Whom shall I send to be my son, to work out the infinite and eternal atoning sacrifice, to put in full force and operation the terms and conditions of my eternal plan?”

I believe that it was then that our elder brother, Jesus Christ the beloved son lifted up his voice and said “Here am I, send me” “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever”.

I believe that Christ was the firstborn spirit child of God the Father and thus the eldest brother and preeminent above all other spirit children of God. He had, in his first estate, become more intelligent than all other spirits, was “like unto God” and served as the representative of the Father in the creation of “worlds without number”.

I believe that it was by and through Christ that all revelation since the fall of Adam has been given. He was the Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God-Lawgiver on Sinai, the Holy One of Israel. “None of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ”.

I believe that a little more than 2,000 years ago, the Redeemer of humankind was born in Bethlehem of Judea. While yet an infant He was brought to the temple in Jerusalem. There Mary and Joseph heard the wonderful prophecies spoken by Simeon and Anna about the tiny babe who was destined to become the Savior of the world.

I believe that his life was one of moral perfection – he was sinless and completely submissive to the will of the Father. He was the only perfect man to walk the earth and he invited all to “come follow” him as he spent all his days in the service of others.

I believe that he performed miracles. He performed them in his Father's name to bear witness of his divinity and that others might believe and have life through him. He healed the sick. He caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear. He raised the dead, fed the multitudes, and cleansed the temple. And then, as he had promised, he took upon him the sins of all men on condition of repentance in a garden spot outside the walls of Jerusalem.

I believe that he performed the atonement for us. We do not know, we cannot tell, no mortal mind can conceive the full import of what Christ did in Gethsemane. He experienced the physical and spiritual “temptations, pain, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death. It was the Savior's dual nature – being both a man and a God – which enabled him to make an infinite atonement, an accomplishment that no other person, no matter how capable or gifted could do.

His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. As near as we can judge, this suffering continued for three or four hours. But it was necessary, for nothing which was short of an infinite atonement would suffice for the sins of the world.

I believe that this suffering continued on the cross of Calvary, just a few hundred meters away from the Garden of Gethsemane. It was here that the Savior, after being betrayed, scourged, and mocked, was laid upon the cross of Calvary. With great mallets they drove spikes of iron through his feet and hands and wrists. He was raised that all might see and gape and curse and deride. Then the heavens grew black and for another three hours he again suffered the infinite agonies and merciless pains of Gethsemane. Finally, when he had fulfilled the will of his Father in all things, he then said “It is finished” and voluntarily gave up the ghost.

I believe that it was only through this suffering that Christ could satisfy the demands of justice, ransom penitent souls from the pains and penalties of sin, and make mercy available to those who believe in his holy name. This was the intent of this great and last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.

I believe that He ransomed, reconciled, expiated, redeemed, reclaimed, absolved, propitiated, made amends, and paid the penalty. He ransomed men from the effects of the fall of Adam in that both the spiritual and temporal deaths could be conquered; their lasting effects nullified. The spiritual death of the fall was replaced by the spiritual life of the atonement.

I believe that after three days our Blessed Lord rose again. He took up his body and arose in that glorious immortality which made him like his resurrected Father. He appeared to Mary Magdalene, his apostles, and to the people in the Americas. He was then received up into heaven and he now sits on the right hand of God.

I believe that Christ does stand supreme. That from him we can obtain our fondest dream. That while we strive through grief and pain he is there to love, comfort, and guide us. I believe in Christ, and because I believe in him I know that I can have a “come what may” outlook on life because I know that regardless of what happens, good and bad, it has been for my good and he will help me. I believe that one day he will come again to rule among the sons of men, and that if we live righteously we can stand with him in that great day.

Of these things I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.