First Speaker
Mosiah 2:21-22
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
Next Speaker
We can’t gain a relationship with Christ if we don’t use His atoning power.
John 3:16
16 ¶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
What does John 3:16 mean to you?
“Jesus was born into mortality. He led a perfect life and, in so doing, marked the path for us to follow.” (President M. Russell Ballard, “The Greatest Expression of God’s Love”, April 2019 General Conference)
DnC 19:16-18
16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink
John 3:17
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
“Moses repeatedly heard Heavenly Father speak the words ‘Moses, my son’ (see Moses 1:6; see also verses 7, 40). Abraham learned he was a child of God, chosen for his mission even before he was born (see Abraham 3:12, 23). By the hand of God, Esther was placed in a position of influence to save her people (see Esther 4). And God trusted a young woman, a servant, to testify of a living prophet so Naaman could be healed (see 2 Kings 5:1–15).
“I especially love that good man, short in stature, who climbed a tree to see Jesus. The Savior knew he was there, stopped, looked up into the branches, and spoke these words: ‘Zacchaeus, … come down’ (Luke 19:5). And we cannot forget the 14-year-old who went into a grove of trees and learned how personal the plan really is: ‘[Joseph,] this is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!’ (Joseph Smith—History 1:17).” (Elder Michael T. Ringwood, “For God So Loved Us”, April 2022 General Conference)
My Talk
Traditionally in LDS culture, this is the part of a talk where the speaker would detail the history of how they were asked to give this talk and then publicly criticize the bishopric for having asked them to speak.
For the sake of time, I am going to skip all that.
John chapter 4 contains a story that we refer to as “the woman at the well” and was part of what we all studied this week in our homes with the Come, Follow Me program.
The Savior taught the woman about living water.
There is so much living water that the Savior offers us. We have the healing power of the atonement. We have the enabling power of the atonement. We have prophetic and personal revelation that comes to us through His gift of the Holy Ghost.
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We symbolically share the living water and bread of life with others during the sacrament. When we serve the person next to us by holding the tray for them, it allows them to partake peacefully without having to try to juggle the tray at the same time. When we allow the person next to us to serve us we allow them to partner with Christ and share the living water and bread of life with us.
What a great lesson we have each week on serving and being served, by participating reverently and patiently in the serving of the sacrament to each other. And in the receiving of the sacrament from each other.
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Another way Christ’s living water springs forth is from the Holy Ghost.
I have shared a talk by Elder Bednar with some of our teachers and I have also included a link to it in this month’s ward newsletter. It is a talk he gave at the Missionary Training Center. He was answering the question of “how do I tell if it’s the Holy Ghost or just me.” I’m not going to spend time on it here, but it is an amazing talk. I recommend you all check out the ward newsletter and listen to that talk.
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Sister Carole M Stephens talks of the living water that Jesus offers us through the atonement. She said,
“I often meet Latter-day Saint[s] who are desperate for help, yet they do not turn to the One who can provide everlasting help. Too often they seek for understanding by searching ‘the great and spacious building.’”
“When the woman came to the well, Jesus—the embodiment of living water—said simply, ‘Give me to drink.’ Our Savior will likewise speak to us in a voice we recognize when we come to Him—for He knows us. He meets us where we are. And because of who He is and what He has done for us, He understands. Because He has experienced our pain, He can give us living water when we seek it.” End Quote
(Sister Carole M Stephens, The Master Healer, October 2016 General Conference)
Elder Marion D Hanks also had some things to say about this. He quoted Jeremiah and then commented,
“‘For my people have committed two evils,’ said the Lord to Israel; ‘they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.’ (Jer. 2:13.)
“The substitutions we fashion to take the place of God in our lives truly hold no water. To the measure we thus refuse the ‘living water,” we miss the joy we could have.’ End Quote (Marion D. Hanks, Joy through Christ, Ensign 1972)
Often we are hurting or looking for help. Turning to the things of the world will not bring us lasting healing. Lasting healing comes from Him who knows us personally, because He experienced what we are going through. I don’t believe that He took upon Himself our sins and pains and temptations in some general or metaphorical way. I believe that He knows MY pain, MY temptations, and MY trials, because He experienced how MY pain feels, how MY temptations drag on me, and how MY trials weigh me down. ME personally and ME individually. And I believe that He experienced how YOUR pains feel, how YOUR temptations drag on you, and how YOUR trials weigh you down. YOU personally, YOU individually, and YOU intimately.
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Elder K. Brett Nattress said,
"The gospel truly is about the one. It is about one lost sheep. It is about one Samaritan woman at a well. It is about one prodigal son.
" And it is about one little boy who might claim he is not listening." - Elder K. Brett Nattress, "No Greater Joy Than to Know That They Know"
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Sister Neill F. Marriott said,
“We want to be encircled in the arms of our Heavenly Father’s love and guidance, and so we put His will first and with a broken heart plead that Christ will pour streams of cleansing water into our pitcher. At first it may come drop by drop, but as we seek, ask, and obey, it will come abundantly. This living water will begin to fill us, and brimming with His love, we can tip the pitcher of our soul and share its contents with others who thirst for healing, hope, and belonging. As our inner pitcher becomes clean, our earthly relationships begin to heal.” End Quote
(Neill F Marriott, Abide in God and Repairing the Breach, October 2017 General Conference)
As the living water springs in us and we share it with others, our living water spring will get even stronger. Then we can help to fill others when their water is running low?
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Heavenly Father knows us. He knows what we need and he custom made a life experience for us so that we would have opportunity to grow. He knew that I would be my children’s father and He knew my strengths and also my weaknesses that maybe they needed to deal with to grow. He also knew that they would be my children and I would need them in order to grow. What a wonderful miracle that He can have billions of children and yet custom make a life that is personally, exactly what each of them need. They will cross paths with each other and still He can individually have each of them be on their own custom designed experience.
He also knows us collectively and He knew we would need the Come, Follow Me program to help us through the world shutting down and changing during Covid. He also knew that it would propel us to the next phase of preparing for the Savior’s return.
The Come, Follow Me curriculum is about the one and their family.
It is one tool the Lord has given us to help us strengthen our connection to the Savior and increase the flow of living water inside us.
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Do you all remember back in 2018 before the Come, Follow Me program was announced and before Church services were reduced to two hours? I remember that there were all sorts of rumors going around that big changes were coming and what those changes might be. Some were saying that the three-hour block was going to be cut to two. I couldn’t fathom this, since three-hour church was part of our culture and it was one of those things that stood out about the Church. But we were having many of our traditions shaken up a bit to help us do things more effectively and I think also to get our attention a little.
In October 2018 General Conference, President Nelson spoke first and I was thinking, “ok we are going to finally hear these changes.” Then he didn’t tell us what they were. — But he did have some good things to say. Let me read a few of the things he said.
“As Latter-day Saints, we have become accustomed to thinking of ‘church’ as something that happens in our meetinghouses, supported by what happens at home. We need an adjustment to this pattern. It is time for a home-centered Church, supported by what takes place inside our branch, ward, and stake buildings.”
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“The long-standing objective of the Church to assist all members to increase their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Atonement, to assist them in making and keeping their covenants with God, and to strengthen and seal their families. In this complex world today, this is not easy. The adversary is increasing his attacks on faith and upon us and our families at an exponential rate. To survive spiritually, we need counterstrategies and proactive plans.”
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“This morning we will announce a new balance and connection between gospel instruction in the home and in the Church. We are each responsible for our individual spiritual growth. And scriptures make it clear that parents have the primary responsibility to teach the doctrine to their children. It is the responsibility of the Church to assist each member in the divinely defined goal of increasing his or her gospel knowledge.” (President Russell M. Nelson, “Opening Remarks”, October 2018 General Conference)
Then Elder Cook spoke to us and made the announcements I had been waiting for. He announced the 2 hour block of meetings and how that would work and he introduced us to the Come, Follow Me program. Here are some things he said,
“This Sunday schedule allows more time for a home evening and to study the gospel at home on Sunday…”
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“Family and individual gospel study at home will be significantly enhanced by a harmonized curriculum and a new Come, Follow Me resource for individuals and families that is coordinated with what is being taught in Sunday School and Primary.”
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“World conditions increasingly require deepening individual conversion to and strengthening faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and His Atonement. The Lord has prepared us, line upon line, for the perilous times that we now face.”
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“The new home-centered and Church-supported curriculum needs to influence more powerfully family religious observance and behavior —--- and personal religious observance and behavior.”
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“In the home-centered, Church-supported portion of this adjustment, there is flexibility for each individual and family to determine prayerfully how and when it will be implemented.”
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“The goal of these adjustments is to obtain a deep and lasting conversion of adults and the rising generation.” - END QUOTE
(Quentin L Cook, “Deep and Lasting Conversion to Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”, October 2018 General Conference)
The Sunday school presidency is responsible to help with this goal. We are to assist with all of the education in the ward. This includes our Come, Follow Me study at home. Some have shared their experiences with us of the various ways they do Come, Follow Me in their homes. We would love to hear from more of you about how it’s going for you.
We would like to be a resource for you, to help Come, Follow Me be a success in your home. What we have learned in talking with people is that success is not cookie-cutter. It doesn’t look the same for every home. Some have big families. Some are empty nesters. Some are single. Some discuss the Come, Follow Me lesson every day. Some read part of the assigned scriptures every day and then do a recap on Sunday. Some pull from what they read and discussed during the week and also what they talked about in their Church classes.
It is not how much you read each day. It is about how much you are changed each day by what you read. —- In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elders Quorum
The lesson was based on “What Is True?” By President Russell M. Nelson and “Beauty for Ashes: The Healing Path of Forgiveness” By Sister Kristin M. Yee
