Home Teaching Message December 2013:
Family and Friends Forever
Wherever you live, you have friends who are searching for the
greater happiness you have found in living the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They may not be able to
describe that happiness in words, but they can recognize it when they see it in
your life. They will be eager to learn the source of that happiness, especially
when they see that you face trials just as they do.
You have felt happiness as you have kept the commandments of
God. That is the promised fruit of living the gospel (see Mosiah 2:41).
You don’t faithfully obey the Lord’s commandments to be seen by other people,
but those who observe your happiness are being prepared by the Lord to hear the
good news of the Restoration of the gospel.
The blessings you have been given have created obligations and
wonderful opportunities for you. As a covenant disciple of Jesus Christ, you
are obligated to extend to others an opportunity to find increased happiness,
especially to your friends and the members of your family.
The Lord saw your opportunity and described your obligation with
this commandment: “It becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his
neighbor” (D&C
88:81).
The Lord makes that commandment easier to obey through the change
that occurs in your heart as you accept and live the gospel of Jesus Christ. As
a result, your love for others grows, as does your desire for them to have the
same happiness you have experienced.
One example of that change is how you welcome the chance to help
in the Lord’s missionary work.
Full-time missionaries soon learn they can expect from a true convert a warm
response to a request for a referral. The convert yearns for friends and family
members to share in their happiness.
When your ward mission leader or the missionaries ask for the
names of someone to teach, it is a great compliment to you. They know that
friends have seen your happiness and, therefore, those friends have been
prepared to hear and choose to accept the gospel. And they have confidence that
you will be the friend they will need as they come into the kingdom.
You need not fear that you will lose friends by inviting the
missionaries to meet them. I have friends who rejected the missionaries but
have thanked me over many years for offering them something they knew was so
precious to me. You can make friends forever by offering the gospel, which they
see has brought you happiness. Never miss an opportunity to invite a friend and
especially a family member to choose to follow the plan of happiness.
There is no greater opportunity for that invitation than in the
temples of the Church. There the Lord can offer the ordinances of salvation to
our ancestors who could not receive them in life. They look down upon you with
love and hope. The Lord has promised that they will have the opportunity to
come into His kingdom (see D&C
137:7–8), and He has planted a love for them in your heart.
Many of you have felt joy in offering the ordinances of the
temple to others, just as you do when you give names of people to the
missionaries to meet. You have felt even greater joy performing ordinances for
your ancestors. It was revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith that our eternal
happiness is possible only if we offer the way to that blessing to our
ancestors through vicarious temple ordinances (see D&C
128:18).
Christmastime turns our hearts to the Savior and to the joy His
gospel has brought us. We show our gratitude
to Him best as we offer that happiness to others. Gratitude is turned to joy as
we offer names to missionaries and as we take the names of our ancestors to the
temple. That evidence of our gratitude can make friends and families that
endure forever.
Teaching
from This Message
President Eyring explains that we can show our gratitude for the Savior by sharing
the gospel with others. You could discuss with those you teach how the gift of
the gospel has blessed their lives. Consider inviting them to prayerfully
identify those with whom they wish to share the gift of the gospel and how they
might do so.
Children
Share
Your Testimony
You could share the gift of the gospel this Christmas by giving
a friend or neighbor a copy of the Book
of Mormon with your testimony written inside. Follow these steps to get it
ready:
1.
On a piece of paper, measure a rectangle about 4½ x 6½ inches
(11½ x 16½ cm) and have an adult help you cut it out.
2.
Add a picture of yourself—either a drawing or a photograph—at
the top of the page.
3.
Write your testimony under your picture.
Youth
Could
I Share a Book of Mormon?
By Josh Arnett
The author lives in Washington, USA.
10792_000_005
During my first year of high school, my seminary teacher invited
my class to give copies of the Book
of Mormon to nonmember friends. Even though I was incredibly timid, I
accepted the invitation.
It took me a couple of days to build up the courage, but I
eventually gave my friend Britny the book during lunch hour and bore a brief
testimony. Britny thanked me for the book.
At the end of that school year, Britny moved, but we kept in
touch. She told me about her new school and how almost all her friends were
members of the Church, but she never talked about anything spiritual with me.
That changed before I left for my mission. I got a message from
Britny saying she had big news for me: she was going to be baptized, and she
wanted to thank me for being her friend and setting a good example.
God took a shy 15-year-old boy with no missionary experience and
directed him to share the gospel with someone He knew would accept it. I know
that by listening to the Spirit, we can all find people around us who are
waiting to learn about the restored gospel. I know that if we help bring even
one person to the Lord, “how great shall be [our] joy with him [or her] in the
kingdom of [our] Father!” (D&C
18:15).
“Eternal
Friendships”
cji
12/01/13
Extending
before time known
going
into the eternities of forever
without
beginnings or endings
eternal
found within comprehension
understanding
the Gospel Plan
knowing
of the truth of God’s Plan
literally
believing the Father and Son
harkening
to the messages therein
where
Prophets and Apostles spoke
before,
present and in the future
all
messages eternally to be taken
families,
friends, all in mortality
when
worthiness is found present
eternal
friendships transcending
families
sealed – eternal the family
going
into through the veil as one
extending
long after mortality gone!
Copyright
© 2013 – cji
No comments:
Post a Comment