Placeholder Image

字幕列表 影片播放

  • Throughout my life, general conferences of the Church

  • have been exhilarating spiritual events, and the Church

  • itself has been a place to come to know the Lord.

  • I realize that there are those who

  • consider themselves religious or spiritual

  • and yet reject participation in a church

  • or even the need for such an institution.

  • Religious practice is for them purely personal.

  • Yet the Church is the creation of Him in whom our spirituality

  • is centered--Jesus Christ.

  • It is worth pausing to consider why He chooses to use

  • a church--His Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

  • Saints--to carry out His and His Father's work "to bring to pass

  • the immortality and eternal life of man."

  • Beginning with Adam, the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached,

  • and the essential ordinances of salvation, such as baptism,

  • were administered through a family-based priesthood order.

  • As societies grew more complex than simply extended families,

  • God also called other prophets, messengers, and teachers.

  • In Moses's time, we read of a more formal structure,

  • including elders, priests, and judges.

  • In Book of Mormon history, Alma established a church

  • with priests and teachers.

  • Then, in the meridian of time, Jesus organized His work

  • in such a way that the gospel could

  • be established simultaneously in multiple nations

  • and among diverse peoples.

  • That organization, the Church of Jesus Christ,

  • was founded on "apostles and prophets,

  • Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone."

  • It included additional officers such as seventies, elders,

  • bishops, priests, teachers, and deacons.

  • Jesus similarly established the Church

  • in the Western Hemisphere after His Resurrection.

  • Following the apostasy and disintegration of the Church

  • He had organized while on the earth,

  • the Lord reestablished the Church of Jesus Christ

  • once again through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

  • The ancient purpose remains; that is,

  • to preach the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ

  • and administer the ordinances of salvation--in other words,

  • to bring people to Christ.

  • And now, through the instrumentality

  • of this restored Church, the promise of redemption

  • is placed within reach even of the spirits of the dead who

  • in their mortal lifetime knew little or nothing

  • of the Savior's grace.

  • How does His Church accomplish the Lord's purposes?

  • It is important to recognize that God's ultimate purpose is

  • our progress.

  • His desire is that we continue "from grace to grace,

  • until [we receive] a fulness" of all He can give.

  • That requires more than simply being nice or feeling

  • spiritual.

  • It requires faith in Jesus Christ, repentance,

  • baptism of water and of the Spirit,

  • and enduring in faith to the end.

  • One cannot fully achieve this in isolation,

  • so a major reason the Lord has a Church is to create a community

  • of Saints that will sustain one another in the "strait

  • and narrow path that leads to eternal life."

  • "And [Christ] gave some, apostles; and some,

  • prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

  • "...

  • For the work of the ministry, for the edifying

  • of the body of Christ:

  • "Till we all come in the unity of the faith,

  • and of the knowledge of the Son of God,

  • unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature

  • of the fulness of Christ."

  • Jesus Christ is "the author and the finisher of [our] faith."

  • Uniting ourselves to the body of Christ--the Church--is

  • an important part of taking His name upon us.

  • We are told that the ancient Church "did meet together oft,

  • to fast and to pray, and to speak one

  • with another concerning the welfare of their souls"

  • "and to hear the word of the Lord."

  • So it is in the Church today.

  • Joined in faith, we teach and edify one another

  • and strive to approach the full measure of discipleship,

  • "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

  • We strive to help one another come to "the knowledge

  • of the Son of God" until that day when "they shall teach no

  • more every man his neighbour, ... saying, Know the Lord:

  • for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto

  • the greatest of them, saith the Lord."

  • In the Church we not only learn divine doctrine;

  • we experience its application.

  • As the body of Christ, the members of the Church

  • minister to one another in the reality of day-to-day life.

  • All of us are imperfect; we may offend or be offended.

  • We often test one another with our personal idiosyncrasies--or

  • as President Packer put it, our personal "idiot-syncrasies."

  • In the body of Christ, we have to go beyond concepts

  • and exalted words and have a real hands-on experience

  • as we "live together in love."

  • This religion is not concerned only with self;

  • rather, we are all called to serve.

  • We are the eyes, hands, head, feet,

  • and other members of the body of Christ,

  • and even "those members ... which seem to be more feeble,

  • are necessary."

  • We need these callings, and we need to serve.

  • One of the men in my ward grew up

  • not only without parental support

  • but with parental opposition to his activity in the Church.

  • He made this observation in a sacrament meeting:

  • "My father cannot understand why anyone would go to church when

  • they could go skiing, but I really like going to church.

  • In the Church, we are all on the same journey,

  • and I am inspired in that journey by strong youth,

  • pure children, and what I see and learn from other adults.

  • I am strengthened by the association

  • and excited with the joy of living the gospel."

  • The wards and branches of the Church offer a weekly gathering

  • of respite and renewal, a time and a place to leave the world

  • behind--the Sabbath.

  • It is a day to "delight thyself in the Lord,"

  • to experience the spiritual healing that

  • comes with the sacrament, and to receive the renewed promise

  • of His Spirit to be with us.

  • One of the greatest blessings of being

  • part of the body of Christ, though it may not

  • seem like a blessing in the moment,

  • is being reproved of sin and error.

  • We are prone to excuse and rationalize our faults,

  • and sometimes we simply do not know where we should improve

  • or how to do it.

  • Without those who can reprove us "betimes with sharpness,

  • when moved upon by the Holy Ghost,"

  • we might lack the courage to change and more

  • perfectly follow the Master.

  • Repentance is individual, but fellowship on that sometimes

  • painful path is in the Church.

  • In this discussion of the Church as the body of Christ,

  • we must always bear in mind two things.

  • One, we do not strive for conversion to the Church

  • but to Christ and His gospel, a conversion

  • that is facilitated by the Church.

  • The Book of Mormon expresses it best

  • when it says that the people "were converted unto the Lord,

  • and were united unto the church of Christ."

  • Two, we must remember that in the beginning,

  • the Church was the family, and even today

  • as separate institutions, the family and the Church serve

  • and strengthen one another.

  • Neither supplants the other, and certainly the Church,

  • even at its best, cannot substitute for parents.

  • The point of gospel teaching and priesthood ordinances

  • administered by the Church is that families

  • may qualify for eternal life.

  • There is a second major reason the Savior works through

  • a church, His Church, and that is to achieve needful things

  • that cannot be accomplished by individuals or smaller groups.

  • One clear example is dealing with poverty.

  • It is true that as individuals and families

  • we look after the physical needs of others,

  • "imparting to one another both temporally and spiritually

  • according to their needs and their wants."

  • But together in the Church, the ability

  • to care for the poor and needy is multiplied

  • to meet the broader need, and hoped-for self-reliance

  • is made a reality for very many.

  • Further, the Church, its Relief Societies,

  • and its priesthood quorums have the capacity

  • to provide relief to many people in many places affected

  • by natural disasters, war, and persecution.

  • Without the capabilities of His Church in place,

  • the Savior's commission to take the gospel to all the world

  • would not, could not be realized.

  • There would not be the apostolic keys, the structure,

  • the financial means, and the devotion

  • and sacrifice of thousands upon thousands of missionaries

  • needed to carry out the work.

  • Remember, "this Gospel of the Kingdom

  • [must] be preached in all the world,

  • for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come."

  • The Church can build and operate temples, houses of the Lord,

  • where vital ordinances and covenants may be administered.

  • Joseph Smith stated that God's objective in gathering

  • His people in any age is "to build unto the Lord

  • a house whereby He [can] reveal unto His people the ordinances

  • of His house and the glories of His kingdom,

  • and teach the people the way of salvation;

  • for there are certain ordinances and principles

  • that, when they are taught and practiced,

  • must be done in a place or house built for that purpose."

  • If one believes that all roads lead to heaven

  • or that there are no particular requirements for salvation,

  • he or she will see no need for proclaiming the gospel

  • or for ordinances and covenants in redeeming

  • either the living or the dead.

  • But we speak not just of immortality

  • but also of eternal life, and for that, the gospel

  • path and gospel covenants are essential.

  • And the Savior needs a Church to make

  • them available to all of God's children,

  • both the living and the dead.

  • The final reason I will mention for the Lord to have

  • established His Church is the most unique--the Church is,

  • after all, the kingdom of God on the earth.

  • As The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

  • was being established in the 1830s,

  • the Lord said to the Prophet Joseph Smith,

  • "Lift up your hearts and rejoice, for unto you

  • the kingdom, or in other words, the keys of the church

  • have been given."

  • In the authority of these keys, the Church's

  • priesthood officers preserve the purity of the Savior's doctrine

  • and the integrity of His saving ordinances.

  • They help prepare those who wish to receive them, judge

  • the qualification and worthiness of those who apply,

  • and then perform them.

  • With the keys of the kingdom, the Lord's servants

  • can identify both truth and falsehood, and once again

  • authoritatively state, "Thus saith the Lord."

  • Regrettably, some resent the Church

  • because they want to define their own truth,

  • but in reality it is a surpassing blessing

  • to receive a "knowledge of things as they [truly] are,

  • and as they were, and as they are to come" insofar

  • as the Lord wills to reveal it.

  • The Church safeguards and publishes

  • God's revelations which constitute

  • the canon of scripture.

  • When Daniel interpreted the dream of Babylonian King

  • Nebuchadnezzar, making known to the king "what

  • shall be in the latter days," he declared

  • that "the God of heaven [shall] set up a kingdom, which

  • shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not

  • be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces

  • and consume all [other] kingdoms,

  • and it shall stand for ever."

  • The Church is that prophesied latter-day kingdom,

  • not created by man but set up by the God of heaven

  • and rolling forth as a stone "cut out of the mountain

  • without hands" to fill the earth.

  • Its destiny is to establish Zion in preparation

  • for the return and millennial rule of Jesus Christ.

  • Before that day, it will not be a kingdom in any political

  • sense--as the Savior said, "My kingdom is not of this world."

  • Rather, it is the repository of His authority in the earth,

  • the administrator of His holy covenants,

  • the custodian of His temples, the protector and proclaimer

  • of His truth, the gathering place for scattered Israel,

  • and "a defense, and ... a refuge from the storm,

  • and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon

  • the whole earth."

  • I end with the Prophet's plea and prayer:

  • "Call upon the Lord, that his kingdom may go forth

  • upon the earth, that the inhabitants thereof

  • may receive it, and be prepared for the days to come,

  • in the which the Son of Man shall come down

  • in heaven, clothed in the brightness of his glory,

  • to meet the kingdom of God which is set up on the earth.

  • "Wherefore, may the kingdom of God

  • go forth, that the kingdom of heaven may come,

  • that thou, O God, mayest be glorified in heaven so

  • on earth, that thine enemies may be subdued;

  • for thine is the honor, power and glory, forever and ever."

  • In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Throughout my life, general conferences of the Church

字幕與單字

單字即點即查 點擊單字可以查詢單字解釋

B2 中高級

為什麼教會 (Why the Church)

  • 66 5
    Pedroli Li 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
影片單字