My dear brothers and sisters:
What a pleasure it is for me to be here with you today. I give thanks for the opportunity to speak to you. I pray that my words will help you to better understand two things. First: The importance of attending the temple on a regular basis. Second: The blessings the come to a person's life by attending the temple on a regular basis.
To start, I want you to keep in your mind a scripture. It is found in Moses 1:39. “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” This scripture teaches us that God’s work, or in other words, everything that God does is to the end that every one of His children become immortal and have eternal lives. Because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, we are going to be immortal. The resurrection is a gift to everyone with requirement. But if we are going to have eternal life, or in other words, the life that God lives, there are things we are going to have to do. But remember, the thing that I want you to keep in your mind is that everything that God has done, does, or will do is to the end that we, his children, return to live with him, like he lives.
Since the beginning of the church, temple work has been very important, and in one way, one could say that everything that has happened since the beginning of the church has happened for the establishment and continuation of temple work. When Moroni visited Joseph Smith in his room that night, he spoke a lot about temple work. In the words of Joseph Smith, he said that Moroni recited the following,” Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Eligah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.”
This scripture teaches us that without temple work, the world would be utterly wasted at th coming of Jesus Christ. From this moment forward, everything that God did through the prophet Joseph Smith was for the time in which there would be temples upon the face of the earth, in which the necessary ordinances for eternal life could be performed for the children of God.
President Brigham Young defined the endowment in the following words: “Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the House of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, … and gain your eternal exaltation”
Remember: The work of God is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children. Without temple ordinances no one could return and live with the Father. I hope that everyone one of you understand that without temple work, the purpose of the Plan of Salvation could not be realized.
For many years now the church has been trying to build temples all over the earth, to the end that every person can receive the ordinances of the temple in order that they have the knowledge and the ordinances that will permit them to return and live in the presence of God.
If this understanding is not sufficient to give you the desire the strength to attend the temple on a regular basis, then I will share with you a few of the blessings that will come into your lives as you attend the temple on a regular basis and a promise.
President Boyd K. Packer speaking of attending the temple, has said: “There is no other work more spiritual refining and no other work gives us more power. “ What a blessing to receive power and have our spirits purified. Another blessing, President Ezra Taft Benson said: “In the peace of these beautiful temples, sometimes we encounter the solutions to life’s most serious problems. In the temple, under the influence of the Spirit, sometimes knowledge will flow into our minds. Temples are places of personal revelation” What a blessing, to receive personal revelation about the problems in our lives. Elder David A. Bednar said in his conference talk in April 2009: “For many years Sister Bednar and I hosted faithful men and women as devotional speakers at Brigham Young University–Idaho. Many of these speakers were emeritus or released members of the Seventy who had served as temple presidents following their service as General Authorities. As we talked with these stalwart leaders, I always asked this question: “What have you learned as a temple president that you wish you had better understood when you were a General Authority?”
As I listened to their answers, I discovered a consistent theme that I would summarize as follows: “I have come to understand better the protection available through our temple covenants and what it means to make an acceptable offering of temple worship. There is a difference between church-attending, tithe-paying members who occasionally rush into the temple to go through a session and those members who faithfully and consistently worship in the temple.”” What a blessing to receive physical and spiritual protection. Finally Elder Richard G. Scott dijo: “Fourteen years ago I decided to attend the temple and complete an ordinance at least once a week. When I am traveling I make up the missed visits in order to achieve that objective. I have kept that resolve, and it has changed my life profoundly.” Here we have one of the 12 apostles saying, that attending the temple for at least once a week has changed his life profoundly.
Now the promise: I promise you that if you will regularly attend the temple your life will be changed profoundly. I know that this will happen, because my life has been changed profoundly by attending the temple once a week for more than 4 years. My desire is the same as Elder Scott’s. In the same talk he said to us, “I encourage you to establish your own goal of how frequently you will avail yourself of the ordinances offered in our operating temples. What is there that is more important than attending and participating in the ordinances of the temple? What activity could have a greater impact and provide more joy and profound happiness for a couple than worshipping together in the temple?”
Brothers and sisters, I promise you, your life will be profoundly changed by regularly attending the temple. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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