Sister Gina Hansen
June 28th 9:00 Sacrament Meeting
In the talk Standing by Promises and Covenants Ronald A. Rasband said, Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is our great Exemplar when it comes to making and keeping promises and covenants. He came to earth promising to do the will of the Father. He taught gospel principles in word and in deed. He atoned for our sins that we might live again. He has honored every one of His promises.
So I ask you: why shouldn’t we keep our promises or covenants to Him? What steps have you already taken? We need to ask ourselves these questions and answer ourselves these questions every day.
Elder Rasband asks us:
How important is it to you to keep your word? to be trusted? to do what you say you will do? to strive to honor your sacred covenants? to have integrity
I still strive for that. I remember making choices that didn’t reflect that in myself and I could feel the difference in myself. I always try to remember how each choice I make makes me feel so I can learn from them, weather good or bad
One of my favorite sayings is do what is right-even when no one is watching. This, to me is integrity.
I have tried to do this my whole life.
If nobody is around and I find a purse or wallet- what do I do? If nobody is around do I take that drink or that puff from a cigarette? Nobody will know right? Do I look at that magazine or get on that website? Or take that money? Learning and practicing now to have integrity is very important. It will help you in getting a job, doing well in school, earning trust from everyone around you.
We need to make good choices in order for the Holy Ghost to be with us. The spirit cannot dwell in unholy places.
1st Nephi 3:7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.
We need to do the right thing in order to keep the Holy Ghost with us.
Elder Rasband teaches: To “go and do” means rising above the ways of the world, receiving and acting on personal revelation, living righteously with hope and faith in the future, making and keeping covenants to follow Jesus Christ, and thereby increasing our love for Him, the Savior of the world.
Rising above the world doesn’t end in your childhood or your youth. It is still something even we adults have to do everyday!! Every!! Single!! Day!!! Being an adult or a leader doesn’t automatically make you prone from bad choices. Although I used to watch my mom and think that- We are all still human beings.
A covenant is a two-way promise between us and the Lord. As members of the Church, we covenant at baptism to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ
My mom used to always tell me this: Never do anything you can’t stop in the middle of and ask the Lord to help you finish.
Now that I’m grown or older anyway, and have kids of my own doesn’t mean I don’t have struggles with peers. I have friends now who are not members of this church and they make choices that I don’t make. Another friend and I are together in this decision and our friends respect our us to not go along with them in their choices because I took a stand, she took a stand in the very beginning. I can go to dinner with them, spend an evening with them and they know me. Questions and discussions about the gospel have been come up and I know that I can answer with faith and not have to have them question my integrity.
Marrying my husband in the temple, I made covenants with him and we both made them to God. I choose to keep those covenants and so does my husband. We vowed together to do this all together. It would break my heart to have to tell my husband that I didn’t honor those covenants. He is so strong and so amazing. He makes living righteously look easy. If our main focus is God, then our marriage, our lives are better. Not easier. But better. We have each other to lean on, to grow together, to help each other, to guide each other. And I am so grateful for that and for Paul for pulling me-sometimes kicking and screaming- through life and reminding me it’ll be worth it.
And to close I’d like to share with you a quote by Elder M Russell Ballard from a 1993 conference.....
Now,my dear young friends, I encourage you to take time each week to be by yourself, away from television and the crowd. Have your scriptures with you and as you read, ponder, and pray, take an honest look at your life. Evaluate where you stand with the promises you have made with Heavenly Father. If you have a problem, talk it over with the Lord in earnest and humble prayer. Counsel with your parents; they will help you. Your bishop and your Young Men and Young Women adult leaders will help. They love you and want you to be at peace with yourself so you can partake of the sacrament worthily each week. When all is said and done, however, only you know if you are living true to your covenants made with God
We have so many examples of promises from the scriptures: Ammon and the sons of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon committed “to preach the word of God.” When Ammon was captured by Lamanite forces, he was taken before the Lamanite King Lamoni. He committed to the king, “I will be thy servant.” When raiders came to steal the king’s sheep, Ammon cut off their arms. So astonished was the king, he listened to Ammon’s message of the gospel and was converted.
Ruth, in the Old Testament, promised her mother-in-law, “Whither thou goest, I will go.” She lived true to her word. The good Samaritan, in a parable in the New Testament, promised the innkeeper if he would care for the injured traveler, “Whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.” Zoram, in the Book of Mormon, promised to go into the wilderness with Nephi and his brothers. Nephi recounted, “When Zoram had made an oath unto us, our fears did cease concerning him.”
By living true to our promises to the Lord and to others, we walk the covenant path back to our Father in Heaven and we feel His love in our lives.
My mom used to tell me when I was a kid, to be prepared for the last days when somebody may come to you and ask you if you believe in God. They’ll want you to deny it. I was scared so I said, well yeah! Say no so you don’t die.
My mom reminded me that if we are faithful, answer truthfully, God will either protect us from harm or if it’s our time to go, what a sweet reunion it will be with Him because we kept our promise to Stand for Him and return to Him.
I can’t wait for that sweet reunion.
In the name of JesusChrist, Amen.
