Primary Talks

Rubie gave this talk on Sunday 6/28:

Rubie’s talk  June 28, 2015

The Holy Ghost Testifies of the Truth of All Things

            Moroni 10:5 says, “And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.”

During the Ogden Temple Open House, I was able to see the beautiful temple on the inside.  When I was in the temple I felt the spirit so powerful that I started to cry.  The spirit was telling me that I made a good decision to go and visit the temple.  The spirit was also telling me God loves me and wants me to learn more about him.  The spirit was telling me that the temple is a good place to be and I should come back when I am old enough.

I also feel the Spirit when I serve other people.  The spirit tells me if Jesus was here that is what He would be doing.  Serving is what Heavenly Father wants us to do.  The Spirit helps me to know that when I am serving others, I am serving God.

I really love the story that President Uchtdorf shared a couple of years ago in General Conference about the town that had a large statue of Christ at its center.  During World War 2, the town was bombed and the statue was damaged.  The hands on that statue of Christ were damaged.  The people decided to leave the statue without the hands and they put up a sign that said, “You are My hands.”

I feel the power of the Holy Ghost when I am faithfully serving others.  The Holy Ghost helps me to know the truth that God is my Heavenly Father, that Jesus is His Son, and that I am a daughter of Heavenly Father.  I even feel the power of the Holy Ghost right now as I’m saying this talk.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Eric gave this talk on Sunday May 8:

Question:  What would happen if you tried to put your shoes on before your socks?  (Pause)

                It wouldn’t work very well.  Most socks do not fit over your shoes. 

               

Sometimes things must be done in a certain order. 

                Look at these letters.  These letters form a word, but can you read it?  Now look at the word like this.  If you know how to read, you can see this word says Faith. 

                The first principles and ordinances of the gospel, according to Article Faith 4, are: first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, second, repentance, third baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and fourth the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Each of these principles and ordinances lead me to Jesus Christ.

                According to this Article of Faith, it is important that we have Faith in Jesus Christ before anything else.  Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “The first principle of the gospel is not ‘faith.’ The first principle of the gospel is ‘Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ’.

                There is a scripture story that I love that teaches me about faith in Jesus.  It is a story about a King and three brave men, all with really strange names.  The king's name is Nebuchadnezzar and the three men were known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  They lived in a place called Babylon and the three men worked for the king and had important jobs.

One day the king decided to build a huge statue made of gold that stood 90 feet high.  That is as tall as 15 men all standing one on top of the other to make a tall tower.

King Nebuchadnezzar then made an announcement.  "People, when you hear the music, you must bow down and worship the statue because I have said so.  Whoever does not obey and worship the statue will immediately be thrown into a fiery furnace."

As you know God does not want us to worship anything or anyone other than Him. 

Why would we want to pray or worship something that isn't real, something that can't answer our prayers or help us?  To worship a big pile of gold like the one that king Nebuchadnezzar set up is silly.  The gold can't hear, see, or care about anything or anyone.

So the next time the music played everyone stopped what they were doing and they bowed down to worship this idol.  Everyone that is, except for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  Some of the king's workers (that were jealous that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had such good jobs) saw that they would not bow down to the image so they immediately ran to tell the king.

When king Nebuchadnezzar heard the news he was very angry.  He immediately ordered that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought to him to explain their actions.

The men were brought before the king and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you will not bow down and worship the image of gold that I have made?  Just in case there was a mistake I will give you another chance.  When the music plays again you will be ready and bow down to the image, and if you don't this time you will be thrown into a fiery furnace.  Then what god will be able to save you?"

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego looked at each other and replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we did not make a mistake nor will we apologize for not bowing down.  If we are thrown into the furnace, the God we worship will save us, and he will rescue us.  But even if he doesn't, we want you to know, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

That made Nebuchadnezzar even more mad.  Right away he ordered the furnace to be heated way hotter than it usually was and commanded some of the strongest soldiers to take Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to throw them in the fire.

The soldiers took the three men just as they were straight to the furnace.  The men were wearing all their clothes including robes, their shirts and pants underneath that, and turbans on their heads.  These things would catch fire very easily in the fire.

As the soldiers were pushing the men into the furnace the flames of the fire killed the soldiers, because the fire was so hot and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell into the hot, hot furnace.

Then king Nebuchadnezzar jumped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, "Weren't there only three men thrown into the fire?"  They replied, "O, yes king."  He said, "Look!  I see four men walking around in the fire, untied and unhurt, and the fourth looks like some kind of angel!"

Nebuchadnezzar then came as close as he could to the furnace and shouted in the doorway, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, follower of the Most High God, come out!  Come here!"

So the three men walked out of the furnace without any burns, no hairs on their head burned, all their clothes perfectly fine, and no smell of fire on them at all.

At that moment Nebuchadnezzar knew that they worshipped a real God not some fake statue.  God had sent an angel to protect them from harm, and even more importantly he realized that they truly believed and trusted in God.  They were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

So from that day on the king made an announcement that all the people, people of all languages could not say anything bad about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's God or they would be badly punished.

The king then gave the three men even better jobs than they already had.

Elder Oaks in a conference talk taught: The scriptures teach us that faith comes by hearing the word of God. That word, which comes to us by scripture, by prophetic teaching, and by personal revelation, teaches us that we are children of God, the Eternal Father. It teaches us about the identity and mission of Jesus Christ, his Only Begotten Son, our Savior and Redeemer. Founded on our knowledge of those things, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is a conviction and trust that God knows us and loves us and will hear our prayers and answer them with what is best for us.

The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego does not mean that having faith in Jesus will keep us from harm.  They even said if God didn’t save them from the fire they would still believe in Him and worship Him.  Sometimes bad things will still happen to us even though we have faith in Jesus.  But our faith in Jesus will help us get through those bad things.

                Last week I had an accident at school, someone threw a whiteboard and it hit me in the forehead above my eye.  I used my faith in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father to help me be calm when I was so afraid to get stitches.  My mom and I said a prayer and sang primary songs.  The Holy Ghost calmed me and helped me to remember a calming technique my school teacher showed me of snapping my fingers and counting.  The wound is healing nicely.  Also having faith in Jesus let me forgive my classmate who threw the white board.

                I have faith that Jesus was born, was crucified, and resurrected.  I have faith that He helps us in this life.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.