Elder Nelson: We are blessed to be living in such an exciting gospel dispensation. God is inspiring the minds of great people to create inventions that further the work of the Lord in ways this world has never known. I recall the statement by Joseph Fielding Smith:
Elder Nelson: I, too, have a strong testimony of the divinity of the scriptures. I pray that the Lord will grant us entrance into them and that, when we enter therein, we will know that we stand on holy ground.
2And, behold, and lo, this is an ensample unto all those who were ordained unto this priesthood, whose mission is appointed unto them to go forth—
3And this is the aensample unto them, that they shall bspeak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost.
4And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by theaHoly Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the bpower of God unto salvation.
5Behold, this is the promise of the Lord unto you, O ye my servants.
6Wherefore, be of good acheer, and do not bfear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I cwas, that I am, and that I am to come.
There are so many times we may not know what to say, but if we're appointed to preach the gospel (which all members are), we'll be blessed with the Holy Ghost to tell us what to say, it will be the Lord's words, and it will have power to move people to salvation.
I have seen this happen. I remember we had a lesson once in which we taught a lady with some members. After we asked her to be baptized, she said No because she'd already been baptized and probably also said, "because God should not be played with" - Dios es no jugete. Then one of the members said, "but did you get the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands?" "No" was the response. Then the sister said, "Elders, tell her what she was missing." So I explained about the need to have the laying on of hands according to D.C. 35 and Acts 19:
1And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper acoasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto aJohn’s baptism.
4Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism ofarepentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5When they heard this, they were abaptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with atongues, and prophesied.
Focus on verse 6.
So, after the explanation she said, "yes, I'll be baptized." Lest you think this was some false promise, we set a date for 5 weeks from then, and she was baptized that day. 6 months later she was in the Relief Society presidency. A year and a half later she was on a mission in Panama. The church is better because she's in it, and for some reason, there was great power in what we said that day. And great job by the members. I wouldn't have been as aggressive but they were tremendous. I love them.
We're lucky to get to do some of the work of the Lord. He blesses us as we do with his words and also with his presence. That's a large promise indeed.
Keys of the Aaronic Priesthood:
D.C. 13 says what the keys are - so does D.C. 107:
Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I aconferthe bPriesthood of Aaron, which holds the ckeys of the ministering of dangels, and of the gospel of erepentance, and of fbaptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of gLevi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in hrighteousness.
So the Aaronic Priesthood has the keys for these main areas:
Ministering of Angels – I believe in this a lot. My patriarchal blessing actually mentions using this. I believe angels have a much larger role in this life than we realize. For example, Elder Hafen mentions them in the last chapter of his book, “Believing Christ”. He says that they help and provide support in numerous situations. Also, Elder Holland gave a talk about angels and their role.
http://lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/the-ministry-of-angels?lang=eng
Also, Elder Hales.
Elder Hales spoke of his health problems as the first speaker in the Saturday morning session of the 170th Semi-annual General Conference held October 7, 2000.
After recovering from three major surgeries which have prevented me from speaking in the past two general conferences, what a joy it is to be able to stand in this beautiful Conference Center today to teach and bear testimony to those who desire to hear the word of the Lord.
In the past two years, I have waited upon the Lord for mortal lessons to be taught me through periods of physical pain, mental anguish, and pondering. I learned that constant, intense pain is a great consecrating purifier that humbles us and draws us closer to God's Spirit. If we listen and obey, we will be guided by His Spirit and do His will in our daily endeavors.
There were times when I have asked a few direct questions in my prayers, such as, "What lessons dost Thou want me to learn from these experiences?"
As I studied the scriptures during this critical period of my life, the veil was thin and answers were given to me as they were recorded in lives of others who had gone through even more severe trials.
"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;
"And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high" (D&C 121:7-8).
Dark moments of depression were quickly dispelled by the light of the gospel as the Spirit brought peace and comfort with assurances that all would be well.
On a few occasions, I told the Lord that I had surely learned the lessons to be taught and that it wouldn't be necessary for me to endure any more suffering. Such entreaties seemed to be of no avail, for it was made clear to me that this purifying process of testing was to be endured in the Lord's time and in the Lord's own way. It is one thing to teach, "Thy will be done" (Matt. 26:42). It is another to live it. I also learned that I would not be left alone to meet these trials and tribulations but that guardian angels would attend me. There were some that were near angels in the form of doctors, nurses, and most of all my sweet companion, Mary. And on occasion, when the Lord so desired, I was to be comforted with visitations of heavenly hosts that brought comfort and eternal reassurances in my time of need.
There’s the Elisha scripture that mentions, “more be with us than be with them.” 2 Kings 6:16-17
16And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
17And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his aeyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses andbchariots of fire round about Elisha.
Finally, my own thoughts – when my companions were sick on the mission and we wouldn’t go out and work, I thought that nothing would get done and the progress of the work would slow down. However, that wasn’t my experience. Things still moved along. I got the idea in my mind that it must be because there’s other people besides those here on earth working in my areas, helping with the work. It’s the most reasonable explanation I could come up with. I believe that. Also, there have been a couple of times in life that I have asked for the help of angels with specific things, and I believe it is well within my rights to do so based on the above scriptures. I also believe those requests have been honored.
Gospel of repentance – Major duty to share the gospel. Jonas remarked that his mission president said the youth are an underutilized resource as far as sharing the gospel. I think this is true for a few reasons.
1) Just as it’s a time when our youth can be influenced in major ways for good and bad because they’re so young, so can other youth be influenced in major positive ways by our youth.
2) Our youth associate with lots of different people. School connects people from all kinds of backgrounds, so it’s a great place to interact constantly with non-members. A lot of non-working moms don’t do this much for instance.
3) God has given them the duty to preach the gospel of repentance – and as Pres. Monson says, “who the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.” See the following verse in particular:
a. Concerning deacons, the youngest of the Aaronic Priesthood: D.C. 20:59
b. 59They are, however, to warn, expound, exhort, and teach, and invite all to come unto Christ.
c. Preaching the gospel is a duty and a key (i.e., Heavenly help will be given when sought for) deacons receive.
Baptism by immersion –
Short here – priests baptize. Interestingly, they baptize and raise their hand to the square without really knowing why – you don’t know until you get endowed. However, they have the key over this ordinance. It follows that they would since deacons on have the key of preaching the gospel – priests also have the key to baptize (which is the natural result of preaching the gospel). Also, there’s some connection between temple baptisms and the Aaronic Priesthood – explained below.
Temple work – So perhaps not the keys for this, but definitely a stewardship here. The line “offer an offering in righteousness” mentioned in D.C. 13 refers to baptism for the dead, which the youth have a large role in and even a stewardship. Sons of Levi were the Aaronic Priesthood holders. It is not a coincidence that we are first allowed into the temple when we are 12.
Here’s the connection to the above verse: what’s the offering the sons of Levi will offer? See D.C. 128:24:
24Behold, the great aday of the Lord is at hand; and who canbabide the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appeareth? For he is like a crefiner’s dfire, and like fuller’s soap; and he shall sit as a erefiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of fLevi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an goffering in righteousness. Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple, when it is finished, a book containing the hrecords of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.
