Jan - Saturday night

Brothers and Sisters - I love the Saturday evening session of conference, thank you for being here. I'm especially thankful for the young people that are here - the First Presidency in a letter to the Stake President invited you to participate in this meeting. In that same letter they also asked us to talk about "Hastening the Work of Salvation" - this is a phrase that is becoming very familiar to the members of the church. The church has even set up a web site under that same name. But, what does that mean?

According to Webster dictionary -  to Hasten means,

: to cause (something) to happen more quickly
: to move or act quickly

I think most of us know what the Work of Salvation is.

Moses 1: 39

For behold, this is my work and my glory -- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

God's work and glory is to help us become as he is and regain his presence. To obtain that level of exaltation - there are multiple steps, lessons and promises that we need to make or fulfill in order to obtain that reward. These promises are called covenants.

All of us in this room have made promises and covenants with our loving and wonderful Father in Heaven. We all should remember the covenants we made in the waters of baptism - and that we renew each week as we partake of the sacrament. We promise to take upon us His name, to always remember him, keep his commandments, bare another's burdens that they may be light.

All these covenants are two way promises - and The Lord  in return has promised to forgive us of our sins, to give us the Gift of the Holy Ghost and promises us that if we live righteously that he will always have His spirit to be with us.

Ancient and modern Prophets have also told us that there are other promises and covenants we have made that we don't remember.

Jeremiah 1:5

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Brothers and sisters - All of us have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father, before we came to this earth we made promises and covenants with him - can you envision your time of sanctification and ordination under the hands, or the direction of your loving Father in Heaven as you were about to leave his presence and come to this earth to learn and be tested. I imagine that most of us were a little scared or apprehensive, but I'm also sure we were excited to finally have our turn or opportunity to come to the earth. All of us, had already proved ourselves worthy and faithful to receive this opportunity and then to be blessed enough to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. I'm sure we each promised him we would do what ever we could to return to his presence and I'm sure he reassured us that he would give us every possible opportunity to pass the tests we would be asked to accomplish.

I would envision a loving hug and kiss as any parent would give their child as they are leaving on a long journey.

This is similar to a family sending one of their children on a mission - yes we are all sad and going to miss them, but we know that the experiences they are about to undertake will be worth the time apart.  Then when that time is done - what a great and wonderful event happens as we see them coming down the escalators at the airport. Tears are shed - hugs and expressions of excitement and love are shared. Then shortly it's as if they had never left our presence and they are just a better version of those with whom we have always loved and cherished.

I'm order for us to become the person we need to be - we need to remember or understand who we are and where we come from. We are children of a loving "Eternal Father in Heaven." Indeed our prayer should be that he will "lead us, guide us, walk beside us, help us find the way - teach us all that we should do to live with him someday."

Then we need to get back to the reality at hand - all of us have difficulties and hardships, all of us make mistakes and get discouraged or depressed. All of us need the Atonement of the Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ in our lives.

Speaking to the youth of the church - Elder Quentin L. Cook said:

"In my view, those of you in the rising generation are better prepared than any previous generation. Your knowledge of the scriptures is particularly impressive. However, the challenges your generation faces as you prepare for service are similar to those faced by all members of the Church. We are all aware the culture in most of the world is not conducive to righteousness or spiritual commitment....."

All of us would agree that the culture of the world in general is not in keeping with the principles of righteousness, indeed the natural man is an enemy to God. We can not allow ourselves to be fooled into believing the lie - that if it is widely accepted or popular that it must be OK.

Elder Cook continued:

"Local leaders across the world report that when viewed as a whole, Church members, especially our youth, have never been stronger. But they almost always raise two concerns: first, the challenge of increased unrighteousness in the world and, second, the apathy and lack of commitment of some members. They seek counsel about how to help members to follow the Savior and achieve a deep and lasting conversion."

The Lord has saved the strongest of his spirits for this the last dispensation - we have been prepared and will be given all the information and assistance needed to accomplish the work we have been sent here too do. The second area that of apathy - sadly there isn't a soul here tonight that doesn't occasionally get a little lazy in our responsibilities. But what we do and how prepared we are - will dictate our actions and our possible return to our heavenly home.

In Matt 25: the Lord uses the parable of the Ten Virgins to bring this point to light. All ten know who the bride groom is - they all have committed to wait for his coming - The Lord uses the term virgins showing that they are basically righteous and a covenant making people. They have been told that he is coming and what they need to do in order to be prepared. But, despite these facts when the Savior finally did come they didn't have sufficient oil necessary to joint the wedding party. Then they tried to hurry and take care of the things that needed to be done - but it was too late.

Brothers and sisters - the question I would like to ask is what does The Lord mean NOW as he is asking us to "Hasten the Work of Salvation."  No matter what level of spirituality we currently have achieved - we are being asked to hasten or quicken our pace and dedication. We all know the areas that we need to work on - and as we go forward The Lord will help us understand what else we need to do.

Our Prophet has asked us to "Hasten the Work" in a number of areas - 1) Missionary work or taking the gospel to those that have not had the chance to accept it. - 2) Retention, we need to show love and concern for those that have recently started to make covenants and started on the path to exaltation. - 3) Activation and Fellowshipping, to help those that have either lost their way or who are apathetic to the covenants and promises they have made. - 4) Finding and redeeming those that have gone before us, genealogy and temple work for those beyond the vail. - 5) Teaching the saving principle of the Gospel of Christ. This is done at home and when ever possible to all of Gods children.

None of these five areas are new - or something we haven't been asked to do before. But now there is an urgency, is that urgency because the bridegroom is approaching or is it because we can't be apathetic any longer and be able to understand the teachings of a changing world and what God would like us too know. The answer to both of those questions is yes - we are the Holders of the Priesthood of God - we are his covenant people. He is asking us to be closer to the spirit and as we take upon us his name we need to be beacon or light to those who are looking for truth and righteousness, whom ever or wherever they may be.

As we hasten the work of Salvation, there will be times that those around us, perhaps even those that we love and cherish, will reject our message, argue and even persecute us for following the principles of righteousness. Even though its hard to do, the Savior continued to administer too and love his enemies.

Brothers and sisters, we need to understand that the fight between good and evil is real. Satan desires nothing more than to destroy your happiness and possible exaltation - he wants us to be miserable like he is. We are in a war for not only our salvation, but the salvation of all of God's children.

To help us understand this concept I would like to use an analogy from the scriptures that we have heard multiple times -

Please envision that you are walking down a long hall, at the end of that hall is the tree of life, the love of God, the ultimate goal - on each side of you are individuals or circumstances that trying to temp you or bring you down. In the scriptures they liken unto the fiery dart of the wicked. When we are hit by one of these darts - it drains us of our strength - it paralyzes our ability to receive guidance or help from our Heavenly Father. The more we are hit - it not only slows our progress, but eventually stops us.

We have the ability to pull those dart out - that is the process of repentance. But they will continue to be thrown at us at a greater pace the further we go down the hall.

We need to protect ourselves before the darts have a chance to hit us. In Eph. Chapter 6, the Apostle Paul talked about that preparation as putting on the Armor of God.

-  Girting our Loins with truth
-  Breastplate of righteousness
-  Feet shod with preparation
-  Shield of faith
-  Helmet of Salvation

These things will shield us that the darts cannot pierce us. Then he says we must have -

-  Sword of the Spirit - Word of God.

The Sword is different than the other pieces, it is not only used to shield - but can be used as a weapon to fight against the evil we encounter.  Even with the armor - we cannot complacently stroll through life, we need to fight for truth and righteousness.

D & C 27:

Wherefore, lift up your hearts and rejoice, and gird up your loins, and take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, having done all, that ye may be able to stand.....

 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of my Spirit, which I will pour out upon you, and my word which I reveal unto you, and be agreed as touching all things whatsoever ye ask of me, and be faithful until I come, and ye shall be caught up, that where I am ye shall be also. Amen.

Brothers and Sisters - I testify that without the preparation and the Armor of continual righteousness, truth, and the guidance of the spirit and living prophets - we will not make it to the end of the hall. Satan's influence poisons our resolve, it weakens our ability to know the will of God - replacing it will apathy, complacency and thinking the thing of righteousness really aren't that important.

Now is the time for us to "hasten" our resolve - to do what ever we need to do to get ourselves, our family and all of God's children to partake of the love and happiness the gospel brings.