This is another LONG excerpt from a conference talk. I am sure I could cut down what I include, but there is so much value in what is being said here that I felt it was important (well...to me!) to post the whole thing. Christmas is a great time to think on Jesus and Joseph Smith, and I love how Elder Hales relates it to our lives and how we can build our own homes based on our knowledge of God and His Son.
"Jesus is a God, yet He continually distinguishes Himself as a separate, individual being by praying to His Father and by saying that He is doing His Father’s will. During His ministry among the Nephites, He pled, “Father, I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me out of the world, … that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one, that I may be glorified in them.”"
"With this in mind, we are not surprised that the Restoration of the gospel began with the appearance of not one but two glorified beings. Of his First Vision, the Prophet Joseph Smith testified: “One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”"
"The young prophet, who went into the grove to find out which church he should join, went with faith unwavering and came out with the knowledge and a witness of the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom God had sent. Joseph, like the prophets before him, was then to be an instrument for restoring to the world the knowledge that leads to eternal life."
"You too can seek our Heavenly Father and “this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have [testified]” in the scriptures and in this general conference. As you seek a personal witness—your personal revelation—you will discover that Heavenly Father has provided a special way for you to know the truth for yourself: through the third member of the Godhead, a personage of spirit we know as the Holy Ghost."
"“And when ye shall receive these things”—including what I have shared today—“I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."
"“And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know [with a surety] the truth of all things.”"
"Brothers and sisters, I testify that our Heavenly Father wants us to seek this knowledge now. The words of the prophet Helaman cry from the dust: “Remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation … , a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” Indeed, we will not fail."
"That sure foundation is Jesus Christ. He is “the Rock of Heaven.” When we build our house upon Him, the rains of the latter days may descend, the floods may come, and the winds may blow, but we will not fall. We will not fail, for our home and our family will be founded upon Christ."
"I testify that such a home is “a house of glory.” There we gather together to pray to our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, His Beloved Son. There we glorify and give gratitude to Them. There we receive the Holy Ghost and “the promise which [He gives] unto [us] of eternal life, even the glory of the celestial kingdom."
I am grateful for the knowledge I have that has helped shape my life on these principles. Life is hard enough with this knowledge, I am grateful I have something to guide me. I know that these principles can help anyone willing.
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