Stake Conference Addresses 12/8/18 and 12/9/18

 President Sabey

“Finding Joy in Home-centered, Church-supported Gospel Worship”

December 8, 2018 Saturday evening session
Littleton Colorado Stake Conference
President Gary Blaylock

    Dear brothers and sisters, like many of you, I looked forward to our recent General Conference.

    The announced changes to the Sunday meeting schedule and “a home-centered, Church-support plan to learn doctrine, strengthen faith and foster greater personal worship” immediately felt right to me. So, I was surprised when I talked to my daughter Sunday evening following conference and she expressed apprehension regarding the changes. She told me felt an increased burden as a mother to teach her three young children gospel principles and doctrine and worried that she may fail in her responsibilities. My immediate reaction was, “Oh, no. You don’t need to worry about that. I see all you do to teach your children. I know that you are giving it your very best effort.”

    As parents, we do have a sacred responsibility to teach our children. We are commanded to “bring [up] our children in light and truth” and to teach them to “pray … [and] walk uprightly before the Lord.”

    I would like to share some perspective on finding a balance between taking our responsibilities seriously, but also finding joy rather than feeling anxiety and fear as we fulfill these responsibilities.

    Consider how President Nelson taught us about the Sabbath Day in his April 2015 talk, “The Sabbath is a Delight.” He described the Sabbath as a day of personal healing for him; a breather from the burden of a demanding profession. He taught that “the Sabbath was [the Savior’s] gift to us, granting real respite from the rigors of daily life and an opportunity for spiritual and physical renewal.” When I graduated from college and began my first job here in Denver, I learned a similar lesson. In my first month at work, one of my co-workers told me that she had worked 33 days in a row. I worried that I was going to be asked to work on Sundays. Fortunately, that was not the case for me and I quickly learned that Sunday was a day of spiritual and physical renewal that enabled me to accomplish more during the week.

    President Nelson then taught that he had learned over time that his conduct and his attitude on the Sabbath constituted a sign between him and his Heavenly Father. With that understanding, he no longer needed lists of do’s and don’ts. Instead, he simply asked himself, “What sign do I want to give to God?”

    Similarly, home-centered gospel study and worship is not a list of do’s and don’ts. Instead, it is an opportunity as individuals and as families to deepen our conversion to Heavenly Father, to strengthen faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His atonement and to do it together with those who are most precious to us.

    We are in many different stages of life. Some of you are parents with young children. Your life is very busy and there is little time that is your own. You may particularly feel the burden of teaching your children. I remember those days, including some of the many mistakes I made in teaching my children.

    Some of you have teenage children. You may have a son or daughter serving a mission or in college. Some of your children may be married. The challenges they face may have become more difficult. You want to protect them, but know that agency is part of our Heavenly Father’s plan.

    Some of you have children who have wandered. You may wonder what you should have done differently. You love them and pray for them daily.

    Some of you are single parents and have raised children on your own. You have felt the strain and burden of raising your children without the support of another parent. I have seen in you a strength and ability that has raised you up and allowed you to meet this challenge.

    Some of you have never had children. You may have never been married. President Gordon B. Hinckley said “I do not understand it, but I know that in the plan of the Almighty, the eternal plan which we call God’s plan of happiness, there will be opportunity and reward for all who seek them.” I see you fill your lives with service to others: in your family, in your ward and in the community.

    Some of you are older. You may be widowed or divorced. For some, you have children and grandchildren that visit you and call you regularly. For you, this is a great blessing. For others you are often lonely. We honor you for your faithful lives.

    Regardless of our circumstances, a home-centered Church-supported pattern of gospel learning and study is a blessing to each of us individually and to our families. As we deepen our conversion to Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our faith in them, we will be better able to weather the storms of life and strengthen those around us.

    The great antidote to our concerns and fears is hope: “hope that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power of His Resurrection, we [will] be raised unto life eternal …” Elder Dieter F. Utchdorf described hope as “… the abiding trust that the Lord will fulfill His promise to us [and the] .... confidence that if we live according to God’s laws and the words of His prophets now, we will receive desired blessings in the future.” [end quote]

    Jesus Christ is our Advocate with the Father and the Shepherd of His flock. As you worry about your role as a parent, your ability to teach your children, and your concerns about choices they make, remember His role in their lives. To the prophet Ezekiel, who saw our day, the Lord described Himself as the shepherd who will “seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” He continued, “I will seek that which is lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick …”

    As Jesus Christ fulfills His role as Savior, as Redeemer, and as the Good Shepherd, what is our role? One of my favorite scriptures is from 3 Nephi, chapter 18. Jesus is speaking about those who are not worthy to partake of the sacrament and teaches the Nephites, “ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.”

    Our role is to minister. The Savior will heal them.

    Speaking to the sisters of the church, President Gordon B. Hinckley once told of an experience he had as an apostle of attending a stake conference on the east coast where he felt that he had been a total failure and felt “miserable with a sense of inadequacy.”  Several years later at another stake conference in California, he learned of a brother he had touched that day and who had altered the course of his life as a result.

President Hinckley then said to the sisters, “Now, my dear sisters that is the way with you. You are doing the best you can, and that best results in good to yourself and to others. Do not nag yourself with a sense of failure. Get on your knees and ask for the blessings of the Lord; then stand on your feet and do what you are asked to do. Then leave the matter in the hands of the Lord. You will discover that you have accomplished something beyond price.”

    There have been significant changes within the Church in the past year, including the change from home teaching and visiting teacher to ministering and the increased emphasis on a home-centered, Church-supported pattern of gospel learning. I expect that there is more to come.

My dear brothers and sisters, with the help of the Lord, we can do this. Let’s find and experience the joy of a home-centered gospel study and worship. As we have listened to those whom we sustain as prophets, seers and revelators, we have felt a confirming Spirit that they have been called of God to serve as His servants at this time. We can trust that as we listen, as we seek personal inspiration and as we go forward with faith, our abilities will be magnified to match our responsibilities. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Talk by President Jack R Marble

Bishop Cutler

Talk for Stake Conference  

Saturday Evening Session / 8th December 2018

Tell the story of Bishop Joseph Cutler / When I was a teenager

• Physically a short man
• But he was a giant to me
• I don’t know if there is any one thing that I can point to that made him such a great man in my eyes, maybe it’s just a lot of little things that did it
• I will never forget when someone wrote on the sacrament trays in lipstick, he gathered all the young men together and chewed us out, but in that I could feel the love he had for the Savior and His Atonement,     it touched me deeply.  
• He heard my confessions
• He led me spiritually
• He helped me find hope
• He guided me gently into finding the truth of my Savior and the church
• He would ask in a humble way if I would pray about the truthfulness of the gospel
• More importantly, I felt his love for me

Bishop Cutler was a successful business man, had many callings in the church, including stake president and Patriarch, yet still today, when I think of this great man, I think of him as my Bishop.

• Tell of calling him and Sister Cutler / To my surprise and gratitude they are both still alive.  In their 90’s

In a way we can all be Bishop’s, not as a set apart bishop, or to have the calling of a bishop, nor hear confessions.  But seeking out from our family, our friends or our neighbors, seeking out those who might need our help and minister to them.  Not as an assignment or a calling but as Paul describes:

Philippians 2:1  “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any abowels and mercies,  2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same alove, being of bone caccord, of one mind.  3 Let nothing be done through astrife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each besteem other better than themselves”.

President Dieter F Uchtdorf / A Yearning for Home / October 2017 General Conference

# 1    “God knows your every thought, your sorrows, and your greatest hopes. God knows the many times you have sought Him. The many times you have felt limitless joy. The many times you have wept in loneliness. The many times you have felt helpless, confused, or angry.

Yet, no matter your history—if you have faltered, failed, feel broken, bitter, betrayed, or beaten—know that you are not alone. God still calls to you”.

“Ministering to Others”

Elder Uchtdorf also said this:   

# 2    “Today, let me offer two reasons why we should turn to the Lord.

First, your life will be better.

Second, God will use you to make the lives of others better”

• Tell the story of Peter Morgan and how he helped me in a time of need

In one of the Epistles of Peter he taught us:

“Jesus is the Bishop of our Souls”

Jesus taught:        D&C 19:23    “Learn of Me, and listen to my words: walk in the meekness of my Spirit”

Let’s think for a minute of the lessons we have learned from Jesus, as we learn and listen to him.

• Jesus spoke to everyone that needed him
• He asked us to follow him
• He taught the poor and rich alike
• He befriended all he met
• He asked us to follow him
• He was forgiving in his nature
• He kept all of God’s Commandments
• He feed the hungry
• He healed the sick, and visited the weary
• He asked us to follow him
• He reflected God’s Love to everyone
• He served his Father in Heaven
• He reached out to the broken hearted, to lift those with bended knees
• He asked us to follow him

Elder Dieter F Uchtdorf:

# 3    “You will soon realize that this journey isn’t just about focusing on your own life. No, this path inevitably leads you to become a blessing in the lives of God’s other children—your brothers and sisters. And the interesting thing about the journey is that as you serve God, and as you care for and help your fellowmen, you will see great progress in your own life, in ways you could never imagine”.

Paul to the Romans 12:    9-15    “Let love be awithout dissimulation.     Be kindly aaffectioned one to another with bbrotherly clove; in honour preferring one another;    bfervent in spirit; serving the Lord;    Rejoicing in hope;    Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to ahospitality.    Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and aweep with them that weep”.

Brothers and Sisters, I would ask at this Christmas Season, that we all do one thing.  Please pick one person or family that you would not normally have dealings with in your normal circle of friends and befriend them.  I’m not talking just about ministering to someone but become a friend. I promise that as you do this, as Elder Uchtdorf mentioned, “your life will change for the better”.  You will feel God’s Love more fervently in your heart, you will reflect Gods Love to others you meet, and you will like the person you become.

Romans 8:35 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulations, or distress, or cpersecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able separate us from the blove of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

Jesus could give everyone the feeling of his love if he wanted to do that, but then what would we learn, or how would we ever grow spiritually.  So what we need to do then is to follow him and start showing our love to each other as we minister with kindness and love.

I rejoice when I think of my Bishop, Bishop Cutler.  I am grateful that he helped me find the truth about the gospel and gain a testimony of Jesus Christ.  

I am filled with a testimony, happiness, joy, love and sometimes tears as I think of the “Bishop of My Soul”, My Savior, Even Jesus Christ.  I am so grateful for the knowledge the Lord has given me, I am grateful for His Love for me, the hope He brings to me, His ministering to me.   I love my Savior and testify to you that he lives.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

President Sabey

 Trust in Personal Revelation

One of the most common statements in the Scriptures is “Ask and ye shall receive.”

For example, D&C 88:63 Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
64 Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you;

We read, ask and ye shall receive, all the time. But I’m not sure we really believe it.  So often we feel and act like we are on our own.

Our own internal mental narrative, our self talk about our connection with God makes such a difference.  I would like to share an example from the scriptures and an example from my life.

Nephi's mental narrative

1 Nephi 11:1 For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord

Laman and Lemuel’s narrative:

They were arguing and Nephi asked them what the dispute was about.  “We cannot understand the words which our father hath spoken concerning the natural branches of the olive tree....” Nephi asked them, “Have ye inquired of the Lord?”

And they responded: “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.”

1 Nephi 15: 9

Because they did not think the Lord would answer, they had not even asked.  How often are we like that? How often am I like that?

When I was called to serve as a Bishop, the 5th article of faith terrified me:  “We believe that a man must be called of God by prophecy.” As Bishop I would be responsible for issuing many callings and for receiving inspiration about who should fill callings.  I had felt inspiration powerfully related to gospel doctrines and scriptural teachings, but I had little confidence in my ability to receive specific answers to prayers. I thought I was going to have to turn the calling down because I did not trust my ability to receive the guidance and direction needed to lead the ward and extend callings by prophecy.  I was like Laman and Lemuel because I felt “the Lord maketh no such thing known unto me.” With the help of my stake president, I realized that faith is a principle of trust and action. As we move forward, serving and trusting in God, He will gently guide us as needed. I realized that I was looking beyond the mark and expecting inspiration to be more dramatic or obvious. Out of respect for our agency and growth, God’s guidance is subtle and gentle.  I have come to understand that God is helping us more than we know. Even in my current calling as stake president, that still small voice is still small, but over the years, as I have replaced doubt with trust, the voice of inspiration has become more and more recognizable.

President Nelson is trying to help us believe that God will help us and reveal things to us.  In his amazing talk on revelation, President Nelson said this:

“One of the things the Spirit has repeatedly impressed upon my mind since my new calling as President of the Church is how willing the Lord is to reveal His mind and will. The privilege of receiving revelation is one of the greatest gifts of God to His children.
Through the manifestations of the Holy Ghost, the Lord will assist us in all our righteous pursuits.”

Then he taught us how to receive revelation.  I keep this quote with me in my briefcase and read it regularly:

“Follow the example of the Prophet Joseph. Find a quiet place where you can regularly go. Humble yourself before God. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father. Turn to Him for answers and for comfort.
Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will “grow into the principle of revelation.”
Does God really want to speak to you? Yes! “As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course … as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints.”

Show my prayer journal.  I am not very consistent with this yet. But I am coming to see the wisdom of President Nelson’s counsel. Trusting that God wants to help us and taking time to listen makes all the difference.    

I prayed about someone I had been meeting with regularly, and I listened and wrote down what I felt.  Three weeks or a month later, what I had written down became exactly the thing that helped us make a breakthrough.   I am amazed at God’s intelligence ans the incredible simplicity and power of His solutions.

Now I would like to share three stories about the power of revelation.   

Lisa sat by a recently returned sister missionary from Panama on her way to BYU-Idaho.  A new mission president came in and changed the way they were doing things. The following is his approach (which I summarized in my talk):

In the Panama Panama City Mission we do not go door-to-door to find people to baptize. The church has determined that a missionary must knock on a thousand doors to find one person who will eventually get baptized.  To knock on a thousand doors requires countless hours of proselyting time that could be more effectively used if we simply ask the Lord which doors to knock to find those who are ready to accept our message now.

We call this revelatory method of finding “Cosechas” or “cosechando el campo.” Cosechas require missionaries to be exactly obedient so they are worthy to receive revelation from the Lord to be guided directly to the houses where we will find the people the Lord has prepared to receive us.  

The object of Cosechas is to use the authority of our callings as representatives of Jesus Christ to pronounce a blessing from the Lord upon the person or family that lives in the house we were directed to visit. The objective is not to teach a lesson or place a Book of Mormon with the family. We simply want to leave the Lord’s blessing upon this family and make an appointment to return within 48 hours.

There are 4 revelations involved in every successful Cosecha:

• First, the Lord reveals to us which neighborhood or street to visit.
• Second, the Lord reveals to us which house to visit.
• Third, while speaking with the family to learn about their circumstances, the Lord reveals to us what their challenges, trials and afflictions are so we know what to include in the blessing.
• Fourth, the Lord reveals to us the words to say in the blessing.

Follow these 6 key steps to have a successful Cosecha:

1. At the door, introduce yourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ (not as missionaries, necessarily). You do not have to mention the name of the Church at that time (you will do so later).
2. Once you are invited to enter the house, one missionary takes the lead in asking the family questions. The other missionary, the one who will offer the blessing, takes notes. Make sure to ask and make note of the names of the family members who will be mentioned in the blessing.
3. After the Spirit has revealed to you what this family’s challenges are, the missionary who will offer the blessing begins to kneel and invites the family to kneel with the missionaries if the setting permits kneeling.
4. Following the inspiration of the Spirit, you pronounce a blessing upon the family. The blessing may include topics such as health, employment, housing, finances, relationships, marriage, children, parents, grandparents, friends, happiness, guidance, and peace.
5. After the prayer while still kneeling, the missionary who led the discussion in the beginning, asks the family how they feel. Most people will have a very special feeling, some may even be crying or showing emotions. This may be the most spiritual experience this person or family has ever had. This is a perfect moment to invite the family to learn more about how they can experience this special feeling regularly. You then make an appointment to return as soon as possible, maybe later that same day, but no later than 48 hours if possible.
6. Before leaving, ask the family if they know anyone else who needs a special blessing. Get the names and contact information of these people and make every effort to visit them before your return appointment.

The entire Cosecha experience will last about 10 minutes. We want to leave the family’s house while the Spirit is burning in their hearts. If we linger too long or start talking about worldly things, the Spirit will depart and the family will no longer feel the power of the moment.

It takes practice to become good at seeking, recognizing and following the voice of the Spirit. Our Standard of Excellence is to begin our proselyting day with at least one hour of Cosechas every morning. When we do this consistently, the Lord has promised that we will find people to baptize every week.

It is important to understand that there are people praying every day for God’s help. The Lord will often answer their prayers by sending faithful, humble missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to knock on their doors and offer them an inspired blessing.

I promise if you will allow the Spirit to guide you to the right place, the right house, the right family and to pronounce the right blessing, then the Savior will heal the lost, the last and the least among His children and you will be the means of bringing salvation unto them (3 Nephi 18:32), even tens of thousands (Helaman 3:25-26).

Using this approach and other changes that were implemented, the mission went from 30 baptisms to 450 baptisms a month. I contacted the mission president, and he confirmed that they did have a month with over 400 baptisms, and that the current average is well over 200 baptisms where they used to have 30. Clearly, when we involve the Lord, we are more effective.

From Elder Joel Ashton

“Also we had a pretty neat experience this week. We were out finding and we had a one and a half hour window to find. After an hour that wasn't super successful, we sat down and said a prayer, after that we decided to go down a street and literally the first guy we tried to stop sat down right then and there and heard a street lesson, then as we were getting ready to head back to English class we ran into this one lady who seems super prepared.The contact ended up being around 30-45 mins and she came to church with us on Sunday. She is now scheduled for 3 more lessons this week!
It is amazing how the Lord prepares people for the Gospel. The hardest part is humbling ourselves enough to follow the will of the Lord and do things His way rather than relying on our own intelligence.

In a book called, The Christ Who Heals, the authors, Terryl and Fiona Givens tell about their niece serving as a missionary in rural Peru. She and her companion visited a member.  Upon departing they asked if she knew anyone who might benefit from a message about the Savior. The member replied, “I have a dear friend who has suffered a terrible tragedy. Her young daughter was struck by a motorized cart a few weeks ago.  Yesterday the girl passed away. I think the grieving mother needs your message.” The member gave the missionaries a sketch for finding the house some distance away. As they made their way up the road, they came to a path not indicated on their map, yet they both felt a prompting to take it. As they kept walking, the path led to a group of scattered dwellings on a hillside.  Although this was not where they had been directed by the member, they were strongly impressed to knock on one door in particular. After insistent knocking a woman came to the door. “We come to you with a message about the Savior,” they said. “Would you like to hear it?” The woman immediately burst into tears and brought three chairs outside. Before they could continue she explained, weeping, “A short time ago, my husband left me.  I am alone with three children and an infant, struggling to provide for the five of us. A few weeks ago, I had a terrible accident. Driving my motor cart, I hit a young girl. I just learned that she has died.”

The Savior knew where his servants were most needed and he directed their path accordingly.  

Revelation is the key to ministering and to ministering stewardship interviews.

Now I want to share an experience with praying for somebody to whom I was assigned to minister and then listening for promptings. Will Merrill assigned me and my wife to drop off an invitation to Carrie Harper. If anybody else had received that assignment, she would not have let them in. But she recognized us from years ago in the Littleton First Ward, when she had a different married name. We were assigned to home teach her and we became dear friends. She started reading her scriptures and the Ensign daily and she began feeling much closer to God. Every time we visited there was the definite smell of cigarette smoke, so we knew she had a smoking problem. We never brought it up, but as we arrived for each visit, I imagined her hiding her ash trays and spraying air freshener. We had been trying to minister to her and to love her, but I was not in the practice of praying for her and asking God how I should help her. So after President Nelson's talk, I decided I should try. I thought carefully about what she really needed, and I thought that maybe I should raise the issue of smoking and offer to help her overcome, because I felt that smoking was probably the biggest reason why she had not come to church more often. I prayed for her and listened. What came to me was, don't ask her about smoking, but ask her how she would like you to help her. I thought, that is brilliant, it will be much better if she decides on her own that she needs to stop smoking and asks for help. So I called Carrie up and asked her to pray about what she would most like help with, and told her I would ask her during our next visit. When I asked her, she said she needs to move to a better location and would like some help with that. That was fine, but it was not what I had expected. Then she said: “I am going to have some difficulty selling this place, because the guy downstairs smokes so much that the smell seeps through into my apartment.” I was shocked to learn that she is not a smoker at all. I am so glad I prayed and approached it in God's way rather than asking her if we could help her with her smoking problem!

I testify that God wants to be involved in our lives and in our service in His kingdom.  He will help us if we will pray, listen, write down what we feel, and act upon it. We will grow in the principle of revelation and in our connection with a loving Father in Heaven.

President Sabey

The Great Gatherer

Although at times I am not as focused as I would like to be before and during the sacrament, there are many times when my imagination has helped me have wonderful sacrament experiences.  Sometimes I imagine that I am one of the Nephites waiting for my turn to approach the Savior, to touch His wounds, to look into his eyes and feel His glory and His love (3 Nephi 11:13-17).  Then as I take the sacrament, I look into the eyes of the deacon who is standing before me in the Savior’s shoes, and imagine that I am looking into the Savior’s eyes, a window to His soul. Then the Spirit teaches me and I feel such beautiful things. Then I know that He has graven me on the palms of His hands, and that He knows me. What I feel mostly is His gentle love and His desire to be involved in blessing and helping me in my life and my service in His kingdom. It feels like a gentle plea to allow Him greater access to my mind and heart.

Russell M. Nelson, when he was serving as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles made a statement in general conference that struck me and has changed me as I have thought about it.  He said:

“It is doctrinally incomplete to speak of the Lord’s atoning sacrifice by shortcut phrases, such as “the Atonement” or “the enabling power of the Atonement” or “applying the Atonement” or “being strengthened by the Atonement.” These expressions present a real risk of misdirecting faith by treating the event as if it had living existence and capabilities independent of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. . . .
There is no amorphous entity called “the Atonement” upon which we may call for succor, healing, forgiveness, or power. Jesus Christ is the source. …” Unquote (APRIL 2017 | Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives).

I thought about that and I realized that I was using terminology like the blessings of the Atonement or the power of the Atonement without referencing Christ. And I was also thinking about the atonement as a historical event that gives us the opportunity to repent, almost as though that opportunity exists independent of Christ’s current involvement.  It has helped me to realize that none of the blessings we associate with the atonement actually happen in our lives without the current involvement of Christ. The atonement does not forgive us, or heal us, or cleanse us, or help us. It is Christ who does those things by His power and through the influence of His Spirit.

So now, instead of talking about the blessings of the atonement, I have started saying the blessings Christ offers us because of who he became through his experience in the atonement. It has been interesting for me to think about how Christ’s experience during the atonement impacted and changed Him.  

Sometimes Prophets were given experiences that helped them understand certain aspects of Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Abraham is one example. Before an angel intervened and provided a ram to take Isaac’s place on the altar, Abraham learned something about the kind of anguish that would be involved in sacrificing one's beloved son (Genesis 22:9-13). Then there was Moses:  In a vision, “Moses . . . beheld . . . [all] the inhabitants [of the earth], and there was not a soul which he beheld not; and he discerned them by the Spirit of God; and their numbers were great, even numberless as the sand upon the sea shore” (Moses 1:27-28). Moses learned that, under the influence of the Spirit, one could perceive every single one of God’s children who would come to earth. All of them.  Enoch’s experience went even further. In vision, Enoch was shown not only every person but also “all the doings of the children of men; wherefore Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook” (Moses 7:41). When the Spirit teaches in a vision, time stands still and, in a short period of mortal time, a human being can perceive the comprehensive scope of all human experience and each specific individual.

The Holy Spirit has amazing spiritual power to be able to show such things to a mere mortal, but there is something a personage of spirit cannot do because he has no flesh, no bones, no sinews and no nerves.  He cannot suffer in the flesh. Alma alluded to this fact when he said: “Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh . . . .” Alma 7:13. God sent the Holy Spirit to be our spiritual companion, but he sent His son Jesus Christ to suffer in the flesh, to suffer physically, mentally and emotionally with us and for us, so that we would never be alone in our suffering. Alma, Mosiah and Isaiah listed all that Christ would take upon himself--our griefs, sorrows, pains, afflictions, temptations, sicknesses, iniquities, and infirmities of every kind, and even our hunger, thirst, fatigue and death. So, no matter what we may face in this life, we are never alone in our anguish, unless we choose to be.

From the beginning, Christ was our valiant older brother who volunteered to come and save us, to be the sacrificial offering on our behalf, to complete the atonement.  One of the Church videos depicting Christ as a boy shows him soberly watching sacrificial lambs in the temple. I don’t know how much He understood as a boy, but by the end of His ministry He definitely factually understood what would happen to Him.  He told the apostles that He would be mocked, scourged and crucified and then rise again (Matthew 20:17-19). But there is a significant difference between a mental understanding about a future event and the physical sensations and emotions of the actual experience. I believe that the actual experience changed Christ in important ways.

Christ, the Son of God, who had such strength to fast for 40 days and such power to calm violent storms, raise the dead and perform many great miracles, felt so weak in the Garden of Gethsemane that he fell on his face in agony.  When the weight of human misery, sin and suffering was upon Him, He repeatedly pleaded for Heavenly Father to release Him and find another way. Any mortal would have just died immediately and found sweet release. But as the Son of God, He had power to choose not to die.  He submitted to His Father’s will and continued to endure, engulfed in pain of body and spirit, bleeding from every pore, and then it was on to scourging and spitting, a crown of thorns, piercing metal spikes, and crucifixion. Why did He endure it all? Nephi says it was “because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men” (1 Nephi 19:9).  Jesus Christ acknowledged in a revelation that he wanted to shrink from it, but, he said: “glory be to the Father, ... I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men” (D&C 19:18-19). When he cried out on the cross, “it is finished,” it did not mean that his atoning work of salvation was finished, but that he had finished His preparations for His ongoing work of blessing and helping and saving each one of us and all humanity. He did not fail us then, and he will not fail us now.  He became completely and absolutely at one with each one of us. By his loving kindness he suffered for us and paid the price to redeem us, heal us and empower us. He descended below all things, that he might be in and through all things the light of truth (D&C 88:6). He prepared Himself so that he could be a light of hope for us in our darkest and most painful moments.

Elder Merrill Bateman, then a member of the presidency of the Seventy, said:

For many years I thought of the Savior’s experience in the garden and on the cross as places where a large mass of sin was heaped upon Him. Through the words of Alma, Abinadi, Isaiah, and other prophets, however, my view has changed. Instead of an impersonal mass of sin, there was a long line of people, as Jesus felt “our infirmities” (Heb. 4:15), “[bore] our griefs, … carried our sorrows … [and] was bruised for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:4–5).
The Atonement was an intimate, personal experience in which Jesus came to know how to help each of us. . . . . [He] bec[a]me intimately acquainted with each of us” (OCTOBER 2005 | A Pattern for All). Unquote

So Who did Christ become because of what he experienced in the Atonement?

He became the one who completely understands us. Elder Bednar explained:

There is no physical pain, no anguish of soul, no suffering of spirit, no infirmity or weakness that you or I ever experience during our mortal journey that the Savior did not experience first. You and I in a moment of weakness may cry out, “No one understands. No one knows.” No human being, perhaps, knows. But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands, for He felt and bore our burdens before we ever did. And because He paid the ultimate price and bore that burden, He has perfect empathy . . . .  (APRIL 2012 THE ATONEMENT AND THE JOURNEY OF MORTALITY). Unquote

    Because He understands us completely and is fully connected with our life experience, he loves us. He simply loves us as we are right now.  Wherever we are in life’s journey, no matter how low or dark, no matter what our difficulty, he has been there and is willing to meet us there. He has already carried our sins and weaknesses and temptations, so He is not put off by them. He does not condemn us. He understands. Through the atonement, Jesus became our greatest advocate, and He only wants to help us.    

Jesus Christ has the power to help and heal us, and he has the strongest, most compelling desire to do so, but he will never force us. So, instead He has become the Great Inviter and the great Gatherer.

He is constantly inviting us to come unto Him as a little child and let him gather us into His arms, His warmth, His healing comfort. With His atoning sacrifice fresh in his mind and heart, Christ invited the Nephites, “Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” (3 Nephi 9:13). Then He gave this simple glorious promise: “if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life.”  He continued: “Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me” (3 Nephi 9:14). Of the gathering of Israel, he said: “O ye house of Israel . . . , how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings [and nourish you]…..” (3 Nephi 10:6). No matter how often we stray, he promises, He will invite and gather us back, again and again.

Jesus Christ is the great Inviter and Gatherer. So when we look into His eyes, we feel His love and safety, and we feel Him gently encouraging us to participate in the great work of Inviting and Gathering Israel. He wants us to be inviting and gathering others into our arms of love and into His arm of love. He invites us to engage with Him in a glorious apprenticeship of inviting and gathering with love.  If we will strive in gathering Israel on this side of the veil and on the other side of the veil, He will accept our small efforts and allow us to help Him in this great work, which is such a work of joy!