Sacrament Meeting Program

Presiding: Bishop Todd Christensen
Conducting: Brother Grady Stoner
Opening Hymn: #1061 - Love Will Bless Our Home
Invocation: By Invitation

Ward Business

Sacrament Hymn: # 195 - How Great the Wisdom and the Love
Administration of the Sacrament

Speaker: Sister Lily Burton
Speaker: Brother Brad Simpson
Musical Number: Primary
Speaker: Sister Sally Wood

Closing Hymn: #309 - As Sisters in Zion
Benediction: By Invitation

All Who Have Endured Valiantly

By Elder David A. Bednar
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

I have participated in competitive athletics since I was a young boy, and running has been an essential element of my physical conditioning. Over the years, I developed a lifelong love-hate relationship with running. I love the physical benefits and mental exhilaration provided by regular workouts. But I hate the sore muscles, aching lungs, and exhaustion. As I have come to the end of many of my long-distance runs, I have exhorted myself to push on, hang on, and endure to the end.

In relation to physical exercise, the word endure suggests maintaining intense physical and mental effort over an extended period of time. Many of us also may associate the word endure with the unpleasant drudgery of routine work and responsibilities. But in a spiritual context, enduring is far more than merely persevering tenaciously to complete demanding duties or challenges.

The scriptures highlight instructive uses of the word endure. For example, the Lord declared to the Nephites, “Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.”

And the Savior revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith that “if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.”

I pray for the assistance of the Holy Ghost as we consider a higher and holier understanding of what it means to endure to the end as lifelong disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Becoming New Creatures in Christ

The Savior’s restored gospel invites us to be spiritually transformed—not merely to improve our behavior. As we align our character, desires, actions, and what we truly love more closely with God’s will, the Savior can bring about a comprehensive and complete change in us.

As we strive to put off the natural man and become Saints through the Savior’s Atonement, we are to “come unto [Him],” be “born again,” bind ourselves to the Father and the Son through sacred covenants and ordinances, pledge our willingness to take upon us the Savior’s name, “receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost,” experience a “mighty change [of] heart,” and serve the Lord with all our “heart, might, mind and strength.” We are to become new creatures in Christ.

This mighty spiritual change is possible only “through the merits, … mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah.” As mortal beings, we are in absolute and never-ending need of Heavenly Father’s and the Savior’s help to realize our eternal destiny.

The Role and Importance of Spiritual Gifts

Spiritual gifts are blessings and capacities given by God to His children through the power of the Holy Ghost. All individuals who receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by proper priesthood authority and the laying on of hands are eligible to receive spiritual gifts intended “to bless and benefit those who love the Lord and seek to keep His commandments.” Spiritual gifts are prerequisites for and essential to our coming unto the Savior, being blessed with His attributes, and ultimately becoming more like Him.

The very name “spiritual gifts” teaches a vital lesson. All such gifts are given by God according to His will and timing; they are not results we earn solely through focused effort and personal discipline.

The Spiritual Gift of Charity and Enduring to the End

Mormon testified that “charity is the pure love of Christ” and “the greatest of all” spiritual gifts. Significantly, the word endure is used in the scriptures to define and describe charity.

For example, “charity … endureth forever,” “suffereth long, … seeketh not her own, … beareth all things, … endureth all things.” And, as you sisters know well, “charity never faileth.”

Mormon also taught that “whoso is found possessed of [the spiritual gift of charity] at the last day, it shall be well with him.” Note the double meaning of the word of in this verse. We can possess charity, but ultimately charity should possess us.

As we are blessed to receive this supernal gift, a transformation occurs in our spiritual nature and character. Being “possessed” of the spiritual gift of charity refers in part to the spiritual development and progress that are the overarching purposes of the Savior’s gospel.

All Who Have Endured Valiantly

Elder Bednar teaches that enduring valiantly to the end means becoming more like Christ as we practice charity throughout our lives.

David A. Bednar