23 November 2025
Reconciliation to God, through Jesus Christ’s Atonement, leads to unshakable faith.
Sacrament Meeting Program
Presiding: Bishop Serge St. Felix
Conducting: Brother Alan Riker
Opening Hymn: #62 - All Creatures of Our God and King
Invocation: By Invitation
Ward Business
Sacrament Hymn: #193 - I Stand All Amazed
Administration of the Sacrament
Speaker: Brother Dylan Louder
Intermediate Hymn: CS 228 - My Heavenly Father Loves Me
Speaker: Sister Katelyn Dyer
Closing Hymn: #1204 - Star Bright
Benediction: By Invitation
Messages from General Conference
Be Reconciled to God
By Elder Kelly R. Johnson
Of the Seventy
As I study the scriptures, I come across words that really catch my attention, primarily because they have special meaning as a result of experiences I have had during my life. I spent my career working as a forensic accountant. With that background, the word reconcile has caught my attention as I read the scriptures. My job was to reconcile reported amounts with financial records by applying accounting, auditing, and investigative skills. In other words, my goal was to align financial reports with the underlying financial documents to ensure accuracy and validity. I made diligent efforts to resolve discrepancies, and it was common that significant time was dedicated to resolving even very small discrepancies.
The Apostle Paul pled with the Corinthians to be “reconciled to God.” To be reconciled to God means to be brought back into harmony with God or to restore a relationship with God that has been strained or broken because of our sins or actions. Simply put, being reconciled to God means aligning our will and actions with God’s will, or as taught by President Russell M. Nelson, letting God prevail in our lives.
As taught in the scriptures, we are free to act for ourselves, “to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.” But if we are not diligent, this freedom to act for ourselves may lead to a loss of alignment with the will of God.
The prophet Jacob taught that when we find ourselves in disharmony or misalignment with God, the only way we can achieve reconciliation is to “be reconciled unto [God] through the atonement of Christ.” We must realize that reconciliation is dependent on mercy, implying that Jesus Christ’s gracious act of atonement makes reconciliation possible.
As you ponder your own life, think about a time when you felt distant from Heavenly Father because you had moved away from Him. For instance, perhaps you became less diligent in your prayers to Him or in keeping His commandments. Just as we choose to distance ourselves from God, we must choose to initiate the effort to reconcile. The Lord emphasized our responsibility when He said, “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.”
Elder Kelly R. Johnson
