#10 Book Of Mormon class by Mike Stroud (need to add chart from dropbox) (Transcribed by Carol Crisp)

Transcription

1 #10 Book Of Mormon class by Mike Stroud (need to add chart from dropbox) (Transcribed by Carol Crisp) On the board I have a graph. This graph was done by a man that I really respect. It represents the pathway that leads into the presence of the Lord. Like we talked about last week, God is no respecter of persons. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. He invites everyone to become his favorites. The greatest favor that God can bestow upon us in this life is to be able to come into his presence, and have a divine interview with him, and receive a special blessing from him that only those people receive, who come into his presence. This graph shows the steps along the way. What I like about this is that you can look at it and see where you are at in your progression. Here on the end, we have the great blessings of the Lord. In Alma 12, these things on this part of the graph (??) become the 'greater things', and these things from right here (??) up to right here (??) become what we could call the 'lesser things'. We can run a dotted line, separating those two areas. Let's go to Alma 12: And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; (Look right here at the word being used: mysteries. Which side of the line do you think the mysteries are going to be found on? Actually, you'll find mysteries on both sides, but there are greater mysteries and there are lesser mysteries. Here, Alma actually uses the term lesser 'portion' or greater 'portion' instead of 'things'. So, on both sides of this line we have mysteries. How do we define that word 'mystery'? Does that refer to things that can't be known?) Student: If I remember correctly, mysteries are truths that are given for personal revelation. Mike: They are divine truths that can only be known through personal revelation. Let's finish vs. 9. nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. (So, on the graph, here is the starting point. We want to go from here (?) down to here. According to that, the only way you can go from here, forward, is if you give "heed and diligence". Those are key words. You have to harken, and be obedient to what you learn. If you stop being obedient any where along this line, you stop. You don't go any further. The further you go, the more obedience is going to be required. This line starts small, but as you progress, the line starts to increase. Over here, there is not a big distance. But, the further you go along this line, you can see a need for you to be more obedient, and more diligent. It increases.) 10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full. (Did you see what happens there? The more obedient you are, the more you learn. He talks about disobedience as 'hardening your heart'. So, hardening your heart would be the same as 'rebellion' or disobedience. If you won't harden your heart, then the Lord will give you these things as fast as you can take them. You can move along this, at a pace that is determined by your ability to obey. Let's look at vs. 11.) 11. And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell. Let's come on over and take a look at this. What we want to do is to go from the lesser portion or things, to the greater portion or things. There's a line right here, and this line represents where most LDS are, and won't go further. Most of the membership of the church stop right here. Now, I'm talking about long-time members. Most of the people who become inactive stay over in here (?). They don't usually get very far along the way. We're talking about members who have in the church years, whose parents, etc. were members as well. Most of them do not go beyond this line. If people become inactive, it's like they've lost everything. From vs. 11, they forget everything, and lose it. Once you harden your heart, you not only don't get more knowledge, you lose the knowledge you had. You want to keep moving along this line, because, if you stop moving, you start going backwards and you lose what you had. Let's go over here, and see where everybody starts. Up here are the blessings that are bestowed upon you by the Lord. Notice that in this middle section here, is 'called sanctification'. The whole purpose of the Lord's plan is to sanctify

2 the members, so it starts way back here, when you first become a member of the church. Sanctification starts, and goes all the way over here until you com to a place where you are holy and without spot. That's where sanctification leads. You become a holy man or a holy woman, totally spotless, purified and cleansed by the Holy Ghost. This is a process we go on. Everybody has a helper to start with down here. We call it the conscience. This conscience is the Light of Christ, that we've talked so much about. It's also called the Holy Spirit. Every body is born with that gift. The purpose of that gift is to lead you along this path. It starts you out. It comes down to where you receive some interesting things here. Let's look and see what happens. The first steps along the road is that you are taught the gospel, the doctrines of the restoration. Then you have an opportunity to exercise some faith. Right in this area here, you are going to have the Book of Mormon. Right in here is where the missionaries are going to start teaching you. This is where you have the discussions. This is where you are taught the restoration, the plan of salvation, the gospel of Christ, the commandments. So, all along this process right here, you now have the opportunity to be obedient. When you hear these things, you now make a choice as to whether you're going to be obedient to them, or whether you are not going to be obedient. If you are obedient to this voice, look what the first thing you get here. You gain a testimony. So, testimony comes in right in through here. If you are not obedient to what you've been taught, you won't get a testimony of it's truth. The Holy Ghost won't bear testimony to you. Once you've been obedient to what you've been taught, the next thing you're required to do is to enter into a covenant. You become a baptized member of the church. The principle of sacrifice, how does that enter in with newly baptized members? What are some sacrifices that members make when they join the church. What would be a sacrifice required of a new member? Answers: time, some of your money in tithing, fast offerings, such things as going boating on Sunday, watching certain television shows, going to the movies, etc. Mike: Okay, very good. Remember that sacrifice is necessary, in order for you to move along the path. If this wasn't here, you wouldn't progress on this at all. All along here, sacrifice is going to be required. Obedience and sacrifice. I know that for some people, they are told, 'if you join that church, you're not a member of our family any more'. The parents dis-own them. We have a missionary serving right here that when she joined the church with the senior missionaries, her whole family told her she was no longer a part of their family. That's a sacrifice. So, there are some sacrifices along the way. Notice some other things that take place here. After you gain a testimony, you start to have some inspired feelings. Let's go to D & C 8:2-3. These verses fit right in here. Think about 'inspired feelings' and 'impressions'. 2 Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart. 3 Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground. So, we have a couple of spirits at work here. We have one called the Holy Spirit, and then after baptism, you can also have the Holy Ghost that starts to come in. So, you have two spirits that are speaking to you. The Holy Spirit is your conscience, and now, as a baptized member, you have the right to receive impressions, revelation, testimony, warnings, and teachings from the Holy Ghost. Again, this is all just moving forward. If you will obey the Holy Spirit, it will take you to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit will guide you to a covenant. The Holy Spirit will guide you with inspired feelings and impressions. It will say, 'Go here, do this, don't do that, don't go there", etc. Then, the Holy Ghost starts to come in, and it's not impressions, now we move into a whole different area. If you stay with this, you will see a sudden increase in spirituality. Down in here, we're going to add something that takes place right in this area, something called 'born again'. So, now we're really going to start moving some things out. Sudden increase in spirituality, being born again. Let's take a look at Mosiah 27: For, said he, I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit. 25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters; 26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. This is a real mile-marker along the process here. When this happens, for example, you have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. You're still making mistakes. You're still committing sins. You still need to repent, but there has been a definite increase in your spirituality. Something's changed. You're not the same anymore, with the 'born again'. Over here, you can now start to receive spoken instructions, messages--verbal and non-verbal. Remember, when the Lord speaks, you can hear it with your ears, but more often, you can hear it 'inside'. You will feel the words. This is not a short little: do this, do that, go here, don't go there. This is where you actually receive instructions and messages,

3 where you are taught doctrine and truths, receive revelation. All of this is revelation, but this is now revelation from the Holy Ghost. Right on through this area now, we're going to put 'temple covenants'. Now, this doesn't have to be exact. The temple covenants can also be with the 'born again'. I'm going to put them over here, because that's what my friend does on his document. I went to the temple for a long time, before I experienced being 'born again'. I did this first, and then that came. So, now you go and receive your endowment, your initiatory, and if you are husband and wife, you go in and have your temple sealings. Spiritual rebirth is the same thing as 'born again', just different words. Student: Is that the same thing as 'a mighty change of heart'? Mike: It is. You could easily put in here 'converted', as well. It's the difference between 'testimony' and 'conversion'. They are two different things. There is quite a bit of room between the two. When you get to this area here, you are not likely to leave the church. Many people have a testimony, and then leave the church. Thousands of them, even. You want to keep pushing forward, so we go from testimony to conversion, which is the mighty change of heart, the rebirth, etc. You want to do good all the time now. This is where you now start to enjoy the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. You're receiving instruction daily now and blessings from the Holy Ghost. Down here at the bottom, we have something that is a part of your temple covenant. You start to practice the 'law of consecration'. Right now, in the church, this law requires some time, and some money. How much money? A tenth. That's what you are asked to give. (Speaking to the District President in attendance) You, for example, consecrate your time as the president of the Kolapi District. You're all over this place. Steve's wife, today, is out as the new RS President, so she is consecrating her time, her talents, and everything that the Lord has blessed you with. For what purpose? For the building up of the Kingdom of God and for the establishment of Zion. We come to a point now, where this starts to mean something to us. We look for ways, now, to increase our dedication. Sacrifice now isn't a sacrifice over here. It's now a privilege. We start getting to this point. Somewhere in here, most members of the church will get to that point. Let's put one more over on this side here: dreams and visions. You start having inspired dreams from Heavenly Father, where he teaches you in your dreams, and you can actually see open visions. This happens right in here. Let's add one more. Right here, at this line, my friend put something called 'calling and election made sure'. The majority of the church function in that area (?). Since the church is a convert church, and most of the members have only been members 5-6 years, when General Conference authorities speak to the membership of the church, the messages given are right in this area right here, generally speaking. Sometimes you go beyond that. Why is this? Because most members of the church are new. We want to move past this (faith, repentance, obedience, baptism). I have this graph for you to look at. Somewhere after this (?), Pontius says somewhere here, you reach the state where the Lord calls you 'the pure in heart'. Remember that this is all step by step by step. Each time you take a step, you are going upward. In other words, the blessings from the gospel now move from the 'lesser blessings' to the 'greater blessings'. Let's see what some of those are over here. For priesthood, it would be something called 'power in the priesthood'. In other words, you're not just being ordained into the priesthood. Now you use the priesthood with power. You can perform miracles. You can heal the sick. You can raise the dead. You can control the elements. That's now 'power in the priesthood'. The three of us men in this room have been ordained to the priesthood. That's the first step. The next step, now, is to take your ordination and have power in it. At one place in the temple you are blessed to have this power in the priesthood. Sis. Stroud: As you look at the graph, you notice that a short way in, on the right of the graph, you notice where there's a pretty steep incline. It's kind of like our life. If we are just doing the minimum in the church, it's pretty easy and we don't have to put much effort into that. If we do more, the blessings are greater, the price is also greater, and we have more potential to receive those greater blessings. We also receive a greater abundance of help from the Lord, to accomplish these greater things. Mike: All along here, you can see the sanctification increasing. Also, what is increasing along here is power. You're becoming more powerful. You're receiving more power, as this gap goes up, gets wider. So, the power increases as those two lines become more separated. There is more power there. Let's put more up here. Now we have 'the mysteries are revealed' to you. You are now taught the mysteries. Here's another one that's interesting at this point. 'Charity is bestowed'. In other words, you are given the gift of charity, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God. Remember what the Lord said in Moroni 7? 47 But charity is the pure love of

4 Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. 48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen. So, now, you have the love of God in you, and everything you see and do, you would do as He would do. You see as He sees. You now look through your eyes at another person and you see that person the way Jesus Christ sees that person. That's what happens. Let's go on a little bit further. Here we have miracles. You can have these along here too. Everything isn't exactly like this chart. You can have power in the priesthood back here. But, generally speaking, the dividing line right there, is where your calling and election made sure comes. We'll talk about that more later, and what that means. Over here, we have something called 'The Second Comforter'. What is that? A personal interview with the Savior. You see the Savior. Another blessing over here is that you now prophesy. You can prophesy over here, as well. I've had the experience of prophesying. It comes when the Spirit gives you that gift. You speak openly, and you speak about things that are coming, and they happen. The Lord wants all of his sons and daughters to be prophetic. He wants us all to speak in his name, but this is going to happen here, with miracles, and with the ministering of angels. Here's another one: the ministering of angels. These are all gifts that come along as we progress. You see how much more is available to us, if we know that it's there. Most of us have not heard of these things beyond this point. In fact, this right here, most members that I have talked to, don't know what this means. They don't know what 'calling and election made sure' is. We'll talk to you about that a little bit. So, is all this exactly the way it happens? No. Some of these things can be here, or here... but it gives you a general outline, a guideline of the steps along the path, so you can see where you're at. You can ask yourself a question. "Have I been born again?" "Have I had my calling and election made sure?" "Am I being ministered to by angels?" Angels can minister to you two ways. They can minister to you behind the veil, and they can minister to you face to face. The temple teaches us that. I'm going to give you this handout, and then we'll talk about these things. So, what I emphasize is, that this isn't exact. The best thing this does is to teach us that there are steps along the way. Most of us think that there is no more to the gospel, but this opens up a lot of other things. Up here, on this end, we have the "divine presence". That means that you are in the presence of the Father and the Son. You have the gift of translation, and you have the gift of becoming a 'Zion' person, and belonging to a Zion society. It means you come to a point here, and you are standing in the presence of the Lord, and he asks you, "What do you want?" And, you can request something from him, and he'll give it to you. You could be like John the Revelator who would say, 'I want to stay on earth. I don't want to die. I want to stay on the earth and I want to be a missionary and bring people to you, as long as the earth stands.' John the Revelator is on the earth now. He never died. The Three Nephites are others that did the same, and live on the earth. So, when they got into the presence of the Lord, and the Lord said, "What do you want?", they asked to not die, but continue on the earth as servants of the Lord, as missionaries, right up to the Second Coming of the Lord. They wanted to bring people back to Christ. That was their request, and the Lord gave it to them. Has everyone here been in the temple and received their endowment? Yes? So, we can talk about a couple of things here. If you look at the temple, and right here, if I were to draw a line, I would label that line 'The Veil'. So, look what's on the other side of the veil. The Savior, the Father, a gift. Do you know what another word for 'gift' is? Another word, in English, is the word endowment. Endowment and gift mean the same thing. So, once you get on this side of the veil, and everything on this other side is where we are now, but once you get on the other side of the veil, then the Lord has a gift for you. He has an endowment for you. At certain times, you will go up to this veil. The Savior is on the other side, and you're on this side. You'll go up, and someone will give a signal. Then someone says, 'what do you want?' Am I right? Then you'll talk back and forth. Then after back and forth, someone will do a second signal, and the other person will say, 'what do you want?' And you'll say, 'I want to come from here, to there', and you're allowed to come in. Who is on the other side waiting for you? The Savior. He's waiting for you. So, brothers and sisters, everything in the temple from this point where you make your temple covenants and receive your blessings, from here to here, that's what the temple is teaching you how to do, to go from here to there. That's what the temple is all about. We say, 'you receive your endowment'. It's preparing you to receive a real endowment over here, where the Lord says, 'what do you want', and you ask, and he gives it to you. For some people, when they got over there, and he asked, 'what do you want', they said, 'we want to be translated', and he gave it to them. For other people, when they got over there and he said to them, 'what do you want', they said, 'when our ministry is over, we want to die, and come into your kingdom and be with you for eternity'.

5 They wanted to bypass the Spirit World. So, when they died, they resurrected immediately, and went into the presence of the Lord. That was their request. So, if you get to this point, where you can get to the other side of the veil and talk with the Savior face to face, one of the things he's going to ask you is what you want. You hear it in the temple all the time, don't you? "What is wanted?" Do, what is being taught here, is that sometime in the future, you can ask the Lord for a very special blessing, and he's going to honor that, because you have been so honorable and faithful that when you get over to here, he has a gift for you. Now, when you go to the temple, I would like you to think about how the whole purpose of the temple is to teach you how to get from here to there. Not, from here to this side of the veil. That's what the whole temple ceremony is symbolically about. It's symbolically teaching you to go step by step, and commit, to where you enjoy the greater portion of the word, which is to be right in the presence of the Father and the Son. Isn't that wonderful? So, brothers and sisters, how many of our members of the church stop right here, and never make it to the temple? How many of the total membership never get to the temple? They never even qualify for a temple recommend. (2012) We've got 14 million members of the church worldwide, and how many of them have gotten to the temple and received their temple blessings? How many is that total number that are alive on the earth today? About 1/3. If you don't even get to this point on the graph, look what you're missing, because the temple ordinances open the door for all of this. Do you see why it's so important that our members make it to the temple? If you never make it to the temple, as a member of the church, the purpose of your membership was not fulfilled. The purpose of becoming a baptized member of the church isn't just to enter the church and be there on Sunday. The purpose of being baptized is to get to the temple and receive all the blessings, covenants and sealings of the temple and the priesthood. If you never make it to the temple, and you're baptized, the whole purpose for your membership is frustrated. This is why we work with our new converts and our less active brothers and sisters that are coming back to church. We want to help them get to the temple, because once you get to the temple, you receive power. There is power there. Your testimony deepens. Your conversion deepens. Your love of the Savior deepens. Your understanding of the gospel broadens. Everything happens with the temple. For those of us who have been to the temple, the more often we can get back, the better. I went to the temple for the first time in That's over 50 years ago! The first time I went to the temple, I didn't understand anything. And for years after I still didn't understand it. I went to the temple for two reasons. I went to the temple because I felt that I was helping someone who was dead, to receive the blessings and the ordinances that they couldn't perform for themselves. The second reason I went was that when I went to the temple, I always felt good being there, and I could tell the difference when I came out of the temple. I kept going for the next 40 years, not knowing any of this. We're always learning, but it's only been in the last few years that I really understood some of these greater blessings, and the veil, and the purpose of the temple and what it's doing. It's taken me all my life to learn this! I've been a regular temple attender for 50 years, and in that time, there probably wasn't a month I didn't get there, except when I was there in the mission field. Did I understand what I was doing? No! Did I understand what the temple was all about? No! Did I understand the veil? No! I didn't understand any of that, until I got a little older. Now, when Sis. Stroud and I go to the temple, we look at it with a whole different view. We look at it completely different. Now, whenever I go to the temple, I first and foremost go for me and Sis. Stroud! For 40 years, I went for the dead. Now, I go for "us", and what can I be taught, because now I understand the temple is a ceremony that teaches ME how to get into the presence of Christ. I understand that now. Then, secondarily, I go through for the dead. But now, primarily, we go through for US. For 40 years I didn't realize that, and now I do. Let's talk about the ministering of angels. In the temple we are taught about the ministering of angels. Every ceremony in the temple uses these words, "In the presence of God, angels and these witnesses". So, there are angels in the temple. That building is filled with angels. Sometimes you can see them. Most of the time you can't, because they work on both sides of the veil. The temple ceremony teaches you that. Peter, James and John are messengers. They represent messengers. They represent people who work for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Another name for an angel is a messenger. So, at one time in the temple, Peter, James and John are told to go down to the earth, without telling anyone who they are. Remember that? Don't tell them who you are, just go down and do this, this, this, etc. and then report back. That's angels on the other side of the veil. They are around us, but we don't know who they are. They are on the other side of the veil. You and I are being ministered by angels every day, maybe every hour. I don't think there is very much time where you don't have an angel who is helping you. That's my personal opinion. Then, in the temple, another place, these same messengers are told to go down and tell them who they are. Remember that? So they come down, and people say, 'who are you?'...'well, I am this, this and this...'. Now, these angels are on this side of the veil face to face. See that? So, in the temple, we are taught that angels minister on both sides of the veil. The further up you go on this progression, one of

6 the blessings will be for these people to step through the veil and appear to you. You'll see them, and they'll teach you, and they'll instruct you, and they'll bless you. That's part of this process. So, when that starts to happen, then you know that you are having these great experiences. If you have dreams and visions, that's one of the indicators that you're doing well. I believe every person in this room has been 'born again'. I think everyone in this room is somewhere here, and on over, on the chart. That's my personal opinion. Now let's talk about 'calling and election made sure'. Peter says that if you make your calling and election sure, you will never fall. That's the promise. There are two ways that I know of, that this can happen. 1. The voice of God, and I think it's the voice of the Father, speaks to you. You hear his voice. He could say something like this, he'll call you by name, and say something like 'your sins are forgiven and you shall be blessed'. This isn't just a regular blessing. What's the blessing? That voice may now say something like this, 'I seal you up to eternal life'. This is all God speaking to you. You are now 'sealed up' to an inheritance in the celestial world. You've been to the temple, and all blessings and promises in the church from baptism to patriarchal blessings are conditional. They have this big word: IF. Let me give you an example. Your patriarchal blessing gives you all these promises and blessings. At the end of your patriarchal blessing, the patriarch will say something like, 'these blessings are yours IF you are faithful'. They also say that you will come forth in the morning of the resurrection if you are faithful. The word 'if' is there, meaning that all of these promises in this blessing are conditional on your faithfulness. If you are not faithful, then you have no blessing. When you go to the temple, and you receive your initiatory blessings, again, the words are 'blessing, blessing, blessing, according to your faithfulness'. You have these blessings IF you are faithful. Even in your temple marriage, when you are married as a husband and wife, the words are, 'this blessing, this blessing, this blessing...married for time and eternity...according to your faithfulness'. So everything is based upon your faithfulness. In the temple ceremony is says this, 'if you are true and faithful the day will come when certain blessings were promised will be guaranteed'. So, all of the blessings in the gospel right now are contingent, or based upon your faithfulness. You've already been promised in your temple marriage that you will come forth in the morning of the first resurrection. That's a promise in the temple marriage ceremony, 'clothed in glory, immortality and eternal life'. That is a promise. The other promise is, 'you will be husband and wife for time and all eternity'. That's a promise. In another place there's a promise that you'll be a king, and your wife will be a queen, and you will be a priest, and your wife will be a priestess. Those are the promises. At the end of everyone of those promises it says 'if you are faithful'. So, all of those promises: married for eternity, a king and a queen, they are all promises of eternal life. So, when you go to the temple, brothers and sisters, you've already been promised eternal life. That's what the promise is, in the temple ceremony, to become a king and a queen, and to be married for time and eternity, and to rule and reign forever, in eternity, 'if you are faithful'. What does 'calling and election' do? Calling and election takes the word 'if' away, and now, all promises and blessings are not conditional. Now, you replace conditional with guarantee. That's what calling and election is. God now takes all of your blessings that you've been promised, and takes away the 'if' and says, 'I now seal upon you your eternal life', and there is no 'if you are faithful'. It's not there anymore. 'Calling and election made sure' is to be sealed up and have a guarantee of eternal life in the highest degree of the Celestial World. Do you want to see it in the scriptures? Let me show you where this happens in the scriptures. Let's go to D&C 132:49. This is the Lord speaking to Joseph Smith. This is Joseph Smith's 'calling and election made sure'. I want you to picture this happening to you. 49 For I am the Lord thy God, and will be with thee even unto the end (here, you can put in your name: even unto the end of thy life, Bro. Sevalia, and through eternity...) of the world, and through all eternity; for verily I seal upon you your exaltation, and prepare a throne for you in the kingdom of my Father, with Abraham your father. There is Joseph, just sealed up to eternal life. That is 'calling and election made sure'. That can happen to every one of us. It is God's own voice that speaks and says this. From what I understand, and I'm still learning, this is the voice of the Father, not the Son. Let me give you an example of Heber C. Kimball. He was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and was hiking somewhere or was being chased by a mob, or something, and he heard a voice which said, "Heber, stop, take out your pencil and a piece of paper and write." That's the Holy Spirit talking to him (do this). So Brother Kimball sits down, takes out a little pencil and piece of paper and starts to write, and here the voice came to him and says, "My son, Heber..." and then he writes this blessing that came to him. You can find it online, it's a good one. In the middle of it, He says, "I now seal you up to eternal life, that where I am, you may be, worlds without end." That's calling and election. It's private, no big fanfare. It's just between you, somewhere, sometime, and you won't see Him. This is done with a voice.

7 This has another name, too. It is also called, "the more sure word of prophecy". If we want to see that, we go to D&C 131:5. (May 17th, 1843.) The more sure word of prophecy means a man s knowing that he is sealed up unto eternal life, by revelation and the spirit of prophecy, through the power of the Holy Priesthood. It's the voice of God that declares this to you. In the Bible, Peter says, 'Brethren and Sisters, seek to make your calling and election sure'. Peter said that when you seek for it, you will never fall. This is all the meat of the gospel. This isn't a drink of milk! You've all be endowed, so you should know this. There is a second way this can happen. Way number two is through a priesthood temple ordinance. Now, some of the priesthood temple ordinances that you've had are initiatory ordinance, then the endowment ceremony, and then you had some sealings. This could be husband to wife, which is a marriage. It could also be child to parents. There's another one, and I will call it 'another sacred ordinance'. In this one, you'll receive something that the D&C calls, "The fullness of the Priesthood". Before this ordinance is performed, only men and women who have been married in the temple can receive this ordinance. This is only for husband and wife. This is not a single person ordinance. When they perform this ordinance, it is the same thing as making your calling and election made sure. This is performed in the temple, under the direction of the President of the Church. The President of the Church directs this 'Fulness of the Priesthood Ordinance'. Let's go to D&C 124: This is a commandment to the prophet Joseph Smith to build the Nauvoo Temple. 27 And with iron, with copper, and with brass, and with zinc, and with all your precious things of the earth; and build a house to my name, for the Most High to dwell therein. Why does the Lord want this house built? Look at vs. 28. For there is not a place found on earth that he may come to and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the priesthood. That's this ordinance that we're talking about. This ordinance now can be performed in every temple. So, there are two ways for you to receive your 'guarantee of life in the highest degree of the Celestial World', as a prince or princess, king or queen, priest or priestess, mother or father. So, what do I hope for you today? I hope, for #1, that you see that there is much more available as a member of the church and that we don't stop ourselves, we don't draw lines and say, 'I'm not going any further'. There's a lot more on the other side of that line on the chart. #2 is that when you go to the temple the next time you will have a different feeling, and you will think differently about the temple, because of what we've talked about today. I hope that when you go to the temple the next time, that you will feel like 'this is helping me' move forward, and eventually come into the presence of the Lord. One other thing that we didn't talk about is that all of this graph up here is talking about doing it in this life. This is not in the next world. This is not in the Spirit World. This is NOW in this life. All of these blessings are available to every one of us now!