3 generations - Elder Cottle
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Restoration of the Gospel - Elder Trevan Cottle May 19, 2013
Good
afternoon everybody. It feels good to be in my home ward today to speak
to you. As much fun as it is to be in my student ward up at school
it's feels good to be at home and I like it and I'm excited to be able
to talk to you guys today.
I
would like to start by sharing with everybody something that I've been
thinking about lately. It seems to me that knowledge is a lot harder to
gain than it is to loose. I was thinking this a few weeks ago during
finals week. When I was trying to remember all of the material that I
had learned over the whole year and it took a lot of work to remember
all of the stuff I had learned. But I honestly don't recall trying to
forget any of it, I was trying to remember the whole time. It just gets
buried in everything else I'm trying to remember everything else I do
during the day and it takes work to make it resurface. In school the
way I've learned things is by experimenting or solving problems. The
way I remember is by writing it down and trying to review it often.
Obviously I didn't review enough because of all of the cramming I had to
do at the end of the semester, trying to re-learn all of the material.
Well I think spiritual knowledge is roughly the same, but unlike
worldly knowledge we gain spiritual knowledge by acting with faith on
something that the prophet has taught us. Once we have learned
something we can remember it by writing it in a journal and if necessary
refer back to it later.
Now
think about this. What if we were trying to take a course and not only
was there no teacher but there was only one textbook in the whole class
and we had to rely on our classmates telling us what was inside this
textbook. How would you feel? I know I'd feel pretty lost. I wouldn't
know what to do, I'd probably just stop showing up to class. Well,
this is what happened after the death of Jesus Christ. The priesthood
authority was taken from the earth and man was left to interpret the
scriptures on his own without divine inspiration. Without a prophet
there to help man review and interpret the scriptures, man quickly and
easily forgot the truth and generation after generation inherited a
state of apostacy. And they felt lost, but Heavenly Father Loves us and
he doesn't want us to feel lost or confused.
If
the plan of salvation was like a lacrosse game, then Heavenly Father
would be like my dad cheering me on in the stands every time I dodged a
defender or progressed on the field towards eternal life. He's not idly
sitting down eating his food and drinking his drink (my dad does that
too but he cheers me on). Heavenly Father wants us to pray to him and
ask him for help, but we need to have enough faith to do so first.
Brothers and Sisters, faith is the action that brings revelation to
pass and after we have acted in faith and revelation has come to pass
we increase in knowledge and testimony.
So
when the circumstances were right, Heavenly Father revealed his gospel
again on the earth to a 14 year old boy who wanted to know which of all
the churches were true. I know we hear it a lot .....but after reading
James 1:5... I will read it to you, it says "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
After reading that scripture Joseph Smith was touched, and.... luckily
for us he had enough faith to act on the revelation that he read. In
preparing for this talk I read Joseph Smith History over and over
again. And a few times I was tempted to read it all to you guys because
of the way I felt when I was reading it. But I figured that wouldn't be
fair.....but I want to share some of it with you. Verses 14 through 17
and it says, "
So, in accordance with this, my determination
to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the
morning of a beautiful,
clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was
the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst
all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally. After
I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go,
having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and
began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done
so, when immediately I was seized
upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an
astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not
speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But,
exerting all my powers to call
upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized
upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair
and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the
power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous
power as I had never before felt in any being—just at this moment of
great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the
brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
It
no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which
held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose
brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the
air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to
the other—
This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"
There
are few things that I can say I know, but I know that Joseph Smith saw
God the Father and his son Jesus Christ that day and I know that he was
told not to join any of the churches because none of them were true.
And I know that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet like Adam and
Abraham, Noah and Moses. To be a living prophet and restore, lead and
guide the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Christ's restored
church upon the earth today. I invite and challenge everyone of you to
read Joseph Smith History and to write in your journal as you are
reading how you feel while you read it and then read what you wrote when
you are done. And pray and ask God if it's not true. I DARE you to do that.
After
the appearance of Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ, John the
Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdry conferring the
Aaronic Priesthood on them which gave them the authority to baptize.
Then Peter, James and John, three of Christ's original apostles appeared
and conferred the Melechezidik Priesthood on Joseph Smith and Oliver
Cowdry. This restored the same authority given to Christ's apostles
acciently. With the Authority of the Priesthood, Joseph Smith was
instructed to organize the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth and
through him Jesus Christ called 12 apostles.
Brothers
and Sisters I know that the authority of the Priesthood has been
restored to the earth. I know that Jesus Christ gave it to His
apostles, who gave it to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdry. And through
that line I can trace where I got it. And each one of you priesthood
holders out there can do the same. Think about that and tell me it's
not amazing, because it is.
Heavenly
Father in his infinite wisdom knew that doubt, disbelief and
mis-information would immediately follow the prophet as he told people
about the first vision, He had prepared an ancient record of His
followers in America called the Book of Mormon, which was preserved
souly for our learning and benefit, to be a companion to the Bible
containing the fullness of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes,
this means 531 pages that will change your life forever.
I
was thinking the other day about how blessed we are. I was driving up
our street in our neighborhood, the homes that we live in and the
clothes that we wear, the shoes that we get to wear and the food that we
eat, and everything else that we've been blessed with and I think,
"Have I been taking this for granted my whole life?" But then I thought,
"Have I been taking the Book of Mormon for granted my whole life?" We
work hard for all or our earthly possessions, but think about how much
work it took so each one of us could own a copy of the Book of Mormon.
My
brother Josh gave me this bracelet, right here, a few years ago and ,
it took him some thought and some money to give it to me, and some
time....and I've worn it almost every day since. I think it's cool but
it reminds me of him, you know. But, if I can put this on every single
day and remember my brother Josh, yes I love him....can I not read the
scriptures every day and remember my brother Jesus and what He's done
for me. I think about all the time, money, blood an sweat it took for
this book. I read the stories inside and see just how much time it took
them to write all of this, and I think....I can't even write in my
journal every day. I try to but...hopefully I will do better on my
mission, I better. Then I think about Joseph Smith and giving his life
for the book, for the Christ's gospel, His restored gospel on the earth
today. And about all of the early Saints, who walked across America all
the way to Utah to have the freedom to live the religion that they
believed, and I think I need to be doing better.
I
know that we've all heard Moroni's promise in Moroni 10:3-5. It's a
pretty good revelation so I'd like to read it to you. It says,"Behold,
I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be
wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how
merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation
of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and
ponder it in your hearts. And
when ye shall receive these things, 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 the truth of all things".
That's an amazing promise, and I challenge all of you, exercise your
faith on that revelation. Pray and ask God if it's true. I feel like
we owe it to our ancestors. All of that work that they went through to
give us this book, to at least try and find out if it's true.
In
closing I would like to just bear my testimony about the Prophet Joseph
Smith. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know that he saw God
the Father and his son Jesus Christ in that grove and I know that he
restored Christ's true church on the earth today, and translated the
Book of Mormon so each of us could know the truth. I know the Book of
Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, a companion to the Bible.
And I know that no man can draw closer to God by reading any other
book, except this book. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each
one of us. I know that life didn't begin at birth and that it doesn't
end at death. We lived with our Father in Heaven before this life and
He gave us an opportunity to come to earth and to have a body and to
gain a testimony and to learn and grow and to be tested. And I know
that if we follow His commandments on earth that we can all return to
live with Him again, with our families, with the people we love. One of
my good friends from school, he used to say, 'Don't mess with the plan
or the plan will mess with you." I thought it was pretty funny, but
luckily if we do mess with the plan, if we do mess it up, which we all
do...and I know I have... we have Jesus Christ's Atonement. we can pray
and ask for forgiveness and we will receive forgiveness. I am thankful
for that. I know that we can live with our families forever. I look
across and I see a lot of my family members here and I am excited to
spend forever with you. I know that Thomas S, Monson is the living
prophet today, on earth. And I know that it's a commandment to serve a
mission and that's why I'm doing it but not only that, but because I
feel a responsibility to tell other people about what I know. Because I
don't know what it would feel like to not know that I could be with my
family forever. To think that after this life I just would never see
them again, I would just turn into nothing....it doesn't even work in my
head . I need to tell other people about this amazing plan that God
has for us. I would like to just thank all of my friends that helped me
get to this point, because I would have never made it here without
them. And I see all of you guys out there and I appreciate that you
came to support me. I would like to thank this ward family that I have
had, since I was just a little boy I've been here and there's so many of
you out there that have taught my Sunday School classes, my Deacon's
quorum class, my teacher's quorum class and my Priest's Quorum Class.
I'm thankful for all that you have done, above and beyond, and you will
never know just how much it affected my life. Thank you for that. I
would just like to thank my mom for everything she does for me. I love
her so much. I definitely would never be going on my mission without my
mom, dad helped to, but thanks mom. I love you.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
