-Opening Remarks: Introduce yourself, your mission call, and
thank the congregation for coming to church and that this is the opportunity to
worship Jesus Christ as our Savior…
On
January 31st, 2012 I received an opportunity, and made a decision
that would change my life forever. My
dream of playing College football had come true in the form of a Full-Ride
Scholarship offer to play football for Brigham Young University… To say this has been a huge blessing for me
and my family would be an understatement, but like all aspects of gods plan
there is an opposite in everything. I
had been blessed with this opportunity, but at the same time had been
blindsided, because as a 17 year old kid, whose knowledge of the world was very
basic and whose testimony of the gospel was weak, I was easy prey for the great
deceiver, Lucifer.
What I
failed to realize at this time was that everything I had achieved in my life
was achieved because God saw fit to give me the strength, the talent, and to
surround me with the right people to reach for the stars. Now, I’m not saying progress is a bad thing,
because it is not. For god wants us all
to be happy, and a big part of that is finding purpose in doing the things that
we love. Where I went wrong was that I
failed to recognize Gods hand in my happiness, and that is where the seeds of pride
were planted in my heart.
If I
could go back in time to myself that day, and give myself one piece of advice,
I would have the 17 year old version of me read Proverbs 16:18
-
”Pride
goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
If I had known this at that time I believe I would have
taken greater heed at the danger of pride, but I did not. It did not take long for the Pride to take
over my heart, slowly I stopped going to young mens, then I began to sleep in
for church, and then I just started skipping church altogether… My life is the perfect example of the
truthfulness of this scripture, for not only did I fall spiritually, but in my
every day life as well
Lets
Fast Forward to August 16th, 2012.
If one were to look into my life on that day he/she would find that I
was at bear lake, being the dumb, arrogant, “all knowing” high school kid I
was. It was a Sunday, and I had been up
at Bear Lake celebrating a good friends 18th birthday the best way
we knew how, messing around on a couple of Yamaha Jet Ski’s that went way
faster then we should’ve been going. The
Friday prior we had just won our season opener football game, and to say I
thought I was invincible was an understatement.
I had chosen not to listen to all the warnings about recreational sports
during football season and had gone against my gut feeling. I told myself that all I had to do was be careful
and that I would be fine. We rode all
day Saturday and had a blast so when my friend asked If I wanted to go out
Sunday morning I didn’t hesitate.
Brothers and sisters, just a small piece of advice, when you have the
option to go jet skiing on a Sunday or go to church, always, always, always go
to church.
When
your as stubborn as I am its really hard to listen to admit that you were wrong
and that someone else was right, but when I read that scripture in proverbs I
had to agree. Over 25 stitches in my forehead,
a severely injured shoulder, a crippled football season, and a near death
experience later I believe it was safe to say that In the height of my pride I
had fallen. It was over a month before
I was able to suit up for my football team, and even when I came back I was in
a very injured very weakened state of my former self. We ended up losing in the semi-finals and
even today I cannot help but think that if I hadn’t been so arrogant and so
selfish that weekend things would’ve finished very differently. I was angry for
months, and even angrier when I found out I had to have surgery to repair my
left arm. I kept trying to place the blame of my fall but the more I thought
about it the more I came to realize that it was all my fault. For I had failed to give thanks to him that
had given me everything, and for this reason almost everything he had given me
was almost taken away.
Brothers
and sisters, I share this story with the congregation in the hopes that I can
better illustrate the dangers of Pride from mine own experiences. President and Prophet Ezra Taft Benson put it
perfectly when he said, “Pride is a damning sin in the true sense of that
word. It limits or stops
progression. The proud are not easily
taught, they won’t change their minds to accept the truths because to do so
implies they have been wrong…” He then
goes on to say that “Pride adversely affects our relationships-our relationship
with God and his servants, husband and wife, parent and child…” The challenge then is figuring out how we can
work to rid ourselves of pride and to become closer to god.
The whole problem, I believe,
including the answer is found in Mosiah 3:19
-
”For the Natural Man is an enemy to god, and
has been from the fall of adam, and will be forever and ever, unless he yields
to the enticing of the Holy Spirit and putteth off the natural man and becometh
a saint through the atonement of Christ the lord, and becometh as a child,
submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things
which the lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to
his father.”
Now my brothers and sisters, In no
way shape or form am I saying that I have I mastered the characteristics
pointed out to us in this scripture, and tamed my pride, for it can take lifetimes
to achieve these things, but what I am saying is that as I have started to work
towards this goal I have found a great happiness which I have never felt
before. My testimony on the principal
found in 2nd Nephi 2:13 “if
there be no righteousness there be no happiness...” Has grown tremendously as I have been
striving to become Christ-like. I have
seen first-hand how much happier I am as I try to live the gospel, versus when
I have not, and it is night and day.
When we
live our lives unrighteously we distance ourselves from the holy spirit and in
turn lose the ability to feel the love of our savior through it. At first we may not notice it, but the longer
we go without that companionship the less happy we will become! So brothers and sisters, during this holiday
season and, for the rest of my duration in this life I challenge myself, and
invite all who seek a better relationship with god to strive for the
companionship of the holy ghost every day by working towards perfecting those
traits mentioned in Mosiah 3:19 and ultimately being born again.
-Let us
take full advantage of the gift of repentance so that we may putteth off the
natural man and become saints through the atonement of Christ.
-Let us
strive to put away our pride, to let go of our stubbornness so that we may
become as children; submissive and meek.
-Let us
remember to Recognize gods hand in all things, and give thanks, so that we may
become humble.
-Let us
strive to control our tempers and pray to god that we might obtain patience.
-And most
of all, let us give service to our fellow brothers and sisters of god that we
may be filled with love.
Brothers
and sisters, I understand that these things are not easy, and how hard it is to
have the focus and drive to try to do these things daily, but what better time
to start then this holiday season when we are constantly surrounded by
reminders of our father in heaven and his sacrifice for us!!!
As I have been preparing for my mission I have
come to better understand how hard it is to change and to put off our natural
man, but as I stand before you today i want to bare witness unto all of you of
the happiness and joy that you will find as your strive for these things. Up until I started my mission papers I
would’ve told you that the happiest day of my life was the day my dreams came
true and I signed with BYU, but as I’ve come to know god better and as I am
working on becoming the man he intends for me to be I have found myself happier
then even that day, because the love that I feel from our heavenly father
outweighs any other happy thing I can think or experience. I also, want to share a promise given to us
from our heavenly father, through Moroni, so that we may see the result of what
will come as we strive to put off our natural man.
“Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in
him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love god with all your
might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his
grace ye may be perfect in Christ.”
Brothers and sisters, let us strive
to be perfected in Christ. It will be
hard, it will be trying, we may feel lost at times, but do not lose hope for Christ means to save everyone, even those that
have lost their way, for God says (Ezekial
34:16)
-
“I will seek that which was lost, and bring
again that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken and
strengthen that which was sick…”
Christ does intend to save us and
make us happy… LET HIM!
I have felt very lost at times, but
Christ the Shepherd of man never stops tending to his flock and finding his
lost sheep. For me Christ brought me
back in the form of some pretty incredible people placed into my life to help
me come back to Christ when needed. It
takes a community to raise a child so to my families (yes I have more then one,
finefuiaki’s, wards, levers, furses, morleys, geddes, the bloxhams, the
durhams, the lunds and of course my own aunts uncles cousins grandparents, to
my father, to my sweet little brother, to my strong willed sisters constantly
bossing me around) my friends, teachers,
Priesthood leaders, my coaches, teammates, my beautiful mother who gives the
best advice, the provides the best shoulder to cry on, and who embodies
unconditional love in every way, and most of all my savior who has suffered for
my sins so that I might be able to hangout with my big brother in heaven once
again. I thank you for the love and the support. You all have truly shaped me into the man I
am today.
-Closing Remarks and testimony.
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