For those of you who couldn't attend Elder Takis's farewell and would like to know his thoughts prior to leaving, here are the notes from his talk.
Hastening the Work of Salvation
(1 Nephi 14:1-2) I came across this scripture the other night while reading, it really stuck out to me in regards to the work of salvation being quickened and spread all over the world:
“And it shall come to pass, that if the Gentiles shall hearken unto the Lamb of God in that day that he shall manifest himself unto them in word, and also in power, in very deed, unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks—
"And harden not their hearts against the Lamb of God, they shall be numbered among the seed of thy father; yea, they shall be numbered among the house of Israel; and they shall be a blessed people upon the promised land forever; they shall be no more brought down into captivity; and the house of Israel shall no more be confounded.”
As I read these scriptures I changed some of the words to other words. Doing this made the scriptures more personal to me since I’m going on a mission. In the first verse I changed “gentiles” to “investigators,” then “stumbling blocks” was changed to “not wanting to listen to the words of God.”
If investigators take the time to listen to the words of God, Heavenly Father will show Himself to them, they will know that He really is there, that He loves them, and that he wants them to be a part of the fold. Then they will be blessed forever.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said in the priesthood session of the last conference: “Sometimes we think of the Restoration of the gospel as something that is complete, already behind us—Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, he received priesthood keys, the Church was organized. In reality, the Restoration is an ongoing process; we are living in it right now. It includes “all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal,” and the “many great and important things” that “He will yet reveal.” Brethren, the exciting developments of today are part of that long-foretold period of preparation that will culminate in the glorious Second Coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This is one of the most remarkable periods of the world’s history! Ancient prophets yearned to see our day.”
The Restoration is not complete just as he said. Think of all the people who still haven’t heard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Think of all the people who have heard of our church, but don’t know anything about it. Think of all the people who are members of the church. We are still learning about the church. We still don’t know everything, and there are things that still haven’t even been revealed to us. We still have a lot of work to do.
President Uchtdorf continues: “When our time in mortality is complete, what experiences will we be able to share about our own contribution to this significant period of our lives and to the furthering of the Lord’s work? Will we be able to say that we rolled up our sleeves and labored with all our heart, might, mind, and strength? Or will we have to admit that our role was mostly that of an observer?
I suppose there are a variety of reasons why it is easy to become a bit sleepy with regard to building the kingdom of God…. If you see room for improvement, I ask you to consider what could be done to change for the better.”
We don’t have to be called on a mission to teach and preach to people. We don’t have to be called on a mission to invite people to church. We don’t even necessarily have to teach or preach to them, just simple acts of kindness, being a friend to someone, just a simple “hello,” can make the difference in someone’s day, and that can be just as effective as teaching them the gospel.
Being members of the church means that you are a disciple of Christ, Christ dedicated his whole life to teaching, helping, being kind, and being a friend. Shouldn’t we be doing the same? Every Sunday we have the opportunity to partake of the sacrament. In the sacrament prayers, we say that we will always remember Christ. So if we are remembering Christ, we should be remembering all the things that he has done for us. We should want that for everyone else. We need to be doing our part.
President R. Scott Taylor, of the Arizona Phoenix Mission said: “One may equate the ‘work of salvation’ as simply ‘missionary work.’ While both state and imply ‘work,’ consider the word in a grander, big-picture way, as it relates to God’s plan and purpose: 'For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’” (Moses 1:39).
The work of salvation encompasses every aspect of the gospel. The sacrament, baptism, temple ordinances, and families are a few things that are a part of the work of salvation. They are all things that are in God’s plan, and are things we need to gain eternal life.
President Taylor continues: “For full-time missionaries, “hastening the work of salvation” is being involved in the real spiritual growth of individuals, families, and branches, wards, and stakes—helping God’s children to their next ordinance as they progress through life and back to God’s presence.
Although he says this is what full-time missionaries do, we as ward members can do it to. We can hasten the work within ourselves, in our families, wards, or stakes.
Hastening the work within ourselves will not only help and bless us as individuals; it will bless all the lives around us. By hastening the work within ourselves, we will gain a stronger and firmer testimony that we will desire to share with others.
Hastening the work within our families will bring our families closer together. Family Home Evening is one of the best ways for this to happen. I know my family loves Family Home Evening. We learn from each other. In our Family Home Evening, everyone is assigned something. Someone has a prayer, a treat, a lesson, a scripture, a game, or a song. One of our family jokes when my dad has the scripture is that we really don’t need a lesson because he takes forever, telling you the background of the chapter, he asks who is speaking, then asks what’s so important about the scripture that he’s read. When all he could do is just read the scripture and move on with life. But you know, I think he’s teaching us how to understand the scriptures. So we understand the stories, and what the prophets and the Lord are telling us. That is one way he hastens the work in our family.
Quote from the Lord of the Rings:
Frodo says, “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this would have happened.”
Gandalf replies, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to you.”
I think of these quotes in terms of what’s sometimes going on today. Frodo wishes that he didn’t have to deal with the ring anymore. In some ways, we as Latter-day Saints can sometimes get lazy or scared; we just don’t want to deal with things anymore. Sometimes we don’t want to go out of our comfort zone, or we don’t want to go that extra mile. But this can sometimes slow down God’s work.
We only have so much time on the earth to do the things that Heavenly Father asks of us. And they really aren’t very hard things. As Gandalf says, all we have to do is decide what we are going to do with the time we’re given. Are we going to use that time to do the little things that the Lord asks of us and actively hasten the work? Will we step out of our comfort zone? Or go that extra mile? Or will we just ignore Him and slow it down?
I testify that if we actively engage in the Hastening of the Work of Salvation, it will not slow down! Our lives will become better. We will be happier. And we will want to spread the message of joy to everyone!
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