Prepare now

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Preparation for Strengthening your Brethren

It is great to be with you faithful men and young men. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, there’s nothing in the world for Men, like the priesthood. I am grateful and humbled to be among you and to call you my friends.

We are a unique people – we have been called by the Lord a chosen people. We serve the lord daily in ward and stake church calls, but also we accept calls to serve him fulltime in year or multiyear calls.

One of my favorite things I do – Is work with missionaries as they go and come home again. It delights me to see us fulfill the admonition the Lord gave to his friend and closest companion Simon Peter when he said goodbye to him at the Last Supper:

Luke 22: 32
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Strengthen thy brethren is what he told him. It is what he tells us today through a living Prophet. Serve, give of self, sacrifice for others.

Omni 1:26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.

So let me ask…have you offered up your souls as an offering unto him this year? Have you sacrificed your will to be swallowed up in the Will of his father?

Let me ask it another way…have you prayed for each other? Is there someone in your quorum for whom you have prayed who might have needed strengthening?

D&C 108: 7
7 Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings.

Strengthen your brethren takes many forms: (have ‘em stand up)
19 year old mission
Adult full-time mission
Church Service mission away from home
Church Service mission at home
Temple Worker
How about all those who have served in other capacities such as:
Welfare Project missionary
Prison
Central Stake
Bishops Storehouse
Employment Center
Public Relations
Family History
Hosting at JSB
Addiction Recovery
Gardening

We also serve when we participate in welfare assignments. What are some of the interesting projects you have worked on?
Pig farm
Tomato farm
Peanut Butter factory
Jello Factory
Building missions
Building our ward/stake

Some examples of Welfare opportunities which we will be able to serve in this year include:
Deseret Dairy
Deseret Industries
Pasta Factory
Bishops Storehouse
Clean the temple
Clean the conference center
Food Bank
Hispanic Initiative
Special needs mutual

Brethren are you like me and feel overwhelmed by the amount of service that the brethren of this Stake have provided? For those who are looking for additional opportunities, or a first opportunity to serve a mission or a calling, I want to spend the rest of my time talking about how to prepare for serving a mission or calling,

The church provides wonderful opportunities to serve in formal callings
Fulltime missionary labor
For couples, See blue sheet or see provident living
For church service callings, see the yellow sheet
There are numerous opportunities to serve in the Temple
For those unable to leave home to serve, there are huge needs for those to donate to missionary program and to the humanitarian program

Perhaps right now is not the time to serve in a formal missionary or temple calling, there is still so much that needs to be done within the quorums and the wards. Each Quorum provides opportunities to serve
Move people in/out
Caring for a yard for someone unable to do so
Caring for the finances for someone who doesn’t understand budgeting principles
Strengthen testimony of wayward
Work with someone who is poor/needy
Long-term support of those with needs

I am soo humbled by the people in our Stake who donate their ‘personal’ time, to lift and serve others. In other words they donate “their time” so that they can have some of the “Lord’s time” in their lives.

What do we need to do to prepare for service?

Each mission has unique requirements for preparation. And we must trust that the Lord is preparing us to serve where he will eventually call us to serve. But there are some common things that all missions require which we can all be focused on working on.

In our stake, the Bishops have a checklist of things we want young men to be working on so that when the time for missionary service comes, they will be ready to serve. I wanted to share with you some of these principles. They apply directly to young men, but they also apply to adults who are preparing for other forms of service.

Financial preparation –
Does the YM know how to work? To get up and go to a job everyday?
Does he know how to save, and to spend wisely – not waste it on pure entertainment.
Does he know how to stay out of debt and live within the means he has?
Takes 2 years for couples to prepare financially
Personal and physical preparation
Is the YM in shape? Able to get up and go all day long? Is he able to endure heat, wind, cold, snow? Is YM able to run when needed? Is YM strong enough to keep up? Does he know how to care for his possessions? Clean his room? Cook his food? Care for his clothes?
Does he take care of his body – avoid piercings, tattoos, being overweight, eathing good foods, word of wisdom?
The same applies to couples – are they healthy? Are they in condition to travel wherever they need to go and keep working?
Faith preparation
Does the YM know what he needs to do, and then do it? Even if he doesn’t feel happy about it?
Has he made goals, and worked to accomplish them – eagle scout? Duty to God? Seminary Graduation? Activity in Quorum activities? Does he know how to keep working even when he isn’t happy about it?
Does he know how to study, memorize, and teach others?
This also applies to couples – do they have faith in Gospel to do whatever they are called upon to do? To plan for service and then do what is necessary to perform that service?
Moral preparation
Does the YM stay away from Pornography? Does he avoid R rated movies? Does he appreciate modesty – in his own dress and those who associates with?
Does he treat women with respect and honor? Does he know how to communicate appropriately with women, or about women?
Does the YM honor his own body and not abuse it?
Does he make good choices when it comes to integrity at school or work?
Is he honorable when it comes to standing up for right, even when it’s not popular?
Living moral principles with honesty and integrity applies to all.
Spiritual preparation
Has the YM read the book of mormon and had a witness of it’s truthfulness? The restoration of the priesthood?
Does the YM know that Christ lives, and have a sense of the great power of the Atonement?
Does the YM understand the Godhead, and the role of each in his personal life.
Does he know how to sustain his leaders? Whether that be the prophet who calls him on a mission, or his quorum president?
Does the YM read the scriptures daily?
Emotional preparation
Does the YM know how to manage his emotions? Know how to corral his anger, his passion, his disappointment?
Does the YM behave with maturity?
Does the YM have good friends who motivate and inspire him.
Does he know how to have a good time with good people?
Does he know how to appropriately know how to reduce stress in his life?
Again, this is all valuable to couples preparing to serve.

There is a lot here to internalize. But if each one of us here will look at our strengths and weaknesses in these 6 areas, and then exercise faith to develop these 6 areas in our lives. Then we will be found ready and worthy when we are called upon to serve the Lord.

We have been taught by servants of the Lord that freedom is the extra we have when we have paid what we owe.

May we prepare ourselves financially, emotionally, spiritually, physically, morally, and with faith so that when we are called upon to serve, that we will be free to serve the Lord. That when we are called upon to bless others, we will have enough to give and we can share what we have with those who are more needy.

Remember dear brethren –
“1 NOW behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.

2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.

3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work;

4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;

5 And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.

6 Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.

7 Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.
If ye have desires to serve