My 1st sacrament meeting Talk

The two greatest commandments are in Matthew chapter 22, verses 35 to 40: “…A lawyer…asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew)

2 Nephi 26:30 says: “Wherefore, the Lord God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, which charity is love. And except they should have charity they [are]… nothing. (Nephi, 545 B.C.)

President Ezra Taft Benson said this in the April 1998 conference: “Why did God put the first commandment first? Because He knew that if we truly loved Him, we would want to keep all His other commandments. ‘For this is the love of God,’ says John, ‘that we keep his commandments’.” (Benson, 1988)

So, what are some commandments we should follow?

A letter from The First Presidency sent last April about Strengthened Ministering says this: “The Savior’s ministry exemplifies the two great commandments: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind’ and ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’. In that spirit, Jesus also taught, ‘Ye are they whom I have chosen to minister unto this people'”. (First Presidency, The, 2018)

Who do you mister too? Everybody. Your family. Your friends. Strangers. Your neighbors. The second commandment says “…thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself….” So, you keep the first commandment by keeping the second commandment by ministering. (Matthew)

The Savior’s Second Coming is coming, and, as Sister Jean B. Bingham said in her April 2018 conference talk, “what better way to prepare to meet Him than to strive to become like Him through lovingly ministering to one another!” (Bingham, 2018)

She goes on to say, “Sometimes we think we have to do something grand and heroic to “count” as serving our neighbors. Yet simple acts of service can have profound effects on others—as well as on ourselves. What did the Savior do? Through His supernal gifts of the Atonement and Resurrection … “none other has had so profound an influence [on] all who have lived and who will yet live upon the earth.” But He also smiled at, talked with, walked with, listened to, made time for, encouraged, taught, fed, and forgave. He served family and friends, neighbors and strangers alike, and He invited acquaintances and loved ones to enjoy the rich blessings of His gospel.” (Bingham, 2018)

But before we start ministering, we need to know the answer to this question: What is ministering? It is more than just service. The dictionary says that ministering is ‘attending to the needs of someone or providing something necessary or helpful.’ But it is more than that. Let me share a story by Elder Gerrit W. Gong. (Google LLC, n.d.) (Gong, 2019)

“A desperate young man came running out of a grocery store carrying two bags of stolen food. He ran into a busy street, chased by the store manager, who caught him and began yelling and fighting. Instead of feeling judgment for the frightened young man as a thief, my friend was unexpectedly filled with great compassion for him. Without fear or concern for her own safety, she walked straight up to the two quarreling men. She found herself saying, ‘I will pay for the food. Please let him go. Please let me pay for the food.’ (Gong, 2019)

“Prompted by the Holy Ghost and filled with a love she had never felt before, my friend said, ‘All I wanted to do was to help and save the young man.’ My friend said she began to understand Jesus Christ and His Atonement—how and why with pure and perfect love Jesus Christ would willingly sacrifice to be her Savior and Redeemer, and why she wanted Him to be.” (Gong, 2019)

If Jesus was in that situation, what would he have done? Deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 18 says: “He…loveth the stranger, in giving him food…”. So, He would have done the same. Ministering is loving as He loved, and we can show our love by doing service. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. (Moses)

Bibliography

Benson, E. T. (1988, 4 4). The Great Commandment—Love the Lord – President Ezra Taft Benson. Retrieved 4 27, 2019, from ChurchofJesusChrist.org: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1988/04/the-great-commandment-love-the-lord?lang=eng#p16

Bingham, J. B. (2018, 4 1). Ministering as the Savior Does – Jean B. Bingham. Retrieved 4 27, 2019, from ChurchOfJesusChrist.org: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/04/ministering-as-the-savior-does?lang=eng#p4

First Presidency, The. (2018, 4 2). Ministering with Strengthened Melchizedek Priesthood Quorums and Relief Societies. Retrieved 4 27, 2019, from ChurchOfJesusChrist.org: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/ministering/first-presidency-letter?lang=eng

Gong, G. W. (2019, 4 7). Good Shepherd, Lamb of God – By Elder Gerrit W. Gong. Retrieved 4 27, 2019, from ChurchOfJesusChrist.org: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/53gong?lang=eng#p29

Google LLC. (n.d.). ministering definition – Google Search. Retrieved 4 27, 2019, from Google: https://www.google.com/search?&q=ministering+definition

Matthew. (n.d.). The Gospel According to St Matthew. In K. James, & K. James (Ed.), Holy Bible–King James Version (K. James, Trans., p. 1227). Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Retrieved 4 27, 2019, from https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/nt/matt/22?lang=eng&id=35-40#35

Moses. (n.d.). The Fith Book Of Moses, Called Deuteronomy. In K. James, & K. James (Ed.), Holy Bible–King James Version (K. James, Trans., p. 271). Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Retrieved 4 27, 2019, from https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/ot/deut/10?lang=eng&id=18#18

Nephi. (545 B.C.). The Second Book of Nephi. In The Book Of Mormon (J. Smith Jr., Trans., p. 103). Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Retrieved 4 27, 2019, from https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/26?lang=eng&id=30#30