Missionaries help those who are converted prepare for baptism, confirmation, and membership in the Lord’s Church.

• Keep the Sabbath day holy.

Exodus 20:8 Remember the ^asabbath day, to keep it ^bholy.

9 ^aSix days shalt thou ^blabour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy ^astranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in ^asix days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord ^bblessed the sabbath day, and ^challowed it.

Keeping the Sabbath day holy is really a difficult thing in our busy lives. It is hard not to see it as a day to catch up on school work or hang out with friends, but when one takes a look at how much we can be doing while focusing our time on the things of God, our day is suddenly full, and we no longer have time for worldly things.

• Follow the prophets.

Amos 3: 7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, ^abut he ^brevealeth his ^csecret unto his servants the ^dprophets.

The prophets have and have had the keys and authority to receive revelation from God for us. We are never expected to follow blindly, but to take things under careful prayer and consideration, so that the Spirit can witness to us the truthfulness of the things that we do.

• Live the law of chastity.

D&C 42: 22 Thou shalt ^alove thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt ^bcleave unto her and none else.

23 And he that ^alooketh upon a woman to lust after her shall deny the faith, and shall not have the ^bSpirit; and if he repents not he shall be cast out.

24 Thou shalt not commit ^aadultery; and he that committeth ^badultery, and repenteth not, shall be ^ccast out.

25 But he that has committed adultery and repents with all his heart, and forsaketh it, and doeth it ^ano more, thou shalt forgive;

Being chaste involves more than just our physical actions, whether or not we have actually committed any sexual sin, it also involves a purity of mind and heart, our intentions are perceived and taken under careful consideration .

• Obey the Word of Wisdom.

D&C 89 contains the Word of Wisdom, the health code that we follow as members of the Church. Many things contained therein were revealed to Joseph Smith long before any heath professional had said that they were bad for one's body. One example is tobacco: in the early church, almost everyone used tobacco, and then it was taken under consideration by the prophet whether those things were good for our bodies, he prayed and received the 89th section of the Doctrine and Covenants.

We are given this promise if we are to keep these words of wisdom:
D&C 89: 18 And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, ^ashall receive ^bhealth in their navel and marrow to their bones;

19 And shall ^afind ^bwisdom and great ^ctreasures of ^dknowledge, even hidden treasures;

20 And shall ^arun and not be ^bweary, and shall walk and not faint.

21 And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the ^adestroying angel shall ^bpass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them. Amen.

• Live the law of tithing.

Malachi 3: 10 Bring ye all the ^atithes into the storehouse, that there may be ^bmeat in mine house, and ^cprove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not ^dopen you the ^ewindows of heaven, and pour you out a ^fblessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

11 And I will ^arebuke the ^bdevourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.

The law of tithing is not a new idea. It is a great act of faith for those of us that have not been blessed with a lot of income to actually give ten percent of our increase to the Church. But I have a firm testimony, and I have seen it not only in my own life, but in the lives of others that the Lord blesses those that have the faith to impart of their substance for His work and His cause. These funds go to help build temples and churches, fund the church's universities, and feed and assist the poor and the hungry all over the world.

Covenants and ordinances necessary for exaltation are received in the house of the Lord.

■ Elder Russell M. Nelson explained how proclaiming the restored gospel leads to the temple on the path to eternal life:

“The temple is the house of the Lord. The basis for every temple ordinance and covenant—the heart of the plan of salvation—is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Every activity, every lesson, all we do in the Church points to the Lord and His holy house. Our efforts to proclaim the gospel, perfect the Saints, and redeem the dead all lead to the temple. . . .

“Temple ordinances, covenants, endowments, and sealings enable individuals to be reconciled with the Lord and families to be sealed beyond the veil of death. Obedience to temple covenants qualifies us for eternal life, the greatest gift of God to man [see D&C 14:7]. Eternal life is more than immortality. Eternal life is exaltation in the highest heaven—the kind of life that God lives”

As investigators come unto Christ and prepare to become Church members, they must understand the covenants associated with saving ordinances and be willing to make and keep these sacred obligations.

The first five verses of chapter 6 are the important ones for this point, but I threw in the rest of the chapter because of the beauty that it contains. Sometimes we forget that this is how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is operated, and we lose sight of how wonderful that is.

Moroni Chapter 6
1 And now I speak concerning baptism. Behold, elders, priests, and teachers were baptized; and they were not baptized save they brought forth ^afruit meet that they were ^bworthy of it.

2 Neither did they receive any unto baptism save they came forth with a ^abroken ^bheart and a contrite spirit, and witnessed unto the church that they truly repented of all their sins.

3 And none were received unto baptism save they ^atook upon them the name of Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end.

4 And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and ^acleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the ^bchurch of Christ; and their ^cnames were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually ^dwatchful unto prayer, ^erelying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith.

5 And the ^achurch did meet together ^boft, to ^cfast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.

6 And they did ^ameet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in ^bremembrance of the Lord Jesus.

7 And they were strict to observe that there should be ^ano iniquity among them; and whoso was found to commit iniquity, and ^bthree witnesses of the church did condemn them before the ^celders, and if they repented not, and ^dconfessed not, their names were ^eblotted out, and they were not ^fnumbered among the people of Christ.

8 But ^aas oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real ^bintent, they were ^cforgiven.

9 And their meetings were ^aconducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the ^bpower of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done.

This is revelation given to the prophet Joseph Smith:

D&C 45:9 And even so I have sent mine ^aeverlasting ^bcovenant into the world, to be a ^clight to the world, and to be a ^dstandard for my people, and for the ^eGentiles to seek to it, and to be a ^fmessenger before my face to prepare the way before me.

This is all preparation for the Second Coming, as has been spoken of since the beginning of any record that we have. Making covenants is an integral part of what we do in this church.

But what is a covenant?

“[A covenant is] an agreement between God and man, but they do not act as equals in the agreement. God gives the conditions for the covenant, and men agree to do what he asks them to do. God then promises men certain blessings for their obedience.

“Principles and ordinances are received by covenant. Members of the Church who make such covenants promise to honor them. For example, members covenant with the Lord at baptism and renew those covenants by partaking of the sacrament. They make further covenants in the temple. The Lord’s people are a covenant people and are greatly blessed as they keep their covenants with the Lord” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Covenant,” 55).

Missionaries help those who are converted prepare for baptism, confirmation, and membership in the Lord’s Church.

There are some things that are absolutely necessary before one can be baptized.
These commandments are:

• Keep the Sabbath day holy.

• Follow the prophets.

• Live the law of chastity.

• Obey the Word of Wisdom.

• Live the law of tithing.

Using Time Wisely 2

D&C 109: 8 Organize yourselves; ^aprepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a ^bhouse of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of ^corder, a ^dhouse of God;

That's pretty clear, we need to be organized and organize for God.
What are we doing that could be done better?
How can we use our time to accomplish more in a day?

Dallin H. Oaks said:

“Our priorities determine what we seek in life. . . .

“Jesus taught about priorities when He said, ‘Seek not the things of this world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you’ (Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew 6:38; in Matthew 6:33; footnote a).

“‘Seek . . . first to build up the kingdom of God’ means to assign first priority to God and to His work. The work of God is to bring to pass the eternal life of His children (see Moses 1:39), and all that this entails in the birth, nurturing, teaching, and sealing of our Heavenly Father’s children. Everything else is lower in priority. . . . As someone has said, if we do not choose the kingdom of God first, it will make little difference in the long run what we have chosen instead of it. . . .

“Our priorities are most visible in how we use our time. . . . With time, we have only one opportunity for choice, and then it is gone forever”

And M. Russel Ballard made a good point when he said that: “Missionaries cannot do this work by just saying, ‘Well, what are we going to do?’ Missionaries have to set goals. In companionship study two missionaries set their goals. They realize that if they have good goals, they will be much more successful in finding, in teaching, in progressing investigators, and in baptizing them so that they can be confirmed and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”

WE NEED TO MAKE GOALS AND PROGRESS TOWARD THEM.

Using Time Wisely

Finding people to teach is a responsibility for missionaries and Church members.

D&C 123:12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are ^ablinded by the subtle ^bcraftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to ^cdeceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they ^dknow not where to find it—

13 Therefore, that we should waste and ^awear out our lives in bringing to light all the ^bhidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven—

14 These should then be attended to with great ^aearnestness.

This scripture was taken out of context, but it does seem to apply in this situation in the sense that there are many that were blinded by the subtle craftiness of men. People are searching for truth, and they do not know where to find it.

This statistic about members and their role in finding investigators is incredible:

Members are important in finding investigators who will eventually be baptized and stay active and faithful. Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “Not long ago we did a study on convert baptisms, and only 10 percent of the investigators being taught by missionaries were found through referrals from members. But 60 percent of the investigators who were baptized came from those referrals” (The Role of Members [address at seminar for new mission presidents, June 24, 2003], 3).

We are supposed to make every effort to talk to everyone we can about the church while we are on our missions, and as members we are to help find people for the missionaries to teach.

I've made a point of being very clear and very blunt about my intentions as a missionary, both to my friends and my church leaders. I will never be a part of selling a religion, or making a competition about the pursuit of truth that people might be going through.

I am only there because God told me to be there, and I will be a representative of the church in every way that I can, but I am there to find people that want to listen, not to try to convince people of what I believe.

The rejection of the Savior, His teachings, and priesthood authority resulted in the Apostasy of the New Testament Church.

Paul prophesied of apostasy.
Acts 20: 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

Acts 8: 11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a ^afamine of bread, nor a ^bthirst for water, but of hearing the ^cwords of the Lord:

The world fell into apostasy before the coming of Christ. They killed the prophets and had perverted the teachings that had been standing for thousands of years. John the Baptist was the last actually holding the authority to baptize as having been passed down by the ancient prophets.

After Christ's crucifixion and the deaths of the apostles, the teachings were gone, and so was the authority.

The Second Coming of Christ is to be preceded by a falling away.

2 Thessalonians 2: 1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Even when the apostles were still alive, the people that they were teaching were fading in the faith and adopting many perversions into the Gospel that they practiced. The reason for all of the epistles was to correct these!

The European Reformation helped prepare the was for the final Restoration

Protestant churches began to branch out of the Catholic church, believing that they had strayed from the original teachings of the primitive church. This rejection made it more possible for people to find the restored Gospel.

M. Russell Ballard: “In 1517 the Spirit moved Martin Luther, a German priest who was disturbed at how far the church had strayed from the gospel as taught by Christ. His work led to a reformation, a movement that was taken up by such other visionaries as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, John Wesley, and John Smith. I believe these reformers were inspired to create a religious climate in which God could restore lost truths and priesthood authority. Similarly, God inspired the earlier explorers and colonizers of America and the framers of the Constitution of the United States to develop a land and governing principals to which the Gospel could be restored.”

I also know that those men were inspired.
We are given a great gift.

Talking of the last days before the second coming, the prophet Joel wrote:

Joel 2:28 ¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will ^apour out my ^bspirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall ^cprophesy, your ^dold men shall ^edream dreams, your young men shall see ^fvisions:

Much like today?

The Book of Mormon is convincing evidence of the Restoration.

1 Nephi 13: 40 And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.

The prophet Gordon B. Hinckley explained it best when he said:

“If the Book of Mormon is true, the Church is true, for the same authority under which this sacred record came to light is present and manifest among us today. It is a restoration of the Church set up by the Savior in Palestine. It is a restoration of the Church set up by the Savior when he visited this continent as set forth in this sacred record.
“If the Book of Mormon is true, the Bible is true. The Bible is the Testament of the Old World. The Book of Mormon is the Testament of the New. The one is the record of Judah, the other is the record of Joseph, and they have come together in the hand of the Lord in fulfilment of the prophecy of Ezekiel. Together they declare the Kingship of the Redeemer of the world, and the reality of his kingdom” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1959, 119).
“We are to use the Book of Mormon in handling objections to the Church. . . .
“. . . All objections, whether they be on abortion, plural marriage, seventh-day worship, etc., basically hinge on whether Joseph Smith and his successors were and are prophets of God receiving divine revelation. Here, then, is a procedure to handle most objections through the use of the Book of Mormon.
“First, understand the objection.
“Second, give the answer from revelation.
“Third, show how the correctness of the answer really depends on whether or not we have modern revelation through modern prophets.
“Fourth, explain that whether or not we have modern prophets and revelation really depends on whether the Book of Mormon is true.
“Therefore, the only problem the objector has to resolve for himself is whether the Book of Mormon is true. For if the Book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was his prophet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and it is being led today by a prophet receiving revelation.

Under the direction of Jesus Christ, the priesthood and the Church were restored through His servants.

Acts 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

HE'S TALKING ABOUT A RESTORATION AFTER CHRIST LEFT!
Protestant Christian belief is that the original church had fallen away after the death of the apostles, which we can see evidence of in these records. Not only that, but the record talk about everything being restored at a later time!

D&C 13:1 Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.

I have a sure testimony of the Priesthood and its power and authority to act in the name of God. As such, it most assuredly must be concluded that Jesus was and is the Christ, that the priesthood was restored to Joseph Smith, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and that this is God’s true church on the earth today.

If God really cared enough to do all of this, then God will doubtlessly care enough to tell any that ask Him if He really did it. It's the only way to know for sure.

Apostasy

The Lord provides truth, priesthood authority, ordinances, and organization through His prophets.

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, ^abut he ^brevealeth his ^csecret unto his servants the ^dprophets.

God has an order and a way of communicating with us here on earth. It is either by revelation given to good men that are called of God as prophets, or by revelation given to each of us personally. But it is good to know that for any major event, we can look to the prophets past or present to prophecy and tell us what we need to do to prepare.

2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, ^aby the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, ^aor be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by ^bletter as from us, as that the ^cday of Christ is at hand.

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: ^afor that day shall not come, except there come a ^bfalling away first, and that ^cman of ^dsin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Amos 8: 11 ¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a ^afamine of bread, nor a ^bthirst for water, but of hearing the ^cwords of the Lord:

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall ^arun to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

The day of the Lord will com after a falling away. There shall be a famine of the word of the Lord. How could we get any more obvious? This is why things needed to be restored. Seekers of truth have found that a falling away has already come to pass, and they have led others in an honest pursuit of the word of the Lord.

■ Elder M. Russell Ballard explained how God helped create an environment where the gospel could be restored:

“In 1517 the Spirit moved Martin Luther, a German priest who was disturbed at how far the church had strayed from the gospel as taught by Christ. His work led to a reformation, a movement that was taken up by such other visionaries as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, John Wesley, and John Smith.

“I believe these reformers were inspired to create a religious climate in which God could restore lost truths and priesthood authority. Similarly, God inspired the earlier explorers and colonizers of America and the framers of the Constitution of the United States to develop a land and governing principles to which the gospel could be restored” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1994, 85; or Ensign, Nov. 1994, 66).