How Much Do I know About Jesus Christ verses How Much Do I Know Jesus Christ?

Hello wonderful person reading this blog! Here is a talk I gave based on the talk, Our Personal Savior, by Elder Teh of the Seventy. Being able to study this talk was an answer to a prayer, so I am really grateful to the bishopric member who asked me to talk, even though it is scary. It is worth it to learn. The conference address I chose to use for the foundation of my talk is Our Personal Savior by Elder Michael John U. Teh. It was a great blessing to be able to study it this week and I pray the spirit may be with us today. Elder Teh begins by sharing a missionary experience. He tells about a local journalist who asked him and his companion, “What think ye of Christ?” They excitedly shared their feelings and testimony, and the resulting article contained wonderful words and good information about the Savior, but it left Elder Teh feeling Hollow and it lacked spiritual power. He continues: ““What think ye of Christ?” I am realizing that how intimately I know the Savior significantly influences my ability to hear Him as well as how I respond. As I studied and pondered, I came to the stark realization that what I know about the Savior greatly outweighed how much I really know Him. I resolved then to put forth more effort to know Him.”Unquote. This talk brought to my mind an essential question for myself: “How much do I know about my savior ” vs “How much do I know my savior?” Elder Teh shares three things that happen, or need to happen, as we come to know our Savior. He says, “First, we need to recognize that knowing the Savior is the most important pursuit of our lives. It should take priority over anything else.” The phrase, It should take priority over anything else is indisputable if we profess to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. The problem can be always remembering and acting like it is our priority. We know we should read our scriptures and pray, but much of coming to know Christ is living our lives and trying to be like him, keeping the scriptures in our minds and having a real on-going prayer in our hearts as we go about our daily work so we have a valid basis for experimenting upon his word. God also blesses us with the sacrament. During the sacrament, we witness to God that we will take upon ourselves the name of Christ and always remember him that we may have his Spirit to be with us.” Think of how well we will know Jesus Christ as we continually try to do these things. Elder Teh continues on, “Second, as we are increasingly coming to know the Savior, scriptural passages and the words of the prophets become so intimately meaningful to us that they become our own words.” Do you have a favorite scripture or phrase from a conference talk that have become your own words? Here are a few of mine…The Lord Loves effort…We can do this…I will go and do the things the Lord hath commanded ... If ye have faith in me, ye shall have power to do what so ever thing is expedient in me…Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. What words have become our own? Elder Teh says, “It is not about copying the words, feelings, and experiences of others as much as it is coming to know for ourselves, in our own unique way, by experimenting upon the word7 and receiving a witness from the Holy Ghost.” Without the Holy Ghost, we can come to know about Jesus Christ, but we will never come to know Jesus Christ. Elder Teh then quotes a beautiful scripture he has made his own in. It is Alma 5:45-46 and I find it very touching because Elder Teh, through this scripture, is sharing how he has come to know Christ. “And then the prophet Alma declared: “Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?” “Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.” Unquote. The Holy Ghost will help us come to know Christ if we will have faith and a desire to believe in him and if we will have faith to trust the witness or feelings we may have right now or may have had in the past or may have in the future about Christ. Elder Teh continues, “Third, an increasing understanding that the Atonement of Jesus Christ applies to us personally and individually will help us know Him.” Unquote. I almost gave this talk backwards, because this is the important part of the talk. If I lost you at My name is Becky Godfrey, come back. This part is important. “Oftentimes it is easier for us to think and speak of Christ’s Atonement in general terms than to recognize its personal significance in our lives. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is infinite and eternal and all-encompassing in its breadth and depth but wholly personal and individual in its effects. Because of His atoning sacrifice, the Savior has power to cleanse, heal, and strengthen us one by one.” Whenever I hear one by one I think of Bednar telling the brothers in England, “We do not talk to a congregation, we talk to assembled ones.” Or I think of 3 Nephi 11 where Christ invites the people gathered at the temple to come to him and touch his hands and feel the wound in his side, one by one. Read 14-17maybe My mom was a women of amazing faith, and one day when she was in her 80s she called me up and said, “Becky, I ‘ve been taking an institute class, and I finally understand that the atonement is for me.” I’m sure she understood that the atonement was for everyone, including her, but that is much different than the amazing feeling of love, both from Christ and for Christ, and spiritual power that come from knowing that the atonement is for every one, including us individually. She was about to go through some very significant health trials before she received her transfer ticket to the other side, and I am so glad that she knew her savior and she could rely on the atonement of Jesus Christ to help her through that incredibly difficult time. We can look at prophets like Enos and Alma who utilized the atonement to be cleansed from their sins and immediately came to feel the love of Jesus Christ both for themselves, the people around them, and their enemies the Lamanites. King Lamoni once prayed, 18 I will give away all my sins to know thee Repentence is a powerful way to come to know Jesus Christ. Elder Teh continues by sharing a reading and writing assignment about Christ that we could do as well if we haven’t already done it. “Years ago, at the invitation of my fine leader, I read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover and marked the verses that referenced the Lord’s Atonement. My leader also invited me to prepare a one-page summary of what I learned. I said to myself, “One page? Sure, that is easy.” To my surprise, however, I found the task to be extremely difficult, and I failed. I have since realized that I failed because I missed the mark and had incorrect assumptions. First, I expected the summary to be inspiring to everyone. The summary was meant for me and not for anyone else. It was meant to capture my feelings and emotions about the Savior and what He has done for me so that every time I read it, it will bring to the surface wonderful, poignant, and personal spiritual experiences. Second, I expected the summary to be grand and elaborate and contain big words and phrases. It was never about big words. It was meant to be a clear and simple declaration of conviction. Third, I expected it to be perfect, a summary to end all summaries—a final summary that one cannot and should not add to—instead of a work in progress to which I can add a word here or a phrase there as my understanding of Jesus Christ’s Atonement increases. rothers and Sisters, what would our summaries look like? The fact that the atonement is for each of us personally in a variety of circumstances, whether for repentance, or healing or strengthening, is mind boggling and incomprehensible. I like to listen to science podcasts while I am doing simple house hold tasks, and there are a lot of mindboggling and incomprehensible things being discovered all the time. I hope I will not lose my faith in Jesus Christ and deny his atonement because I cannot fully understand it. While we may not be able to understand how Jesus Christ can know us and love us individually or how the atonement can cleanse, heal and strengthen us one by one, we can have faith in it, and we can experience it, and we can testify of it by the power of the holy ghost. And by the holy ghost we can know the truth of all things. Elder Teh shared a scripture at the end of his talk that has become my own words because it is what I wish for myself and for everyone, especially those I love most. 41 And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace (think of the power of the atonement when you read grace, because that is how grace is defined on the lds website) That the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen. Elder Teh ends his talk with a quote from a prophet and his own beautiful testimony: “President Russell M. Nelson promised that ‘if [we] proceed to learn all [we] can about Jesus Christ, … [our] ability to turn away from sin will increase. [Our] desire to keep the commandments will soar.’16 On this Easter Sunday, just as the Savior came forth from His stone grave, may we awake from our spiritual slumber and rise above the clouds of doubt, the clutches of fear, the intoxication of pride, and the lull of complacency. Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father live. I testify of Their perfect love for us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”