Week #24 Talk in Church

Here is my talk from Sunday

Before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese pilots studied the
area and the targets they were assigned bomb. They were each given a
specific target. They went over the maps many, many times before
December 7, 1941. On the day of the bombing, it was a clear day.
Perfect for their raid of Pearl Harbor. As the fleet moved inward,
each was successful in destroying their target. All, except one who
was assigned to a plantation area. He lost direction because of a
cloud that covered this area and he could not see his target, The
Hawaiian Temple. When the fleet returned home, he was reprimanded and
after the war, he went back to Hawaii to see the target he missed and
why the Lord protected this certain building. He found out and the
result was that he joined the church with a testimony of the
importance of the temple. He had a testimony of the sacred edifice of
the temple.

I share this story with you to help you have a glimpse of what the
temple means to the Lord and how important it is for us to go to the
temple. The temple is the House of the Lord. Here, we receive some of
the most sacred covenants that we can make with God and we are blessed
immensely for them. We are blessed now and in the eternities for our
temple service. We receive blessings to help with our day to day life
and we receive exaltation in the Celestial kingdom in the next life.
We also perform the same sacred ordinances for our ancestors through
family history and taking their names to the temple. It says in D&C 2:

1 Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah
the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
Lord.

2 And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made
to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their
fathers.

3 If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

What a blessing it is to be able to participate in the salvation of
our family members and prepare for the coming of our Lord.

About 7 years ago, I was living outside of Boston, Massachusetts with
my family. There was a temple conference that February and so the
local wards and branches prepared by finding family names to take to
the temple during the conference. My grandfather was living in Utah at
the time but was visiting and wanted to attend the temple with us. My
mother gave him a family name she found that she could not do. Just
one. After the session, my grandfather turned to my mother and said
the name she gave him was meant for him. He gave his experience of how
weeks prior to that session, he kept thinking of that person's name.
He had no idea who they were or what to do with the name. But then
during the session, he read the card and realized who it was and the
connection it was to him. He grew closer to his ancestor that day by
helping them enter the celestial kingdom and gaining eternal life. I
know we can all grow closer to our ancestors as we participate in
their salvation through the temples.

The temple is the place where we feel closest to our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Heaven is not far from us in the temple. The veil is
very thin at the temple and every time we go, we learn more of our
purpose in life and the importance of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
While we are there, we are all equal. We are all dressed in white to
show our purity and cleanliness before the Lord. This is found in
Revelations 7:13-15 and it says:

13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these
which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These
are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and
night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell
among them.

We need to be clean in thought, body and dress to enter the holy
temple. We enter the temple in our Sunday best and change in the
dressing room. We are given a locker to leave behind all of our cares,
concerns, and distractions both physical and emotional. We then dress
in white to be one with everyone and attend the session we are
participating in.

Young men and young women have the opportunity to do baptisms for the
dead. As we grow older, we have the opportunity to participate in the
other saving ordinances. We are washed and anointed, endowed and
sealed for time and all eternity. Endowed literally means a gift and
the temple endowment is a gift from God. It helps us focus on the
savior, His role in our Heavenly Father's plan and our commitment to
follow him. One way we show our commitment to follow Him is how we
wear the temple garment. As it says in True to the Faith:

The garment provides a constant reminder of the covenants you have
made in the temple. You should treat it with respect at all times...
When you wear it properly, it provides protection against temptation
and evil. Wearing the garment is an outward expression of an inward
commitment to follow the Savior.

Another temple ordinance is celestial marriage, in which husband and
wife are sealed together for time and all eternity. A sealing
performed in the temple continues forever if the husband and wife are
faithful to the covenants they make. The temple marriage is the
ultimate ordinance of the temple. Children born to parents that have
been sealed in the temple are born into the covenant. They
automatically become part of an eternal family. Those not born into
the covenant can participate in the ordinance of sealing the children
to the parents in the temple as well. As it says in Matthew 18:18:

18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven.

Families are sealed together for time and all eternity where time
cannot destroy and death cannot disrupt.

If you have received temple ordinances, always remember the covenants
you have made. Return to the temple as often as you can. If you are a
father or mother, teach your children the significance of the temple.
Help them prepare themselves to be worthy to enter the temple.

If you have not yet received temple ordinances, begin preparing yourself now.

Prepare by talking with the branch president to know what needs to be
done to enter the holy temple of the Lord. Learn what you can outside
the temple of the significance of the temple to prepare yourself
spiritually. Prepare now to be taught from on high in the temple.
Learning in the temple is not as easy as reading a book and studying
it. As Jesus Christ taught His disciples in a symbolic fashion, we are
also taught in a symbolic fashion in the temple. For example, baptisms
represent the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We go under the
water representing His death and we come up out of the water anew and
starting our new life committed to following our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. We are taught in a symbolic fashion when we enter the
temple. That is the whole purpose of temples. That is to teach, guide,
and bless those that enter in them.

Going to the temple is a blessing. It is a place of peace and
revelation. When you are troubled or when crucial decisions weigh
heavily on your mind, you may take your cares to the temple. There you
can receive spiritual guidance. As it says in D&C 128:15:

15 And now, my dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you
that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that
cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For
their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul
says concerning the fathers--that they without us cannot be made
perfect--neither can we without our dead be made perfect.

Sometimes you may feel that you cannot think clearly because your mind
is so burdened with problems and the many things clamoring for
attention. In the temple, the dust of these distractions can settle,
the fog and haze can lift, and you can understand things that you have
not understood before. You can find new ways to deal with the
challenges you face.

The Lord will bless you as you attend to the sacred ordinance work in
the temple. And the blessings He gives you will not be limited to your
time in the temple. He will bless you in all aspects of your life.
Your labors in the temple will strengthen you and refine you
spiritually.

2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the
Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will
teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion
shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Let us go to the temple, participate in the salvation of souls, and
receive the blessings in store for us. No work is more spiritually
refining. No work we do gives us more power. And no work require a
higher standard of righteousness than temple work.

Testimony

-Elder Heaton