Today I spoke at church in Salt Lake City on the joy of keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. My sermon was based upon: Hebrew 12:9
"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?"
I spoke about my childhood in the 50s way back in my home town Rocky Point, NY by the sea. How my non-church going parents sent me to Lutheran Sunday School to learn about religion each Sunday with my brother and sister.
I told how I got my first spiritual witness that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God and the Saviour of all mankind.
In my bedroom in the southwest corner of my home I witnessed the divine. When I was about 9 years old my Sunday School teacher challenged her students to go home and pray the following prayer promising them they would get a answer:
Dear Father in Heaven please tell me that Jesus Christ is your Only Begotten Son(the Son of God) by the power of the Holy Ghost in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. This I did and had the following divine experience: As I laid upon my bed in the dark I said this prayer. To my surprize and amazement I felt a fire burn within my bosum until my whole small body tingled in the spirit bearing witness to me that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God.
I continued my sermon by quoting some modern day apostles:
Sabbath Day Delight
Elder David A. Bednar
October 2017
The Sabbath day and the holy temple are two specific sources of divine help instituted by God to assist us in rising above the level and corruption of the world. We initially may think that the overarching purposes of keeping the Sabbath day holy and attending the temple are related but distinctive. I believe, however, that those two purposes are precisely the same and work together to strengthen us spiritually as individuals and in our homes.
The Sabbath
After God created all things, He rested on the seventh day and commanded that one day each week be a time of rest to help people remember Him. The Sabbath is God’s time, a sacred time specifically set apart for worshipping Him and for receiving and remembering His great and precious promises.
The Lord has directed in this dispensation:
“That thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
“For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High.”
Thus, on the Sabbath we worship the Father in the name of the Son by participating in ordinances and learning about, receiving, remembering, and renewing covenants. On His holy day, our thoughts, actions, and demeanor are signs we give to God and an indicator of our love for Him.
An additional purpose of the Sabbath is to elevate our vision from the things of the world to the blessings of eternity. Removed during this sacred time from many of the regular routines of our busy lives, we can “look to God and live” by receiving and remembering the great and precious promises whereby we become partakers of the divine nature.
President Russell M Nelson
April 2015
The Sabbath Day is a Delight
The fulness of the earth is promised to those who keep the Sabbath day holy, taught Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
A warm Easter Sunday afternoon offered an apropos moment for the Apostle to discuss the importance of observing the Lord’s Day. It was the Savior who taught that “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”
“[Christ] wanted us to understand that the Sabbath was His gift to us, granting real respite from the rigors of daily life and opportunity for spiritual and physical renewal,” he said. “God gave us this special day not for amusement or daily labor but for a rest from duty, with physical and spiritual relief.”
The Sabbath, he added, was given as a perpetual covenant—a constant reminder that the Lord may sanctify His people.
“In addition, we now partake of the sacrament on the Sabbath day in remembrance of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Again, we covenant that we are willing to take upon us His holy name.
The Lord has asked His followers to keep and hallow the Sabbath day.
“In my much younger years, I studied the work of others who had compiled lists of things to do and things not to do on the Sabbath,” said Elder Nelson. “It wasn’t until later that I learned from the scriptures that my conduct and my attitude on the Sabbath constituted a sign between me and my Heavenly Father. With that understanding, I no longer needed lists of dos and don’ts. When I had to make a decision whether or not an activity was appropriate for the Sabbath, I simply asked myself, ‘What sign do I want to give to God?’ That question made my choices about the Sabbath day crystal clear.”
Besides attending Sunday services, partaking of the sacrament, and being diligent in Church callings, the Sabbath provides a wonderful opportunity to strengthen family ties. It can be a delight when parents utilize the day to teach the gospel to their children.
“Now parents have such wonderful resources available to help them make family time more meaningful, on the Sabbath and other days as well,” he said. “They have LDS.org, mormon.org, the Bible Videos, the Mormon Channel, the Gospel Art Library, the Friend, the New Era, the Ensign, the Liahona, and more—much more.”
The Sabbath day can also be used to perform family history work and connect with family members who did not have an opportunity to accept the gospel in mortality.
“Make the Sabbath a delight by rendering service to others, especially those who are not feeling well or those who are lonely or in need,” he added.
Faith in God engenders a love for the Sabbath, declared Elder Nelson. Faith in the Sabbath engenders a love for God. “A sacred Sabbath truly is a delight,”...
Here in Utah we are surrounded by temples and mountains who's spires and peaks point towards heavens reminding us to worship God in truth and light. There is a saying "we are blessed to live in the shadows of the temples." I say "the Lord wants us not to live in the shadows of the temples, but to live in the light of the temples by entering into them often blessing both the living and the dead."
I ended my sermon by bearing witness that I gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon, the prophet Joseph Smith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the living prophets by the power of the Holy Ghost the same spirit that I felt at age 9 gaining my spiritual witness of Jesus Christ being the Son of God.
I blessed the members that they might gain a witness of the truth by the same power of the Holy Ghost that they may know for themselves these eternal truths in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
