Good morning! I’m Holly Roper and I’m glad to be with you all today. My family
and I have been in Texas for almost 21 years now, with the first four years in
Plano and the rest here in Wylie. Ben and I are blessed with six children. Scott
and his wife Kaitlyn are finishing up their bachelor’s degrees at BYU, Emma is
studying child development at BYU I, Gracie is our missionary in Hamburg,
Germany, Caytie is in her first year at BYU and says Calculus is her favorite class,
which is mind boggling to me, and Tessa and Benson are the two left with us.
Tessa is a junior and Benson is in 8th grade, and things are still busy at home, but
in different ways than when I had all my cute little noisy, busy babies at home
with me.
Many moons ago, I served a mission in Cape Town, South Africa, which gave me
so many personal blessings that I still rely on today. One of the things I developed
was a love for the joy that African people show when they worship Jesus Christ.
Do you remember when Isaac K Morrison came to our Stake Conference in 2024?
He is a member of the Seventy who is from Ghana. I think I remember it so well
because he had that joy for living the gospel. He radiated love for Jesus Christ and
shared it with everyone he could. He told a story about a friend of his who had
stopped coming to church, so he went to visit him to find out why. His friend said
that he still believed in the gospel and that he hadn’t been offended, but he had
already “done everything” on the covenant path (meaning he had faith in Christ,
had repented, was baptized, and given the gift of the Holy Ghost), so he was
through! Elder Morrison said that his friend hadn’t actually gotten anywhere on
the covenant path if that’s how he thought about it. A covenant maker is
different than a covenant keeper. But why does that matter?
The topic I was given for today is “God wants me to make and keep covenants
with Him.” I’m going to use the classic “W’s” of who, what, when, and why to
help structure my talk.
First of all, what is a covenant? I am fluent in the language of Primary Answers,
since I have spent many years serving in many callings in Primary. We would say
that a covenant is a two-way promise between you and God. The Bible Dictionary
adds that God sets the terms of this promise and blesses us greatly when we
honor that commitment. There are also consequences when we break the
covenant. The assurance that we have is that God will never break his part of the
covenant—and He invites us to come back to Him, over and over, when we do.
Next, who is invited to make covenants? This week in our “Come, Follow Me”
studies we got to start learning about Abraham and the covenant he made with
God. Abram (as he was originally named) had a pretty rough home life (to say the
least), but he knew that there were blessings promised to his forefathers that his
own father was abandoning, so he asked the Lord how he’d be able to access
those blessings. The Lord responded by making a covenant with him and Abraham
goes on to keep the covenant so well that it gets named after him.
Have you seen the new Scripture Helps that are included in the digital “Come,
Follow Me” manual and as icons in the digital scriptures that take you to the page
full of all sorts of useful information and explanations? I love it! This is what it
says about the covenant God made with Abraham:
Among the promises God made to Abraham were the following: His posterity
would be numerous, Jesus Christ would be born through his lineage, he and his
seed would inherit certain lands, his seed would receive the gospel and bear the
priesthood, and through his seed all nations of the earth would be blessed. (Note
this next part.) All who make and keep sacred covenants with God become the
seed of Abraham and heirs to the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant.
President Russell M. Nelson taught, “We have received, as did they of old, the
holy priesthood and the everlasting gospel. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are our
ancestors. We are of Israel. We have the right to receive the gospel, blessings of
the priesthood, and eternal life.”
I’m going to interrupt President Nelson’s quote for a minute. That was a good
summary of the Abrahamic covenant—receive the gospel, the blessings of the
priesthood, and eternal life. And we know now that WE are invited to make this
covenant with God. But if a covenant is a two-way promise, what are we asked to
do? I’ll finish President Nelson’s quote to help answer that.
“Nations of the earth will be blessed by our efforts… The literal seed of Abraham
and those who are gathered into his family by adoption receive these promised
blessings—predicated upon acceptance of the Lord and obedience to his
commandments.
To add to that, in our study this week there was a sweet verse in Genesis 12 that I
hadn’t focused on before. Verse 2 says, “And I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.” We
are invited to be a blessing. I love that. God has given us more opportunities to
make more covenants with Him, and through these, as He blesses us, we can
learn to be a blessing. As I continue this talk, listen for the blessings He gives us,
along with how we are invited to be a blessing.
When do we make these covenants? My Primary friends will tell us that the first
covenant we make is baptism, and we’re so blessed that we get to renew that
covenant every week as we take the Sacrament. My dad is famous (at least in our
family) for the “Three Bears” talk he gives at his grandkids’ baptisms. It’s a helpful
way to remember what we promise when we are baptized—to bear testimony of
Jesus Christ, to bear His name, and to bear one another’s burdens. In return, we
are promised to always have God’s spirit with us.
Melchizedek Priesthood holders enter the Oath and Covenant of the priesthood.
They covenant to be faithful, magnify their calling, give diligent heed to the words
of eternal life, and live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of
God. Those who keep this covenant will be sanctified, or made clean and holy, by
the Spirit and receive all that the Father hath.
We also make covenants in the temple endowment. A synonym for endowment
is “gift.” God bestows, or gives, His power upon His covenant people. The first
covenant we make is to keep the law of obedience. This is the voluntary
commitment to follow divine commandments. It signifies a shift from obligation
to a willing, loving, and internal desire to align one's life with God's will. Last
week Savannah Harbison said in her talk that obeying commandments such as
reading scriptures and daily prayer are relationship building activities. Isn’t that
such a great way to think of the commandments? It moves them from a task to a
way to become someone who has a relationship with Christ. And “In this,” as the
Primary song says, “there is safety and peace.”
The second covenant we make in the temple is to live the law of sacrifice. Elder
Morrison, who I referred to at the beginning of my talk, gave a talk in General
Conference called “We Can Do Hard Things through Him.” He talked about the
death of his third son Kenneth, who drowned when he was 18 months old. Elder
Morrison said,
“The hard things in our lives should come as no surprise once we have entered
the strait and narrow path. Jesus Christ learned ‘obedience by the things which
he suffered.’ As we follow Him, especially in our difficult times, we can grow to
become more like Him.
“One of the covenants we make with the Lord in the temple is to live the law of
sacrifice. Sacrifice has always been part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a
reminder of the great atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all who have lived or will
live on earth.
“I testify that we grow in our discipleship when we exercise faith in the Lord
during difficult times. As we do so, He will mercifully strengthen us and help us
carry our burdens.”
The third covenant we make in the temple endowment is called “the law of the
gospel.” Brad Wilcox gave a speech at BYU Idaho about this covenant. He said it
represents a higher, internal law focused on dedicating oneself to Christ. It
elevates the law of Moses to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount,
emphasizing faith in Jesus Christ, repenting daily, making and keeping covenants,
and living according to the two great commandments: love God and love one
another. The goal is to bind us to Jesus Christ through His Atonement, enabling us
to become more like Him. It’s a shift from obeying rules to allowing the gospel to
change our hearts and character.
Next is the law of chastity. Chastity means not having sexual relations outside of
a legal marriage between a man and a woman. Those who are chaste also strive
to have appropriate thoughts, words, and actions. Living this law includes being
completely loyal to your spouse within marriage, both physically and emotionally.
The church’s “Topics and Questions” entry for chastity says, “When people care
for one another enough to keep the law of chastity, their love, trust, and
commitment can increase, resulting in greater happiness and unity. Our Heavenly
Father has given us the law of chastity for our physical protection. Obedience to
this law is essential to personal peace and happiness. Those who keep
themselves pure will also be more sensitive to the Holy Ghost’s guidance,
strength, comfort, and protection.”
The fifth of the five covenants we make during the temple endowment is to keep
the law of consecration. An article in the April 2021 For the Strength of Youth
magazine reminds us that consecration is not just a historical economic plan, but
an ongoing spiritual commitment to selfless service and sacrifice. It focuses on
turning outward to bless others, rather than focusing on yourself. We covenant
to dedicate our time, talents, interests, and material resources to build the
Kingdom of God and to care for the needy.
In Matthew 25 we read the parable of the talents. A master entrusts his servants
with great wealth, based on their abilities, before going on a journey. Two
servants double their money, while one hides his in fear. The master rewards the
active servants and condemns the passive one. The main message is that God
gives people resources (such as time, unique abilities, interests, money, and so
forth) and expects them to actively invest or multiply them for the Kingdom of
God. Acting in faith is required, while fear leads to laziness and loss. This is why
we serve others. This is why we accept callings and assignments and do our best
at them. This is why we pay a full tithe and a generous fast offering. This is why
we help the needy. We are building the Kingdom of God, and God takes our
efforts and multiplies them, again and again.
Once upon a time there was a girl who learned to play the piano, but never
aspired to perform. Then she grew up and learned that sacred music blesses her
life and others, so she tried to overcome her fears and inadequacies, practiced a
lot, gave her efforts to the Lord and asked for a LOT of help from Him, and she
accompanied a choir. Somehow, people said they didn’t hear the mistakes she
knew that she made. (That was me.) Once upon a time there was a young man
who learned Spanish on his mission and a young woman who moved to the
United States from Mexico, and they were later asked to teach a weekly Spanish
class to a room full of novices without any lesson plans given to them. Once there
was a group of novices who were asked to learn Spanish, so they show up weekly
to a Spanish class taught by some really awesome people who are doing a great
job, even without lesson plans. Once there was a family who had so much love
that they shared it with a foster child, who then became part of their family.
Once there was a man who was called to serve in Primary, and he found a
connection with an active boy who reminds the man a lot of himself, and they
both love going to Primary together. Once there was a sister who loves to sing,
but is unable to as well as she would like to because of a health problem, but she
still shows up and sings with us every week. Once there was a man who forgave a
neighbor, even when the neighbor kept being mean. Once there was a young
woman with anxiety who was asked to help teach a lesson in her class. She said
yes, and she did it. Once there was a sister who followed a prompting to have
another baby, even when it seemed her life was full enough already. Once there
was a sister that wanted to, but couldn’t, so she lives with the hole and loves
others’ children as her own. Once there was a brother sitting alone, and someone
came to sit by him. These are the stories of covenant keepers. These are the
stories of people who are learning to be a blessing. These are the stories of us.
There are so many more, and I wish I could tell them all.
I don’t want to leave out one more covenant that we make in the temple, which is
the sealing ordinance. This eternally unites a husband and wife or children to
their parents. In this month’s Liahona magazine, Elder Patrick Kearon, who also
experienced the loss of a young son, said,
“Because of temple covenants, no one need be left behind… Our Heavenly Father
loves us, you and me. He has given us temples so that ‘whatsoever [we] bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven.’ He sent His Son to break the bands of death,
paving the way for everlasting ties and eternal family reunions.
“That is why we have ordinances. That is why we make covenants. That is why
we build temples. That is why we dedicate ourselves to God’s work and glory.
And that is why we shed tears of joy, knowing that an eternal reunion awaits us
and our loved ones in the presence of the Father and the Son.”
So why does God want us to make and keep covenants? To be a blessing to His
children. To find joy and peace in our hearts, even in the midst of suffering. To
join His family for eternity. To become like Him. It is worth every effort. I say this
in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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