Cook - We Follow Jesus Christ - April 2010

Elder Cook speaks of what it means to follow Jesus Christ.  In our quest to be better disciples of the Savior, he shares three important events that happened during the final days of His ministry and what they mean to you and I today.

• Ordinances and doctrines of great importance were initiated at the Last Supper.
  
• First, the Savior introduced the ordinance of the sacrament.
  
• Second, His overwhelming emphasis was on doctrines teaching love as a preeminent principle.
  
• Third, through Christ’s intercession or direction, “the Holy Ghost was promised to the apostles” as another Comforter.
  

He says that these three items are helpful in evaluating our lives and if we remember them, they will help us to follow the Savior.

• While we rejoice in the supernal significance of Gethsemane and Calvary, our focus has always been on the resurrected Lord. President Gordon B. Hinckley taught that our message to the world is that He lives! "The symbol of Christ for the Latter-day Saints will be found in the meaningful expression of our faith and the way we live His gospel." As we ponder what it means to be Christians today, think about what our path of discipleship will require of us. I suggest that we contemplate and in appropriate ways emulate what the Savior did in those last two days of His mortal life.
  

The Savior introduced the ordinance of the sacrament.

• Sacrament meeting is the most sacred and holy of all the meetings in the Church. After His Resurrection, the Savior instituted the sacrament among the Nephites. If we are to be His disciples and to be committed members of His Church, we must remember and reverence the sacrament.
  

His overwhelming emphasis was on doctrines teaching love as a preeminent principle.

• We manifest our love for God when we keep His commandments and serve His children. We don’t fully comprehend the Atonement, but we can spend our lives trying to be more loving and kind, regardless of the adversity we face.
  
• If we show love and respect even in adverse circumstances, we become more like Christ.

Through Christ’s intercession or direction, “the Holy Ghost was promised to the apostles” as another Comforter.

• If we want to have the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, we must find time to slow down, ponder, pray, and live so we are worthy to receive and act upon His promptings. We will avoid major mistakes if we heed His warnings.
  
• As His disciples, there will be times when we will be tried and persecuted unjustly and mocked unfairly and face temporal and spiritual storms of a magnitude that will seem unbearable to us and experience bitter cups that we pray would pass from us. No one is exempt from the storms of life.
  

One thing I have tried to do in my life it to find deeper meaning in the sacrament prayers.  Sometimes the words are just spoken without any meaning or purpose.  I would encourage you to review the words this upcoming Sunday.  Try to look for reasons that those specific words have been chosen, and let the Holy Ghost help you become closer to the Savior as you ponder the meaning behind the sacrament prayers.  Following these examples given by Elder Cook, I know we will be able to come closer to Christ.  We are God's children and He has given us tools to make the path back to Him easier.  This message provides us a few tools to help along the path of life.