7 And ye may
aknow that he is, by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore I would exhort you that ye deny not the power of God; for he worketh by power,
baccording to the faith of the children of men, the same today and tomorrow, and forever.
8 And again, I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the
agifts of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God. And there are
bdifferent ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God who worketh all in all; and they are given by the manifestations of the
cSpirit of God unto men, to profit them.
9
aFor behold, to one is given by the Spirit of God, that he may
bteach the word of wisdom;
10 And to another, that he may
ateach the word of
bknowledge by the same Spirit;
11 And to another, exceedingly great
afaith; and to another, the gifts of
bhealing by the same Spirit;
12 And again, to another, that he may work mighty
amiracles;
13 And again, to another, that he may prophesy concerning all things;
14 And again, to another, the beholding of angels and ministering spirits;
15 And again, to another, all kinds of tongues;
16 And again, to another, the interpretation of
alanguages and of divers kinds of tongues.
17 And all these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and they come unto every man severally, according as he will.
18 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that
aevery good
bgift cometh of Christ.
19 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that he is the
asame yesterday, today, and forever, and that all these gifts of which I have spoken, which are spiritual, never will be done away, even as long as the world shall stand, only according to the
bunbelief of the children of men.
20 Wherefore, there must be
afaith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity.
21 And except ye have
acharity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope.
22 And if ye have no hope ye must needs be in
adespair; and despair cometh because of iniquity.
23
And Christ truly said unto our fathers: aIf ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me. 24 And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth—that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be
abecause of
bunbelief.
25 And wo be unto the children of men if this be the case; for there shall be
anone that doeth good among you, no not one. For if there be one among you that doeth good, he shall work by the power and gifts of God.
26 And wo unto them who shall do these things away and die, for they
adie in their
bsins, and they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God; and I speak it according to the words of Christ; and I lie not.
27 And I exhort you to remember these things; for the time speedily cometh that ye shall know that I lie not, for ye shall see me at the bar of God; and the Lord God will say unto you: Did I not declare my
awords unto you, which were written by this man, like as one
bcrying from the dead, yea, even as one speaking out of the
cdust?
28 I declare these things unto the fulfilling of the prophecies. And behold, they shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the everlasting God; and his word shall
ahiss forth from generation to generation.
29 And God shall show unto you, that that which I have written is
atrue.
30 And again I would exhort you that ye would
acome unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good
bgift, and
ctouch not the evil gift, nor the
dunclean thing.
31 And
aawake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of
bZion; and
cstrengthen thy
dstakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest
eno more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.
32 Yea,
acome unto Christ, and be
bperfected in him, and
cdeny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and
dlove God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be
eperfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye
asanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the
bblood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your
csins, that ye become
dholy, without spot.
34 And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to
arest in the
bparadise of God, until my
cspirit and body shall again
dreunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the
eair, to meet you before the
fpleasing bar of the great
gJehovah, the Eternal
hJudge of both quick and dead. Amen.
* VERSE 1 (ABOUT A.D. 421).
THE END
I find it so appropriate that Moroni's farewell includes an admonition to have faith. It has been the underlying theme throughout the entire 531 pages we have studied these last 9 months. If a stranger asked me what the main idea of the Book of Mormon is I would have to say "faith in Christ." My faith in Him has grown so much through this blog over the last 9 months. We are also taught in today's reading that the faith in Christ brings spiritual gifts. Elder Bruce R McConkie taught us so much about spiritual gifts in this passage from Mormon Doctrine:“By the grace of God—following devotion, faith, and obedience on man’s part—certain special spiritual blessings called gifts of the Spirit are bestowed upon men. Their receipt is always predicated upon obedience to law, but because they are freely available to all the obedient, they are called gifts. They are signs and miracles reserved for the faithful and for none else.
“Moroni says that the gifts of God come from Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost and by the Spirit of Christ. (Moro. 10.) In other words, the gifts come by the power of that Spirit who is the Holy Ghost, but the Spirit of Christ (or light of Christ) is the agency through which the Holy Ghost operates.
“Their purpose is to enlighten, encourage, and edify the faithful so that they will inherit peace in this life and be guided toward eternal life in the world to come. Their presence is proof of the divinity of the Lord’s work; where they are not found, there the Church and kingdom of God is not. The promise is that they shall never be done away as long as the earth continues in its present state, except for unbelief (Moro. 10:19), but when the perfect day comes and the saints obtain exaltation, there will be no more need for them. As Paul expressed it, ‘When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.’ (1 Cor. 13.)
“Faithful persons are expected to seek the gifts of the Spirit with all their hearts. They are to ‘covet earnestly the best gifts’ (1 Cor. 12:31; D. & C. 46:8), to ‘desire spiritual gifts’ (1 Cor. 14:1), ‘to ask of God, who giveth liberally.’ (D. & C. 46:7; Matt. 7:7–8.) To some will be given one gift; to others, another; and ‘unto some it may be given to have all those gifts, that there may be a head, in order that every member may be profited thereby.’ (D. & C. 46:29.)” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 314).
This blog has been a great blessing to me. Thank you to all of you who have read along and left comments and to those of you who have encouraged me in person. In some ways it feels like I started it a long time ago and in other ways it feels like just yesterday! Time is so mysterious that way. Now that we have reached the end of this journey together it is time for me to focus on another project. Interestingly enough I will be working on this for about 9 months too...a new baby. To all of you who have kept up and read along, you deserve a huge
CONGRATULATIONS!
for accomplishing a New Year's Resolution this year. I hope for you 2009 will always be partly remembered as the year of "Two Pages a Day."
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