My dear brothers and sisters, it is a great honor to be here today. I love Brigham Young University, the students, tutors and workers on all its campuses in Provo, Idaho, where our daughter is currently studying, and Hawaii especially, because of the added beautiful weather conditions and the beaches. The beautiful things in Hawaii make studying on this campus very different and that creates a double-edged sword, because it can make learning conditions very suitable and can also be a distraction to learning. I will hopefully explain that better in my message this morning. I thank President and Sister Kauwe for their leadership of this great institution of learning and their love for each of you.
Brigham Young University is unique in the fact that secular knowledge is not only taught to its students but premised on a solid foundation of spiritual knowledge. The BYU–Hawaii Mission states that “The mission of BYU–Hawaii is to prepare students of Oceania and the Asian Rim to be lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ and leaders in their families, communities, chosen fields, and in building the kingdom of God.” [1]
This campus focuses on a learning program that:
1. Helps God’s children understand their identity, purpose and eternal destiny as they study to have knowledge that builds a good career for them.
2. Prepares God’s children to grow physically, socially, intellectually, and most importantly spiritually by integrating spiritual and secular learning to provide a foundation for a lifetime of learning that contributes to your becoming lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.
Our dear Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson in a worldwide devotional for young adults on May 15, 2022, said, “Now, this is a singular time in your life. There won’t be another quite like it. You are establishing priorities and patterns that will dramatically affect not just your mortal life but also your eternal life.” [2]
These patterns and priorities are essential in fulfilling your purpose in mortality. In my humble background, my parents, who did not have much education, desired for their children to have what they could not accomplish educationally. My parents made sacrifices to help me have a college education, which did not come easy because I had many days of circumstance-imposed lack of food and could not afford textbooks necessary for my education. It became essential for me to establish patterns and priorities with a clear goal of making my parents proud, who wanted and prayed daily for me to become successful in life. Their prayers were answered as my educational and professional career brought me many successes and financial benefits.
These accomplishments, rewarding and motivating as they truly are, could not have been complete without the spiritual knowledge through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Seeking knowledge of things in heaven, which is spiritual and things in the earth, and under the earth, which is temporal, would prepare us in all things so that we can fulfill the mission for which we have been commissioned to come to earth.
Our loving Heavenly Father in His desire for us to attain our potential as His children designed the plan of salvation to help us have a body like Him and His Son, Jesus Christ, and to make the body immortal through the Resurrection and Atonement of Jesus Christ. This wonderful plan came with the gift of His Only Begotten Son who by His Atonement and Resurrection generated the power to overcome obstacles in our quest to realize our potential as God’s children. The obstacles of which are physical death, spiritual death (caused by sins and consequences of sin), trials, afflictions, infirmities and lastly our weaknesses and imperfections.
To my earlier comment on how the beautiful weather and environment in Hawaii could create a good learning atmosphere for you as well as be a distraction, where if we are too focused on the fun things, like beach activities, surfing, enjoying coconut drinks, sunset cruises, hiking trails and even the unique chocolates, we may have less time for studies which can ultimately affect our educational performance. We therefore need to establish priorities and patterns that do not deny us of the fun but keep us focused on accomplishing our educational and career goals of why we have come to BYU–Hawaii to study.
Establishing priorities and patterns to navigate mortality is as important as establishing priorities and patterns to succeed academically. I will add that spiritual priorities and patterns are more important because they have eternal consequences. As a college student at 23 years old, who was taught the restored gospel and became a member of the Lord’s restored kingdom here on earth, one of the priorities and patterns I established was to build my spiritual foundation on the rock of our Redeemer, who is Jesus Christ. That made it easy for me to succeed in my academics as other priorities were laid as building blocks on this foundation over which the devil’s mighty winds, shafts in the whirlwind and storm have no power. [3] These building blocks amongst many include degrees, professional qualifications, marriage, a beautiful career, covenant making at baptism, priesthood ordination, endowment and sealing in the house of the Lord, callings in God’s vineyard and many more.
Our Heavenly Father who as a reward for keeping our first estate added unto us the glory to come to mortality, wants us to keep our second estate. He made a wonderful plan for His Son as the vehicle to provide the way through His Atonement and Resurrection and means by ordinances and covenants, for us to keep our second estate.
The Savior’s atoning sacrifice enabled the Father to fulfill His promises made to His children and Jesus Christ who is “the way, the truth, and the life” is at the center of the ordinances and covenants that become essential for salvation and exaltation. [4]
In seeking after the good things of life we must remember the words of the Lord which says:
31: “For by the power of my Spirit created I them; yea, all things both spiritual and temporal—
32: First spiritual, secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, first temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work—
33: Speaking unto you that you may naturally understand; but unto myself my works have no end, neither beginning; but it is given unto you that ye may understand, because ye have asked it of me and are agreed.
34: Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created.
35: Behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual.” (Doctrine and Covenants 29:31-35). [5]
While excellent academic successes and illustrious careers are wonderful and desirable achievements, they are mostly inwardly focused with benefits that are mostly personal, even though they can be extended to families and loved ones. Engaging in God’s work of salvation and exaltation coupled with academic and career accomplishments create impacts that bless us personally and other children of God. It combines temporal and spiritual efforts that positively impact all of God’s children in this life and assures joy in eternity.
President Russell M. Nelson said, “In the Church, obtaining an education and getting knowledge are a religious responsibility. We educate our minds so that one day we can render service of worth to somebody else. [6]
The name of this great institution will remain with you for your time in mortality as alumni. I would like to extend some invitations to you, using the acronyms in the name of the school:
B – Believe You Can Become
Y – Yield to the Enticings of the Spirit
U – Understand the “WHY” of Covenants
H – Honor Your Covenants
Believe You Can Become
Our loving Heavenly Father desires that his covenant sons and daughters return to His presence and inherit the celestial kingdom. As we accept His Son and His Atonement, we come unto the path which begins at baptism and continues with other essential ordinances and covenants. Our Savior, who is “the way, the truth, and the life” can help us on the journey back to God and inherit ALL that God has. Through the gospel and doctrine of Christ, we can become like the Savior and He will lead us back to our heavenly home where it all started and will end.
The priorities and patterns we establish and uphold in temporal and spiritual things will guide us in our journey of lifelong discipleship of Christ. As we accept the charge from our dear prophet, President Nelson, to obtain an education and get knowledge as a religious responsibility, integrating both spiritual and secular learning will help us to establish priorities and patterns that prepare students with:
1. Character that builds the nature of God in you and
2. Integrity which is demonstrated by keeping God’s commandments and honoring covenants.
Character and integrity will help you to provide leadership in your families, your communities, your chosen fields, and in building the kingdom of God.
President Dallin H. Oaks has taught that “In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something. … It is not enough for anyone just to go through the motions. … What is important in the end is what we have become by our labors.” [7]
I invite you to avoid the temptation to just go through the motions but rather take up the challenge to become like the Savior by your labor of love and commitment to living the doctrine of Christ. I promise you that the Savior Himself will hold you by the hand, walk with you and guide you in this journey of becoming like Him as you continually abide in Him. I promise you that as you walk with Christ, you will receive His light and as you continue in God, His light will grow brighter and brighter in you, until the perfect day. [8]
Yield to the Enticings of the Spirit
The Savior promised never to leave us comfortless and that the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost shall be sent in His name to teach us all things and bring to our remembrance all things that the Savior has said to us. [9]
The Holy Ghost is our constant companion to lead, guide, direct and abide with us on the covenant path. Hence President Russell M. Nelson taught that “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.” [10]
As we strive to stay on the path, which is the only way that leads to eternal life, the Holy Ghost can guide us in our decisions and protect us from physical and spiritual danger. The Holy Ghost will guide you in your academics, your career, and in all decisions you make that have temporal and eternal consequences. Our Savior instituted the ordinance of the sacrament that we may take upon us His name, always remember Him and keep His commandments. His promise to us in return is the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and retention of the remission of our sins. Added to these blessings are joy, happiness and peace in mortality and eternal life in the world to come. [11]
“The Holy Ghost can fill us ‘with hope and perfect love’ and ‘teach us the peaceable things of the kingdom.’
... All honest seekers of the truth can feel the influence of the Holy Ghost, leading them to Jesus Christ and His gospel. However, the fulness of the blessings given through the Holy Ghost are available only to those who receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and remain worthy.” [12]
Understand the “WHY” of Covenants
Covenants mark the path back to God and are evidence of connection to God and Jesus Christ. King Benjamin taught that because of the covenants we make, we become sons and daughters of Christ who has spiritually begotten us and under His head are we made free, for “there is no other name given whereby salvation cometh.” [13]
I have traveled on many good roads here in America, and the roads are so good that it takes discipline from me being from Africa not to drive above the speed limit. I have observed that many of these good roads have tolls where you must slow down, pay a toll fee, and continue your journey. Our Heavenly Father in His plan to have us inherit all that He has, wants us to travel the covenant path which is the way to eternal life. We come unto this path as we accept His Son, Jesus Christ, and the doctrine of Christ which includes receiving the ordinances of salvation and exaltation as we progress along the path to eternal life.
The ordinances and covenants we receive are at different points of our journey on the path back to God. These points may be likened to the toll gates where we are expected to pay toll fees. Receiving the ordinances of baptism and confirmation which open the gate to eternal life, followed with those of Melchizedek Priesthood ordination (for men), and the endowment and sealing, could be likened to toll gates along the path, and the covenants we make as we receive each of these ordinances are likened to the toll fees we pay along the path. The tickets we receive as we pay our toll fees assure the fulfilment of obligations on our part and qualify us to proceed on our journey and enjoy the smooth drive on the good road.
Our faithfulness to covenants qualifies us to receive blessings of love, strength, power beyond our own, peace, joy and happiness that are required to navigate through mortality and enjoy eternal life.
We learned from the teaching of our dear prophet, President Russell M. Nelson that the new and everlasting covenant and the Abrahamic covenant are the same. He said, “The adjective everlasting denotes that this covenant existed even before the foundation of the world! The plan laid out in the Grand Council in Heaven included the sobering realization that we would all be cut off from God’s presence. However, God promised that He would provide a Savior who would overcome the consequences of the Fall.”
Covenants create everlasting relationship between us, and God and that relationship began before the world was and shall continue in the next life as we stay faithful and let God prevail in our lives.
President Nelson continued that “Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. In fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy.”
Honor Your Covenants
My dear friends, it is important that we should honor the covenants we make with God and Jesus Christ. Think about the promise conveyed to us through God’s Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson said that “Those who keep their covenants with God will become a strain of sin-resistant souls! Those who keep their covenants will have the strength to resist the constant influence of the world.” [14]
Honoring covenants blesses us with an extra measure of love and mercy. It affects who we are and how God will help us become what we can become. We become God’s peculiar treasures. Honoring the covenants we make at baptism, priesthood ordination and in the temple as we receive our own endowment and sealing, requires the performance of obligations on our part and qualifies us for promised blessings, the ultimate of which is eternal glory.
At baptism, we promise to serve God, keep His commandments, and take upon us the name of Jesus Christ. As we receive temple ordinances, we promise to obey God’s laws and commandments, make sacrifice of a broken heart and contrite spirit through repentance, sacrifice our time and resources to serve God and our neighbors, live the laws of the gospel of Jesus Christ by making and keeping covenants, live the doctrine of Christ, live a chaste life and consecrate our time, resources and all that God blesses us with for the building of the Lord’s Church, and anxiously engage in God’s work of salvation and exaltation.
Elder Dale G. Renlund, in a devotional at BYU in Provo, presented a pictorial summary of these promises. [15]
Those who honor covenants and make Jesus Christ the most powerful influence in their lives will have direct access to the power of God, His love, protection, and guidance of His Spirit. They will increase their capacity to receive revelation, enjoy the peace, joy and happiness of the Lord and gain spiritual momentum to help them navigate through mortality. Above all, they will have eternal life and exaltation, the greatest gifts of God of which the Apostle Paul testified. “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” [16]
In closing, I admonish you to ponder the teaching of King Benjamin recorded in the Book of Mormon “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.” [17]
I bear witness that all things of God are spiritual and temporal. We have been brought to mortality for experiences that are necessary for our salvation and exaltation. Mortality is an important epoch in the plan of salvation and essential for us to receive ordinances and covenants that bind us to God and Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, our Savior, and Redeemer is the head of this kingdom. He leads the work through His prophets, seers and revelators. I witness the truth in the words of President Russell M. Nelson that “so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns ‘with power and great glory,’ He will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful.” [18]
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes:
[1] BYU–Hawaii Mission
[2] Russell M. Nelson, “Choices for Eternity” [worldwide devotional for young adults, May 15, 2022], broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org
[3] Helaman 5:12
[4] John 14:6
[5] Doctrine and Covenants 29:31-35
[6] Russell M. Nelson, “Focus on Values,” Liahona, Feb. 2013, 4.
[7] Dallin H. Oaks, “The Challenge to Become,” Ensign, Nov. 2000, 32.
[8] Doctrine and Covenants 50:24
[9] John 14:18, 26
[10] Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,” Ensign or Liahona, Apr. 2018, 96.
[11] See 3 Nephi 18:1-11 and D&C 20:75, 77
[12] Topics and Questions, “Holy Ghost,” Gospel Library
[13] Mosiah 5:7-8
[14] Russell M. Nelson, “The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona, Oct. 2022, 1.
[15] Dale G. Renlund, “Stronger and Closer Connection to God Through Multiple Covenants,” [Brigham Young University devotional, Mar. 5, 2024], speeches.byu.edu
[16] Titus 1:2
[17] Mosiah 2:41
[18] Russell M. Nelson, “Overcome the World and Find Rest,” Liahona, Oct. 2022, 95.