Heyo! This is my talk that I gave on July 25th in two wards (the Liberty and the Fourth Wards that are near downtown Salt Lake).
Of course, both times I altered it; I either cut out a paragraph or two and/or added in some additional thoughts that came to mind, but what follows covers the basic principles and thoughts I shared.
My use of brackets either indicacts more improvised portions of my talk, such as "[bear testimony here]" or notes for purposes of clarifying sections to readers, such as "[I don't remember how I transitioned to the next subject, but I did]".
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello!
I talked or, at least, bore my testimony in this ward not too long ago, so I hope many of you still remember my face.
But regardless, similar brief introduction. My name is Elder Perazzo. I come from the town Fallon, Nevada which is about an hour east of Reno, Nevada.
I grew up adjacent to a diary farm run by my uncles. And I tried to remember details about what I said last time, so I apologize if this is all repeat, but: My uncles ran it, and I just grew up next to it. So the most I did was help cows back in their pins when they got out. Regardless we got infinite raw milk, so it was pretty awesome and I wouldn't have had it any other way :)
I’m the youngest of five with a Sister right above me and three brothers above her. Living next to the dairy, all my neighbors are my family. Cousins here, here, here, with grandma and grandpa there and great aunt/uncle there.
My family is the best and my favorite thing on this on the planet :)
Today, I really wanted to talk about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Of course, there is probably an infinite amount of talks you could write on this one subject.
I pray that the Holy Ghost will direct me as I write and speak about these precious truths. I also pray that the Holy Ghost will help you hear what you need to, especially if what you need to hear is different than the words I say.
“The Savior’s Atonement included His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, and His suffering and death on the cross, and ended with His resurrection.” (Preach My Gospel; Chapter 3 Lesson 2)
It is because of these events that everything in life that we do is made possible. Or, at least in my opinion, purposeful.
Without the Atonement of Jesus Christ, where are we?
Well, I can say that if Jesus Christ had not volunteered himself to be a sacrifice for us, we would not have chosen to come to this earth.
Before this life, we were together in a grand council. We were shown a plan. In order to become more like God, we would have to come to earth.
We would suffer all manner of afflicitons. We would experience, in my opinion, what would be the most difficult time during our entire eternal existence.
We knew we had to go through these things to become more like God.
Taking a slight deteor on this subject of why these difficult things are necessary, I wanted to read a quote from Elder Holland, who is quoting Neal A. Maxwell. This is perhaps my favorite quote written on the subject. He said,
"It simply will not work 'to glide naively through life,' saying as we sip another glass of lemonade, 'Lord, give me all thy choicest virtues, but be certain not to give me grief, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor opposition. Please do not let anyone dislike me or betray me, and above all, do not ever let me feel forsaken by Thee or those I love." ----The next sentence is my favorite sentence---- "In fact, Lord, be careful to keep me from all the experiences that made Thee divine. And then, when the rough sledding by everyone else is over, please let me come and dwell with Thee, where I can boast about how similar our strengths and our characters are as I float along on my cloud of comfortable Christianity.'"
Heavenly Father knew we had to experience trials and difficulties. But that doesn't mean we would be left alone. Quite the opposite. That is yet another reason he sent Jesus to atone for us.
Anyway, back to us in our premortal council:
On top of wanting help through our pain, there were two main problems we had to figure out how to overcome.
[One of the times I gave the talk I chucked in something about the Fall of Adam and Eve here]
Our mortal bodies would die, and if we sinned even a single time, we would be separated forever from God. Not the most promising aspect.
And so, as foreordained, Jesus volunteered himself to be the mediator. “The one that would make the atoning sacrifice that makes it possible for us to overcome the effects of the Fall.” (Slightly altered quote from Preach My Gospel Chapter 3 Lesson 2)
And so we accepted the plan. Having faith that Jesus would do what he promised to us that he would do.
My MTC teacher, who helped me a lot during my MTC experience, explained it this way.
“We chose this plan because we trusted Jesus. He was our bigger brother. He was the one who always did the best on tests, always helped others. He was always the smartest, the brightest, the kindest, the best. We knew we could count on him.”
This reminds me of the lyrics found in the song, Gethsemane
"While His friends were asleep, He fought to keep
His promise made long ago."
He promised us he would do this for us. And we trusted him to do so.
I cherish the words in the song Gethsemane, and wanted to read the rest of them as well.
"Jesus climbed the hill to the garden still.
His steps were heavy and slow.
Love and a prayer took Him there
To the place only He could go.
Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He went willingly to Gethsemane.
He felt all that was sad, wicked, or bad,
All the pain we would ever know.
While His friends were asleep, He fought to keep
His promise made long ago.
Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He went willingly to Gethsemane.
The hardest thing that ever was done,
The greatest pain that ever was known,
The biggest battle that ever was won—
This was done by Jesus!
The fight was won by Jesus!
Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He gave His gift to me in Gethsemane.
Gethsemane. Jesus loves me,
So He gives His gift to me from Gethsemane."
It is my witness that Jesus is indeed the Christ. That he did the hardest thing that ever was done, and won the biggest battle that ever was won. I know that he is my Savior and Redeemer. [Continue to bear testimony of the Savior]
The other day in a big missionary meeting, our mission president gave a talk about the physical and emotional sufferings of Jesus Christ during parts of performing the Atonement.
I love what he said about the individuality of the Atonement. He said something to the effect of,
"He didn’t do it for us. He did it for you. and you. and you. and you. And every single individual in this world. He knows you and loves you perfectly."
Ether 12:27
I feel, too often, people when they read this scripture they focus on the weakness part. I’m weak; we’re all weak.
I much prefer focusing on the restored truth that Christ can make our weak things become strong.
Because of Jesus Christ, we are able to change.
My mission president in his talk the other day expanded upon this idea as well.
There are many many many extreme trials we are to go through in this life. Many of them may feel unbearable, and we feel as though we cannot go through them.
And perhaps you can’t. But you can, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
It’s hard to go through the death of a loved one. And perhaps you can’t. But you can.
I didn’t know exactly where to fit this into my talk, but I know I wanted it in here. It is perhaps my favorite line in the entirety of Preach My Gospel.
“All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”
I bear my witness that that is true.
[Bear Testimony]
[I expanded on the following couple of sentences one of the times I talked]
People don't know about this. Will you please share it?
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.