Christmas Message 2018

Archive of messages sent while serving as a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In this year’s First Presidency Christmas Devotional, President Nelson taught about four gifts that Jesus Christ has given us:

1) The unlimited capacity to love

2) The ability to forgive

3) The gift of repentance

4) The promise of life everlasting

 These gifts give us hope, give us peace, and bring joy to our lives. When we accept them and use them in our lives, they lift us and allow us to lift others.

So, my Christmas message is simple. Let us follow the prophet and follow Jesus Christ. Find a way to use these gifts from the Savior in your life before the Christmas season is over.

1. Reach out and share your love with your family, neighbors, and even those that you struggle to love.

2. Forgive those that have offended you and forgive yourself.

3. Forsake your favorite sin and choose to be better tomorrow than you are today.

4. Continue down the covenant path by making and keeping sacred covenants.

May each of you enjoy these gifts from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and find happiness and peace in your lives.

 

Merry Christmas,

The Brookside 1st Ward Bishopric

Come, Follow Me

 Archive of messages sent while serving as a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After Christ appears to and teaches the Nephites, He instructs them to go “unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand.” (3 Nephi 17:3) I see this same invitation in the upcoming schedule changes and ‘Come Follow Me—For Individuals and Families.’

We are being invited to more diligently study in our homes, as individuals and families, and be more converted as we do so. While the curriculum, the schedule, the program, etc. are all new, the invitation to study the gospel is not. It has always been a foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to study and pray to find out for ourselves.

The introduction in ‘Come Follow Me’ lists several tips for personal scripture study. They are:

Look for truths about Jesus Christ	Look for inspiring words and phrases
Look for gospel truths	Listen to the Spirit
Like the scriptures to your life	Ask questions as you study
Use scripture study helps	Record your thoughts and feelings
Study the words of latter-day prophets	Share insights
Live by what you learn

 

In January, we will all start this new chapter in the Restored Church together. As we adjust to schedules and new curriculum, it is my hope that we will focus on our personal and family studies. I look forward to the Spirit we will feel as we collectively come prepared to discuss the words of Christ as found in the New Testament!

I know we are led by a modern-day prophet in President Russel M. Nelson. I know Christ’s gospel is found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that as we strive to live that gospel and follow the council of the prophets, we will have greater peace in our lives and happiness in our homes.

As I’ve shared in tithing settlement, I invite each of you to review the new ‘Come Follow Me’ manual and come up with a plan on how you will use it to increase your study of the gospel in 2019 before the end of the year.

Thank you for all you do to help our ward grow,

Bishop Sullivan

It's All About Christ

Archive of messages sent while serving as a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

I recently taught about the need for our Sacrament Services, and in particular our talks, to be more Christ centered. This same principle applies to our everyday lives. In an increasingly difficult world, we need to draw on the power of Jesus Christ.

President Russell M. Nelson taught this very concept in April 2017 when he taught that Christ gave His life for us, “so that we could have access to godly power—power sufficient to deal with the burdens, obstacles, and temptations of our day.” He then taught us HOW we could access that power.

The first thing President Nelson invited us to do was to learn more about Jesus Christ. Through scripture, prayer, attending church, and serving like Christ, we can become more deeply acquainted with the doctrine of Jesus Christ, His attornment, and how we can access His power in our lives.

“We also increase the Savior’s power in our lives when we make sacred covenants and keep those covenants with precision,” President Nelson taught. A natural outcome of learning more of Christ is an increased desire to follow Him. We can more fully follow Jesus Christ when we make and keep sacred covenants.

Our goal should be that we can be a living example of 2 Nephi 25:26, “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” This is the Church of Jesus Christ! He is at the head of this great work. I know Him and I know this is His work.

I invite all of you to identify a way you can become closer to Christ. This may start with knowing more about Him, it may be working toward the next covenant on the covenant path, or it may be more fully living up to the covenants you have made. Whatever it might be, when you become closer to Christ, you will have access to His power and you will feel His influence more abundantly in your life.

Ministering

 Archive of messages sent while serving as a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Have you ever witnessed a General Conference like this last one? What an amazing experience to sustain a new First Presidency and then hear revelation directly from our prophet, President Nelson. I love the direction of doing away with the ‘Law of Moses’ era Home and Visiting Teaching and replacing it with a “newer, holier approach to caring for and ministering to others” (President Nelson, Ministering, Sunday Afternoon Session of April General Conference, 2018.)

Since April General Conference, we have heard a lot about ministering. We have discussed it as part of our lessons, heard from stake leaders, and hopefully been pondering what it means in our own lives. If you’re like me, you may have heard it and talked about it so much that the word ‘ministering’ has started to get confusing! One thing I appreciate about this new approach is that beyond the few short videos at ministering.lds.org, there is very little structure around this idea. We are simply asked to care for our Heavenly Fathers children.

To better understand what this might look like, I have two invitations-one from me and one from our Stake President, President Buckner- to help us know the how and why of ministering.

1.   Jesus Christ is the example of ministering. I invite each of you to prayerfully study the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the New Testament and seek examples of Christ’s ministering to others. Commit to memory 3-5 stories of ministering. When you are explaining how to minister, or when you have questions yourself about the new initiative, think on these examples.

2.   President Buckner has asked us to memorize John 13:34-35. This is a scripture even our littlest primary children will easily memorize:

 

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

 

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

As you apply Christ’s teachings to your life and look for ways to effectively and lovingly minister to one another, the Holy Spirit will bring peace to your life. You will have the power to resist temptation and to guide yourself and your family unto Christ.

Thank you for all you do to help build the kingdom of our Heavenly Father in our little corner of Payson, Utah.

Bishop Sullivan

Testimony of Prophets

 Archive of messages sent while serving as a bishop in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

When my grandpa Sullivan was a new convert of 10 or 11 years old, he went with his mom to a regional conference in the San Francisco Bay area. Upon arrival my grandpa thought the park across the street looked much more interesting than a stuffy church meeting. He and a few others boys his age went to leave the meeting. As they were leaving, an older gentleman invited them back and promised it would be worth their time.

That older gentleman was President Heber J. Grant. He was presiding at the meeting and took the time to invite the rowdy boys back in!

I love that story about my grandpa. To me, I see that small act as my Heavenly Father being aware of my young grandpa and his posterity to come. Would my grandpa have been an active member of the church had President Grant not invited him back? Probably. But, I believe that the prophet listened to the promptings of the Spirit to help my grandpa, and ultimately to help me, through that small invitation.

Since then, prophets continued to play a great role in my family. It was a devotional address given by President Spencer W. Kimball that led to my own mother’s conversion at 17. It was a conference address given by President Ezra Taft Benson and read by President Thomas S. Monson that gave me my first testimony of prophets.

We now have the opportunity to sustain a new prophet, President Russell M. Nelson.

In his October 2014 General Conference talk, then Elder Nelson said, “If the Restoration did anything, it shattered the age-old myth that God had stopped talking to His children. Nothing could be further from the truth. A prophet has stood at the head of God’s Church in all dispensations, form Adam to the present day. Prophets testify of Jesus Christ—of His divinity and of His earthly mission and ministry.”

Living revelation and a living prophet continue to bless my life and your life today.

If you do not have a testimony of prophets, or your own witness of President Nelson’s divine calling, I invite you to seek that conviction. Seek it through study and prayer.

May the Lord bless you in all that you do,

 

Bishop Sullivan