Emma's Sacrament Talk

I forgot to mention that Emma gave her first talk in Sacrament meeting on November 13.  She did a wonderful job and it seemed like second nature to her.

"My talk about tithing:

Hello my name is Emma Stevens and my talk is about tithing.

1^st of all what is tithing?

      Tithing is 10% of what heavenly father gave us that we are giving back to him. Brother Hale says in a talk “The law of tithing is part of a celestial law which we must live if we are to attain eternal life and exaltation in the celestial kingdom.” And President Joseph F. Smith says “The law of tithing is a test by which the people as individuals shall be proved.”

2^nd What do we receive back for paying our tithing?

       We get our faith tested and it makes our faith grow stronger, paying tithing helps to qualify us to receive the higher ordinances of the priesthood, and helps us not be so greedy. Our tithing goes to build meeting houses and temples, or help get supplies for missionaries. And no matter if we pay more or less than others, if we pay faithfully and honestly we will get the same amount of blessings. Elder John Taylor had someone ask him if whether any who had not paid their tithing could be baptized for the dead. Elder Taylor then taught: “It is our duty to pay our tithing, one-tenth of the increase, and a man who has not paid his tithing is unfit to be baptized for his dead. … It is our duty to pay our tithing. If a man has not faith enough to attend to these little things, he has not faith enough to save himself and his friends.” it says in Malachi 3:10… bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith saith the lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Heavenly father is saying that if we pay our tithing that we will receive so many blessings. And some mat be temporary and some eternal.

3^rd Do you need faith to make a tithe? 

The answer is yes. George Q. Morris taught that paying an honest tithe requires faith.“I think when people say they haven’t money enough to pay tithing, they should say they haven’t faith enough to pay tithing. It is my conviction that we pay tithing with faith and not with money, because when a man has so much money that he has a large tithing, he can’t pay tithing. He has too much money and too little faith to pay tithing, and just feels he can’t afford it. No one is too rich or too poor to pay tithing. No one can afford not to pay tithing.” To make a tithe that will give you the blessings you must have faith and not be scared that you might regret it. Even if you have the choice between something you want or tithing, if you have faith you would chose tithing.

I’d like to tell a story that illustrates the unexpected blessings that can come from paying tithing.

“Should we pay our tithing or make our farm payment?”

In 1920 a serious dilemma faced a wheat farmer named Henry smith. The selling price for wheat was very low that year. Everyone was poor. Now the mortgage payment was due, several families had purchased farmland as a group. They all had to pay their portion of the mortgage on the same day or they would all lose their land. Unfortunately the farm payment came due at the same day as tithing settlement, he could pay 1 or the other but not both. Henry did have several sacks of wheat he could sell, but no interested buyers. And the bank would only take cash.

 Henry wrote in his journal “We felt we had to pay our tithing, but we could not fail with our land payment. We went to the lord and placed our problem before him. When we were through we had the impression we should pay our tithing first.”

A few days after he paid tithing Henry wrote “a man whom I had never seen before, came and purchased all of our wheat, at a good price. we now had the money for the land payment we felt the lord had a way of taking care of us, if we were faithful and put our trust in him.”

I want to bear my testimony that I know these things are true that we will receive blessings if we are faithful and pay an honest Tithe. And that even if some are temporary and some are eternal they are all special.  In the name Jesus Christ amen. "

We are excited to attend the temple with her for the first time this weekend!