Rewind to: Last Sunday

This is a copy of Elder Bates' talk in church on Sunday August 27, 2017

Brothers and sisters, today I have been asked to speak about Becoming a Disciple of Christ. When bishop asked me to speak on this topic, I accepted thinking it would be easy to speak about. Boy was I wrong. I don’t know if you guys know this, but we use the word disciple a lot in the church. But I don’t really know what it means, I have an idea, but I don’t know for sure. So I started researching for stuff I could quote or cite to give you an idea of what it means but I couldn’t seem to find anything to quote without the quote itself being 15 minutes long. This was very tempting to do, as I’m sure you’d learn much more about becoming a disciple from Dieter F. Uchtdorf than from me. He has had more years to learn and knows a lot more than I do. If you’d like to read it sometime, it’s called “The Wayof the Disciple.” However, seeing as I was asked to speak today I figured it would be a good opportunity for me to learn as well as teach what it means to be a disciple. So I started doing some reading, and I learned a few things. But I made a really interesting realization.

            First I have to give a little background to this realization. I have a wonderful family. Like Nephi, I was born of goodly parents, even if I don’t show my appreciation for them sometimes. But like most families we are not perfect. We didn’t always have a fully planned out Family Home Evening, but what we were always ready to do was have a family movie night. We love watching movies in my family. Now the realization I came to when I was studying this topic was this: I learned everything I need to know about becoming a disciple, from family movie night. Now to put bishop and my mom at ease, I will still be quoting scriptures and modern day teachings. I also will say that while I might be referencing movies, I don’t believe the movies themselves to be scripture. But I believe truth can be found in everything if we are willing to look for it. And if Carter Cooper can teach the restoration using legos I can teach about becoming a disciple using movies. Sometimes it can make concepts easier to understand if you explain it in terms that people are familiar with.

            A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was a boy named Luke Skywalker. In the 4^th movie of the Star Wars series, Luke is training to use a light saber while on board the Millennium Falcon. *explain what is going on in the scene* When Luke keeps having trouble, Obi-wan puts a pilot’s helmet on Luke with the blast shield down, this blocked his vision. Luke then asked his teacher, “With the blast shield down I can’t even see, how am I supposed to fight?” to which Obi-wan responds, “Your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them.” This leads to the first step of becoming a disciple, Faith. I’m sure all of you have heard or read a scripture that sounds sort of like what Obi-wan said, the scripture that says “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” In Ether chapter 12 verse 6 it says, “And now, I Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would showunto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen;wherefore, dispute not because ye have not seen, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.” I like how it says dispute not because ye have not seen. It’s very similar to what Obi-wan said. Robert D. Hales gave a General Conference talk in April about becoming disciple and about faith he said, “We measure our faith by what it leads us to do—by our obedience. “If ye will have faith in me,” the Lord promised, “ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.”  Faith is a catalyst. Without works,without virtuous living, our faith is without power to activate discipleship.Indeed, faith is dead.” So we see that faith and obedience are keys to becoming disciples of Christ.

            Now, one my family’s favorite movies is The Three Amigos. Not just my immediate family but a good portion of my extended family loves that movie as well. Anyways, towards the end of the movie when the infamous El Guapo is coming to destroy the village of Santo Poco the girl Carmen yells, “Someday the people of this village will have to face El Guapo, we might as well do it now.” Then Lucky Day gets up and gives the following speech: In a way, all of us have an El Guapo to face someday. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big dangerous guy who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santo Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be the actual El Guapo.

            Some of you might be wondering where I’m going with this but I promise that there is point and I’m about to get to it. I would say that in a way, all of us in this congregation have an El Guapo to face someday. In an April 2009 talk Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “When we hear the transcendent truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, hope and faith begin to blossom inside of us. The more we fill our hearts andminds with the message of the risen Christ, the greater our desire is to followHim and live His teachings. This, in turn, causes our faith to grow and allowsthe light of Christ to illuminate our hearts. As it does, we recognize theimperfections in our lives, and we desire to be cleansed of the depressingburdens of sin. We yearn for freedom from guilt, and this inspires us torepent.” Constant struggles with sin have been described as summer cottages in Babylon, I would like to describe them as El Guapo’s. So for some, the Word of Wisdom might be their El Guapo. For others, a struggle with pornography and chastity might be their El Guapo. For the people of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, El Guapo is a big scary adversary. But as sure as Jesus Christ lives, the people of this church can overcome the adversary and as it says in Helaman 5 verse 12 “when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds,yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty stormshall beat upon you, it shall have no power to drag you down to the gulf ofmisery and endless wo,” As we repent, we become closer, and more like our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Repentance makes us better disciples of Christ. And is a necessary step towards discipleship.

            Now, at this point in writing my talk I hit a major roadblock in my thought process because I felt like I had covered just about all I needed to cover. Faith leads us to repentance which puts on the path of righteousness. And being a disciple isn’t just about following Christ, it’s about striving to become like him. Then thinking about it for a long time I realized that there really isn’t that much more to it. It’s like the movie Karate Kid. You come to church, and you learn about all of what you need to know. You covenant that you will take upon you the name of Christ every week and as you strive to keep that covenant and be like Christ you become his disciple. And before you even realize it, you know karate.