{"id":4744,"date":"1978-11-05T13:51:40","date_gmt":"1978-11-05T20:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speeches.byu.edu\/?p=4744"},"modified":"2022-02-28T09:31:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T16:31:10","slug":"uttermost-part-earth","status":"publish","type":"speech","link":"https:\/\/speeches.byu.edu\/talks\/david-b-haight\/uttermost-part-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Uttermost Part of the Earth”"},"content":{"rendered":"
It is a great honor and privilege for me to be here tonight, and I particularly want to welcome President Dallin Oaks, who is a Regional Representative; other Regional Representatives who are here; and other key school and church officials. We are all proud of the achievements and goals of this University, and of the devotion of the leaders of these fourteen stakes and 137 wards. We acknowledge that this assembly tonight is unique; and in this present academic world, to say it is unique is a major understatement. I pray that I might have the spirit of the Lord with me, so that I might say things that would be appropriate for you to hear; but I pray also that you may be able to hear and witness and understand the thoughts I hope will be appropriate for you this Sunday night.<\/p>\n
The choir sang \u201cO Divine Redeemer.\u201d You may not have listened carefully to the words; let me repeat a few. \u201cO Divine Redeemer\u2014turn me<\/i> not away\u2014receive me tho\u2019 unworthy. Hear my cry\u2014behold my<\/i> distress\u2014have mercy, Lord, on thy servant. Hear me, crying out for mercy\u2014please, Lord, protect my soul.\u201d I would say to you, is this not pleading to the Lord to overlook some failures, perhaps? Would comparable statements be: \u201cI didn\u2019t quite understand\u2014I\u2019ll do better if I have another chance\u2014my heart wanted to follow you, so please give me another chance\u201d\u2014or perhaps, \u201cNow, I understand, O Lord\u2014hear my cry\u201d? I do not know the author of those words, but he gives us a rather dramatic view of an encounter we must all face\u2014when we are judged and assigned to our appropriately earned kingdom beyond.<\/p>\n
We learn from divine statements and truths contained in the scriptures of two great missions of the Master. The first was to atone and ransom mankind from the effects of the fall of Adam, as part of the plan accepted in the Grand Council in Heaven. He is our Redeemer.<\/i> And he is also our Savior, for the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world and to bring salvation to all\u2014to \u201call who believe in his name.\u201d \u201cTo save that which was lost\u201d\u2014to save people from their sins\u2014this is his second mission. The Savior taught mankind how to live, how to serve, how to worship; and he taught the principles of the gospel\u2014this gospel which will bring men back into the presence of our Heavenly Father.<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago President Kimball spoke to our Regional Representatives, who had assembled from all parts of the world. All of the General Authorities were also in attendance at this very solemn but historic assembly to receive instruction and counsel, \u201cto be built up in faith and testimony\u201d (quoted from President Kimball, Regional Representatives Seminar, September 29, 1978), and to reaffirm to these Church leaders our mission: to assist in saving the souls of mankind and to focus on the things that matter most.<\/p>\n
In this comprehensive review of the Church\u2019s progress, we could sense again his\u2014that is, the president\u2019s\u2014anxiety and concern for this work. We who are near our prophet sense his restlessness\u2014because time is moving swiftly, and the world population is growing. But the keys of the kingdom and salvation are here and available to all. We\u2014all of us here tonight\u2014are His disciples.<\/p>\n
Of the Regional Representatives, President Kimball asked, \u201cWhat did the Lord mean when he stood atop the Mount of Olives and said to the Twelve, \u2018. . . and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth<\/i>\u2019 (Acts 1:8; emphasis added)?\u201d \u201cThe uttermost part of the earth\u201d? Everywhere? Our prophet then remarked, \u201cWe have hardly scratched the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the Lord himself who directed that the \u201cgospel must be preached unto every creature\u201d (D&C 58:64). It was President Kimball, our living prophet, who has said to you and to me that we must find the way to proclaim the gospel and declare its restoration to all mankind. Does President Kimball mean that you are involved? Of course!<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy me?\u201d you might ask. \u201cOthers can do it\u2014I\u2019m so busy.\u201d May I remind you that when you accepted baptism, you made a covenant: (a) to come into the fold of God; (b) to take upon you the name of Christ; (c) to bear one another\u2019s burdens; (d) to stand as a witness to God at all times, in all places, and in all things, and to serve God and keep his commandments. And if you do these things, the Lord has promised that he will: (a) pour out his spirit upon you, and (b) grant unto you redemption and eternal life (see Mosiah 18:8\u201310, 13).<\/p>\n
Need I ask, after reminding you of your baptismal covenant\u2014are you part of this heaven-inspired and heaven-directed obligation to teach all mankind? Does the Lord or any of His prophets force you to do His will? Of course not! But the promised rewards are almost beyond our conception. Listen carefully to His promise: \u201cAll thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall be revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the gospel of Jesus Christ\u201d (D&C 121:29).<\/p>\n
The apostle Peter, senior apostle and head of the Church after the Savior had left the earth, in a teaching opportunity asked, \u201cWhat manner of persons ought ye to be . . . ?\u201d (2 Peter 3:11). He counseled\u2014<\/p>\n
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; . . . the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.<\/i><\/p>\n
[Peter continued:] Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,<\/i> [that is, the elements and materials rearranged or reorganized,] what manner of persons ought ye to be . . .?<\/p>\n
[And then he said,] . . . Be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.<\/i><\/p>\n
. . . Seeing ye know these things . . . , beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.<\/i><\/p>\n
. . . Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.<\/i> [2 Peter 3:10\u201311, 14, 17\u201318; emphasis added]<\/p>\n
The apostle Peter encouraged and strengthened the saints anciently so they could spread the gospel and save the souls of mankind. Now, in a similar manner, President Kimball, the Lord\u2019s prophet, is sounding the trumpet for us today to do what?\u2014(a) to live lives of perfection; and (b) to acquire all the knowledge possible\u2014communication skills and language ability\u2014so that we can move with greater speed in reaching the millions of people in strange-sounding places with strange-sounding names who have been prepared and will receive the gospel.<\/p>\n
What does the Lord expect of you? What is your role in this divine drama? Consider\u2014has the Lord not brought the Church out of obscurity? Are not the temples dotting the landscape? Are not the satellites stationed in the heavens ready to beam the message? Are not needed facilities and technical skills available, new developments in radio and television communication being unfolded?<\/p>\n
We have, I suppose, nearly 20,000 people in this audience tonight. Would ten people on the front row please stand? This is about the proportion of Mormons in the world in relation to the total world population, if we have twenty thousand people here tonight. Now would five of you please sit down? May I remind you that the five standing represent the active participating members of the Church. You five must convert the other 19,990 in this building\u2014but I say unto you, you must hurry. In a few years the world population will double to eight billion.<\/p>\n
Our prophet reminds us that \u201cthe uttermost part of the earth\u201d not only means the millions in America, but all of Central and South America, all of the Far East, all of Europe, all of Africa. (More than one-tenth of the world\u2019s four billion souls live on the African continent.) China, the third largest country, has nearly one billion people\u2014over half speak Mandarin. Will you be prepared to teach them? And as the prophet asks, will you be prepared to take the gospel to India\u2019s three-quarter billion, to Burma, to Saudi Arabia, or to the 41 million Moslems in Turkey? We are promised that when we are ready\u2014properly prepared as people\u2014barriers will gradually be penetrated and political hard lines will soften. Today, Poland is an example of what will take place. We understand that many people are now going to church in Russia.<\/p>\n
In a few years, will we not feel as comfortable and be as familiar speaking of cities in Bangladesh, Iraq, Malaysia, Yugoslavia, and the Ukraine as we now are of speaking of Sydney, Tokyo, Geneva, Walla Walla, and Mexico City? President Kimball reminds us that there is no reason why the Lord would open doors or break down iron or bamboo curtains if we are unprepared to enter.<\/p>\n
How can we, he says, be satisfied with two hundred thousand converts a year out of a world of four billion who need the gospel? We are often reminded of Sarah, the wife of Abraham, laughing when told that at her age of ninety years she would have a son. How could she bear children? Yet she did have a son as promised by the Lord. Abraham was to become the father of nations. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Is there anything impossible to Him? If He commands His gospel to be taken to \u201cthe uttermost part of the earth,\u201d will he not open the way\u2014if the carriers of the message are ready and prepared?<\/p>\n
If each of you was asked to outline what qualities messengers\u2014those authorized to carry Christ\u2019s gospel of salvation unto the expanding proselyting world\u2014must have if they were to succeed, your outline would probably include a personal, growing faith in and knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ\u2014a knowledge that would be sufficient for one\u2019s salvation and a faith such that His saving principles would have become part of one\u2019s life. In addition, this outline would include good works and a desire to serve mankind as evidenced by positive actions. Did not the Lord teach as fundamental \u201c. . . Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them . . .\u201d (Matthew 7:12)?<\/p>\n
Would your outline not also include the love of people? Love, but with the measuring rod He built in\u2014one must love people to the same degree that he loves himself or it really does not matter. One must be considerate of others and, in addition, not steal, not lie, not cheat, not bear false witness, not plan to take another\u2019s life. And then you would include the keeping of God\u2019s commandments\u2014all of them. One cannot just pick and choose. \u201cIf ye love me, keep my commandments\u201d (John 14:15).<\/p>\n