Elder Keith K. Hilbig
Of the Seventy
"When we serve righteously . . . , we are strengthening our priesthood
link and connecting it ever more securely to those who have preceded and who
will follow us."
Within this vast congregation of priesthood bearers assembled here and
throughout the world sit several generations—tens of thousands of sons, fathers,
grandfathers, even great-grandfathers—all of whom have faith in Christ, seek
to keep His commandments, and desire to serve Him.
Some are part of a long tradition of priesthood men stretching back in time.
Others are the very first men in their respective families to bear the priesthood
of God. But all have the opportunity—and responsibility—either to
create or to continue a chain of worthy men who honor the priesthood and render
service in the kingdom, thereby linking families together from generation to
generation. It is your individual link in that priesthood chain of which
I would speak tonight.
In each dispensation faithful men have been given the priesthood to further
the Lord's purposes. The scriptures recount the passing of priesthood authority
from prophet to prophet, beginning with Adam.
We are figuratively part of that priesthood chain stretching back to the beginnings
of the earth. However, each of us is now literally engaged in the critical task
of creating our own strong priesthood link so as to be joined with our own forefathers
and to our own posterity.
If one fails to obtain or to honor the Melchizedek Priesthood, his link will
be missing, and eternal life will be unattainable (see D&C
76:79; 84:41–42).
Hence, our great effort as a church to teach the message of the Restoration
to all who are willing to listen and to prepare all who are desirous for the
blessings of the priesthood and the temple.
Our privilege to bear the priesthood of God tonight has its beginnings in our
premortal existence. The prophet Alma explained that men ordained to the Melchizedek
Priesthood on earth have been "called and prepared from the foundation
of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding
faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil;
therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are
called with a holy calling" (Alma
13:3).
The Lord has long intended you to be a creator or a continuer of the chain
of faithful bearers in your priesthood family. It was your faith and wise exercise
of free agency—in the premortal existence and here in mortality—which
permitted you to receive the "holy calling" of the priesthood.
The Prophet Joseph Smith stated in 1844, "Every man who has a calling
to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose
in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was" (Teachings of
the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 365).
Thus, whether as the first in your family or as the fifth generation to hold
the priesthood, we have each come to earth with a personal heritage of faithfulness
and foreordination. Such knowledge gives us a firm resolve to always honor the
priesthood and thereby to create or continue a multigenerational family in the
Church and in the celestial kingdom.
We often define priesthood as the power and authority to act in the
name of God upon the earth. But service to our Savior, our family, and our fellowman
also defines our priesthood. The Savior intends that we exercise our priesthood
primarily for the benefit of others. We cannot bless or baptize ourselves, nor
provide the ordinances of the temple to ourselves. Rather, every priesthood
bearer must rely upon others to lovingly exercise their priesthood authority
and power to help each of us progress spiritually.
I was able to learn the importance of priesthood service not only by observing
my grandfather, father, and brother magnify their callings but also from the
brethren in my ward who were priesthood models to me.
As a newly ordained teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood, my first home teaching
companion was Henry Wilkening, a high priest nearly 60 years my senior. He was
a German immigrant, a shoemaker by trade, small in stature, but an energetic
and faithful shepherd to the families assigned to us. I trotted behind him (for
he seemed to walk and to climb stairs much faster than I could) during our monthly
visits, which took us into sobering environments new to my sheltered experience.
He expected me to present part of each lesson and to make all the appointments,
but mostly I listened and watched as he aided brothers and sisters with various
spiritual and social, economic and emotional needs previously unknown to me
as a 14-year-old.
I began to realize how much good could be done by a single faithful priesthood
bearer. I watched Brother Wilkening forging a strong priesthood link for himself
through his loving service to those families in need—and to me in my youth.
The many priesthood men I observed while growing up taught me that providing
priesthood service to others is not dependent upon a particular title or specific
calling or formal position in the kingdom. Rather the opportunity arises from
and is inherent within the fact that one has received the priesthood of God.
President J. Reuben Clark Jr. wisely taught at the April 1951 general conference:
"In the service of the Lord, it is not where you serve but how. In [T]he
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one takes the place to which one
is duly called, which place one neither seeks nor declines" (in Conference
Report, Apr. 1951, 154).
When we serve righteously with all our heart, whatever the responsibility apportioned
to us, we are strengthening our priesthood link and connecting it ever more
securely to those who have preceded and who will follow us.
I bear solemn testimony of the Savior's divinity and atoning sacrifice and
of the restoration of His priesthood which we are privileged to bear—and
pray that every son and father participating in this meeting will determine
this night to serve the Lord by faithfully honoring the priesthood and firmly
connecting his personal link to the priesthood chain which will bind him, his
forefathers, and his posterity together throughout eternity. In the name of
Jesus Christ, amen.
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