Sermoncitos

Dr. Roy E Howard April 18, 2014

SERMONCITOS The Sermoncitos Tradition !In October, 1967, Edward L. Howard Jr. started a weekly sermoncito that has continued ever since. He wrote without fail every week until he passed on at age 90. The tradition has continued with other members of the family. "For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be

reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. 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" (2 Nephi 25:23,26). I have written a "Letter to my Children" in the old tradition of our family (my autobiography). You can download it to your computer and read it when you have time. Here is the link: http://www.cantos.org/ShakeIt.pdf

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Volume 1xxi page �1Easter Messages Sermoncitos

Dr. Roy E Howard,

The format of the messages we send our children has changed through the years. E. L. Howard Jr. typed on paper for many years, then on a computer. Nathan, Roy, and others continued sending sermoncitos in the original format by computer for several years and sent by email to subscribers. Now messages are shared on Facebook where all the world can share and more can contribute, including Martha Encalada, Emy Gabriela and Emy de Vera: News from Nathan, Roy's Ruminations, Photo Inspirations, Recipes, YouTube/drrhoward.

https://www.facebook.com/nathan.howard.79462

https://www.facebook.com/roy.howard.90

https://www.facebook.com/DiceEmyGabriela

https://www.facebook.com/LaCocinadeEmydeVera

http://www.youtube.com/drrhoward

http://www.cantos.org/ShakeIt.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/nathan.howard.79462

https://www.facebook.com/roy.howard.90

https://www.facebook.com/DiceEmyGabriela

https://www.facebook.com/LaCocinadeEmydeVera

http://www.youtube.com/drrhoward


Four Easter Messages

Roy E Howard

Come unto Christ and be redeemed. Jesus said, “the wages of sin is death”. I have a modern parable

that represents the consequence of sin to me. Suppose I buy about $100 of gasoline every month. On January I am short cash, so I buy $100 of gasoline with my credit card, thinking I will pay it back in February. Of course, in February I need another $100 worth of gas, plus $100 for January. I don’t have $200, so I buy gas with the credit card and make a payment on the card. They only ask for the minimum, so I pay $20. In March I get a bill for January and February gas plus interest, and since I don’t have $100 cash I buy March’s gas with the credit card. By December I have charged $1,200 to the card, paid only interest (the minimum) and still need $100 in gas for the next month. I now cannot get out of debt on my own. If I stop driving the car, my income stops and I can’t pay anything. My lack of judgement has brought upon me a burden too heavy to bear. I need help. Regarding the weight of sin, Jesus offered to carry our burdens. In fact, he is willing to pay the debt. Come unto me all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I will give you peace. Come unto me. Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name - hear ye him. 3 Nephi 11:7. Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. Moroni 10:32 Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth. 2 Nephi 2:6. !


Scriptures of Easter.

2 Nephi: 600 years before

Christ. Moroni: 1000

years later. 3 Nephi: Christ

appears after Resurrection.


We need a Savior for the Remission of Sins ! Lately I have been transplanting tree seedlings, filling in the bare

spots with trees for beauty, soil conservation, shelter, nuts, and berries. Sometimes I discover the hard truth about why no trees have grown – hidden beneath the surface soil is the sandstone formation of the mesa. I have seen large trees fall in the wind, exposing the nature of their shallow roots. They grow on shallow soil, sending roots into cracks in the rock, embracing the rock just as we embrace false hopes, and great is the fall thereof when

the winds of adversity rage about. A fallen tree, or one who has succumbed to the ravages of the bark beetle, is cut down and cast into the fire. The “bark beetles” of life are those little thoughts that get under our skin, mature, and are released as misdeeds that destroy us and those around us. Don’t let bad thoughts in; they are like the bark beetles that kill the trees; but they kill our souls. When I first moved to Vanderwagen, we called our place “Sagebrush Hill” for all the sagebrush growing there. In fact, it is so thick it seemed to be crowding out the young piñón, causing the branches to be distorted. I imagined the potential value of those piñón as Christmas tree sales; but I would have to root out the pesky sagebrush so the trees could grow straight. Fortunately, I gave it a second thought. I realized that all of the piñón seedlings were associated with sagebrush. There never were any seedlings surviving in the open. I don’t know the details of this symbiotic relationship; but I can now see the sagebrush as a protector, a nurturer, a nursery for the precious, slow-growing trees. I think that accepting the atonement is that simple. We want to be on our own, growing beautiful, full branched, and well proportioned, but we survive to the degree we accept the comfort and protection of the Savior’s embrace. He said, “how oft I would have gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks beneath


Council in Heaven Plan of Salvation We prayed for Christ to have strength as he suffered for our sins Now he prays for us that we might have strength to accept the atonement


her wings…” He wants to protect and comfort us. He can, because of the atonement. We can accept it through repentance, obedience, and baptism. We recognize and renew that acceptance each time we take the sacrament. We thus declare ourselves as disciples, willing to accept the atonement through obedience and service. “By their fruits ye shall know them” Those few piñón that survive and endure the harsh winters year after year are the ones that produce in abundance. The survivors are those who accept the saving grace of the sagebrush’s embrace. We all need a savior in so many aspects of our life. Brother Hansen saved my garden with his machines by doing things I had no power to do myself. Yet there is a greater power. We have all learned, who live in the desert, that we need rain to save our gardens; and the right temperatures at the right time; a very complex system upon which we are totally dependent. So it is in our spiritual life; we can learn the principles and follow the commandments, but we are totally dependent upon the grace of Christ and His intervention on our behalf.

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy without spot. Moroni 10:33. Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered. 2 Nephi 2:7. And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying: Behold, I am Jesus Christ whom the prophets testified shall come unto the world. And behold I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning. 3 Nephi 11:9-11. !



The Resurrection ! I have been astonished lately at the power innate in the human body for regeneration. In 1971 I suffered a severe back injury causing daily pain for over 20 years. During those years I tried every treatment I could buy and every therapy I could apply. I degenerated into an old man, crippled, unable to sit or walk. This week I planted, dug, hauled, and heaved, and even loaded and delivered an 800 pound piano without pain or injury. This medical miracle began in 1993 with a simple surgery to remove a herniated disk. I could not do this myself; I needed an intervention. That intervention changed one tiny spot on my body that allowed me to begin healing. If Dr. Martínez in Albuquerque can do that much for me, I know my Savior, who rose from the dead, can restore my body after I die. This cycle of regeneration repeats itself daily. When I get home late at night, tired and hungry, my wife applies remedies like food and sleep that stimulate my body to regenerate, so that by morning I am strong enough to do it all again. I cannot keep going without that intervention of nourishment and rest. I see this pattern repeated in eternal life; we are nourished by the good word of God, our bodies rest, then we are restored in the resurrection. In mainstream culture, Easter is springtime, the beginning of the growing season, the time of flowers on Temple Square, of cherry

blossoms in the Capital, of early morning gatherings on the park to look for chicken eggs left by a rabbit. At my house it was 20 degrees this morning. Any eggs left out last night would be hard frozen, not hard boiled! Yet, spring has really come to the high mesa. My chickens and ducks seem to believe that the winter of darkness has ended. Every one is laying eggs almost every day. The extra hours


James 5:16-20 Save by sharing !Hymn 195 How Great the Wisdom and the Love Preexistence Council in Heaven Blood sacrifice for sin


of sunlight have brightened their spirits and given them hope. The pastures are green, the desert flowers are blooming. I am finding tree seedlings all over my lot. Last winter my corn and everything else died. The cycle of life seen in nature teaches me that life is renewed. That which withers is buried in the frozen ground, comes back more glorious than ever.

. …there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise. 2 Nephi 2:8. Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the the prints of the nails in the hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world. 3 Nephi 11:14. And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead Moroni 10:34 !!!!!Mission to Bogotá “He is Risen” Discussions 4th discussion about the Atonment people get a testimony !Perfect Body My body gets more perfect every day since 1993 Power to regenerate !!!


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The Atonement and Resurrection ! My heart has been tender all this Easter Week as I pondered the love my Savior has for me. I see reminders of His condescension all around me in nature and in the messages I hear from the prophets and apostles, the special witnesses. We have a Heavenly Father. Jesus is his literal son. Jesus Christ is the creator of heaven and earth, the Savior of all mankind, and the God of every nation on the earth. This is their testimony to us, and through the power of the Holy Ghost, this is my witness to you. I am also humbled as I am reminded of my limitations and my need to be rescued constantly by the help of others, including thÒis week when the tongue of my trailer broke in half while I was driving 70 miles per hour down I-40. Several people had to help me this week do things I could not do for myself. I needed the intervention of those willing to be of service. I know my Savior, who rose from the dead, can restore my body after I die. We are happier when we accept our dependence upon God. “The Holy Messiah, layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.” 2 Nephi 2:8. We are nourished by the good word of God, our bodies rest, then we are restored in the resurrection. We need not doubt the reality of this resurrection, as there have been many witnesses. Jesus said to the people in Zarahemla, “arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the the prints of the nails in the hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.” 3 Nephi 11:14.≈ The cycle of life seen in nature teaches me that life is renewed. That which withers is buried in the frozen ground, comes back more glorious than ever. My mother’s sister, Varena Lambert,D lived a life of self sufficiency, resourcefulness, and service to others. Yet she, like my mother and my father’s sister, became dependent upon those she had served. It is true for all of us. If we live long enough, we don’t just become older and wiser, we become older and more dependent. If we are humble, we give others the



chance to be of service and we learn to accept the interventions of others; we learn to be dependent as part of our preparation to meet our God. Throughout history the Lord has relied upon the power of humility to bring His people back to Him. When Father Adam was cast out of the Garden of Eden into the lone and dreary world, it quickly became apparent to him that he needed to rely upon God for his survival. Likewise, Noah learned to be humble and rely upon the Lord to be saved at the time of the Flood. The people of Jared humbled themselves at the Tower of Babel and were sustained and guided by the Lord. King Benjamin worked for his own sustenance and reminded his people, “when you are in the service of your fellow being you are in the service of your God”. We sympathize with Mary, who had the terrible burden of burying her son; but we are encouraged that she accepted the support of others, as Jesus on the cross commended her care to his beloved disciples. All through the Book of Mormon we read of the cycle of pride and humility: pride causing sin, and the inevitable suffering bringing about the humility that puts the people back in touch with the Spirit and in the service of others. Then the Spirit of God leads them on the straight and narrow path that leads to the Plan of Happiness, Hozhººzhª Hoot’al¶g¶¶. The greatest blessing of the Atonement of Christ we celebrate this Easter, is forgiveness. Christ has the power to cleanse us from our sins as we accept His intervention for us through fai1th, repentance, baptism, and enduring to the end.ù It is my testimony that God lives and that Jesus Christ, whose Atonement and Resurrection we celebrate each Easter and each time we partake of the Sacrament, is our living Savior. I have received this powerful witness of the Spirit as I studied the Gospel and tried to live my covenants. I have learned by the Spirit that this is His church, led by living prophets, and endowed with power in the priesthood.


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