It is 15 minutes until Conference. We will have live updates of all the talks this weekend.
Pres Eyring conducts.
Choir sings “High on the Mountain Top.”
Invocation: Sis. Bonnie Lee Green Oscarson, YW General President.
Pres. Monson
90-year anniversary of radio broadcasts of Conference. Sixty-five year anniversary of TV broadcasts.
Past six months, one new temple dedicated. Ft. Lauderdale. One rededicated. Ogden, UT.
Temple building continues in earnest. Phoenix dedicated soon. Five in 2015. When all are done, 170 temples around the world. No new temple announcements right now.
Church continues to grow. More than 15 million people. Missionary efforts, 88,000 missionaries. Reaffirm that missionary work is a priesthood duty.
Pres. Packer
Family history, found an ancestor, John Packer. He shared with a chaplain the teachings of Church, showing him all of the references to the Savior.
“We preach of Christ.”
Through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we are redeemed from the Fall. The Savior brought the atonement, which provides a way for us to become clean. We recognize Him for the pain He suffered for us. He bore all with great humility. His merciful arm is outstretched still.
If He has not accomplished the Atonement, there would be no redemption. The mercy and grace of Jesus Christ are not limited to those who commit sin. His mercy is the might healer.
A woman wrote to him saying “somebody must pay for the wrong done to me.” The woman realized that somebody has already paid.
This conference is in 94 languages and by satellite to more than 100 countries. More than 3000 stakes, 88,000 missionaries, more than 15 million members. These numbers serve evidence that the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands continues to roll forth and will fill the Earth.
The truth success of the Gospel will be measured by the spiritual strength of its members. We want to strengthen the testimonies of the young and old, married and single.
We need the recent converts and the descendants of the pioneers. We need everyone’s wisdom and insight. Each member of the Church as an individual is a critical element in the body of the Church.
Each member serves as a testimony to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. We are all needed if we will succeed.
You might feel you are only one person, what can you do? Joseph Smith was just one person. Joseph knelt to pray, and marvelous things have come about.
Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy
Which way do you face? Don’t try to please others before trying to please God.
Peer pressure tries to change a person’s attitudes. But when the fear of men makes us condone sin, it becomes a snare. We cannot approve of something condemned by God.
Missionaries don’t report wrongs by other missionaries. When they realize they are accountable to God, not their companions, it helps them to figure out which way they face.
Martin Harris and 116 pages. Joseph Smith was rebuked for fearing man more than God. Joseph Smith remembered which way he faced.
You cannot be two-faced and serve two masters. The truth badge of courage is overcoming the fear of men.
Courage is the form of every virtue at the testing point. Mentions Pilate, King Noah, Saul, Aaron and the Golden Calf as people who feared men. The scriptures are full of such examples.
Nephi writes the things pleasing unto God, not the things pleasing unto the world. Capt. Moroni sought God’s glory. Prophets through the ages have always come under attack by the finger of scorn. The people are guilty, trying to reassure themselves.
Korihor said he always knew there was a God. Lowering standards to the world’s standards is apostasy.
4 Nephi. Many churches professed to know the Christ, but they denied His Gospel. Deja vu in the latter days.
People try to change church standards. Pressure on bishops. Bishops are called upon to boldly defend the temple standard. Can’t pollute the temple.
The Savior was the most fearless. He was confronted by accusers. He always remember which way he faced.
Always focused on His Father. In BoM and in NT. He was his father’s perfect disciple. To see the Son was to see the Father. He had become indistinguishable from His father.
Don’t aspire to the honors of men. Remember which way we face.
Cheryl A. Esplin of the Primary presidency
Sacrament. We must be wiling to take upon the name of Jesus Christ. We will put Him first in our lives. We will want what He wants.
We covenant to always remember Jesus Christ.
We are to take the Sacrament in remembrance of the Savior. We will always look to the Savior. We will remember to keep the commandments. “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
The Sacrament can be a healing and cleansing experience. The Spirit of the Sacrament can warm the soul from head to foot. Comfort and happiness come to the soul that is worthy.
Our wounded souls can be healed and renewed. The emblems remind us that He will always be our bread of life and living water.
When she takes the Sacrament she imagines the Savior opening His arms to accept her.
Why do you go to Church? It’s the Sacrament. I go to partake of the Sacrament.
Choir and congregation sing: “Guide Us Oh Thou Great Jehovah.”
(For the first time, a talk will be given at GC in a language other than English. It is in Cantonese!)
Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong of the Seventy
Story of Jesus healing the man with palsy. Four people carrying. Today: A man needs help. Four people visit: relief society, elder’s quorum, one missionary and one Aaronic Priesthood.
The bishop give out rescuing assignments. These four decided to rescue a man. The man was being brought to Jesus. There were obstacles to save the man. They did not leave the man by the door. How could they bring the man to Jesus?
The work was never too demanding. They came up with a plan. They acted on the plan. In the scriptures, they uncovered the roof. They brought him up to the roof. Today: the young man climbs up first (young and full of energy). The Elder’s Quorum helped from below. The RS president would have given words of encouragement. This rescue assignment requires everyone to work together. The four people would have to work in harmony and without discord. Every individual and every calling are important.
The paralyzed man was laid before Jesus. Jesus said: “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.” Jesus healed him physically and spiritually.
Wouldn’t we like that to happen to us too? Do we know anyone who is spiritually paralyzed. They cannot come back by themselves. It will be wise for bishops to make better use of ward and branch councils. Bring list of names of those who may need assistance.
“When Jesus saw THEIR faith.” Our faith involves our willingness to help others. We can all help one another. We should always be anxiously engaged in seeking to rescue those in need.
(I found this talk extremely touching. The Spirit really touched me during this talk).
Elder Christofferson.
Starts out with a joke by speaking in Spanish.
Who bears responsibility for what happens in our lives? We have a sense of entitlement. We try to shift responsibility to others or governments.
God wants us to be accountable for our own sins. It is His plan that we have the principle decision-making role in our live’s drama. He does not want us to be His puppets (Lucifer’s plan).
BY said he wants us to know for ourselves and understand for ourselves.
We cannot be saved as we are. God will not act to make us something that we do not choose by our actions to become.
The real manifestation of God’s love is His commandments.
Act for ourselves or face the consequences. The Gospel opens the path to what we may become. Our failures can be erased. Justice demands that none of this happen without our willing agreement and participation. We are on Earth because we made a choice. Salvation is not the result of divine whim.
God cannot be arbitrary in saving some and banishing others. He cannot look at sin with the least degree of allowance. Justice and mercy. It is because He is just that he derived the role of mercy.
We know that it is the sufferings of Him who did no sin that satisfies the call for justice. It is the requirement and opportunity for repentance that allows mercy to work.
Make repentance a condition for receiving grace. Repentance respects our moral agency.
A God that makes no demands is the equivalent of a God that does not exist. Moral relativism reigns supreme. Each person is his or her own god. Some people say they do not believe in right or wrong.
Freedom comes not from resisting God’s laws but from applying these laws.
Personal responsibility is a God-given gift. Allows us to achieve our full potential. We must defend accountability against persons and programs that would make us dependent.
Man would not work. He wanted to be taken care of. Church or government owed him a living because he had paid his taxes and tithing. He would not lift a finger to sustain himself. Take him to a cemetery. Pity on him. Give him corn. The man said, “have the husks been removed?” The man did not even want to do this.
We must exert ourselves, repent and choose God.
President Uchtdorf
Not speaking in German. Jokes that his English sounds like German.
Starts out with story of himself as an airline pilot. Saw the sky. Worlds without number. People once thought our galaxy was the only one. Now people know that the universe is bigger than anyone believed. Many galaxies, many stars.
The universe did not change, our ability to understand the truth (that there are many galaxies) changed.
Mankind saw things that it had never imagined before.
Suppose you talked to people 1000 or 100 years ago. Describe modern technologies. Stories of jumbo jets, microwave ovens, cell phones, videos of our grandchildren. Some would believe, others would ridicule. Some might try to claim that logic dictates that these things don’t exist.
These people would be mistaken. They might be sincere, but they would not be able to see clearly because they have no yet received the more complete light of truth.
Mankind assumes it is right even when it is wrong. What hope is there for any of us? Conflicting information from our own biases. Is it possible to find truth?
God himself, the Lord of Hosts who knows all truth has given his children the promise that they can know truth for themselves. The creator will speak to those who approach him with a sincere heart and with real intent. He will speak in a way that transcends human experience.
There will be those who scoff. But God cares about you. He will answer your personal questions in His own way and His own time. You need to learn to listen to His voice.
First, you must search the word of God. Read the scriptures and read from the modern prophets, not with an intent to doubt or criticize, but with a sincere desire to discover truth. Prepare your mind to receive the truth. Let the desire to believe work in you.
Second, you must be grateful to how merciful the Lord has been. He has provided prophets to show the way.
Third, ask God to manifest in Jesus’ name the truth to you. Ask with a sincere heart and with real intent and faith in Christ.
Four. Do God’s will. When you are trying to verify the truth of Gospel principles, you must first live them. Put the doctrines to the test in your own life.
If you will do these things, you have a promise that He will manifest the truth to you through the power of the Holy Ghost. You will see glorious vistas incomprehensible to mortal sight.
This testimony is the most important thing you can learn in this life.
He that receiveth light receives more light. When you incline toward God, you indicate your desire to receive more light. Things that were remote and hazy become more clear to us. If you remove ourselves from the Gospel, our own light dims. Things that were once clear become blurred, hazy and distant.
Everybody welcome at Church. Not just for perfect people, for all to come unto Christ and be perfected in Him. The Church is a place of welcoming. Uplift and sustain one another. Do not condemn others for the amount of light we may or may not have.
Spiritual truth will be light to your heart. The unspeakable presence of the spirit of God will cause you to raise your voice to the most high God. If you seek you will find.
(Great talk by Pres. Uchtdorf. Must be read and re-read).