President Eyring will be conducting this meeting. President Monson presides.
Music is provided by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
President Eyring: Welcome to the Sunday morning session.
Choir:
Opening Prayer :
Choir: “Love is Spoken Here”
(My internet went out at the beginning of Conference. I will update the choir song and who said the opening prayer later).
I greet you most warmly. I would like to announce five new temples built: Brasilia, Brazil, Manila, Philippines, Nairobi, Kenya, Pocatello, Id, Saratoga Springs, Utah.
A strong testimony of the Savior and the Gospel will help us through to safety. If you are not reading the BoM each day, please do so. It is true. I solemnly testify that it is. Joseph Smith was a prophet. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. If you do not have a firm testimony of these things, do that which is necessary to obtain one.
You need your own testimony. Your testimony needs to be kept vital and alive through daily prayer and keeping the commandments and scripture study. Ponder the BoM each day. You will hear the voice of the Spirit, overcome doubt and fear.
I so testify with all my heart.
Joy D. Jones, Primary General Presidency:
We honor children. These children feel HF’s love and seek to obey his will.
There are children who are being wounded, attacked by the fiery darts of the adversary.
Bruce R. McConkie: “We are at war. The cause of Christ to fight against Lucifer. No neutrals in this war.”
Our children are on the front lines facing the opposing forces. Fortify children to become sin resistant.
Teach children the doctrine of repentance, faith and baptism. Pray and walk uprightly before the Lord.
1)We must understand our and their divine identity to help children know who they are and why they are here.
2)Understand the doctrine of repentance. Be sin resistant. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. Stripling Warriors carried Christ-like virtue as weapons. The call to courage comes every day in our lives. Our children done spiritual armor.
3)Begin at very early ages. Scriptures and articles and faith, strength of youth, primary songs and hymns, our own testimonies that will lead to the Savior. FHE, Sabbath worship, spiritual integrity.
Our children deserve to understand what true integrity is. Keep and make sacred covenants. Keeping commitments prepares people to make and keep sacred covenants. There is unusual power in making and keeping covenants. This is another key.
How do we prepare children to make and keep covenants? Must teach them to keep promises. A succession of small kept promises leads to integrity.
Line upon line, precept upon precept, we help children taste success in small bites. The consummate reward of integrity is the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.
Hold your little ones close. Children are great imitators. We are helping to teach and raise a sin-resistant generation.
Yoon Hwan Choi of the Seventy:
I was baptized at 16. 14 year old brother introduced me. Each of ten members belonged to a different church. My father was the most excited to learn and share the truth. Went with the missionaries to visit people. 23 members of my family became members of the Church. 130 people were baptized thanked to member missionary work. Also did family history. 32 generations of family history.
Tremendous obligation to pass on all I have received to generations coming after me. We are all in the middle of an eternal family. Our role is essential. Don’t be a weak link in the generations. How can we assure we will be a strong link?
Don’t criticize other members in Church. But members are not perfect. Do not lose your faith because of the people around you. Look to the Savior. Don’t look around — look up.
Go out in the rain, look to heaven, open your mouth, drink it. A symbolic lesson. Look up when you face challenges.
It is not easy to recognize the love of HF when we look around with our temporal eyes. On the other hand, we can see the blessings beyond when we look up. If you serve God, you are a connection to those who came before you and those who come after.
May we ever choose the hard right rather than the easy wrong. Look up. Jesus’ arms are always open to you. It is not always easy to look up when your friends are not members, when your spouse is not a member, when a child has strayed, when you are a single parent, and so on. Hold onto your faith in the hard times. Look up to Christ. Through the power of Jesus Christ, all things will work together for your good. When we follow President Monson, we look up to Jesus Christ.
The Spirit confirms the truths taught at this conference. From latter-day revelation, we know the Godhead is three beings, HF, JC and the HG. The HG has not a body of flesh and bones but is a personage of spirit.
My message focuses on the importance of the HG in our lives.
Our HF knew we would face temptations. The HG binds us to the Lord. He inspires, testifies, teaches and testifies of the Lord. We must recognize His influence in our lives and respond. Joy that fills our souls. Peace among heartache. Expands our love for the Lord and all God’s children.
When we take the Sacrament, we make a covenant to always remember the Lord Jesus Christ. We may always have his spirit to be with us. 1)Live worthy of the Spirit. The HG accompanies those who remember the Lord. 2)We must be willing to receive the Spirit. He stuck his foot in the door as a missionary. Felt the Spirit. One person in the house did have interest. Both the mom and daughter joined the Church. 136 people have been baptized because of that decision. He listened to the Spirit and stuck his foot in the door. 3)We must recognize the Spirit when it comes. It comes as a feeling. Example of Elijah. The Lord is in the still, small voice. Example of Latam trip. He felt prompted to visit victims of an earthquake. The prompting would not go away. It was difficult to get to the cities, but they made it. The people filled the stake centers. People had lost loved ones and neighbors in the earthquake.
He felt prompted to speak to them as JC had done in the Americas. He blessed the children.
4)We must act on the first prompting. Nephi. We must be confident in our first promptings. We wonder if it is an impression from the spirit or our own thoughts. If you will listen to the first promptings you will get it right nine times out of 10. You are about the work of the still, small voice. Missionaries must act on first promptings.
Be a first responder. The Lord requires just as an immediate response. If we pray that we are ready, he will call on us to respond. We will be on the Lord’s errand. We will become spiritual first responders.
May we take seriously the Lord’s call to be of good cheer. He leads us by the HG.
Choir: “Come Ye Children of the Lord.”
L. Whitney Clayton of the Seventy:
Bible: Wedding hosts ran out of wine. “Whatsoever he sayeth unto you, do it.” Jesus filled the water pots with water and then turned them to wine. Mary was a precious and chosen vessel. She knew more about him than anyone else on Earth. She knew Him. She knew He could solve problems. She had unshakeable confidence in Him. “Whatsoever he sayeth unto you, do it.”
Jesus’ birth: Mary would do what God asked without demanding to know specifics. She committed herself without knowing details. She accepted God’s words unconditionally. “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord.”
When we decide to do whatsoever God sayeth to us, we follow God’s will. Over time, simple habits of belief lead to miraculous results. Transform our faith to a dynamic force of good in our lives. God shores up our weaknesses.
Bishop: issues of members: WoW, employment, pornography, understanding Church policy, helping marriage. His counsel said getting back to simple acts of faith. People were frequently skeptical. What does doing any of those things have to do with individual issues. Those who are deliberate about doing the small and simply things are blessed with faith and strength that go far beyond the acts of obedience themselves. It may seem hard to draw a connection between the little daily habits of faith and the big problems, but they are related.
Small acts of faith bless us in all we do.
Naman. Leper. All he had to do to be healed was to wash in the river Jordan seven times. A simple thing. Naman found the suggestion offensive. Did not make sense. Left in a rage. Naman’s servants said if you are willing to do a great thing, why not do a small thing. Naman went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan river, and was miraculously healed.
Adam’s sacrifice: “I know not, but the Lord has commanded me.” God will always bless us for our steadfast obedience to the Gospel and the Church, but he rarely shows us the timetable in advance. We should not expect easy answers or quick fixes. Simple daily practices of faith. Real obedience accepts God’s conditions in advance. We must fill our own water pots up to the brim. When we follow Him, like water to wine our lives are transformed. Trust in the Lord. Do it.
We believe in HF, JC and the HG. What we believe is different than the rest of the Christian world. We don’t believe in the Trinity. JS says two beings, HF and JC.
The effort to know God began before mortality and will not be concluded here. We build on the knowledge we acquired in the premortal spirit world. Isaiah: “To whom then will ye liken God….have you not known…have you not understood from the foundations of the Earth?”
The three members of the Godhead are separate and distinct beings. The Father and son have bodies. The HG is a personage of spirit. Any person that has seen the heavens open knows that there are three persons in the heavens, and one presides over all. God the first, the creator, god the second, the redeemer, and god the third, the testator. HG is the witness.
In the premortal world, we wanted to advance. The world was created. We could prove our willingness to keep his commandments through the other challenges. We would suffer spiritual death, be soiled by sin and become subject to physical death. The plan helped us overcome all of these barriers.
Roles of the three members of the Godhead: HF: While we know comparatively little about Him, what we know is decisive. In the final sense of the word, there is only one true and living God. Creator and ruler of the universe. He is the God and Father of JC as well as all of us. Behind and above and over all, there is God the Father, Lord of heaven and Earth. JC’s ministry was to reveal to mortals what God is like, the true nature of HF. JC was the express image of His Father’s person. He is the father of our spirits.
JC: The first born among all the sons of God, first begotten in the spirit and only begotten in the flesh. He was chosen to carry out HF’s plan. Create worlds without number. The Atonement is the central act of all human history. “This is my beloved Son, hear him.” Jehovah speaks to and through the prophets. He is the God of the whole Earth.
The HG is the member of the godhead who is an agent of personal revelation. Communicator between the Father and the Son. The Comforter will teach us all things. Helps us through the challenges of mortality. Means that we are sanctified.
If we understand this, we know who we are and what we can become. The plan of salvation challenge us to become something, not just know something.
Choir: “Dearest Children, God is Near You.”
President Monson, we will always take to heart your words of counsel. We love you and pray for you.
Years ago in Germany, a sister approached me. “Four or five people were asleep during your talk.” “I am pretty sure that church sleep is among the healthiest of all sleeps.” His wife liked the answer.
The Great Awakening. Awaken the people regarding spiritual matters. Joseph Smith was influenced. He sought the will of the Lord. These preachers talked about the fiery terrors of hell. Their speeches did not put people to sleep, but they may have caused a few nightmares. Frighten people into church.
Marketers also use fear in the commercial world. We sometimes use similar methods to get others to do what we want. Contemplate and consider the extent that we use fear to motivate others. There is a better way.
It is true that fear can have a powerful influence, but that influence tends to be temporary and shallow. Will not change our hearts. People who are fearful may say and do things that are right, but they do not feel the right things. People may exercise unrighteous dominion. We may condemn bullying in others but cannot see it in ourselves. The Lord has said that when we exercise control or dominion, the heavens withdraw themselves and the spirit of the Lord is grieved. We may say the end justifies the means.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, joy, faith, meekness and temperance. HF inspires and leads not through fear but he mentors us, exalts us, leads us to His fulness. Our HF’s love surpasses our ability to comprehend it. He wants to change more than our behaviors — he wants to change our natures, our hearts. He wants us to take hold of the iron rod, confront our fears. This is the way to happiness.
How does God motivate us to follow Him? He sent his son. Show us the right way. Persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, love unfeigned. He is our mentor, our great and cherished hope. Stimulate us with faith. Make correct choices. This is the better way.
Don’t be fearful. God has given us an abundance of better choices. Be not afraid, be of good cheer, fear not little flock. We are the Saints of the latter days. Look forward to the Savior’s return. Prepare ourselves and the world to receive Him. Don’t look down on other people. We are charged with studying the word of God, that we may know the signs of the times. We are not unaware of the difficulties of the times. We should not burden ourselves or others with constant fear. Focus on the infinite greatness of our God. We need not be paralyzed by fear because bad things might happen. Move forward with faith.
Christ’s perfect love allows us to walk with dignity as followers of our Savior. We can press through our fears, place our trust in the power and goodness of our HF and JC. Let us replace fear with Christ’s perfect love. Replace fear with faith.
Choir: “High on the Mountain Top.”
Closing Prayer: Richard J. Maynes of the Seventy
Participants
Presiding – President
Conducting – President
Choir –
Opening Prayer –
Talk – Speaker 1 –
Talk – Speaker 2 –
Talk – Speaker 3 –
Rest Hymn –
Talk – Speaker 4 –
Talk – Speaker 5 –
Talk – Speaker 6 –
Talk – Speaker 7 –
Talk – Speaker 8 –
Choir –
Closing Prayer –