General Conference Afternoon April 2, 2011 2-4
Conducting: Dieter F Uchtdorf
Music: Combined choir from BYU Idaho
Song: How Firm a Foundation
Sustaining Vote
Release: 34 of the 1st quorum,
Sustaining: 7 of first seventy, 4 of second seventy, 41 for the area seventy
Statistics:
2896 Stakes
340 Missions
28,616 Wards & branches
14,131,467 members
120528 children born
52225 missionaries
4 temples built & rededicated
134 temples worldwide
Song: How Great the Wisdom and the Love
Boyd K. Packer President Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Martyrdom of Joseph Smith Jr.
Take upon you the name of Christ
Become part of the church
Build upon My Gospel (Christ’s)
WE ARE THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS
Others may call us Mormon, however, members should identify our religion by its official and full name. Or as Latter-day Saints
The world will refer to us as they will, but we belong to The Church of Jesus Christ.
Anciently Christ ordained 12 Apostles and when He died, then He rose and went to Heaven and visited His other sheep.
Apostles then in power with the Holy Ghost. After they were martyred the authority of God was taken from the world.
1829 Priesthood was restored to Joseph Smith and Oliver Coudry by Peter, James, and John.
Prophecy, Revelation, Holy Ghost were all restored to the world.
Word of Wisdom, all who follow this shall receive health to their navel and marrow to their bones. The apostles know this to be true, and I know this church is true therefore this teaching is true. Tobacco Products, Coffee, and Tea are not of the Lord and not for the human body.
Marriage is also ordained of God; it is not an option or lifestyle.
Turning away from Christ is like a man taking a club and hitting himself over the head for all his life, it only inflicts pain on himself. Do not turn from Christ and hurt only yourself.
We do not curse, we do not steal, we follow the 13th article of faith:
We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous and in doing good to all men. Indeed we say that we follow the admonition of Paul; We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely of good report or praise worthy, we seek after these things.
If someone is looking for an easy religion this is not the one, but it is the whole truth.
Russell M. Nelson Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Death is part of Life
We live to die, and we die to live again.
The only death premature is of one who is not ready to meet God.
All the future holds in store will be shaped by parents, friends, families, and teachers.
Our faith will also shape the ideas and lives of our future families.
The enormous risks of life will ever be present. We live in a time of turmoil, and distress. Nevertheless we do not let our fears displace our faith.
Start with children and strengthen their faith, let them feel your faith. Let your faith be focused and strong for your children to lean on when they grow weak.
Teach that this life is a time of testing and trying to see if we will do what the Lord commands us to do. The Lord tests His children to bring them blessings and joy. –We do not pick and choose commandments the Lord has, it leads to misery.
To be near to God, it takes keeping all of His commandments.
Obedience allows God’s blessings to flow without restraint. He will bless them with more light in their lives as they do as he commands. These are not bonds to hold you back, these are saving arms keeping you away from evil that will wrap you in chains.
God’s angels are ever around us, trying to tell us to do what is right and to hold you up. When we are faithful, He and His angels will help us.
Unfailing faith is fortified through prayer. Prayer is sooo important. Prayer is the way in which we speak to God and he wants to hear from us, even if it is to only ask for things.
D&C 98: Your prayers are recorded in Heaven.
All things to which you have been afflicted shall be for your good. All hard times in life, all sorrow and pain is for your own good. Just believe that He is with you and He is.
Tithing takes faith.
If you pay tithing the blessings of Heaven will pour upon you to where you cannot receive it. And you need faith enough to do this because the days ahead are hard. And those who follow the lord are persecuted; they will be punished by man for following Christ, but if you have faith, you will know God loves you and it is worth it to die for God, than to die without him.
We have been saved to come to the earth for this day, to be a light and a savior unto all the world. We all hold this divine responsibility to save those around us. If there was a person on the railroad tracks and the train was coming, would you not warn them of the danger? You would!
The greatest of all the blessings of the priesthood are in the Holy Temples.
We do not fight life’s battles alone; the Lord God is with us.
Though the storm clouds gather, though the rain pours down, our love of the Lord will hold us and sustain us. Fear NOT, be of GOOD CHEER, your future is as bright as your FAITH.
God is our Father, Jesus is the Christ, and faith will help us to overcome fear and life.
Congregational Song: Press Forward Saints
Richard J. Maynes of the Seventy
The Doctrine of the Family, Families can be together FOREVER
Heavenly Father is the Father of our spirits. We are His offspring and He loves us.
“I am a Child of God” a Primary Song, it is proclaiming truth through such a simple song.
The family is fundamental to the order of Heaven.
Understanding the nature of the family is essential to understanding the Lord’s plan, which is the Plan of Salvation. Satan knows this and he uses greed, anger, and pornography which damn the soul and shatter family.
God’s plan is also known as the Great Plan of Happiness.
“The Family is ordained of God”
The Family: A Proclamation to the World is the document of which he is referring.
Daily Prayer and Scripture Study, it was not easy, or convenient, or effective sometimes but it was worth it.
There is great protection in us and our youth when we learn, teach, and practice the gospel of Christ in our homes. It will teach us to put the needs of others before our own.
Parents are responsible to teach their children in love and righteousness. Parents teach their children with words, and through example. “It was a grown up sheep that left the ninety and nine … when the sheep go wrong it won’t take long for the lambs to go astray” –Find that poem it sounds really good!
When parents do not teach their children right and wrong; then the sins of the children fall upon the parents.
Families can be like ropes, when only one is doing what is right, then the family cannot do what is right, everyone must work together to be strong, like rope which is made of three strands of rope all wound together which then gets the job done. Families can become like a strong rope when parents, children, and siblings all work together.
Do whatever it takes to make a Christ centered home.
Cecil O. Samuelson Jr. of the Seventy
How is your testimony?
Who can have a testimony? Everyone who is willing to pay the price, which is following the commandments of Christ.
How does one obtain revelation and what does it take to get it? Listen, Read and Study Answers for your questions. Ask sincerely and have faith that the Lord will answer, the Lord will answer your questions.
Is a testimony an ongoing process? Yes, if you do not use your testimony it will be lost and possibly diminish. If you do share your testimony to others, then it will grow and the more you share the more it grows, and soon it is strong.
God wants us to succeed, and grow up to be good. So we must be patient, because things do not happen in our time, but in the Lord’s time.
Our purpose of life is to be tested and stretched.
Things you know must hold you up as you face the world.
Just because something is easy does not mean it is true, truth is often uncomfortable and requires change on our part.
PRAY, SCRIPTURE, GOSPEL STUDY, GO TO MEETING, TEMPLE ATTENDANCE, VISITING TEACH/HOME TEACHING.
Do not let other people’s difficulties let us slack on our own.
The atonement works in our lives when we allow it to.
We gain testimonies because of what we do.
If you love me keep my commandments John 14:15
God lives, and loves us.
Dallin H. Oaks Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The desires we act on will shape us
Basic Desires: satisfy needs compel our choices and determine our actions
1. Food, but sometimes that desire can be overridden by the desire to fast
2. Shelter, but to fulfill a desire to camp outside
3. Sleep, overridden by an even more important desire
Story: His combat story. Overcoming the desire for sleep. The captain wanted to make sure the soldiers would stay awake so that everyone would stay alive.
Priorities and Desires
Parents, Teachers, and Church Leaders
If your desires are righteous the lord will grant that desire because of our faith.
Faith can begin with no more than a desire to believe.
If thou desire faith, and repent of sins, and call on God believing He will receive, it shall be done unto Him. Then your prayer will be answered unto your good.
The Lord always answers, sometimes He says, No, Yes, or Not now, but later.
Are we prepared to have our eternal judge to attach blessings to what we desire.
He that seeks me shall find me. Seek ye earnestly the best gifts.
Seek ye diligently and ye shall find me.
We all desire Property, Prominence, and Power, we should desire them but not be our first priorities.
Soldier cut off his own arm to live and progress to his destiny.
Likewise we must cut and carve ourselves from unrighteous actions.
Overcome the evil desires of our lives, and lose all desire for sin. Only they alone can decide to give away all sins to get to know God.
More is still required, forgive all that wrong them, put others before them, and love all of God’s children.
All should desire and seek to secure a marriage for eternity. Exert priority to obtain it.
Do not forget the eternal command to marry a righteous help mate.
Both men and women need righteous desires that will lead them to eternal life.
Priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. And our actions define who we are as people.
M. Russell Ballard Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
All things bare record of Christ
There is a world of demand, confusion, concern.
It can wear us down. How do we find peace of mind and happiness?
Story 1849 Young Business man who sold his fortune and went to California to find gold.
Son, it seems to me you are so busy looking for large nuggets that you do not see the importance of these tiny gold flecks. BY small and simple things can great things be brought to pass.
The gospel is simple, no matter how we try to complicate it.
What are the gold flecks in our lives that bring great gifts?
In the gospel there are many.
The entire gospel can be encompassed in this one principal:
Master what is the great commandment in the Law: Thou shalt love the lord thy God with all thy hear, might, mind and mind. The second is to love thy neighbor like thy self.
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you.
1. Charity begins at home. Practice the golden rule. Do ye unto them as they should do unto you. Serve this in Family and Church. It bonds both the helpers and the helpees. Also serve in our Communities we can help those in our home cities.
Kindness is in essence greatness. It softens hearts and molds greatness
Missionary Service-the future growth of church will not happen just by knocking on doors, it works best when member with love will reach out to others, to try to bring them to know the lord that loves them. It requires the service of every member.
IT IS VITAL THAT WE SERVE EACH OTHER
The needs of others are ever present.
2. PRAY WITH ALL ENERGY OF HEART. Be pillars of light for others. Strive to become like Him, and help others that are trying just as we are. It will give you a piece of love and peace. From our simple acts of compassionate service.
Song: Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise
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