Text in quotes are from the talk being noted, unless otherwise indicated. Text without quotes are my own commentary.
Elder Russell M Nelson, Be Thou an Example of the Believers
“We need more missionaries—more worthy missionaries. During His earthly ministry, the Lord told His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.’” (Luke 10:2)
Each member can be an example of the believers. Brethren, as followers of Jesus Christ, each of you can live in accord with His teachings. You can have “a pure heart and clean hands”; you can have “the image of God engraven upon your [countenance].”(Alma 5:19) Your good works will be evident to others.(Matthew 5:16; Alma 7:24) The light of the Lord can beam from your eyes.(Doctrine and Covenants 88:11) With that radiance, you had better prepare for questions. The Apostle Peter so counseled, “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.”(1 Peter 3:15)
“You may invite your friend to attend church with you. Many of our friends do not know they are welcome in our Church buildings. “Come and see” was the Savior’s invitation to those who desired to learn more about Him.”
Elder Patrick Kearon, “Come unto Me with Full Purpose of Heart, and I Shall Heal You”
“As a seven-year-old boy living in the Arabian Peninsula, I was consistently told by my parents to always wear my shoes, and I understood why.”
“I wanted to go exploring, but I did not want to bother with putting on my shoes. I rationalized...” “...I wore flip-flops. I told myself that flip-flops were shoes...”
“I had known that when my parents told me to wear shoes, they did not mean flip-flops; I was old enough to know that flip-flops did not provide the same protection as a pair of shoes. But that morning in the desert, I disregarded what I knew to be right. I ignored what my parents had repeatedly taught me. I had been both lazy and a little rebellious, and I paid a price for it.”
Doctrine and Covenants 121:37, 38
37That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to acover our bsins, or to gratify our cpride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or ddominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens ewithdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.
38Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to akick against the pricks, to bpersecute the saints, and to cfight against God.
John 3:17
17 For God asent not his Son into the world to bcondemn the world; but that the world through him might be csaved.
"Sent not his son to condemn the world...that they might be saved."
Elder Juan A. Uceda, He Teaches Us to Put Off the Natural Man
Mosiah 3:19
19 For the anatural bman is an cenemy to God, and has been from the dfall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he eyields to the enticings of the Holy fSpirit, and gputteth off the hnatural man and becometh a isaint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a jchild, ksubmissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
Doctrine and Covenants 121:41-42
41 No apower or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the bpriesthood, only by cpersuasion, by dlong-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
42 By akindness, and pure bknowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the csoul without dhypocrisy, and without eguile—
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Pride and the Priesthood
Pride is a sin of self-elevation. We violate the two great commandments. Pride is a Rameumptom (See Alma 31).
“He explained also how gracious the members of the Church are, especially to General Authorities. He said, ‘They will treat you very kindly. They will say nice things about you.’ He laughed a little and then said, ‘Dieter, be thankful for this. But don’t you ever inhale it.’
“That is a good lesson for us all, brethren, in any calling or life situation. We can be grateful for our health, wealth, possessions, or positions, but when we begin to inhale it—when we become obsessed with our status; when we focus on our own importance, power, or reputation; when we dwell upon our public image and believe our own press clippings—that’s when the trouble begins; that’s when pride begins to corrupt.”
Alma 32:16
16 Therefore, blessed are they who ahumble themselves without being bcompelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without cstubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.
Elder Henry B. Eyring, Serve with the Spirit
“Now, we all know that confirmation into the Church gave us the gift of the Holy Ghost. But the companionship of the Holy Ghost, the manifestations of it in our life and service, requires us to put our lives in order to qualify.”
“But reading, studying, and pondering are not the same. We read words and we may get ideas. We study and we may discover patterns and connections in scripture. But when we ponder, we invite revelation by the Spirit. Pondering, to me, is the thinking and the praying I do after reading and studying in the scriptures carefully.”
Doctrine and Covenants 138:11
11 As I apondered over these things which are bwritten, the ceyes of my dunderstanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord erested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the fdead, both small and great.
President Thomas S. Monson, The Three Rs of Choice
“We know that we had our agency before this world was and that Lucifer attempted to take it from us. He had no confidence in the principle of agency or in us and argued for imposed salvation. He insisted that with his plan none would be lost, but he seemed not to recognize—or perhaps not to care—that in addition, none would be any wiser, any stronger, any more compassionate, or any more grateful if his plan were followed.”
There were at least two speakers that touched on the topic of agency in this conference.
2 Nehpi 2:27
27 Wherefore, men are afree according to the bflesh; and call things are dgiven them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to echoose fliberty and eternal glife, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be hmiserable like unto himself.
"I do not overlook the holy scriptures, written by mariners who successfully sailed the seas we too must cross."
“Unlike Alice, we all know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for by choosing our path, we choose our destination.”
“Brother Christensen has said that as time has passed, he considers it one of the most important decisions he ever made. It would have been very easy to have said, “You know, in general, keeping the Sabbath day holy is the right commandment, but in my particular extenuating circumstance, it’s okay, just this once, if I don’t do it.” However, he says his entire life has turned out to be an unending stream of extenuating circumstances, and had he crossed the line just that once, then the next time something came up that was so demanding and critical, it would have been so much easier to cross the line again. The lesson he learned is that it is easier to keep the commandments 100 percent of the time than it is 98 percent of the time.”
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