Follow the Prophet

Introduce Me and the Family

• I am David, married to Rachael for 23 years.
• Moved into the Massaponax Ward from Alabama over 8 years ago. Although we have lived in 3 different homes here, this the is the longest place we’ve lived as a married couple.
• We have 5 boys ranging in age from 21 to 8.
• We have one daughter who is 2 and a half.

Introduce the Topic

Just over a week ago I was substitute teaching Seminary, and the lesson was about Samuel the Lamanite and his message to the people of Zarahemla. Before getting into any scriptures the lesson lead with the question: Why do some people not listen to prophets?

A question posed this way, about these hypothetical “some people”, leads to very academic answers. The question becomes more informative when we ask instead why do “you”, and why do “I”, not listen to our prophet? I invite you during my talk to ask this question of yourself as well.

Towards the end of the lesson we discussed our recent General Conference. I asked about some of the things President Nelson had talked about or encouraged us to do. I had a couple of things that had stood out to me and was looking for those as answers. And I was hoping to then discuss what would keep us from following our prophet’s counsel. And then Anika brought up a theme from President Nelson’s Sunday morning talk, to “Let God Prevail.” This was a theme I had not given much thought to.

And I suddenly learned for myself one of many reasons I don’t always listen to the prophet. I remember hearing the theme of this talk, but I did not really hear it. And even beyond this, our Prophet gives us many messages through the year outside of General Conference. I admit I don’t pay much attention to these other messages. How can I follow the prophet’s counsel if I do not seek it out?

I spent the rest of my day pondering the question I first asked at 6 am that morning, acknowledging further deficiencies within myself and deciding on a couple of specific things I will do about it. And then late afternoon my phone rings and I see it is Brother Chong. He asked me to speak today about anything that stood out to me in the last General Conference. And I instantly knew what I would speak about. I wanted to find all the things our Prophet had invited us to do.

President Nelson’s Invitations

Going through President Nelson’s talks I was struck by the number of invitations for us to act, to do something. The variety of the ways he chose to invite us with was also striking. A quick list sorted by my own estimations of the seriousness of his tone:

• I invite you, my dear brothers and sisters…
• I encourage you to…
• I call upon our members everywhere…
• We have been charged to…
• I urge you…
• I plead with you…
• Brothers and sisters, please listen carefully to what I am about to say…

In addition to these phrases, a few times he posed a question. And then he answered the question with specific actions for us to take.

I want to go through what I found, but I will try to be brief with each one, and for the most part let the Prophet’s own words stand for themselves.

I know my list of things our prophet is asking us to do is not complete. But I found well over 20 while preparing for this talk. And I will never be able to capture all the messages and specific invitations for improvement that came to millions of us through the Holy Ghost.

Saturday Evening Session

Our prophet, President Nelson asked:

“How are we to deal with both the somber prophecies and the glorious pronouncements about our day? The Lord told us how with simple, but stunning, reassurance: ‘If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.’”

He then spoke of specific ways we should be prepared and what kind of preparation:

“I urge you to take steps to be temporally prepared. But I am even more concerned about your spiritual and emotional preparation.”

He spoke how we can prepare by creating places of security. He mentioned the home, the stakes of Zion, and the temple. He then makes a couple of clear invitations:

“Simply said, a place of security is anywhere you can feel the presence of the Holy Ghost and be guided by Him.

“I invite you, my dear sisters, to create a home that is a place of security. And I renew my invitation for you to increase your understanding of priesthood power and of temple covenants and blessings.”

President Nelson then moved to speaking about preparing our minds to be faithful to God. Here I counted 7 specific actions for us to take:

• Increase our faith by seeking “learning, even by study and also by faith”
• Keep his commandments
• Always remember him
• Exercise our faith in Him. (He points out that putting our faith into action and seeing the results is what “learning by faith” means.)
• Immerse ourselves in the Book of Mormon
• Yoke ourselves to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ

President Nelson concluded his Saturday Evening talk with the counsel to never stop preparing.

Sunday Morning Session

The title of President Nelson’s Sunday morning talk is “Let God Prevail”. The theme Anika had brought up in Seminary. I remember thinking that the interpretation of Israel being “Let God Prevail” was interesting, but not until reading it again did I see the invitations to action.

“Thus the very name of Israel refers to a person who is willing to let God prevail in his or her life. That concept stirs my soul!

“The word willing is crucial to this interpretation of Israel. We all have our agency. We can choose to be of Israel, or not.

“This premillennial gathering is an individual saga of expanding faith and spiritual courage for millions of people. And as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or ‘latter-day covenant Israel,’ we have been charged to assist the Lord with this pivotal work.”

So, what the name Israel means is not just an interesting factoid. For us to be the latter-day covenant Israel, we must be doing the work of the Lord. In fact, as President Nelson points out, we have been charged to assist the Lord in His work.

Speaking on this topic of covenant Israel later in this talk he gives us another specific action we can take:

“As you study your scriptures during the next six months, I encourage you to make a list of all that the Lord has promised He will do for covenant Israel. I think you will be astounded! Ponder these promises. Talk about them with your family and friends. Then live and watch for these promises to be fulfilled in your own life.”

So many verbs in that small paragraph! Study, make a list, ponder, talk, live, watch.

Also, in the Sunday morning talk, President Nelson spoke about some current events. On a particular subject he uses, in my belief, his strongest words:

“Brothers and sisters, please listen carefully to what I am about to say. God does not love one race more than another. His doctrine on this matter is clear. He invites all to come unto Him…”

He continues…

“Today I call upon our members everywhere to lead out in abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice. I plead with you to promote respect for all of God’s children.”

I certainly hope nobody here believes they are better than anyone else. And I especially hope any such attitude is not based on any immutable attribute; things we were born with, have no control of, and cannot change even if we wanted to. That includes race and ethnicity, but also the religion you are raised in, or even if you were born in an inner city, on a farm, or in an affluent suburb. There are many factors that we get born into and have no control over.

I believe, and I certainly hope, that we do in fact all recognize that all are children of God and deserve to be treated with respect and kindness.

But here, President Nelson is telling us that a correct attitude towards others is not enough. He calls on us to take a lead in abandoning prejudice. And pleads with us to promote respect for all. Being asked to lead and to be a promoter of fairness and equality reminds me of the hymn, “Have I Done Any Good?” Perhaps I haven’t done any harm, but I need to be actively pursing the good and to do more than just “dream of my mansion above.”

Sunday Afternoon Session

President Nelson’s concluding message on Sunday afternoon gives us the WHY, as he invites us to Come Unto Christ.

“I invite you to turn your heart, mind, and soul increasingly to our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Let that be your new normal.”

And again he includes specific actions for HOW we can turn to Christ:

“Embrace your new normal by repenting daily. Seek to be increasingly pure in thought, word, and deed. Minister to others. Keep an eternal perspective. Magnify your callings. And whatever your challenges, my dear brothers and sisters, live each day so that you are more prepared to meet your Maker.”

Conclusion

I conclude by sharing my testimony. I know we have living prophets that speak to us today. I know President Nelson is telling us what the Lord wants us to be doing right now. I know for myself, I can do better at following ALL his counsel. I invite you to find ways you can also do better. I know all of the prophet’s invitations for us to act are for the purpose of bringing us closer to Jesus Christ, and assisting in bringing all of God’s children closer to Jesus Christ. For it is only through coming to Jesus Christ that we can be saved.

I say these things…

 

 

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