Given in our mission branch in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
This was the first time that I can remember that the moment that the Branch President extended the invitation, I knew that I was suppose to speak. However the topic he sent me later in the evening didn't match the thoughts and feelings I was having. He had indicated that I could speak on a topic of my choice if I wanted to. By Thursday (September 16th), I realized that is what I needed to do, but I wasn't clear about what I was suppose to talk about. I decided to see if there was a nearby temple with an open time for Saturday. Luckily Bountiful Temple which is usually filled weeks in advance, had an opening at 11:00 on Saturday so I booked it with the idea that it would help me understand what I should talk about. Later that same evening, the talk began to fall together and by Saturday, I felt good about it. Attending the temple gave me a greater sense of peace especially a confirmation that what I was doing was "good." While it is not an earthshattering topic or even highly personal, I was grateful for the topic and the remembering of important events related to following the prophet. And as it turned out, it fit right in with the mission devotional talk by our mission president the very next day. He sent me a sweet message thanking me for "preparing the group" with my remarks on Sunday.
My talk:
How lucky are we to be led by a prophet! Have you thought about that recently? What a blessing it is to know to whom to look
in the babble and chaos of the world today.
Christians, Jews, and Muslims all acknowledge prophets in the ancient days—Noah,
Moses, Isaiah and others are revered or at least known and talked about in a
variety of congregations.
In Amos 3:7:
Surely the
Lord God will
do nothing, abut he brevealeth his csecret unto his servants the dprophets.
In Ephesians 2:20, Paul in discussing the growing
Church stated:
And are built
upon the foundation of the aapostles and bprophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief ccorner stone;
However, because of the Great Apostasy, prophets and
apostles were not found on the earth for generation after generation until the
restoration of the gospel and the call to Joseph Smith as prophet, seer and
revelator.
In the Doctrine and Covenants 1:38 the Lord reassures
us:
“…though the
heavens and the earth pass away, my aword shall not pass away, but shall all be bfulfilled, whether by mine own cvoice or by the dvoice of my eservants, it is the fsame.”
These are familiar verses
to you. The pattern is clear. Christ
leads the Church and He directs His people through living Prophets.
In Doctrine and Covenants
107—Christ gives more direction on how the Church was to be organized. In 1835,
there were just over 8,800 members of the Church yet this section laid down a
framework that became foundational for our worldwide Church of over 16 million
people.
In Section 107:22 it reads
Of the aMelchizedek
Priesthood, three bPresiding High Priests, chosen by the body, appointed
and ordained to that office, and cupheld by the confidence, faith, and prayer of the
church, form a quorum of the Presidency of the Church.
Other verses before and after this one review the
duties and responsibilities of these three Presiding High Priests which we
commonly refer to as the First Presidency.
But I want to focus my talk on the phrase:
“upheld by the confidence, faith, and
prayer of the church.”
You are all followers of the Living Prophet. I believe most if not all of us full-time
missionaries have received a call signed by President Nelson to serve…some of
you have received calls from other prophets to serve other missions. In our service, wherever we serve, we are
doing the work of the Kingdom and it is a show of support for Christ and for his
Living prophet, Russell M. Nelson. But
are we intentional in our support of the prophet—are we supporting him with our
“confidence, faith, and prayer” individually and collectively?
Let’s explore “confidence”. Working in the Church History Library, I have
learned if you have a question about a word in the Doctrine and Covenants you look
it up in the 1828 Webster’s dictionary There it is defined as”
“A
trusting, or reliance; an assurance of mind or firm belief in the integrity,
stability or veracity of another,”
Does that describe your
feelings about President Nelson? How do
you get gain that? While it is helpful
to learn about President Nelson—he has had a remarkable life—and to study his
talks and writings, the most important thing you can do is to seek a
confirmation from the Holy Ghost that he is called by God. And if you haven’t
done that yet, start seeking that tonight.
We need that personal confirmation of his call so that we can have that
“confidence” or assurance of mind before possible hard times come.
I grew up in the
Church. David O. McKay was the prophet
of my childhood as for many of you.
White hair—kindly manner—he was a poster child for a modern-day prophet. I loved him.
However, I didn’t think to question the call of Joseph Fielding Smith
followed closely by Harold B. Lee and then Spencer W. Kimball. President Kimball was the prophet of my young
adult hood. He was the first prophet I
saw in person at a Devotional at BYU in 1973.
He is the one who taught us to lengthen our stride and it was he in a
1975 Conference address who mentioned in passing that the Church needed more
missionaries-elders, sisters, and senior couples—I didn’t even know that there
was such a thing but at that time I determined that I would serve a mission
with my future spouse—that would be a requirement—to this day I don’t know if Elder
Hall wanted to serve another mission as a senior couple or he just agreed
before we got married because he as they
say “was in love.”
When Ezra Taft Benson
was called as a prophet, I didn’t question or wonder either. He was called in November of 1985. In February of 1986 at one of our stake
conference meetings, a brother offered the closing prayer. In that prayer, he specifically asked for all
in the congregation with an open heart to receive a confirmation that Ezra Taft
Benson was the prophet of God. Very
unusual public prayer, but immediately I received that warm and powerful
feeling of the Holy Ghost testifying that Ezra Taft Benson was a prophet. In the following months, in fast meetings and
personal conversations, I learned that others in our stake had had similar
experiences either at that moment like me or later in personal prayer. It was a sweet gift and an important
lesson. I had never prayed to have that
confirmation about him or about any of the prior prophets. Once I knew that Joseph Smith was called of
God to restore the gospel—I was taking for granted these other men were also
prophets. But that prayer and experience
taught me how important it was to seek that confirmation so that I could with
confidence know in whom I was following.
Has the Holy Ghost confirmed to you that Russell M. Nelson is the
prophet called by God?
Second, we should
uphold the prophet by our faith.
In a 2018 October
Conference address entitled “Come Listen to A Prophets Voice,” Elder Dean
Davies shared stories about his experience with prophets and then he said:
“Now, today,
it is our privilege to sustain him as the
Lord’s living prophet on the earth. We are accustomed to sustaining Church
leaders through the divine pattern of raising our arms to the square to
manifest our acceptance and support. We did this just a few minutes ago. But
true sustaining goes well beyond this physical token.”
He then referenced the
same scripture in section 107 and commented that we must have faith to act upon
the words of the prophet.
So, we must act. Remember the time when in that same October
conference weekend, President Nelson asked the women to read the Book of Mormon
by the end of the year. Did you sisters
participate? Wasn’t it amazing to see
and hear your friends and ward members engaged in the same task with the same
goal? Each time you notice and act upon
spiritual impressions, you are acting in faith and by doing so are upholding
our prophet who has asked us to “Hear Him” and “Let God prevail in our lives”.
Last, we need to pray for
the prophet. Let me share an experience
about praying which was told by David O McKay in 1951 shortly after he was
called to be the prophet:
“The potency of those prayers throughout
the Church came to me yesterday when I received a letter from a neighbor in my
old hometown. He was miking his cows
when the word came over his radio which he has in his barn that President Smith
had passed. He sensed what that would
mean to his former fellow townsman, and he left his barn and went to the house
and told his wife. Immediately they
called their little children, and there in that humble home, suspending their
activities, they knelt as a family and offered prayer. The significance of that scene I leave for
you to understand. Multiply that by a
hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, half a million homes, and see the power
in the unity and prayers, and the sustaining influence in the body of the
Church.”
I know that this is true. I feel it as a missionary when I hear others
pray for the missionaries. And I know
our prayers for the prophet help to sustain and support him.
When Jena was little—3 and 4 years old—she loved
President Hinckley. When a Church
magazine would arrive, she would look through them and if she found his
picture, she would carry it around or stash it in her bedroom. When she would offer family prayers—which were
and are still very short—she would frequently say, “Heavenly Father, Bless
President Hinckley. He good prophet.
Jesus’s name Amen.” If you have Sister
Hall the younger’s recommendation, what else would you need? We loved that prayer.
Let me share one more story from my life. It happened in the fall of my sophomore year
at BYU. On October 2, 1974, I along with a packed Marriot Center of over 22,000
people were waiting for the arrival of Nelson Rockefeller, the vice president
of the United States. It was an
uncertain time in our country. College
campuses were still the scene of civil unrest due to a variety of current
events and issues. We had to arrive to
the Marriot Center and be seated an hour before the event and I remember
wondering if there would be demonstrations or problems.
On the floor of the Marriot Center was the typical
staging for the BYU administration, student leaders but this time it also
included many government officials and General Authorities. Security was present throughout the building. About 10 minutes before the start of the meeting,
there was a crowd coming out of the tunnel and there came the Vice President of
the United States. The crowd stood and
clapped. It was warm and inviting. He walked to the stage, waved to the crowd,
and took his seat. And the Marriot
Center became quiet….and we waited….a few minutes later, the area immediately
around the tunnel began clapping and standing again ..as the noise grew, we
looked over to see what was happening and then we saw him—President Spencer W.
Kimball as he cleared the tunnel. The rest of us stood and beginning clapping….and
clapping…and clapping. He walked to the
stage acknowledged the students and sat, but the clapping continued for another
minute and another minute…he stood again and waved and the clapping just got
louder. Four to five minutes had gone by
and still we clapped. You could see that
the government officials were getting a bit concerned---the clapping for the
Vice President was warm and appropriate, but it was clearly “less than” the
reception for President Kimball. Finally
President Dallin Oaks, then president of BYU stood and said, after the crowd
finally stopped and sat down—words to the effect of: “Vice President Rockefeller, the BYU students
and faculty warmly welcome you to the campus of BYU. They are honored you as a leader of the
country they love. But they also have an
greater allegiance to their God and to His Prophet and today for perhaps the
first time ever they have been able to welcome him in this way.” He may have said a few more things—and his
words were masterful and perfect…and they made us clap some more…everywhere
people were clapping and crying.
I have sung “We thank Thee O God for a prophet” in
Church and family nights my entire life.
I have stood in the Tabernacle as a prophet entered the room and sang
with the entire audience. And I have
stood in the Marriot Center and clapped for the prophet. Until the end of my mortal life, I want to be
found as a follower of the modern-day prophet.
In a few weeks, we will hear from our prophet again in
the setting of the October General Conference. So, like the Primary song says “Listen
to the prophet’s voice and hear the words of God”.
We uphold our prophet, his counselors, and the Apostles
as we have confidence in them, act in faith, and pray for them.
I testify Russell M. Nelson is the prophet—the mouthpiece for Christ on earth today. Christ leads His Church and has perfectly fulfilled His role as Savior and Redeemer, I testify that we are known to our Heavenly Father individually and cherished and loved as His children—which we are."
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