Gordon B. Hinckley -The Sustaining of Church Officers
Boyd K. Packer -Reverence Invites Revelation
- No message appears in scripture more times, in more ways than, "Ask, and ye shall receive." While we may invite this communication, it can never be forced! If we try to force it, we may be deceived.
- If doctrines and behavior are measured by the intellect alone, the essential spiritual ingredient is missing, and we will be misled.
- Personal testimony is confirmed to us initially and is reaffirmed and enlarged thereafter through a harmonious combining of both the intellect and the spirit.
- "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
- This trend to more noise, more excitement, more contention, less restraint, less dignity, less formality is not coincidental nor innocent nor harmless.
- The first order issued by a commander mounting a military invasion is the jamming of the channels of communication of those he intends to conquer.
- Irreverence suits the purposes of the adversary by obstructing the delicate channels of revelation in both mind and spirit.
- When we step into the chapel, we must!--each of us must--watch ourselves lest we be guilty of intruding when someone is struggling to feel delicate spiritual communications.
- The reverence we speak of does not equate with absolute silence. We must be tolerant of little babies, even an occasional outburst from a toddler being ushered out to keep him from disturbing the peace. Unless the father is on the stand, he should do the ushering.
- We must not neglect the hymns nor the exalted anthems of the Restoration.
- Do not let our sacred music slip away from us, nor allow secular music to replace it.
- While we may not see an immediate, miraculous transformation, as surely as the Lord lives, a quiet one will take place.
- "Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.
- "Don't give up; continue looking for the best results in this wonderful work."
- It is often down in the valley of heartache and disappointment and reverses where men and women grow into strong characters.
- "Always expecting the spectacular, many will miss entirely the constant flow of revealed communication."
- The voice is still small.
- Time to listen. The ability to listen. The desire to listen. On religious matters, too many of us are saying, "What did you say? Speak up; I can't hear you." And when he doesn't shout back, or cause the bush to burn, or write us a message in stone with his finger, we are inclined to think he doesn't listen, doesn't care about us. Some even conclude there is no God.
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote, "Every common bush [is] afire with God; but only he who sees, takes off his shoes."
- "The still, small voice is still small."
- How can we filter out the heavy decibels of darkness that surround us?
- Number 1: Revitalize your weekly worship.
- Number 2: Pray to know God's will, not to "get things."
- "When the heart is sufficiently contrite, then the voice of inspiration steals along and whispers, My son, peace be unto thy soul."
- Number 3 has to do with the scriptures.
- Please be still and listen! The Psalmist said, "Be still, and know that I am God."
- You are represented by the most skilled, capable, and diligent counsel I have ever seen. It's amazing to watch him as he argues on your behalf before the Supreme Judge.
- In contrast to the bombastic and cynical arguments of opposing counsel, your advocate began your defense as a trickle and built to the force of a mighty river. Humbly, softly, meaningfully, and compellingly, he plead your case. I knew the impact he was having when I saw tears streaming down the cheeks of many in the courtroom. I don't remember all of his arguments and logic, but I do remember him saying that man is a little lower than the angels and that the worth of souls is great. In one of the most majestic moments, his eyes filled with compassion and his voice quivering with indignation, he admonished, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone."
- No one has the right to judge the sum total of a man's life until that life has been lived.
- However, one thing is clear--the ultimate outcome of your case is dependent upon the facts which you provide. There's an old adage among trial lawyers that says, "We don't make the facts, we only present them." The facts which represent your life are the facts that will ultimately determine your victory or your defeat.
- Your life's facts can still be created. No matter how long you have lived, no matter how many mistakes you have made, your life's story can still be changed. It can still be written. It is not too late. Please, I plead with you, help him to help you win your ultimate inheritance.
- For those of you that have already received a witness of the truthfulness of the gospel, I encourage you to cherish that testimony. It is so delicate! It is so fragile! It needs to be nourished with prayer, with the reading of the scriptures, and being at the right place at the right time.
- There is more individuality in those who are more holy.
- Sin, on the other hand, brings sameness it shrinks us to addictive appetites and insubordinate impulses. For a brief surging, selfish moment, sin may create the illusion of individuality, but only as in the grunting, galloping Gadarene swine!
- Repentance is a rescuing, not a dour doctrine. It is available to the gross sinner as well as to the already-good individual striving for incremental improvement.
- Real repentance involves not a mechanical checklist, but a checkreining of the natural self.
- There can be no repentance without recognition of wrong.
- After recognition, real remorse floods the soul.
- True repentance also includes confession.
- Genuine support and love from others--not isolation--are needed to sustain this painful forsaking and turning!
- Restitution is required, too.
- "Because he hath sinned, ... he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found."
- Yet we must not give up, but, instead, each out to God's awaiting arm of mercy, which is outstretched "all the day long." Unlike us, God has no restrictive office hours.
- "I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I went on rebelling against God."
- We cannot repent for someone else. But we can forgive someone else, refusing to hold hostage those whom the Lord seeks to set free!
- Ironically, some believe the Lord can forgive them, but they refuse to forgive themselves.
- Brothers and sisters, we need never mistake local cloud cover for general darkness.
- If you and I would come unto Jesus, we must likewise yield to God, holding nothing back. Then other soaring promises await!
- "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath"
- The divine mandate of Sabbath day observance in our day is now more of a manifestation of individual devotion and commitment rather than a requirement of civil law.
- I would counsel all students, if they can, to arrange their schedules so that they do not study on the Sabbath. If students and other seekers after truth will do this, their minds will be quickened and the infinite Spirit will lead them to the verities they wish to learn. This is because God has hallowed his day and blessed it as a perpetual covenant of faithfulness.
- In our time God has recognised our intelligence by not requiring endless restrictions. Perhaps this was done with ah ope that we would catch more of the spirit of Sabbath worship rather than the letter thereof.
- What is worthy or unworthy on the Sabbath day will have to be judged by each of us by trying to be honest with the Lord. On the Sabbath day we should do what we have to do and what we out to do in an attitude of worshipfulness and then limit our other activities.
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
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