- The Lord has His eye upon you. He loves you. He knows you. He knows your triumphs and your trials, your successes and your heartaches.
- He knows that at times you may look at the challenges you may face and may think they're too big to handle. He is, however, willing and ready to help you grow into the men you are to become.
- You may think at times the duties you have as Aaronic Priesthood bearers are insignificant or unimportant, but I assure you they are not.
- First, place Heavenly Father first in your life.
- Because your Heavenly Father is perfect, you can have complete faith in Him. You can trust Him. You can keep His commandments by continually striving to do so.
- "[God] never will institute an ordinance or give a commandment to His people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which He has designed, and which will not end in the greatest amount of good and glory to those who become the recipients of his law and ordinances."
- God's commandments are not given to limit or punish us. They are exercises that create character and sanctify souls. If we disregard them, we become spiritually flabby and weak and without defense. If we keep them, we can become spiritual giants, strong and gold in righteousness.
- Second, come unto Christ and follow Him as your Savior and Redeemer.
- Third, nurture the companionship of the Holy Ghost.
- The promptings of the Holy Ghost may come to you in a still, small voice. You cannot grow into the man you must become unless you first rise above the things of the world that clamor for your attention.
- The failure to live a clean and chaste life deadens the promptings of the Spirit. Take your thoughts to higher levels than the vulgar and immoral.
- Fourth, love and revere Joseph Smith as the great prophet of the Restoration.
- Fifth, love, follow, and be loyal to God's living prophet.
- "I have every reason to regard you," said President Gordon B. Hinckley, "as the greatest generation we've ever had in this Church--notwithstanding all the temptations which you face."
- That does not mean you will not face your share of heartache, challenges, and trial.
- "Behold the man!" Yes, Jesus is the man. He possesses all characteristics of the true, ideal man. His ways, not Satan's ways, lead to manhood. Anyone who believes otherwise is already tangling himself up in the everlasting chains of Satan's deception.
- There is no manhood in succumbing to Satan. There is no manhood in being defeated by his principles.
- I suppose it is natural for us to equate strength, machoism, and maybe even boisterous and aggressive behavior with manhood. However, the attributes of true manhood are not necessarily physical.
- "We wrestle not against flesh and blood [which is not the real test of manhood], but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness." Real courage includes standing against the evil one, even when we stand alone, often feeling the disdain and the ridicule of others. This is courage. This is strength. This is manhood, and it can be tough.
- Some burdens that we are called to bear are so heavy that we can only conquer them through humility, submissiveness, and contrition. That sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it--gaining strength and power through humility, submissiveness, and contrition. But that is one of the great ironies of life--we can receive power beyond our natural ability by submitting our will to the Father. We all fall victim to the tempter to some degree. Sometimes we even get entangled in serious transgression--transgression that has eternal consequences. Those who have committed serious transgression must follow the carefully planned path of repentance provide by the Savior and often directed by a bishop or stake president. This becomes the true test of manhood, and not all are man enough to meet this challenge.
- You can describe a man in inches, pounds, complexion, or physique. But you measure a man by character, compassion, integrity, tenderness, and principle. Simply stated, the measures of a man are embedded in his heart and soul, not in his physical attributes. But they can be viewed in conduct and demeanor. The qualities of manhood are so often evident in this thing we call countenance.
- Satan has his man and God has His man, and Satan has his characteristics of manhood and God has His. Satan would present his characteristics as the true measurement of manhood and God's criteria as weak and wimpy. But one must understand that Satan's criteria will almost always be the easiest and the wimpiest. Satan's way takes no courage, no character, no personal strength, and it proves no manhood at all.
- Moses, in a moment of both motivation and rebuke, charged the Israelites, "Who is on the Lord's side?" What he was really asking was, "Whose man are you, anyway?"
- We should strive to be in His presence and to respond to His call, yet many of us lack the faith and the trust to come unto the Lord when He calls. He is calling us today to be faithful and to trust Him, that He might feed us.
- "Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves--It must needs be that this a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding."
- The miracles of modern technology have brought efficiency into our lives in ways not dreamed of a generation ago, yet with this new technology has come a deluge of new challenges to our morals and our values. Some tend to rely more on technology than on theology.
- We also need to prepare our own seedbed of faith. To do this we need to plow the soil through daily humble prayer, asking for strength and forgiveness. We need to harrow the soil by overcoming our feelings of pride. We need to prepare the seedbed by keeping the commandments to the best of our ability. We need to be honest with the Lord in the payment of our tithing and our other offerings. We need to be worthy and able to call forth the great powers of the priesthood to bless ourselves, our families, and others for whom we have responsibility. There is no better place for the spiritual seeds of our faith to be nurtured than within the hallowed sanctuaries of our temples and in our homes.
- "If the world is going to be saved, we have to do it."
- We cannot be ashamed of the doctrine because it is not popular or socially acceptable. We must not apologize for what has been revealed through our prophets in our time. It is the word of the Lord of the world. There is always a price to be paid if we are to have a witness of this holy work. There is always a trial of our faith.
- I hope with all my heart and soul that every young man who receives the priesthood will honor that priesthood and be true to the trust which is conveyed when it is conferred.
- "Do your duty; that is best. Leave unto the Lord the rest."
- Miracles are everywhere to be found when priesthood callings are magnified. When faith replaces doubt, when selfless service eliminates selfish striving, the power of God brings to pass His purposes.
- The Church is an ecclesiastical organization. It is an eleemosynary society. It is concerned primarily with worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our great mission is to testify of His living reality. We should not be involved with anything not in harmony with this major objective. We should be involved with whatever is in harmony with this objective.
- We are obligated not only to learn of ecclesiastical matters but also of secular matters.
- If we cannot give to all, why should we give to any? The answer is that if we cannot give to all, let us give to as many as we can.
- I hasten to add that we deal only with those legislative matters which are of a strictly moral nature or which directly affect the welfare of the Church. We have opposed gambling and liquor and will continue to do so. We regard it as not only our right but our duty to oppose those forces which we feel undermine the moral fiber of society. Much of our effort, a very great deal of it, is in association with others whose interests are similar. We have worked with Jewish groups, Catholics, Muslims, Protestants, and those of no particular religious affiliation, in coalitions formed to advocate positions on vital moral issues.
- God-sanctioned marriage between a man and a woman has been the basis of civilization for thousands of years. There is no justification to redefine what marriage is. Such is not our right, and those who try will find themselves answerable to God.
- Some portray legalization of so-called same-sex marriage as a civil right. This is not a matter of civil rights; it is a matter of morality. Others question our constitutional right as a church to raise our voice on an issue that is of critical importance to the future of the family. We believe that defending this sacred institution by working to preserve traditional marriage lies clearly within our religious and constitutional prerogatives. Indeed, we are compelled by our doctrine to speak out.
- Nevertheless, and I emphasize this, I wish to say that our opposition to attempts to legalize same-sex marriage should never be interpreted as justification for hatred, intolerance, or abuse of those who profess homosexual tendencies, either individually or as a group. As I said from this pulpit one year ago, our hearts reach out to those who refer to themselves as gays and lesbians. We love and honor them as sons and daughters of God. They are welcome in the Church. It is expected, however, that they follow the same God-given rules of conduct that apply to everyone else whether single or married.
- We shall go forward and never flag or be deterred in our efforts to build this kingdom and establish righteousness in the earth.
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!
-Sarnic Dirchi
The Dream
...involved scenes from the season finale of Once Upon a Time, and the recent book I read, Cruel Beauty.
-S.N.D
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