Sunday morning: Teach Christ’s simple doctrine as church enters ‘a decade never to be forgotten’

The next decade will be one “never to be forgotten” for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they open dozens of new temples, celebrate the faith’s bicentennial and welcome the world to the 2034 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, church leaders said Sunday morning.

Yet as opposition to religious faith grows, members will need to follow Jesus Christ more earnestly and teach his simple doctrine more plainly, leaders said during the fourth of five sessions of the church’s 194th Semiannual General Conference.

“All of us have family members we love who are being tempted and tried by the seemingly constant forces of Satan, the destroyer, who would make all God’s children miserable,” said President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency. “For many of us, there have been sleepless nights. We have tried to surround the people who are at risk with every force for good. We have pled in prayer for them. We have loved them. We have set the best example we could.”

He said the surest way to teach children to be righteous in a wicked world is to share Christ’s teachings simply. Others said the access the church provides to covenants that bind Christ’s followers to him is crucial.

“I testify that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the vehicle God has provided for the exaltation of our souls,” said President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “The gospel it teaches is true and the priesthood legitimizing it is not derivative. I testify that Russell M. Nelson is a prophet of our God, as his predecessors were and as will his successors be.”

President Nelson, who turned 100 last month, viewed the session from home. The session was conducted by President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency.

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Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said that in church history, the years 1820 to 1830, from Joseph Smith’s vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ to the formation of the church, was “strikingly supreme,” but the next decade will be unforgettable.

“Contemplate the unprecedented number of temple open houses and dedications that are planned to take place over the next decade, even the potential of 164 temples and counting,” he said. “Imagine tens of millions of you and your friends walking through a house of the Lord. The symbolic center of these events will be the rededication of the Salt Lake Temple and the activities associated with it. These certainly will be days never to be forgotten.”

Who spoke during the Sunday morning session?

Seven of the church’s leaders taught from the Bible and Book of Mormon and provided guidance and advice for living a life of faith on another unseasonably warm day at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.

• President Eyring of the First Presidency
• President Holland and Elder Stevenson from the Quorum of the Twelve
• Sister Tracy Y. Browning, second counselor in the Primary general presidency
• Elder Brooke P. Hales, General Authority Seventy
• Bishop L. Todd Budge of the Presiding Bishopric
• Brother Bradley R. Wilcox, first counselor in the Young Men general presidency

President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency

President Eyring said church members can find comfort in the stories of scriptural families in which those who abandoned faith returned.

• “Remembering saved them. Your teaching of that sacred doctrine will be remembered.”
• “It is tempting to try something new or sensational. But the Holy Ghost will reveal the spirit of truth only as we are cautious and careful not to go beyond teaching true doctrine.”
• “If you pray, if you talk to God, and if you plead for his help for your loved one, and if you thank him not only for help but for the patience and gentleness that come from not receiving all you desire right away or perhaps ever, then I promise you that you will draw closer to him. You will become diligent and long-suffering. And then you can know that you have done all that you can to help those you love and those you pray for navigate through Satan’s attempt to derail them.”

President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

President Holland, seated in a tall chair at the podium, spoke lovingly and boldly about Jesus Christ.

• “Down through human history some people have reduced his righteousness to mere prudishness, his justice to mere anger, his mercy to mere permissiveness. We must beware of any such simplistic versions of him that conveniently ignore teachings we find uncomfortable. This dumbing down has been true even regarding his ultimate defining virtue, his love.”
• “In short, he is one who could administer grace and insist on truth at the same time.”
• “Christ’s charity — evident in complete loyalty to divine will — persisted and continues to persist, not just through the easy and comfortable days but especially through the darkest and most difficult ones. Jesus was ‘a man of sorrows’ the scriptures say, experiencing sadness, fatigue, disappointment and excruciating loneliness. In these and in all times, Jesus’ love faileth not and neither does his Father’s. With such mature love — the kind that exemplifies, empowers, and imparts — ours will not fail either.”
• “If sometimes the harder you try, the more difficult it seems to get; if, just as you try to work on your limitations and shortcomings, you find someone or something determined to challenge your faith; if, as you labor devotedly, you still feel moments of fear wash over you, remember that it has been so for some of the most faithful and marvelous people in every era of time.”

Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Elder Stevenson said President Nelson’s 100th birthday was part of the launch of the next decade, as it brought attention to the church’s message that it is led by a prophet.

• “2030 will bring opportunities worldwide to commemorate the bicentennial of the organization of the church. Although it is too early to say how the church will recognize this milestone, it will certainly allow us to invite family, friends, colleagues and distinguished guests to ‘come and see’ and to better understand the powerful impact it has in the lives of church members.”
• “In 2034, thousands of dignitaries, visitors and athletes from around the world will flood the streets of Salt Lake City, the stage for the Winter Olympic Games. There is perhaps no greater demonstration of worldwide unity than that embodied in the Olympic Games. The eyes of the world will be upon the church, and its members affording a multitude of opportunities to volunteer, serve and share glad tidings through kind deeds.”
• “I promise (young people) this will be a decade never to be forgotten for you if you embrace ... four divinely appointed responsibilities: First, live the gospel of Jesus Christ ... Second, reach out in compassion to care for those in need ... Third, invite all to receive the gospel ... Fourth, unite families for eternity.”

Elder Brooke P. Hales, General Authority Seventy and secretary to the First Presidency

Elder Hales shared several stories of his own and others’ painful and difficult life experiences, but said that the challenges of life are part of God’s merciful plan that will result in eternal life.

• “The experiences of mortality are part of the journey that allows us to grow and progress toward that immortality and eternal life. We were not sent here to fail but to succeed in God’s plan for us.”
• “Nonetheless, if we are to be the beneficiaries of the Lord’s ‘work and glory,’ even ‘immortality and eternal life,’ we must expect to be schooled and taught, and to pass through the refiner’s fire — sometimes to our utter limits. To completely avoid the problems, challenges, and difficulties of this world would be to sidestep the process that is truly necessary for mortality to work.”
• “Brothers and sisters, mortality works! It is designed to work! Despite the challenges, heartaches and difficulties we all face, our loving, wise and perfect Heavenly Father has designed the plan of happiness such that we are not destined to fail. His plan provides a way for us to rise above our mortal failures.”

Sister Tracy Y. Browning, second counselor in the Primary general presidency

Sister Browning encouraged listeners to learn line upon line while practicing obedience and profound trust as they seek answers to spiritual questions. She noted that scientists, with limited knowledge, previously thought Pluto was a planet. They diligently sought more information and eventually learned it was outside the solar system.

• “Our sincere gospel questions can provide Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ with opportunities to help us grow. My personal effort to seek answers from the Lord to my own spiritual questions — past and present — has allowed me to use the space between the lines of my understanding and God’s to practice obedience to him and fidelity to the spiritual knowledge that I currently possess.”
• “Your willing obedience to God’s commands, despite not having a complete knowledge of his reasons, places you in the company of his prophets.”
• “We may be required to ‘wait upon the Lord’ in the space between our current line of understanding and the next yet to be delivered. This sacred space can be a place where our greatest spiritual conditioning can occur — the site where we can ‘bear with patience’ our earnest seeking and renew our strength to continue to keep the sacred promises we have made to God through covenant.”

Bishop L. Todd Budge of the Presiding Bishopric

Bishop Budge asked listeners to consider the ways they are seeking Christ and to improve their listening to God.

• “Let me suggest that what may be needed is not necessarily more time, but more awareness of and focus on God during the times we already set aside for him. For example, when praying, what if we were to spend less time talking and more time just being with God; and when we were to speak, to give more heartfelt and specific expressions of gratitude and love?”
• “If Jesus Christ sought quiet time to commune with God and to be strengthened by him, it would be wise for us to do the same.”
• “Paradoxically, helping God hasten his work of salvation and exaltation may require that we slow down. Being always ‘in motion’ may be adding to the ‘commotion’ in our lives and robbing us of the peace we seek.”

Brother Bradley R. Wilcox, first counselor in the Young Men general presidency

Brother Wilcox encouraged Latter-day Saint youth — teenagers — to live differently than others as disciples of Christ.

• “The Lord of the Vineyard labors with you. You are working hand in hand with Jesus Christ. With each new covenant — and as your relationship with him deepens — you hold each other tighter and tighter until you are firmly clasped together.”
• “In that sacred symbol of his grace, you will find both the desire and the strength to live exactly how the Savior lived — differently from the world. You’ve got this because Jesus Christ has got you!”

What did the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square sing?

Music for the Sunday morning session was provided by the Tabernacle Choir. It sang, “Rejoice, the Lord is King,” “On This Day of Joy and Gladness,” “I Know that My Redeemer Lives,” “Guide Us, Oh, Thou Great Jehovah,” “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need” and “The Spirit of God.”

The choir has been supplemented throughout the conference by visiting members from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Congo, Ecuador, France, Germany, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, South Korea and Sweden.

The prayers were provided by Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt and Brother Chad H. Webb, first counselor in the Sunday School general presidency.