Sustaining the Prophets

My dear brothers and sisters, if the Restoration did anything, it shattered the age-old myth that God had stopped talking to His children. Nothing could be further from the truth. A prophet has stood at the head of God’s Church in all dispensations, from Adam to the present day. Prophets testify of Jesus Christ—of His divinity and of His earthly mission and ministry. We honor the Prophet Joseph Smith as the prophet of this last dispensation. And we honor each man who has succeeded him as President of the Church.

When we sustain prophets and other leaders, we invoke the law of common consent, for the Lord said, “It shall not be given to any one to go forth to preach my gospel, or to build up my church, except he be ordained by some one who has authority, and it is known to the church that he has authority and has been regularly ordained by the heads of the church.”

The ways of the Lord are different from the ways of man. Man’s ways remove people from office or business when they grow old or become disabled. But man’s ways are not and never will be the Lord’s ways. Our sustaining of prophets is a personal commitment that we will do our utmost to uphold their prophetic priorities. Our sustaining is an oath-like indication that we recognize their calling as a prophet to be legitimate and binding upon us.

The calling of 15 men to the holy apostleship provides great protection for us as members of the Church. Why? Because decisions of these leaders must be unanimous. Can you imagine how the Spirit needs to move upon 15 men to bring about unanimity? These 15 men have varied educational and professional backgrounds, with differing opinions about many things. Trust me! These 15 men—prophets, seers, and revelators—know what the will of the Lord is when unanimity is reached! They are committed to see that the Lord’s will truly will be done. The Lord’s Prayer provides the pattern for each of these 15 men when they pray: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

President Monson continued: “Despite any health challenges that may come to us, despite any weakness in body or mind, we serve to the best of our ability. I assure you that the Church is in good hands. The system set up for the Council of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve [Apostles] assures [us] that it will always be in good hands and that, come what may, there is no need to worry or to fear. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, whom we follow, whom we worship, and whom we serve, is ever at the helm.”

2015 Lesson Schedule

January 4       

Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 2: Pray Always

January 11     

Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 1: The Great Commandment—Love the Lord

January 18     

Ward Conference

January 25     

“Sustaining the Prophets” Russell M. Nelson

February 1    
Presidency Lesson

February 8  
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 3: Freedom of Choice, an Eternal Principle

February 15
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 4: Living Joyfully in Troubled Times

February 22
“Lord, Is It I” Dieter F. Uchtdorf

March 1      
Presidency Lesson

March 8      
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 5: Principles of True Repentance

March 15    
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 6: Jesus Christ, Our Savior and Redeemer

March 22  
“Rescue in Unity” Chi Hong (Sam) Wong

March 29    
Bishop selects topic

April 5        
GENERAL CONFERENCE

April 12      
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 7: Joseph Smith, Instrument in the Hands of the Lord

April 19      
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 8: The Powerof the Word

April 26    
“Parent: The prime Gospel Teachers of their children” Tad R. Callister

May 3        
STAKE CONFERENCE

May 10      
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 9: The Book of Mormon—Keystone of Our Religion

May 17      
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 10: Flooding the Earth and Lives with Book of Mormon

May 24
The Music of the Gospel, Wilford W. Andersen

May 31
Bishop selects topic

June 7
Presidency Lesson

June 14
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 11: Follow the Living Prophet

June 21
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 12: Seek the Spirit in All You Do

June 28
On Being Genuine, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

July 5    
Presidency Lesson

July 12
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 13: Priceless Blessings of the House of the Lord

July 19
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 14: Marriage and Family—Ordained of God

July 26
We'll Ascend Together, Linda K. Burton

August 2
Presidency Lesson

August 9
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 15: The Sacred Callings of Fathers and Mothers

August 16
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 16: The Elderly in the Church

August 23
The Gift of Grace, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

August 30
Bishop selects topic

September 6
Presidency Lesson

September 13
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 17: Keeping the Law of Chastity

September 20
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 18: Beware of Pride

September 27 Latter-Day Saints Keep on Trying, Dale G. Renlund

October 4
GENERAL CONFERENCE

October 11
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 19: Leadership

October 18
Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 20: “Feed My Sheep”

October 25
Stay by the Tree, Kevin W. Pearson

November 1 

Presidency Lesson

November 8 

Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 21: Principles of Temporal and Spiritual Welfare

November 15 

Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 22: Carrying the Gospel to the World

November 22 

STAKE CONFERENCE

November 29 

Bishop selects topic

December 6 

Teachings for Our Time

December 13 

Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 23: “Strengthen Thy Stakes”

December 20 

Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson Chapter 24: A Christ-Centered Life

December 27 

Teachings for Our Time Lesson (From October Conference)

The Great Commandment, Love the Lord

President Benson taught that we manifest our love for the Lord by our willingness to do the Lord’s will. He said: “I wish that every Latter-day Saint could say and mean it with all his heart: ‘I’ll go where you want me to go. I’ll say what you want me to say. I’ll be what you want me to be’ [see Hymns, no. 270]. If we could all do that, we would be assured of the maximum of happiness here and exaltation in the celestial kingdom of God hereafter.”

When I think of charity, I … think of my father and that day he was called on his mission [see pages 4–6 in this book]. I suppose some in the world might say that his acceptance of that call was proof he did not really love his family. To leave seven children and an expectant wife at home alone for two years, how could that be true love? But my father knew a greater vision of love. He knew that “all things shall work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28). He knew that the best thing he could do for his family was to obey God.

To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is all-consuming and all-encompassing. It is no lukewarm endeavor. It is total commitment of our very being—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually—to a love of the Lord.

When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities.

Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life.

Excerpts taken from Teachings of Presidents of the Church:  Ezra Taft Benson, Chapter 1.

Pray Always

“All through my life the counsel to depend on prayer has been prized above almost any other advice I have received,” said President Ezra Taft Benson. “It has become an integral part of me, an anchor, a constant source of strength, and the basis for my knowledge of things divine.

“‘Remember that whatever you do or wherever you are, you are never alone’ was my father’s familiar counsel to me as a boy. ‘Our Heavenly Father is always near. You can reach out and receive His aid through prayer.’ I have found this counsel to be true. Thank God we can reach out and tap that unseen power, without which no man can do his best.”

President Benson followed this counsel in every aspect of his life. When he was appointed to serve as the United States secretary of agriculture, he “prayerfully and carefully” selected a group of men to work with him, “asking God to give [him] a spirit of discernment.” At their first meeting, he asked “if anyone objected to opening their meetings with prayer. No one dissented. And so began a practice that [he] perpetuated for eight years. He invited each staff member to take turns offering the invocation.”3 His associates came to appreciate this practice, even though they may have been uncomfortable with it at first. One staff member later admitted that some of the men had not prayed aloud since they were children. “We stumbled and fumbled for words,” he said. “But the Boss [President Benson] never let on that he noticed. And after a few trials everybody was at ease. Has it helped? Well, I’d say that when you start a meeting that way, people aren’t stuck up with the pride of their opinions. You pretty quickly come to an agreement as to what ought to be done in any situation.”

We need as families to kneel in family prayer, night and morning. Just a few words added to the blessing on the food, which is becoming the custom in some parts, is not enough. We need to get onto our knees in prayer and gratitude.

It is my testimony, my brothers and sisters and friends, that God does hear and answer prayers. I have never doubted that fact. From childhood, at my mother’s knee where I first learned to pray; as a young man in my teens; as a missionary in foreign lands; as a father; as a Church leader; as a government official, I know without any question that it is possible for men and women to reach out in humility and prayer and tap that Unseen Power; to have prayers answered. Man does not stand alone, or at least, he need not stand alone. Prayer will open doors; prayer will remove barriers; prayer will ease pressures; prayer will give inner peace and comfort during times of strain and stress and difficulty. Thank God for prayer.

Excerpts taken from Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson, Chapter 2, Pray Always.

The Sacrament - a Renewal for the Soul

The sacrament becomes a spiritually strengthening experience when we listen to the sacrament prayers and recommit to our covenants. To do this, we must be willing to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ.  Speaking of this promise, President Henry B. Eyring taught: “That meanswe must see ourselves as His. We will put Him first in our lives. We will want what He wants rather than what we want or what the world teaches us to want.”

As we partake of the sacrament, we witness to God that we will remember His Son always, not just during the brief sacrament ordinance. This means that we will constantly look to the Savior’s example and teachings to guide our thoughts, our choices, and our acts.

“Who is there among us that does not wound his spirit by word, thought,or deed, from Sabbath to Sabbath? We do things for which we are sorry and desire to be forgiven. … The method to obtain forgiveness is … to repent of our sins, to go to those against whom we have sinned or transgressed and obtain their forgiveness and then repair to the sacrament table where, if we have sincerely repented and put ourselves in proper condition, we shall be forgiven, and spiritual healing will come to our souls. …

“I am a witness,” Elder Ballard said, “that there is a spirit attending theadministration of the sacrament that warms the soul from head to foot;you feel the wounds of the spirit being healed, and the load being lifted.Comfort and happiness come to the soul that is worthy and truly desirous of partaking of this spiritual food.”

Our wounded souls can be healed and renewed not only because the bread and water remind us of the Savior’s sacrifice of His flesh and blood but because the emblems also remind us that He will always be our “bread of life” and “living water.”

Excerpts taken from Sister Cheryl A Esplin's General Conference Address.

The Birth of Jesus Christ: "Good Tidings of Great Joy"

There is no story quite as beautiful, or which can stir the soul of the humble quite to the depths, as this glorious story can of the birth of our Redeemer. No words that man may utter can embellish or improve or add to the eloquence of its humble simplicity. It never grows old no matter how often told, and the telling of it is by far too infrequent in the homes of men. Let us try to imagine ourselves out with the shepherds who were watching over their flock that memorable night. These were humble men who had not lost the faith of their fathers, whose hearts had not become hardened as were the hearts of the rulers of the Jews in the days of our Lord’s ministry, for had they been, the angels would not have appeared to them with their glorious message. Let us repeat this wondrous story.

The statement of our Lord that he could do nothing but what he had seen the Father do, means simply that it had been revealed to him what his Father had done [see John 5:19–20]. Without doubt, Jesus came into the world subject to the same condition as was required of each of us—he forgot everything, and he had to grow from grace to grace. His forgetting, or having his former knowledge taken away, would be requisite just as it is in the case of each of us, to complete the present temporal existence.

The true reason for the coming of Jesus Christ into the world … was, first, to redeem all men from the physical or mortal death, which Adam brought into the world, and second, to redeem all men from spiritual death or banishment from the presence of the Lord on conditions of their repentance and remission of sins and endurance to the end of the mortal probation.

We rejoice in the birth of the Son of God among men.

We are grateful for the atoning sacrifice He worked out by the shedding of His own blood.

We are thankful that He has redeemed us from death and opened the door so that we may gain eternal life.

We pray for peace on earth, for the spread of the gospel, and for the final triumph of truth.

We plead with our Father’s children everywhere to join with us in doing those things which will give us all peace in this world and eternal glory in the world to come [see D&C 59:23].

How can anyone read this touching story of the birth of Jesus Christ without wishing to forsake his sins? At this season of the year it is well for one and all—the king in his palace, if there are kings in palaces now, the peasant in his humble cottage, the rich and the poor alike—to bow the knee and pay honor to him who was without sin, whose life was spent in sacrifice and sorrow for the benefits of his fellow man; whose blood was shed as a sacrifice for sin. …

… What of this wonderful story? Have we permitted it to permeate and influence our lives? Have we accepted it in its full meaning without reservations? Do we believe that this babe was in very deed the only begotten Son of God in the flesh? Do we have abiding faith in his mission and are we willing to obediently follow him? If the world had so believed and had sincerely heeded his teachings, then it would not have been torn asunder by strife and wickedness all down through the ages. … There has been too much lip-service among the professed followers of the Son of God and too little real worship based upon the integrity of his teachings.

Excerpts taken from Teachings of Presidents of the Church:  Joseph Fielding Smith, Chapter 25.

The Work of Latter-Day Saint Women: Unselfish Devotion to this Glorious Cause

On the 17th day of March, 1842, the Prophet Joseph Smith met with a number of the sisters of the Church in Nauvoo and organized them into a society which was given the name of “The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo.” … That this organization was by revelation, there can be no doubt. This truth has been abundantly demonstrated throughout the years and today its value and necessity are abundantly attested.

Surely the Church of Jesus Christ would not have been completely organized had not this wonderful organization come into existence. … This restoration would not have been complete without the Relief Society in which the sisters are able to accomplish a divinely appointed service so essential to the welfare of the Church.

The Relief Society … has grown to be a power in the Church. Absolutely necessary—we speak of it as an auxiliary, which means a help, but the Relief Society is more than that. It is needed.

The Lord is pleased with your labors. You, through your service, have helped to build up and strengthen the kingdom of God. Just as necessary is the labor of the Relief Society in the Church as it is—shall I say?—with the quorums of the Priesthood. Now some may feel that I am expressing this a little too strongly, but my own judgment is that the work that you, our good sisters, are doing, finds its place and is just as important in the building up of this kingdom, strengthening it, causing it to expand, laying a foundation upon which we all may build, just as much as it is for the brethren who hold the Priesthood of God. We can’t get along without you.

You can read all the words of President Joseph Fielding Smith in Teachings of Presidents of the Church, Lesson #23.