Young Adult English Area Devotional with Elder Rasband
hello dear brothers and sisters i am elder clark gilbert of the 70 and commissioner of the
church educational system we welcome you from the tabernacle on temple square to this north america area devotional for young adults thank you for watching today
when we began planning this broadcast we fully intended to be joined by a live audience of young adults and priesthood leaders filling this
tabernacle we had planned to have a wonderful live choir but
with the rapid spread of illness in our community and given the size of this event we have chosen not to have those wonderful saints gather with us in this building this evening we appreciate that all who had made plans to attend were
willing to be here and are thankful that they are able to join us on youtube or the church's broadcast page we are still being safe and we hope you are too we also have a group of young
adults on zoom wafe hello everyone they are connected from pennsylvania to california to alberta to florida we are gathered today under the leadership of elder ronald a rasman the quorum of the twelve apostles and
his wife melanie t rasman we look forward to hearing from them later today in the program i am also joined by my wife
christine we are pleased to be here with elder and sister rasman the music today will be recordings from previous young adult
events we will begin with a young adult state choir from brigham young university and
the university of utah they will sing how firm a foundation after the musical number kylie chase will offer the opening prayer
kylie is the granddaughter of elder and sister rasband so foundation is is is on the land north as shall be dismayed for i am my god inside
is oh now oh ah dear kind and gracious heavenly father we are grateful to be gathered here
as members of thy church
and to hear from my chosen servants help us to feel thy spirit to be
open to what it has to teach us and that we'll be willing to make those necessary changes in our lives to align ourselves more with thee and thy plan for us we are grateful for
the gift of modern day revelation and please help us to utilize that gift to draw closer to thee we are sober grateful for the
missionaries and all that they are sacrificing to help gather israel around the globe please bless them in
all of their efforts and we love thee and say these things in
the name of our lord and savior jesus christ amen amen thank you for the beautiful music and the heartfelt prayer my wife
christine and i will speak together to open the program this evening following our remarks we will see a recording of come
thou font of every blessing the senior singers are yafet bustos and ellie hughes they are accompanied by cj madsen and karen ferry we will
then have the blessing of hearing from sister rasman and then elder rasman
christine and i have long admired elder and sister razban even prior to elder rasman's call as a general authority then as an apostle the razz bands have served in many capacities in the church
and are particularly attuned to the needs of young adults some of this comes from their time serving together as leaders in the washington
dc mission they also have grandchildren who are young adults some of whom you have met tonight we have watched with admiration
how they listen to and learn from the experiences of young adults of new york mission
thank you they served as president and mission leaders of the new york mission after elder rasman finishes
his testimony we will do something a little unusual at the end of the program we will join
a young adult group on zoom from all across the country to discuss what they've learned and heard
today sister gilbert will now introduce our opening message good evening elder gilbert and i are thrilled
to speak to you tonight and are grateful especially to be accompanying elder and sister rasband we had the opportunity to speak with them
while my husband was serving as the president of byu-idaho and have admired their warmth and their
leadership ever since we love the young adults of the church and have had sweet feelings for
you as we have prepared for this message i'd like to start with
a story from our family scripture reading several years ago we were reading in third nephi how the power of the devil can lead away and deceive the hearts of the people
one of our children asked what does the word deceive mean we replied that to deceive is to trick people into believing
something that is not true our younger son john reflected for a moment and then said oh yeah i will trick satan i'll tell him to look over there and then i'll whack him on the
back well john only if it was that easy we live in a time where the
adversary is trying to deceive
god's children into believing things
that are not true today christine and i will share a message on how following
the prophet can protect us from being deceived deceived and provide peace and comfort in these tumultuous times as my husband
has suggested we live in uncertain
times but the lord explained that he will help us by providing a pattern in all things that ye may not
be to save deceived for satan is abroad in the land and he goeth forth deceiving the nations in other words god has responded to satan's deceptions by providing patterns
that will help us help to protect us as sister wendy nelson has testified while satan is abroad in the land we also have a prophet in the land who we can look to for clarity and truth in these latter days on a recent
assignment christian and i had
a long drive together and we decided to use our time to review each of the messages from president russell m nelson since his
call is the prophet this was so inspiring to both of us and we wanted to share a part of that experience with you this evening of the many themes we could have chosen to
highlight we tried to find messages that
were particularly relevant to you at this critical time in your life let god prevail second the power of personal revelation third a home-centered church and fourth
hear him we open with the invitation
from president nelson to let god prevail in our lives shortly after he gave this message
in general conference many of the senior brethren suggested that this talk would be one we studied for generations in fact i remember elder rasband teaching us that when i served as an area 70.
listen to the statement
from the talk during these perilous times which the apostle paul prophesied satan is no longer even trying to hide his attacks on god's plan and evil abounds therefore the only way to survive spiritually is to be
determined to let god prevail
in our lives to introduce the idea of letting god prevail we'd like to have you consider the setting of a personal interview with president nelson my first interview with
president nelson came in a very unusual setting i love to ski and i've tried to make this a gilbert family tradition
in 2011 i was racing to get to the top of the mountain in park city to rendezvous with our older children as i loaded onto the
chairlift i heard a distinctive voice from the man sitting next to me he had on goggles and a ski helmet but i recognized his voice immediately and turned to him and said are
you elder nelson can you imagine sitting next to president nelson on a ski lift a skier into his 90s a year late years later president nelson would say that this was his first interview with the gilberts just over a year
ago we had an even more memorable interview with president nelson in a much more sacred setting it was in the middle of the pandemic and it happened over zoom in january 2021 president nelson interviewed us together and extended a call for me to serve as a general authority and to be
assigned as the commissioner of church education this is a picture we took that day and with his permission we are sharing it with you while we were there and this
formal and sacred questions
were asked the overwhelming feeling that both of us had was his love and concern for us and for our children now perhaps not
every one of you will have
such an intimate interaction with the prophet but today we want you to encourage you to realize that he has extended an interview to each of us in his talk let god
prevail please listen to these
questions as if you are sitting
down with the prophet in an interview and answering the questions directly are you willing to let god prevail in your life are you
willing to let god be the most important influence in your life will you allow his words his commandments and his covenants to influence what you do each day will you allow his voice to take priority over any other are you willing to let whatever he
needs you to do take precedence over every other ambition are you willing to have your will swallowed up by his president nelson goes on to explain when your greatest desire is to let god prevail so many decisions
become easier i remember when christian and i were faced with the decision to leave my career at the harvard business school to serve in the church educational
system i loved teaching in boston where i often felt like i was serving as an ambassador for the church this is a picture
of our young family from that time on the last day of one of my classes a student group decided to dress in outfits similar to our family photo and then pose for a photo with me to signal their connection with our family it was difficult for me to let go of
these experiences when it became clear that god had another path for our family at the time i said to my wife i feel like the rich young ruler but i know how the parable
ends so i'm going to follow the promptings in that same period a friend shared with me an insight from heinrich hoffman's painting on of this parable hoffman shows the rich young ruler looking away from christ as if he is thinking only about all of his
possessions he would be forced to give up unfortunately this kept him from seeing the joy that would come through service in christ in where christ is pointing him when christ asks us to give up something to let god prevail in our lives he is always pointing us to something better our story of leaving boston is not only a story of letting god
prevail in our lives but a story of personal revelation the second theme we would like to highlight is the power of personal revelation in president nelson's first general conference talk as president of the church he introduced himself by sharing a pattern of revelation that has guided him throughout his life he titled his message revelation for the church revelation for our lives and
stated one of the things the spirit has repeatedly impressed upon my mind since my new calling as the president
of the church is how willing the lord is to reveal his mind and will the privilege of receiving revelation is one of the greatest gifts of god to his children president nelson goes on to share a pattern for personal revelation listen to his counsel to all of us
find a quiet place where you can go regularly humble yourself before god pour out your heart to your heavenly father turn to him for answers and for comfort pray in the name of jesus christ about your concerns your fears your weaknesses yes
the very longings of your heart and then listen write the thoughts that come to your mind record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take as you repeat this process day after
day month after month year after year you will grow into the principle of revelation in my assignments i have seen how president nelson models this principle consider a 2018 address he gave in seattle washington president nelson had been impressed to speak to the increasing secularization and
the growing number of religiously unaffiliated americans revelation that came quietly months earlier was now being shared with nearly 15 thousand people in a major league baseball stadium in the heart of the most religiously unaffiliated states in the country what was president nelson's message the need for religion in an
increasingly secular society our prophet listens and receives revelation he writes it down and then he acts on it i've seen this in other areas of his leadership including his condemnation of racism and his outreach to the naacp as well as his ministering to the poor through humanitarian aid across the
world another manifestation of our prophet's ability to receive revelation and then act on it was his strengthened emphasis on a home-centered church this is the third theme we would like to highlight from president nelson in his opening remarks of
the two october 2018 general conference president nelson announced as latter-day saints we have become accustomed to thinking of church as something that happens in our meeting houses supported by what happens at home we need an
adjustment to this pattern it is time for a home-centered church supported by what takes place inside our ranch ward and state buildings i hope we can just pause for a minute and contemplate the miracle of this prophetic utterance that came on the eve of a global pandemic which literally caused the closures of church buildings across the
world even so the implications of this revelation will go far beyond the pandemic as president nelson later explained the home-centered church-supported integrated curriculum has the potential to unleash the power of families as each family follows
through conscientiously and carefully to transform their home into a sanctuary of faith president nelson sees our day he knows of the tomo we face in these latter days and he knows that each of us will need to anchor our homes as sanctuaries of faith as sister
gilbert and i have worked to transform our home into a sanctuary of faith i have felt the lord's protection and guidance i invite each of you even if you are single and living in a shared apartment to seek for ways to make your home a sanctuary of faith our final theme tonight is to make christ a priority as
we hear him i still remember the women's session of general conference where president nelson charged the sisters to read the book of mormon by the end of the year with the specific challenge to mark every reference to the savior jesus christ that
experience was transformational for me and for our daughters as we realize just how present jesus christ is on the pages of that book president nelson was preparing us to find ways to hear the savior in our lives he later stated our father knows that when we are surrounded by uncertainty and fear
what will help us the very most is to hear his son president nelson's message to hear him was complimented by social media campaigns that invited all of us to reflect on how we hear him in our lives of course one of the ways president nelson has helped us
hear the savior is by emphasizing the correct name of the church following his general conference address on this topic the church's website visual identity and the
naming of many affiliated organizations of the church where a line to bring jesus christ into our focus every time i compose an email with the address churchofjesuschrist.org i'm reminded that we have a prophet in the land and he is pointing
us to jesus christ as elder neal l anderson echoed in his talk on the same thing christians who are not among our membership will welcome our role and are sure witness of christ even those christians
who have viewed us with skepticism will embrace us as friends in the coming days we will be called by the name of jesus christ in the world that is increasingly losing its connection to the savior our prophet is
pointing all of us back to christ in this most recent general conference president nelson spoke of strengthening our spiritual foundation in christ he said the lord has
declared that despite today's unprecedented challenges those who build their foundations upon jesus christ and have learned how to draw upon his power need not succumb to the unique anxieties of this era god has
given us a pattern in all things and part of that pattern is that we have a prophet in the land elder neil l anderson has stated for those diligently seeking eternal life the prophet's voice brings spiritual safety in very turbulent times following the prophet in a world of commotion
is like being wrapped in a soothing warm blanket on a freezing cold day i know that president nelson is a prophet of god and that he is pointing us to christ in these troubled times this evening we have shared with you
four themes from our prophet in the land we hope you will let god prevail in your life seek personal revelation and make your home or apartment a sanctuary of faith by prioritizing jesus christ we hope you felt the call to hear him as president nelson stated in last general conference i plead with you today to counter the lure of the world by
making time for the lord in your life each and every day i also share my testimony of the prophet prophetic call of president nelson he has been called to lead this church in these perilous times along with each of
the apostles one of whom we will hear from tonight these are special witnesses of our savior jesus christ i know christ lives he will strengthen us in these latter days in the name of jesus christ amen
come thou found of every blessing to my heart to sing like grace streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise teach me some melodies praise the mount
i'm fixed upon safely to arrive at home jesus saw me when a stranger wandering from the fault of god he to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood go to god
here's my heart oh take and
seal it seal it for my seal it for thy accords above here's my heart oh okay thank you
our dear gilberts for that wonderful and beautiful reminder of our dear prophet president nelson's revelatory counsel and admonitions for us in our day amidst such troubling times i was taught a valuable
lesson by a personal experience i also had with president nelson a number of years ago excuse me when my husband served as the senior president of the seven presidents of
the 70 and president nelson was the
quorum president of the 12 apostles we were at an annual mission leadership seminar in provo utah i happened to come late to a
meeting focused on counseling the mission president's wives the room was full of our devoted sisters i stepped in near the back of the room looking for a seat i could slip into
straight up the aisle from me though where i stood my eye caught elder nelson on the stand he smiled i smiled back despite my
embarrassment for being late elder nelson though held my gaze and he took his finger and he pointed to a seat on the front row i kind of shrugged not wanting to make a
scene or in any way disrupt the
meeting but and i indicated that maybe i could just take a seat right here by where i was standing elder nelson smiled and with his pointing finger he beckoned me to come
forward and take the front row seat with my name on it there was power in that pointing finger i smiled back this time with the determined yet timid desire to do as he asked me to do so i literally took a deep
breath and walk the long walk to the seat awaiting me on the front row after the meeting i bolted from my seat to catch elder nelson and ask his forgiveness as i feebly tried to repent for not responding to his
request the first time elder nelson smiled and in loving forgiveness simply said thank you for being obedient i've thought a lot about that simple experience and what it taught me about myself about obedience and following our sustained and ordained leaders i also learned about our dear
prophet president nelson his kindness his caring and his patience he has been ministering all of his life one by one and surely did so to me one amidst hundreds that day president nelson's request of me
was a loving invitation to come
forward and be where i was asked to be to not just settle on a seat near the back but
step up and be accountable for who i am and serve in a holier way our prophet is inviting each of us to be willing to stand out step up more faithfully and courageously step into our role as sons and daughters of
god in these last days to gather and build god's kingdom on both sides of the veil and prepare for the return of
the son of god that we not be
lulled into easy contentment but be diligent watchful and ready to be all that we can be and do what is needed to be done the son of god has also invited each one of us to come
unto him to step up and be like him the lord taught lifted blessed forgave and loved ministering one by one like president nelson did for me like we can do for others our new york city mission scripture came from third
nephi 18 24 as our redeemer said therefore hold up your light that it may shine into the world behold i am the light which ye shall
hold up that which ye have seen me do he is speaking to us to stand tall bearing his light in an ever darkening world president nelson has always held up the lord's light and led by example he is shared if i have learned
anything in my life it is that our ultimate security and our only enduring happiness lives lies in holding onto the iron rod of the restored gospel of jesus christ complete with
its covenants and ordinances
when we do so we can safely navigate through rough waters because we have access to god's power as we live and serve
with the desire to be obedient we will find protection from the adversaries enticings and peace amidst these troubled times while becoming a holier people prepared to meet our lord savior and redeemer when he
comes again this is the true restored church of jesus christ i bear testimony that he was that he is and that he is to come i testify that he has given us a living loving prophet to truly guide us our dear president nelson whom we love and sustained may we be
obedient to our prophets invitations in all things welcoming our father in heaven and his beloved son jesus christ to truly prevail in our lives in the name of jesus christ amen amen wow thank you dear isn't she just
wonderful thank you dear melanie for your message you always add such a beautiful spirit wherever you go whatever you do i am so blessed to have you as my eternal
companion thank you and thank you elder gilbert for that wonderful introduction it is wonderful to have you and sister gilbert here with us tonight this is an added blessing to this assignment which
has come to us and we're happy to be with you again and thank you dear kylie for that beautiful prayer you have set a lovely tone for this meeting kylie is our granddaughter and we are so happy she could join us this evening we love you kylie and we're grateful to you and to have some of our family
members here with us this evening thank you all for coming and sharing with us in fact our another grandchild our grandson ammon will be giving the benediction this evening we love you too ammon thank you
for being here brothers and sisters i feel very blessed to be with you tonight i hope you know and feel how much the lord loves you and how much president russell m nelson the first presidency and my fellow
brethren in the quorum of the twelve love you we are counting on you to be bright lights in a darkening world to carry in your
very countenance the spiritual strength and confidence that comes from being a disciple of jesus christ now tonight we are speaking to you from the tabernacle
on temple square a building
that has great significance to me when i came home from my mission a young single adult like many of you i served as a tour
guide on temple square for a number of years this was before sister missionaries filled that responsibility i remember dropping pins and nails in this tabernacle to demonstrate the amazing acoustics of this
pioneer structure and i taught the gospel to so many visitors from so many different lands when i had the opportunity to choose a setting for this devotional i chose the
tabernacle knowing that
the spirit has filled this grand
building since it was constructed in 1865 from this pulpit and in this building leaders of the church prophets in particular have given guidance and instruction to millions
now i don't need to tell you our dear young adults that you and all of us are facing challenging times so much discussion today is about how hard things are how confusing how desperate even i'd i've heard the word
how hopeless those reactions should not surprise us prophets saw our day and spoke of men being lovers of their own selves lovers of pleasures more than lovers of god
of commotion myths of darkness and temptations of the devil pursuing a discussion of these calamities of these latter days is a road to nowhere instead i hope
each of you is secure on the covenant path president nelson has said staying on that narrow but well-defined path will
ultimately qualify us to receive all that god has nothing could be worth more than all our father has you all shouted for joy in the grand council in heaven at the opportunity
to make this journey immortality each of you has the promise of the savior that where i am ye may be also and where is he in the presence of the father in contrast one-third of the hosts of heaven chose to follow satan and what are their prospects no physical body no agency no future no family no joy
they are not engaged in the great plan of happiness you are of all the things i could address today i have just one piece of advice that covers almost any circumstance you may face and will help you stay true to the lord your god choose to follow god's living prophet he is our watchman on the tower let me say that again choose to follow god's
living prophet and you will never be distanced from the lord jesus christ i have shared that message in meetings with youth and young adults all over the world most recently in a live devotional from johannesburg to the africa south and africa
central areas they like you are seeking to become more like jesus christ but are sometimes confounded by the pressures and problems of the world listening intently and following the counsel of the prophet is is not just something for conference weekend or sunday services to follow the prophet is a
pattern you establish in your life to help you stand firmly with the lord as you did in the premortal life when you hear the living prophet speak you hear words of revelation i ask you today to align your desires efforts activities and personal prayers with
direction given by president nelson the prophet of god on the earth today the scriptures are very important they are filled with the spirit with divine direction and with examples
of how the lord has worked through prophets in ancient days the
words of past prophets are very
important they too remind us that
the lord speaks to his children but the
living prophet leads and guides this church right now according
to the lord's commands let us put this in everyday terms in your life you are anxious about getting married getting through school juggling a family and a job having the
finances to not live so close to the edge you have questions i promise you that as you heed the counsel of the prophet you will
have patience with your situations
and with your challenges some may not be fixed to your immediate liking but with patience you will find the inner strength to square your shoulders and press on i testify the lord will bless you when you follow the living prophet president nelson said just months ago the lord has declared that
despite today's unprecedented challenges those who build their foundations upon jesus christ and have learned how to draw upon his power need not succumb to the unique anxieties of this era do you feel the strength of the savior
in your life you cannot be thin skinned in this gospel you cannot wallow in disbelief anger frustration or pity as the prophet
nephi questioned why should i give way to temptations that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul and then his wonderful resolution rejoice
o my heart o lord i will praise thee forever yea my soul will rejoice in thee my god and the rock of my salvation those words were the words of nephi at the death of lehi as the prophetic mantle passed not to the errant older brothers but to the younger nephi he took over the responsibility for keeping a
record as commanded by god he began upon these i write the things of my soul for years i have been touched by that reference and i talked about the things of my soul in general conference only a few months ago i
join nephi in his declaration behold my soul delighteth in the things of the lord and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which i have seen and heard i named seven in conference and asked you then to add eight nine and ten of your own i renew that call for you today love god the father and
jesus christ our savior love thy neighbor love yourself keep the commandments always be worthy to attend the temple be joyful and cheerful and follow god's living prophet like the prophet samuel the
lamanite in the book of mormon president nelson is essentially standing on the wall preaching the gospel prophesying and speaking the words of the lord which he doth put into his heart like detractors and disbelievers in samuel's time some are annoyed by our prophet's calls for
repentance and they sling arrows out on the internet and in conversations to discredit the prophet and the lord's church that approach is not new nor will it be successful when a mob martyred joseph smith at carthage jail they expected that silencing him would do away with the church as led by him it did not
the church today is 17 million strong and growing across the globe because the truth of god as joseph smith taught will go forth boldly nobly and independent till it has penetrated every continent visited every climb swept away every swept every
country and sounded in every ear till the purposes of god shall be accomplished and the great jehovah shall say the work is done i counsel you to keep your faith in jesus christ strong so you can defend against attacks upon righteous living and the restored
gospel wherever you go there will be those who will wish to do the church harm who hope to dissuade you from truth who mock faith and challenge doctrine determine right now you will not join them that you will be steadfast and immovable recognize that as
president nelson has taught their skeptical teachings try to diminish the divinity of the mission of the savior and even try to nullify the doctrine of the atonement i have always believed that presidents of the church are called of god each one of them in my lifetime has left an imprint that has brought me
closer to the savior these men have spent a lifetime in service to the lord being prepared for their singular calling as the watchman on the tower for all the church i was born when david o mckay was the ninth president of the church the first time i remember personally seeing him he was writing in a pioneer day parade for the 24th of july i was probably eight or nine years old at the time my mother worked for the church
and she had seats at the parade president mckay rode by in a white convertible wearing a white hat a white suit he looked at me and that is when i first knew that he was a prophet of god president joseph fielding smith called me to serve a mission in the
eastern states his name was on my call to serve it was not lost on me that he had a special connection to his grandfather hiram and his great uncle the prophet joseph smith my memories of president harold b lee go back
to my mission in new york city my
companion was his grandson and we were assigned to go out to the airport meet his plane and drive him to the mission home in the middle of new york city i was driving
and i had my hands on the steering wheel in the ten and two position i was so nervous i was shaking literally at the will president lee spoke up from the
back seat and said elder rasband of all the times you're going to be protected this is one of them we arrived at the mission home safely spencer w kimball was president of the church when melanie and i got our
marriage started started our family and began my career in business and my service in the church president ezra taft benson led the church when i was fully engaged and
immersed in church service he taught that a good way to measure your standing with the lord is to see how you feel about and act upon the inspired words of his earthly
representative the prophet now i have tender memories of president howard w hunter he was in john huntsman stake who was my employer and leader in our company and as things worked out i had multiple occasions to travel with president hunter who was advanced in age in particular i recall a visit to armenia in
ukraine and russia we were staying in a hotel in yerevan armenia and in the middle of the night night i was awakened to the pounding on our hotel room door it was sister hunter
needing my help president hunter had fallen out of bed and could not get up and our room was just across the hall and i hurried over to their room as i lifted
president hunter up and laid
him in his bed i can hardly say this and keep my composure he pulled my head down to him and gave me a kiss on my forehead i certainly loved president howard w hunter president gordon b hinckley was the president when i was called as a mission
president and when i was called as a member of the quorum of the seventy just like you've heard about elder gilbert's call earlier that assignment to full-time service reshaped my life i worked very closely with him directing the temple department as temples were announced and built all
around the world what a joy it
was for sister raspbian and i to serve with president hinckley president thomas s monson extended my call to serve as an apostle and i will admit sobering the
moment for me as he said the lord has called you to serve in the quorum of the twelve apostles president monson showed love to me that day just as he had years earlier to my son christian in 1997 president monson spoke at a scout jamboree in
pennsylvania where my 12 year old son was in attendance earlier that summer we had moved to new york for sister rasband and i to serve as mission president and companion it was a hard move for twelve-year-old christian so having president
monson speak at the jamboree was a touch of home for the lonesome scout he knew president monson from the years we had been with him at utah jazz basketball games we had all exchanged high fives when a shot would go through as president monson
prepared to leave the stage of the jamboree he looked out over the crowd and saw our son christian in his scout uniform about 20 rows back he hollered out chris rasband
come up here and say hello the scouts parted like the red sea as president monson reached out to take my son's hand and pull him up on the podium quietly he said
something like chris how the jazz doing chris needed that notice and president monson was never too busy for people i have a special memory of the calling and ordination of president russell m nelson as president of the church when i first heard that president monson had passed away i was sad to lose this wise thoughtful and energetic prophet i knew that the lord had
prepared his successor elder nelson to shoulder the mantle of the prophet and as the song says to guide us in these latter days elder nelson had been my quorum president in the quorum of the twelve apostles and a dear and loving friend he was then the senior apostle and by precedent would be
the next prophet but i sought a personal witness that was that this was to be the desire of the lord from the day president monson died until the day president nelson senior apostle in the quorum of the 12 was ordained as president of the church we
operated in what is known formally as an apostolic interregnum i had never been a part of the transition of prophetic leadership from one prophet called of god to another i prayed earnestly pleading with god that i
might receive my own spiritual witness as we gathered as the quorum of the twelve apostles in the salt lake temple to reorganize the presidency of the church and ordained president nelson as prophet seer and
revelator holding all of the keys for the lord's work on the earth that my friends was one of those special experiences that enhanced my testimony and drew me closer to the lord and enhanced my faith and knowledge in divine revelation when we formed a circle around president nelson laying our hands upon his head i
immediately received the spiritual confirmation i had been praying for and desired the feeling i received from the spirit was both beautiful and memorable i need only look at president helsing nelson now
and it comes back to me immediately i knew then and i testified to you now that president nelson is god's prophet on the earth today he serves jesus christ whose church this is as did the 16 presidents before him now how about you have you diligently prayed
listening for promptings from the holy ghost that president nelson is called by god to lead this church if you are casual about knowing president nelson's prophetic mantle i encourage you to seek that witness you need to know in your very soul that president nelson speaks for god and jesus christ
having the holy spirit confirm that truth makes it natural and easy to follow his counsel to sincerely raise your arm to the square to sustain him and to place priority on those things he asks you to do president nelson has given us clear direction let's look at a few of president nelson's key messages
for the members of the church find joy in your life i too testify this is a joyful gospel we can feel joy even while having a bad day a bad week or even a bad year the joy we feel has little to do with circumstances of our
lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives when the focus of our lives is on god's plan of salvation and jesus christ and his gospel we can feel joy regardless of what is happening or not happening in our lives
joy comes from and because of him he is the source of all joy express gratitude counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems no matter our situation showing gratitude for our privileges is a unique fast-acting and long-lasting spiritual prescription ask questions take your
questions to the lord and to other faithful sources study with the desire to believe rather than with the hope that you can find a fly in the fabric of a prophet's life or a discrepancy in the scriptures stop increasing your doubts by rehearsing them with other doubters allow the lord to lead you on your journey of spiritual discovery seek
revelation for answers to your questions and direction in your personal lives no matter who you are you can pray to your heavenly father for guidance and direction in your life if you learn to hear the lord through his promptings you may receive
divine guidance in matters large and small and as the gilbert's taught let god prevail i have studied the gathering prayed about it feasted upon every related scripture and asked the lord to increase my understanding so imagine my delight when i was led
recently to a new insight with the help of two hebrew scholars i learned that one of the hebraic meanings of the word israel is let god prevail thus the very name of israel refers to a person who is willing to let god prevail in his or her life that concept stirs my soul president said the word willing is
crucial to this interpretation of israel we all have our agency we can choose to be of israel or not we can choose to let god prevail in our lives or not we can choose to let god be the most powerful influence in our lives or not are you willing to let god prevail in your life are you willing to let god be the
most important influence in
your life do you believe these things i think we could say they are some of the things of president nelson's soul is he just talking to a
few fortunate members who got a free pass in this life or a fast pass to the front of the line no he is speaking to all of us with these words whether you are diligent diligently moving along the covenant path have
slipped or stepped from the covenant path or can't even see the path from where you are now experience the strengthening power of daily repentance of doing and being a little better each day prophets have a
singular role to teach of the savior jesus christ and to lead us along the covenant path to him no one seeks the office there is no campaigning no debate no politics lorenzo snow is a great example he was president of the salt lake temple and president of the quorum of the 12 when wilford woodruff
died president snow went to the temple and poured out his heart saying i have not sought this responsibility but if it be thy will i now present myself before thee for thy guidance and instruction and he waited kneeling at the altar he records no voice no
visitation or manifestation came nothing he left the room and then in the temple corridor the lord appeared and spoke with him face to face brothers and sisters this is the lord's church and he calls his prophets his
watchmen on the tower i leave you this evening wherever you are in this grand church with my apostolic blessing that when you seek your witness that president russell m nelson is the lord's prophet your life will fall in line with sacred teachings you will feel the spirit with you and the love of your
father in heaven and jesus christ i promise that as you act on the prophet's counsel to repent you will recognize the power of the atonement in your life may christ lift thee up as it says at the close of the book of mormon and that it will be a real experience in your life and will sustain you in your times of
trouble may you be guided by the things of your soul that you will be prepared to join with the hosts of heaven when the savior returns that you will know him as the lord of lords the king of kings the prince of peace we humbly pray tonight in the name of jesus christ amen amen thank you elder rasband what a powerful message and sister rasband thank you for your remarks now as we
mentioned at the start of the program we will turn to the zoom broadcast and we're going to ask some of our young or some of our young adults across the church to share reflections on what they heard and no pressure to any of the 30 of you or here in the zoom room we'll just ask you to share your feelings with a couple hundred thousand of your closest peers so uh we
talked just before the broadcast and we asked you to listen to what themes resonated to you with you and what did you hear i'd like to start with uh mark draney mark would you share with us or sorry carter
training carter would you share with us some of your thoughts as you listen to the bro messages tonight what resonated with you yes sir i'd be happy to um something that really really hit me um was something that was shared by you and sister gilbert the third instruction given by the prophet that was creating a home center church and putting christ at the center of that home i
was thinking about that a lot and that's why i say age people we we may try to exempt ourselves from that being so far away from our families maybe living alone or with roommates um and not having maybe a true home but as as i was thinking about that i don't think a age or situation can exempt us from instructions given by the prophet as we strive to do what the prophet asks in that in this scenario which would be creating a
home center church and a christ-centered home we can still feel those those blessings of ultimate joy that comes from jesus christ that's beautiful thank you and i love your point that he even if i'm living away from my family and even if i'm a in your case a
single adult i can i can set that pattern in my own home or apartment right now thank you let's go to some others other reflections from our groupon zoom who would like to share something karen leon yes hi um and karen tell us where you're from uh i am from peru i'm currently in columbia south carolina um do you have another question what stood out to you tonight in the
messenger yes sorry um well the first thing that really helped me feel a little bit better is when elder rasman said that um the first presidency and the corner of the twelve apostles that they are counting on us that i felt very um uh in a sense and um i don't know is is i i have this sense of
responsibilities okay i better shape up and and start um over working on on the things that i am um struggling and another thing that that i stood up for me was um again there are moments sometimes when we um well elder asked us to to be joyful to be um hopeful in some lives um it does happen that way all the time right um and there's
moments when i even have to ask for um the desire to to be hopeful or the desire to link to um follow christ in a more faithful way so those are the things that stood out for me could i talk with karen for just a minute please karen you've been singled out in the whole world to have this little one-on-one with me okay i know i want you to know
that what i said there i really meant we need you young adults in the future of this church we need you one by one we need you to feel deep in your heart just like you just expressed that even in a huge world with billions of people heavenly father and jesus know you personally i want to just bear my testimony testimony to you karen that it's true that what you felt tonight came to you from the holy ghost and i hope you
remember it all the days of your life thanks very much i will thanks thank you elder rasman and and thank you for your your comment and i love that recognition of the charge from elder rasband that we're counting on you um there's so many here who are trying to get in i'll go to joe and kailyn charles hi um so we're a married
couple from reno nevada and we're happy to be here i just wanted to share so i'm a convert to the church and i didn't grow up with the knowledge of christ or scripture but however i had grown up with wonderful friends who were members and just singing children's handbook songs or inviting me to girls camp was enough to have a positive influence on me
in my own youth so one morning i woke up and i decided to go to a friend's giving event set up by the ysa and to begin coming to service on sunday and i just decided to do that and as i think i received what i believe
to be personal revelation or influence from god himself and other sister gilbert and elder and sister razban's talks about our living prophet reminded me of how
important it is following our promptings and listening to the promptings of the holy ghost and the truths of our prophets so just knowing that there is a living prophet on this earth has helped me feel comforted in my own decision to join the church as well as in my decision to make and keep
covenants on a daily basis despite not having any family with the exact same truths or beliefs that of that of me or my husband so just president nelson's words remind us how important guidance and direction can be in ourselves and others and i have experienced
this in my own life and know that others will as well as long as we have um help we help ourselves and others to get and remain on the covenant path sweet sweet insights kalyn and joe and kailyn
thanks for joining us and what a what a great testimony of being a convert to the church it's wonderful to have you both with us and um i want to go to uh halle francis now if i can and halle you're also a convert to the church and you said to us earlier you didn't even know there was a prophet before you joined the church share with us what you heard tonight yeah um so i just want to share that the other day um i was just
thinking about all the chaos and all the things that are going on in the world right now um so in kentucky close to my hometown there were some pretty bad storms and it ruined a lot of stuff and a lot of people lost their lives and things like that and it got me thinking about the second coming and i had a huge panic attack
because i was afraid that i wasn't
going to be ready when the savior
came back but he could literally come back in five minutes and i just felt that i was not doing enough or that i i wasn't enough or you know the adversary was really trying to mess with my mind and deceive me as we just talked about um but the messages tonight really gave me peace and comfort
and guiding me to know that i am enough and um that following the prophet will help me to be ready so making my home that sanctuary and making sure that i'm trying to let god prevail in my life and also being that light to other people in the sermon on the mount jesus talked about being the light of
the world and that a city sitting on a hill cannot be hidden and that he wants us to let our light shine so that our father in heaven can be glorified and so i think that that really spoke to me and it just made me focus on making sure that i am getting my spiritual
foundation right and then being a light to other people so that they can also get this right so that we will be ready when jesus does decide to come back that's a wonderful insight elder asman do we have a time for a couple more before we conclude let's take
one more one more yep um let's see joshua kim josh where are you calling in from again and share with us your thoughts yeah i'm calling in from arizona mesa arizona and i was just really impressed by elder rasband's invitation to align your desires actions and prayers with the counsel
of the prophet with the will of god and i was impressed with that because oftentimes we think of following the prophet as an action type thing the prophet says do this and we do that but what's more important that is that we align our desire with gods and that's giving our will up to him that's something
that i feel like i struggle with sometimes going beyond just doing the action but truly giving my will to gods and uh truly sincerely repenting and truly seeking a witness um of the prophet and all those things and that's something we can all remember to focus on
is having true desire to become one with god and to align our will with his thank you joshua that's a wonderful insight and i had the same observation as i listened to elder rasband share how he built a pattern of making the prophet part of his life
throughout his lifetime elder
rasman would you like to conclude our evening with a closing thought well thank you joshua thank you for that that thought that to me is really at the essence of our devotional tonight is that all of you throughout this vast church who
participated can align your thinking your feeling with the teachings of the lord jesus christ as delivered by his living prophet i will tell you as i prepared my message the image i had of samuel the lamanite standing on the wall dodging the arrows and the
threats and the vile words that were being spoken to him reminded me to some degree of the world we live in today i work with president nelson very closely in
communicating his words to
the world and candidly it hurts me to see some of the things that are said about him and the church in social media and in newspapers and other media and as i was pondering that and preparing my remarks
for tonight i had the sweetest confirmation that the words of russell marion nelson will prevail in many of heavenly father's children's lives and i think that's evidenced by the wonderful congregation we have joining us throughout north america tonight for this devotional as you've probably read five of my other brethren of the 12 have taken other areas of the world and in total
six of these devotionals have happened today throughout the world i hope that tells all of you how important your generation is to this church i conclude with what i've heard president nelson say so many times and we echo it for you tonight not only do we need you which we've already spoken
about but please know how much we love you please know how much we thank you we know you are taking some arrows in your lives too and we thank you for standing tall for being resolute and following the
teachings of the lord jesus christ on behalf of the gilberts and the raz bands we bear our solemn witness to all of you our young friends some of you are in our own families we love the lord we know this is his church as much as we love and honor russell
marian nelson i bear witness to all of you tonight that jesus the christ presides at the head of this church he is the king of kings he is the lord of lords he is alpha and omega he is the babe of bethlehem and we love him and we commend him in his life to all of you tonight humbly and gratefully hoping that all the glory and all the honor of these
devotionals all around the world will accrue to the lord jesus christ may all the honor and glory be his in the name of jesus christ amen amen amen we conclude with the combined men's and women's choirs of byu idaho singing we thank thee oh god for a prophet ammon mcpherson will close with a prayer ammon is the grandson of elder and sister raspberry we thank thee for sending the gospel to light in our minds with his grace
there is hope smiling brightly before us and we know that deliverance is is thee is god our dear heavenly father we conclude this devotional tonight with great gratitude for the words and spirit that we felt we thank
thee that the gilberts will be able to be with us to share their wonderful insights about following the prophet we thank thee for elder and sister raspbian for everything that they taught us and showed us and sought to help us understand about thy prophet
president russell nelson we thank thee for thy son jesus christ and for his church and for his chosen prophet and apostles we thank thee for leaders that are willing to sacrifice their needs and put us above themselves we thank thee for the missionaries in this church
and in this gospel and for the young adults and for all of their desires and willingness to be saints and to do what is right and to listen to truth we ask that as together as we remember the words that were shared tonight about following the prophet and finding
our own personal revelation in our individual lives by listening to his
words that will be able to be blessed and guided we ask you to please bless us to remember that
our needs and our sacrifices are worth it and that blessings will come as we trust in thee and thy son and thy prophet we love the heavenly father and we ask for all these things in the name of jesus christ amen you
God bless you
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