D&C 57:1-3 What might be keeping us from having the temple at the center of our lives?

President Spencer W. Kimball:

“One man who had been a slave to alcohol most of his adult life became convinced . . . that he must give up the habit and prepare himself for the temple. . . . With great effort he quit drinking. He moved many miles away from the area where his drinking friends lived and, though his body craved and ached and gnawed for [alcohol], he finally conquered. He was at all his Church meetings, and was paying his tithing. His new friends in the Church seemed to fortify him. He felt good in the new activity, and life was glorious. His wife was beaming, because now the whole family was always together. This is what she had dreamed about all their married life.

“They got their temple recommends and the happy day arrived and they drove to the temple city for this great event. They arrived early and each had some errands to do. As it happened, the husband ran into some old friends. They urged him to go with them to the tavern [where alcohol was served]. No, he would not, he said, he had other important things to do. Well, he could just take a soft drink [soda], they urged”

“With the best of intentions he finally relented [and went to the tavern with his old friends]. But by the time he was to meet his wife at the temple he was so incapacitated [or drunk with alcohol] that the family went home in disgrace and sorrow and disap­pointment” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, 171).

D&C 45:32 Standing in Holy places means living worthy of the Holy Ghost.

“‘Holy places’ may have more to do with how one lives than where one lives. If we live worthy of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, then we stand in a holy place. … A holy place is any place where a person enjoys the Spirit of God” (Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, 2nd ed. [CES manual, 2001], 196).

D&C 43:7 The Lord has ordained Prophets to lead us and keep us safe.

Follow the Prophet by Elder Spencer J. Condie

In January of 1975, on a dark, rainy night in Tasmania, a 7,300-ton barge smashed into two piers of the Tasman Bridge, which connects Hobart, Tasmania, with its eastern suburbs across the bay. Three spans of the bridge collapsed. An Australian family by the name of Ling were driving across the bridge when suddenly the bridge lights went out. Just then a speeding car passed them and disappeared before their very eyes. Murray Ling “slammed on his brakes and skidded to a stop, one yard from the edge of a black void” (Stephen Johnson, “Over the Edge!” Reader’s Digest, Nov. 1977, p. 128).

Murray got his family out of the car and then began warning oncoming traffic of the disaster ahead. As he frantically waved his arms, to his horror, a car “swerved around him and plummeted into the abyss” (ibid.). A second car barely stopped in time, but a third car showed no sign of slowing down and crashed into the Lings’ car at the edge of the bridge.

Suddenly a loaded bus headed toward Murray, ignoring his waving arms. In desperation, risking his very life, he “ran alongside the driver’s window. ‘There’s a span missing,’ he yelled” (ibid., p. 129). The bus swerved just in time and came to a halt against the railing. Dozens of lives had been saved.

I am grateful for these Brethren whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators who forewarn us of bridges not to be crossed. These great men whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators preach “not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4). Their motives are pure as they strive to build the kingdom of God and to uplift and edify the Saints of God. In the words of the Apostle Paul, they have become “prisoners of Christ” (see Eph. 3:1; Eph. 4:1; Philem. 1:1, 9; 2 Tim. 1:8), whose only desire is to do the Lord’s will. Nothing more. Nothing less. And nothing else. These are men of God! May we heed their warning voices, I humbly pray..." (Ensign, Nov. 1993, 15).

D&C 42:30 Law of Consecration

Quote by Marion G. Romney of the First Presidency. ““The basic principle and the justification for the law of consecration ‘is that everything we have belongs to the Lord therefore, the Lord may call upon us for any and all of the property which we have, because it belongs to Him. … (“Living the Principles of the Law of Consecration,” Ensign, Feb. 1979, 3).

Quote by President Joseph Fielding Smith. “the United Order, or law of consecration, does not contemplate that the idler shall eat the bread of the laborer. While all shall share in common and none shall possess above another, yet all must give service and labor for the benefit of all” (Church History and Modern Revelation, 2 vols. 1953, 1:205).

D&C 38:16 Commandments are like loving tender advice from Heavenly Father.

“When I was a child I recognized, or thought I did, that the commandments of the Lord were His laws and regulations for my guidance. I thought I recognized in the disobedience to those laws that punishment would follow. … But as I grew older I have learned the lesson from another viewpoint, and now to me the laws of the Lord … are but the sweet music of the voice of our Father in heaven in His mercy to us. They are but the advice and counsel of a loving parent, who is more concerned in our welfare than earthly parents can be, and consequently that which at one time seemed to bear the harsh name of law to me is now the loving and tender advice of an all-wise Heavenly Father. And so I say it is not hard for me to believe that it is best for me to keep the commandments of God” (President George Albert Smith. Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith [2011], 193–94).

D&C 35:13. We are entitled to the Lord's help if he called us.

Quote:  President Monson

“Now, some of you may be shy by nature or consider yourselves inadequate to respond affirmatively to a calling. Remember that this work is not yours and mine alone. It is the Lord’s work, and when we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help. Remember that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies.” (Duty Calls, President Monson April General Conference 1996)

D&C 35:3 God has known you for a long, long time. Elder Maxwell

Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:

“I testify to you that God has known you individually … for a long, long time (see D&C 93:23). He has loved you for a long, long time. … He knows your names and all your heartaches and your joys!” (“Remember How Merciful the Lord Hath Been,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2004, 46).

D&C 35:13 Don't judge your leaders in the church. They aren't perfect.

Elder Holland

“…be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work. As one gifted writer has suggested, when the infinite fulness is poured forth, it is not the oil’s fault if there is some loss because finite vessels can’t quite contain it all. Those finite vessels include you and me, so be patient and kind and forgiving. (CR April 2013)

D&C 31:1-2. The Lord fulfills his promises to the faithful. Story if President Monson promising a young missionary that his father will join the church.

President Thomas S. Monson

“There sat in my office one day a newly arrived missionary. He was bright, strong, filled with enthusiasm and a desire to serve, happy and grateful to be a missionary. As I spoke with him I said, ‘Elder, I imagine that your father and mother wholeheartedly support you in your mission call.’ He lowered his head and replied, ‘Well, not quite. You see, President, my father is not a member of the Church. He doesn’t believe as we believe, so he cannot fully appreciate the importance of my assignment.’ Without hesitating and prompted by a source not my own, I said to him, ‘Elder, if you will honestly and diligently serve God in proclaiming his message, your father will join the Church before your mission is concluded.’ He clasped my hand in a viselike grip, the tears welled up in his eyes and began to roll forth down his cheeks, and he declared, ‘To see my father accept the truth would be the greatest blessing that could come into my life.’

“This young man did not sit idly by, hoping and wishing that the promise would be fulfilled, but rather he followed the example of Abraham Lincoln, of whom it has been said, ‘When he prayed, he prayed as though everything depended upon God, and then he worked as though everything depended upon him.’ Such was the missionary service of this young man.

“At every missionary conference I would seek him out before the meetings would ever commence and ask, ‘Elder, how’s dad progressing?’

“His reply would invariably be, ‘No progress, President, but I know the Lord will fulfil the promise given to me through you as my mission president.’ The days turned to weeks and the weeks to months and finally, just two weeks before we ourselves left the mission field to return home, I received a letter from the father of this missionary. I would like to share it with you today.

“‘Dear Brother Monson:

“‘I wish to thank you so much for taking such good care of my son who recently completed a mission in Canada.

“‘He has been an inspiration to us.

“‘My son was promised when he left on his mission that I would become a member of the Church before his return. This promise was, I believe, made to him by you, unknown to me.

“‘I am happy to report that I was baptized into the Church one week before he completed his mission. …

“‘… His younger brother was also recently baptized and confirmed a member of the Church.

“‘May I again thank you for all the kindness and love bestowed upon my son by his brothers in the mission field during the past two years.

“‘Yours very truly,

“‘A grateful father.’

“The humble prayer of faith had once again been answered” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1964, 131–32).