Editor’s note: “This week from the pulpit” highlights recent messages from General Authorities, General Officers, and leaders of the Church. This story has been updated throughout the week. Find summaries of remarks below or use the hyperlink menu to jump to a specific section.
- Elder Cook and 3 other Church leaders speak at CES schools
- What to expect during this weekend’s 150th anniversary of Young Women celebration
- Elder Holland’s New #HearHim Video
- Elder Uchtdorf Wishes the “Candy Bomber” a Happy 100th Birthday
- Other General Authority and General Officer Social Media Posts
Elder Cook and 3 other Church leaders speak at CES schools
Many Church leaders spoke in broadcast remarks in devotionals for the Church Educational System this week. Here is a brief look at their remarks:
• Elder Quentin L. Cook spoke at Brigham Young University on the topic of “Great Expectations,” titling his remarks after the novel by Charles Dickens.
“Our ‘great expectation’ for you is that you will love, serve, and worship the Savior, and that you will bless the world like no other generation,” he said. “Be determined to continue on the covenant path and to be righteous. With your BYU education, you can be a means of breaking down prejudice, bringing the Church more fully out of obscurity, and building faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Read a full summary of Elder Cook’s remarks from Church News.
• Young Men General President Steven J. Lund spoke at the BYU–Idaho campus devotional on the value of truth.
“We are living in tumultuous times when, to find peace and to be able to make your full contribution to the world, you need clarity,” President Lund said. “What will help most is broadly understood, full-bodied, indivisible, now-and-forever truth.”
Read a full summary of President Lund’s remarks from Church News.
• In a devotional for BYU-Pathway Worldwide, Bishop W. Christopher Waddell spoke about how the Spirit can help students accomplish their goals and pursuits.
“Always remember that we can accomplish so much more with the Spirit than we can on our own,” Bishop Waddell said.
Read a full summary of Bishop Waddell’s remarks from Church News.
• Emeritus General Authority Seventy Elder Kim B. Clark spoke at Ensign College about what it means to be a disciple-leader.
“Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ invites us to become His true disciples and more and more like Him,” he said. “He wants His gospel to go down deep into our hearts. He wants to change our very nature so that His power, light, and love will be in us.”
Read a full summary of Elder Clark’s remarks from Church News.
What to expect during this weekend’s 150th anniversary of Young Women celebration
On Sunday, November 15, the Young Women General Presidency will lead a special Face to Face event for all young women past and present in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Young Women organization. In an episode of the Church News podcast, President Bonnie H. Cordon gave a sneak peek of what to expect.
“Well, it’s going to be full of energy, because we’re talking about young women full of music, full of light—and it’s a culminating event,” President Cordon said. She described three invitations that have been issued to the Young Women: doing something associated with the number 150, like indexing 150 names or sending 150 texts, expressing gratitude for a Young Women leader, and pondering, “How do you hear the voice of the Lord?”
“Over this period of time, from May until November 15, we have been celebrating, and some have shared over social media,” President Cordon said. “So, this will be a culminating event as we come together and really celebrate Young Women and celebrate our Savior, Jesus Christ.”
On the episode, President Cordon also shares some of the ways the Young Women organization has changed through the years as well as how she has seen young women adapt to various needs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Listen to the full podcast episode from Church News.
Elder Holland’s New #HearHim Video
In the most recent “How I Hear Him” video, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland encourages vocal prayers as a way to communicate with Diety.
“We need to carve out time—good time, high priority time—when we can kneel, if possible, and be vocal. Say the words,” Elder Holland says in the video. “I believe that this process is basic to how God communicates with us and how He intends for us to communicate with Him.”
In an accompanying blog post, Elder Holland adds how we can “hear Him” through the scriptures and by trusting our feelings.
“We don’t always get a written, certified statement issued in response to our prayers, but if your searching is honorable and true and clean and noble, trust the feelings that come,” Elder Holland writes. “I encourage people to act on those feelings and to believe that their instincts can be founded on truth. At that point you do not have to ask, ‘Did it come from Him?’ He will make sure that it doesn’t come from an evil source.”
Other Church leaders who have participated in the “How I Hear Him” series so far include President M. Russell Ballard, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Elder David A. Bednar, Elder Gary E. Stevenson, Elder Dale G. Renlund, Elder Gerrit W. Gong, and President Jean B. Bingham.
Read the full blog post from Elder Holland or watch his video on Facebook.
Elder Uchtdorf Wishes the “Candy Bomber” a Happy 100th Birthday
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf wished fellow aviator Gail Halverson a belated happy birthday through a video on Facebook.
“He is the same gentlemen, the same kind of person, and the same man standing tall for his values and principles regardless of situations or circumstances,” Elder Uchtdorf said in the video. “In all of these circumstances, I have seen Hal as a man not ashamed or afraid of his beliefs and then practice perfectly what he declares.”
See the full post on Facebook.
► You may also like: ‘I’m glad to be alive’: The ‘Berlin Candy Bomber’ on turning 100
Other General Authority and General Officer Social Media Posts
President Dallin H. Oaks
President M. Russell Ballard
Elder David A. Bednar
► You may also like: 12 powerful quotes by Apostles and their wives from 6 young adult devotionals on the same day
Elder Quentin L. Cook
Elder Ulisses Soares
Sister Michelle Craig
Sister Becky Craven
Lead image: Elder Cook by Jaren Wilkey, BYU. President Cordon by Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
