Youth of the Noble Birthright: What Will You Choose?
FULL TALK
Will you choose to increase in learning?
Brothers and sisters, don’t be afraid to pursue your goals—even yourdreams! There is no shortcut to excellence and competence. Education is the difference between wishing you could help other people and beingable to help them. GOOD STORY ABOUT A BOY WANTING TO GO TO MEDICAL SCHOOL
This is what Scott epitomized and championed with the young men and men in our ward. Education and sucess in our careers gives us the freedom, times and means to spend more time with our families, to serve in the church and to help others. Get all the education you can in a field that will help you provide for your family.
What manner of living will you choose?
You, as youth of the noble birthright, are expected to live differently than others. You know what Paul said to young Timothy: “Be thou an exampleof the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, inpurity.”9 Choose to think and act differently than those of the world.Choose to look different and see what an influence for good you willbecome. As Sister Ardeth G. Kapp once said, “You can’t be a life saver ifyou look like all the other swimmers on the beach.”10
Our example has to be a light in this world! We cannot just blend in and float along with the crowd. We have a nobile birthright to be the leaders in this dispensation, to bring others to Christ. We were chosen before hand, foreordained to wear out our lives in service.
As youth of the noble birthright, you have a great start in life. But you also have an additional responsibility. “For of him [or her] unto whommuch is given much is required.”11 Part of that requirement is to be arecruit. Have you ever thought of yourself as an army recruit? When youwere baptized, you were actually reenlisted in the Lord’s army.1
Not only do we have a charge to be a light, but we must also recruit others to join us in our efforts to be lights. Our light and influence can only spread so far, but as we enlist others in our efforts, their lights add to our and our sphere of influence increases. Many lights can brighten an immense space.
Will you establish priorities to help you make your choices in life?
Your choices will not all be between good and evil. Many will be choicesbetween two good options. Not all truths are created equal, so you willneed to establish priorities. I
Good, Better, Best says it all. If Satan can't get us to fall then he can get us distracted with good so we ignore the best.
“This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God,and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”19 Above everything else you areseeking to learn, seek to know God, your Heavenly Father, and His Son,Jesus Christ. Come to know Them and love Them, as I do.
The highest priority of everyday has to be to get closer to the Savior and God. If we have the faith to put them first, then everything else will fall into place. We will be led and guided and blessed to be able to accomplish all things that He would have us do. We will have the time and the means to do it if we are willing to work hard and give HIM are all. This is THE ONE THING we have to learn here on earth. Everything else rests on this.
“Seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish hisrighteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”20
The Lord really will bless us with the means and ability to do what HE needs done, but we must prove that are hearts are pure. To bless us with things before our hearts are pure is to only corrupt them with the things of this world. Our motives and intents have to be inline with HIS.
More than anything else in this world, you want to make choices that lead to the ultimate and glorious destiny of eternal life. That is God’s greatglory for you.21 Choose eternal life as your highest priority! Study thescriptures, such as sections 76 and 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants, inorder to understand more about the different blessings awaiting those who choose eternal life and those who don’t. Choose eternal life as yourhighest priority and notice how other choices fall into place.
Choose eternal life. How simple it is to say, but how hard it is to see how our daily choices are either leading us to that or away from that. We need to ask ourselves. Does this choice draw me nearer to my Savior? If it does not then we need to have the strength to walk away and not do that thing- NO MATTER WHAT. We have to put aside temporary pleasure or self-gratification in exchange for something better. Learning to do this so great spiritual maturity and allows the Lord to trust us with great things.
With whom will you choose to associate?
In PresidentUchtdorf’s earlier message, he stressed that there really is right andwrong, and the willful breaking of one of God’s commandments really issin. Believers in God also have a conscience. Believers obey civil anddivine law voluntarily, even laws that might otherwise be unenforceable.
Obedience because we want to be obedient not because of fear of being caught is what we are striving for.
As you mingle with nonbelievers, be aware that there may be a few whodo not have your best interest at heart.22 As soon as you make thatjudgment—as soon as you discern that—flee from them quickly andpermanently.23
We can help many people come to the gospel, but if they are trying to bring us down then we need to vacate the premises
Sadly, you will meet people whose desperate search for something thatseems to them like happiness takes them down the slippery slopes of sin.Beware of that slimy slide! Any pleasure in sin is only fleeting, andhaunting memories are smeared by gnawing and grinding guilt. The sinfulwarping of the embrace divinely designed to unite husband and wife isbut a hollow counterfeit. Each unlawful experience is stripped of deepmeaning and sweet memory.
Don't be tricked by the example of other who are seemingly delighting in sin. Their delight is only temporary and will have undesirable consequences. Don't be persuaded by these examples in the media. Movies are not real life and the happy endings and lack of consequences are not real.
Will you choose freedom or bondage?
Godless forces are all around. You are literally living in enemy-occupiedterritory.24 A plague of poisonous pornography abounds. It ensnares allwho yield to its insidious grasp.
Avoid that bondage, my beloved brothers and sisters. If you are presentlyviewing pornography, stop it! And stop it now! Seek help from yourbishop. None are smart enough to outwit the adversary on their own oncethey have been poisoned by pornography.
Avoid this because as he says NONE can escape on their own once they have been poisoned. THis is serious and often requires help from the bishop
How will you prepare for your personal interview with the Savior?
Each day on earth gives you time and opportunity to prepare for thatinterview. Please know this: As you choose to live on the Lord’s side, youare never alone. God has given you access to His help while you movealong through mortality’s perilous pathway. As you diligently, earnestlypour out your heart to Him in daily prayer, He will send His angels to helpyou.37 He has given you the Holy Ghost to be by your side as you liveworthily. He has given you scriptures so that you can fully feast upon thewords of Jesus Christ.38 He has given you words to heed from livingprophets.
Choosing God means choosing to have his presence with us again, as it was in the premortal existence. The more we feel him the more our wills natural align with His making those difficult choices not so hard any more. He is there to help us succeed through all things, giving us extra strength and help beyond our own. However, if we stubbornly cling to our own ways, we are left utterly alone, without support, help or guidance.
Your patriarchal blessingalso provides insight about your potential in life here and hereafter. Eachof these and other divine aids will help you to choose well so that youmay look forward to your meeting, face to face, with our Lord and Savior.
Study your patriarchal blessing often
In whom will you put your trust?
You youth of the noble birthright know that God is your Father. He lovesyou. He wants you to be happy. Put your trust in Him.39 Maintain yourfocus on His holy temple. Be worthy to receive your endowment andsealing ordinances. Remain faithful to those covenants, and returnfrequently to the temple. Remember, your loftiest goal is to gain thegreatest of all the blessings of God, that of eternal life.40 Ordinances ofthe temple are essential for that blessing.41
Old or young we need to remember to keep our focus on temple covenants, It is only through those that we will be able to be reunited with our loved ones and have the blessing of eternal life.
D&C 84
“Thus saith the Lord unto you [youth of the noble birthright], with whomthe priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—
“For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid fromthe world with Christ in God—
“Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needsremain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all thingsspoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began.
“Therefore, blessed are ye if ye continue in my goodness, a light unto theGentiles, and through this priesthood, a savior unto my people Israel.”
Yes, you truly are youth of the noble birthright, created in God’s image.You are the lawful heirs, to be tried and tested. You may choose to be alight to the world, to help save God’s children, to have joy, and ultimatelyto earn the blessing of eternal life.
As covenant members of the church we have agreed to be a light to the world and to help save other's of God children. We will do this despite the trials and tests that we will face and in the end we can inherit all that the Father has if we remain true and faithful.
Apostolic Blessing given by Elder Nelson
Now, to assist you in these critical choices before you, I would like tobestow a blessing upon you. Invoking the keys of the holy apostleshipvested in me, I bless you that you may feast upon the words of JesusChrist and apply His teachings into your lives. I bless you with the powerto live as He would have you live and, through your example ofrighteousness, become worthy of emulation as a member of the Churchthat bears His holy name. I bless you with success in your educational andoccupational pursuits, to the end that you can render service of worth toyour fellow human beings. I bless you with health and strength needed tofulfill the divine destiny that God has in store for each of you, that His willmay be done by you and through you.
Aug 30, 2013
