CC #9 Complete

Brother Taylor Lithgow hosts a show called Conference Chronicles, where he dissects conference talks. He discusses a talk by Brother Jan E. Newman called "Preserving the Voice of the Covenant People in the Rising Generation." The talk emphasizes the importance of teaching the rising generation about Jesus Christ and helping them develop a personal relationship with Him. Brother Newman shares examples from the Book of Mormon, highlighting the impact of the Savior's teachings on the rising generation. He urges parents to instill in their children a desire to make and keep covenants with God, rather than just following traditions or customs. Brother Lithgow reflects on his own experiences and suggests five ways to help the rising generation develop a strong faith in Jesus Christ. Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets. How blessed we are to have a living prophet today. Brothers and sisters, the Savior declared, whether by my own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same. Welcome to Conference Chronicles, where we systematically take one conference talk per week from the previous conference and dissect it and learn from it. I'm your host, Taylor Lithgow, and I firmly believe that as we listen to and apply the Lord's teachings through His living prophets, we will fulfill the full measure of our creation and we will be prepared for the Lord at His second coming. So please join with me each week as we take this quest called Conference Chronicles. Hello, hello, and welcome to this week's episode of Conference Chronicles. We are ringing in the new year with a talk from Brother Jan E. Newman. It's entitled, Preserving the Voice of the Covenant People in the Rising Generation. As I studied and pondered this talk, it reminded me of a couple of talks that I've already covered so far this year. One of them was, Sir, We Would Like to See Jesus by Elder Robert M. Danes, and then the following week was, For the Sake of Your Posterity by Elder Carlos A. Godoy. Of course, the messages are unique, but I'm starting to notice a thread or a theme throughout this general conference, focusing and talking about the youth, the rising generation, our posterity, and essentially how we can't afford to lose them to the world and its ever-increasing crafty ways. So let's kind of dive into the talk. He starts by sharing an account in the Book of Mormon. One of the most touching moments in the Book of Mormon is the resurrected Savior's visit to the people at the temple in the land Bountiful. After a day of teaching, healing, and building faith, Jesus directed the people's attention to the rising generation. He commanded that their little children should be brought. He prayed for them and blessed them one by one. The experience was so moving that the Savior himself wept multiple times. Then speaking to the multitude, Jesus said, Behold, your little ones. And as they looked, they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven ministering to their children. I have often thought about this experience. It must have melted every person's heart. They saw the Savior. They felt Him. They knew Him. He taught them. He blessed them. And He loved them. It's no wonder that after this sacred event, these children grew up to help establish a society of peace, prosperity, and Christ-like love that lasted for generations. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our children could have experiences like that with Jesus Christ, something that would bind their hearts to Him? He invites us, as He invited those parents in the Book of Mormon, to bring our little ones to Him. We can help them know their Savior and Redeemer the way these children did. So I'm currently studying the Book of Mormon right now, and I'm in the same sort of chapters in 3 Nephi, where the Savior came to the Americas and taught the Nephites. And I, like Brother Newman, also feel that these moments are some of the most touching moments in the Book of Mormon, as he said to start his talk. I try to imagine myself being there, those people, as the Savior taught them and performed these miracles. And you just get this deep feeling that it was such a sacred moment, such a sacred experience. These people were truly blessed with an amazing experience. And then as Brother Newman said, it's no wonder that after this sacred event, these children grew up to help establish a society of peace, prosperity, and Christ-like love that lasted for generations. So with this sort of image in mind, I want that to be the backdrop for the rest of our discussion in this episode, is just thinking about what it must have felt like to be there with the Savior, and how we can create a similar sort of feeling in our own homes and our own lives so that the rising generation can feel that and establish a similar society that will last for generations. Later in the talk, he shares a different example of when King Benjamin taught his people and the response they had to it. The scripture says that the people cried out in one voice and said, "...the Spirit has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, and we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do His will all the remainder of our days." So these people were deeply converted, so much so that they wanted to give themselves to God all the remainder of their days, and then later on it talks about these people's children. And here's what it says, "...they did not believe what had been said concerning the resurrection of the dead, neither did they believe concerning the coming of Christ, and they would not be baptized, neither would they join the church, and they were a separate people as to their faith." Brother Newman goes on to say, "...what a sobering thought. For the rising generation, it's not enough for faith in Jesus Christ to be a tradition of their fathers." They need to own faith in Christ for themselves. As the covenant people of God, how can we instill within the hearts of our children a desire to make and keep covenants with Him? I think that's the question that we'll be asking and trying to answer throughout this whole discussion, is how? How can we instill within the hearts of our children a desire to make and keep covenants with Him? Kind of going back to what he said just a couple sentences earlier is, it's not enough for faith in Jesus Christ to be the tradition of their fathers. What I kind of heard in this as well is, it's not enough for there to be a commitment to the culture of the church, or the people of the church, or the customs or traditions of the people within the church. That will never be sufficient. People or cultures or customs or traditions are not perfect and in the end will always let us down. A commitment to these things will perpetuate a kind of go-through-the-motions mentality that sometimes we see in ourselves and sometimes we see in others. Here are a couple of examples of that that I'll share that I don't think are inherently bad or wrong. It's just something when I hear them I kind of cringe inside a little bit. For instance, when a child will get up and immediately say, I'd like to bear my testimony, I know this church is true, almost as if they have to say that. It's like it's a script that they're just reading from. Their parent whispered in their ear before they got up, okay, you get up there and you say, I'd like to bear my testimony, I know this church is true. But it doesn't feel like there's any depth of thought to it. And again, I'm not trying to roast these little kids that are getting up to bear their testimonies. Please, more power to them. And I'm grateful for their courage and desire to stand up and bear their testimony. But sometimes it feels a little empty, I guess, or insincere. For me, I would prefer to actually hear the thoughts that are on their little hearts and little minds, because those types of things are very powerful and impactful to me when I hear of a real experience that a child has had to help strengthen their faith and strengthen their testimony, not just a memorized routine. On that similar note, I'm sure we've heard this many times in prayers. Please bless this food to nourish and strengthen our bodies. Again, there's nothing inherently wrong with this, it's just not necessarily helpful and beneficial if everyone says that in their prayers, almost as if it's just they're reading from a script, you know. Or how about this one? We'd like to thank the priesthood for reverently administering the sacrament. I'm sure we've heard that plenty of times. Where's the error in this? The men are not the priesthood. We're not thanking the men. We're not thanking the priesthood for administering the sacrament. The men did that. The men who hold the priesthood, right? The priesthood is literally the power of God that he uses to do all things. He used the priesthood to create the earth. He blesses us to hold a portion of that priesthood, to perform ordinances and help people make covenants and bless and heal and strengthen and all the above. But the priesthood isn't men, so we shouldn't thank the priesthood for administering the sacrament. And I'm probably getting in the weeds now, but I hope you see the point I'm trying to make. I'm not trying to be critical of anyone or anything in particular, I'm just saying that it's important that we don't get caught up in mundane things or scripted things or even cultural customs that don't point us to the Lord Jesus Christ, that perpetuate a kind of just go-with-the-flow attitude and mentality about the gospel. And I do want to be clear, traditions are good. They provide a sense of structure and stability and consistency. In short, traditions help build culture. Every organization has its own culture, in workplace environments, in sports teams, etc. I think, generally speaking, there's a very strong culture in the church. However, that cannot be the end-all, be-all. Everything we do in the church should be reminding us of the real reason why we're there. Not just to follow the traditions of our fathers, but to be converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, to develop a personal relationship with Him. So again, this begs the question, how? How do we develop that in ourselves? And more importantly, with the theme of this talk, how do we instill that in the rising generation? As I pondered this question, I thought of ways that I felt Him in my life, and how as a child and youth and young adult, my faith in Him and my testimony of Him grew and developed. So I'm sure that will be incorporated a little bit in the next things that I'll say, but I thought of five things. And again, like I've said in past episodes, these five things are not comprehensive, right? It's not all-encompassing. I'm not saying these are the only five things you need to do to instill in the rising generation a love for and a testimony in Jesus Christ. But I do think these five things are a really good foundation, or a really good place to start. Number one, be where you're supposed to be when you are supposed to be there. There is power in just simply doing the right thing. If you know you're supposed to be at church for these hours on a Sunday, just be there. Just go. Just show up. There is such a strength and a power in just showing up. If you know you're supposed to be at Young Men's or Young Women's at a certain time, just go. Just show up. Be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there. If there's scheduled family home evening, or family prayer, or family scripture study, be there. When you're supposed to be with your friends, be there and be with your friends. When you're supposed to be at school, be at school. This applies to everything. When you're supposed to be at your job, be at your job. Be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there, and the Holy Ghost will be present. You give Him an opportunity to teach you and testify to you and strengthen your testimony in Christ when you are where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to be there. So number two, talk of Him ourselves, meaning as parents or as leaders, we need to talk about Jesus Christ to our children or to the youth that we lead. In 2 Nephi 25-26, it says, And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for remission of their sins. I'm in sales, and sometimes I realize that in order for a customer to feel comfortable signing up for something, oftentimes they don't even necessarily need to believe you. They just need to believe that you believe what you're saying. If they can see the conviction in your eyes coming from you, that's oftentimes all they need to instill in them a sense of confidence, just knowing, oh, this person believes what they're saying, so I trust them. I trust what they're saying because I can clearly tell that they believe it. The same applies with our children and the youth. If they believe that we believe it, that will be the first step in instilling in them a sense of confidence in our own belief. So with that being said, I know for me, I feel a lot more comfortable and confident talking about something that I know a little bit about or that I'm kind of thinking about often in my life. For instance, I could talk your ear off about the Minnesota Vikings and what strategies they should employ in terms of who they should hire next as their coach or who they should draft in the next upcoming draft because I listen to a Minnesota Vikings podcast almost every day and maybe I shouldn't, right? Maybe I should be using that time to do something better, but it's something I'm passionate about. I guess what I'm saying is I could talk to you forever about that because I'm filling my life with Minnesota Vikings insights. Now, I'm sure there's something like that that all of us feel passionate about that we spend a decent amount of time researching or listening to. When it comes to the gospel, are we also giving that adequate time? Are we filling our minds and hearts with the words of Christ? If we are, it will just be natural to talk about him and to talk about the gospel. It won't feel forced at all. It will just be something that will flow out of us because we're constantly filling our minds and our hearts with those eternal things. The next point on this is I just wanted to point out that it's important that we don't get discouraged if it doesn't feel like what we're saying is taking right away with our kids, that they're not immediately clinging onto it and loving it. There's an insight from the manual, Teaching in the Savior's Way, that I think is really helpful. It says, taken individually, a single home evening scripture study session or gospel conversation may not seem like it is accomplishing much. But the accumulation of small, simple efforts repeated consistently over time can be more powerful and strengthening than an occasional monumental moment or landmark lesson. So don't give up. Don't worry about accomplishing something grand every time. Just be consistent in your efforts. This is really comforting and motivating for me, just realizing that, hey, it doesn't need to be some grand monumental thing every time. Just be consistent. Do it every day or do it every week, whatever it is that you have planned to do. Make sure that you're consistent with it, and that will make such a large difference way more than just occasionally having some powerful moment. Okay, number three, enable your children to think and do for themselves. And this might sound overly simple, but I think this principle can permeate into every area of life, not just in a gospel perspective. Like for instance, are we hovering over our kids or our youth and not allowing them to do something hard on their own? Is it easier for us to just do it ourselves than to allow them to have the opportunity to do it because it's just going to be faster, or we're better at it, we're more efficient, and so we're just going to do everything for them? I think all of us can relate to that, of course. Or is it better in the long run to allow them to learn and grow, and perhaps they're going to be way worse or slower than us at first, but they'll be crippled in the end if they never have the opportunity. But like I said a second ago, these types of things are taught early on. Like for instance, if a parent says something like, oh no, you won't like that food, mommy and daddy don't even like it. Like something like spinach or kale or something. I think that's a dangerous habit to get in of telling your kid what they will or won't like or saying, oh no, you shouldn't go down that slide, it's too tall, it's too scary for you, you're going to be scared. I think these types of comments can, at an early age, somewhat cripple a child's intrinsic courageous spirit. I think all children have this sense of confidence and courage that should be fueled instead of suppressed. I also think that we can unintentionally instill in the youth a sense of dependence on us, always kind of looking over at us to answer the question better than them or to jump in and save them if they're not doing it properly, quote unquote. Whereas I think it's important for us to instill a sense of independence where they can have confidence in themselves to problem solve and the only person we should be helping them be dependent on is our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. And again, kind of going back to cultural things in the church or traditions of our fathers, how often have you heard a question like this in Sunday school, what's the best way to grow our faith? And somebody will be like, prayer. And the teacher's like, well, that's not the answer I had in my head, so try again. Who else? Somebody, scripture study. Keep trying. Serving others. Well, maybe you're getting a little closer. The answer that I was thinking of was serving in the temple and it's kind of like, okay, you're just playing like a game of guess what's in my head here. And that type of exercise in a classroom setting just limits our ability to think and limits our ability to receive revelation. I think the best types of questions are open-ended questions that allow a person to come to a conclusion personally with the Spirit's help, right? Not guess what's in my head or a question that has a clear right or a wrong answer to it. And again, I might be getting out into the weeds now, but hopefully you understand the principle of this third point is it's so important to enable the rising generation to think and do for themselves, to be independent, but to be dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ. That same vein, it leads into number four, which is help the rising generation get in the habit of personal scripture study and personal prayer. Of course, it's extremely impactful to have family scripture study and family prayer, but it will really start to catch on when they're doing it on their own. Of course, that's how we all learn and grow is when we can actually practice something on our own. In April 2020, President Nelson gave a talk called Hear Him, and he says, where can we go to hear him? We can go to the scriptures. They teach us about Jesus Christ and his gospel, the magnitude of his atonement, and our Father's great plan of happiness and redemption. Daily immersion in the word of God is crucial for spiritual survival, especially in these days of increasing upheaval. As we feast on the words of Christ daily, the words of Christ will tell us how to respond to difficulties we never thought we would face. How interesting, studying and feasting upon the words of Christ in the scriptures will help us respond to difficulties we didn't even think of, things that will come up that we didn't even realize or we never thought we would face. Our daily study of the scriptures will help us tackle those challenges. On a broader perspective, some of the issues that the youth face now, I 10, 15 years ago wouldn't have even thought of those types of challenges. It is a very unique world we're living in right now, and the challenges that the youth are facing are also very unique and new, while at the same time, it embodies exactly what Satan has done forever. He uses the same sort of strategies and the same sort of tactics. So thankfully, the antidote to those is also the same. And as the rising generation develops a pattern of personal study and personal prayer, they can also overcome those challenges. So the fifth and final thing I thought of was to just help prepare the rising generation for the next step in their path of progression. For instance, when they're a young child, help teach and prepare them about the ordinance and covenant of baptism. After baptism, help prepare them to enter young men's or young women's, and the associated responsibilities and opportunities of that. Then help prepare them for missions or marriage, etc. Whatever is next, whatever that next phase is, I think it's important to take it step by step, line upon line, precept upon precept and help them focus on the very next thing in line. On a little side note about missions, I know I've mentioned this before in other episodes, but my mission changed my life so much in the sense that that's when I became truly spiritually independent. I knew that nothing could get in the way of my relationship with my Savior and my Heavenly Father and my ability to receive revelation from them because of that mission experience. A little plug, whether our children are boys or girls, I think a mission is a truly life-changing thing and provides them that opportunity to become spiritually independent. Ultimately, that's what this whole discussion is all about, is how can we help the rising generation become dependent on the Lord, but independent in the sense that they aren't relying on us anymore. They're not relying on the culture or the tradition of the Church. They have come to rely solely on the Lord Jesus Christ and have a personal relationship with Him. So in closing, I'll just read this excerpt from Brother Newman's talk. He says, My dear friends in Christ, you are doing much better than you think. Just keep working at it. Your children are watching, listening, and learning. As you teach them, you will come to know their true nature as beloved sons and daughters of God. They may forget the Savior for a season, but I promise you He will never forget them. Those moments when the Holy Ghost speaks to them will persist in their hearts and minds, and one day your children will echo the testimony of Enos. I know my parents are just, for they taught me in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and blessed be the name of my God for it. Let us accept the Savior's invitation and bring our children to Him. As we do so, they will see Him, they will feel Him, they will know Him. He will teach them, He will bless them, and oh how He will love them. I'll share my own testimony that I know the Savior loves us with every fiber of His being. We are engraved in His heart, into everything He is. We mean everything to Him and to our Heavenly Father. How amazing is that? The most powerful, majestic being on the earth is so deeply invested in us. We mean everything to our Savior and our Heavenly Father. I know that is true. I know that even if we forget Him, He will not forget us. I know that as we include our Heavenly Father in our plans for our children, for the rising generation, He will guide our path, He will guide our steps, because truly they were His before they were ever ours. And I'll leave you with that testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Thank you very much for tuning in this week. I hope you enjoyed the episode. Please share it with anyone that you thought about or anyone you think could benefit from this message. Next week's talk will be by Elder Joaquin E. Costa, entitled, The Power of Jesus Christ in Our Lives Every Day. Can't wait to talk to you next week. I'll see you then.