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(6:18) Preparing for General Conference: Being Possessed by Charity · Filled with His Love

• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Filled with His Love.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Recently, while I was conducting a sealing session in the temple, a young man and young woman came to the altar.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: After making sure I could pronounce their names correctly, because they had different last names, the young man smiled and said, We're going to be sealed this coming Saturday.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone in the session congratulated them.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: At the conclusion of the session, the young man said, Could I ask you a question?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, I said.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Since we're going to be sealed in a few days, could you tell me what I might read to prepare myself for the ordinance?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, you could certainly start by reviewing Doctrine of Covenants 132, and then I'd review recent messages from those we sustained as prophets, seers, and revelators.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: The patron sitting at my side, whom I had never met before, said, and because Brother Osgothorpe served as Sunday School General President, he had the privilege of associating with the first presidency of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: His comment was unexpected, took me a little off guard, because most patrons do not know that I once served as a general officer.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: I responded, yes, I did have the privilege of associating with all of them, actually, even the more recent ones who were called after I was released.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: As I said those words, memories of my encounters with those church leaders came rushing back.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I became emotional, which is not common for me in these sessions.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I became emotional as I said, so many members of the church see these people as ordinary men.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: They often don't see them as prophets, seers, and revelators.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: I was blessed to see them up close, and those encounters always strengthen my witness of their divine calling.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope you'll pay particular attention to what they have been saying about the importance of the marriage covenant.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: We are now on the threshold of October General Conference.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have wondered what I might do to prepare myself for what I know will be a powerful outpouring of revelation.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps one of the best ways to prepare for a new revelation is to return to revelation we have already received and allow it to change us.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: I decided to select one talk from April General Conference and review it in greater depth.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: You may choose to review many talks, but I chose just one that I have wanted to study for some time.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Elder Bednar's talk, All Who Have Endured Valiantly, from last April.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lolly and I were in the conference center when he gave this talk, and it had a lasting impact on me.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: His inspiring words about charity not only uplifted me, but also caused me to consider more deeply the verses in Moroni 7, the very verses that gave rise to my book title Filled with His Love.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Elder Bednar spoke about what it means to endure to the end, and then he drew from Moroni 7.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Quote, Mormon testified that charity is the pure love of Christ, and the greatest of all spiritual gifts.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Significantly, the word endure is used in the scriptures to define and describe charity.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: For example, charity endureth forever, suffereth long, seeketh not her own, beareth all things, endureth all things.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And as you sisters know well, charity never faileth.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: In these verses, Elder Bednar emphasized the close connection between charity and enduring.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Then he explained the meaning of charity in a way that really caught my attention.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Mormon also taught that whoso is found possessed of the spiritual gift of charity at the last day, it shall be well with him.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Note the double meaning of the word of in this verse.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: We can possess charity, but ultimately charity should possess us.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: I do not recall ever hearing anyone draw attention to the double meaning of the word of in that verse.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: It is such a tiny word that we might pass over it as if it meant nothing.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: But Elder Bednar revealed something profound by focusing on that one seemingly insignificant word.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: We can possess charity, but ultimately charity should possess us.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: So he had me at this point.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: What is the difference between our possessing charity and charity possessing us?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: That thought impressed me so deeply that I kept thinking about it long after he had completed his talk.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: He went on to explain what it means to be possessed by charity.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Quote, as we are blessed to receive the spiritual gift, a transformation occurs in our spiritual nature and character.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Being possessed of the spiritual gift of charity refers in part to the spiritual development and progress that are the overarching purposes of the Savior's gospel.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: As we follow, love, and serve the Savior, we gradually focus less on our own desires and interests and more on understanding and addressing the needs of others.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: We do not merely perform benevolent deeds, rather, our state of being is changed and becomes increasingly Christ-like.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Charity then ultimately possesses us.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: He then quoted the final verse in Moroni 7, a verse we could ponder endlessly.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: My interpretation is that to be filled with God's love is to be possessed by charity.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Pure love is not simply a characteristic we seek to acquire.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: It takes over our whole being because that is what the Savior is like.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: We don't merely think to ourselves, quote, I want to do something good for somebody today, quote.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Love is not simply a series of acts, it is a quality of being.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: It is who we are becoming because it is who God is.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: As it says in the first epistle of John, God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: The final verse in Moroni helps us understand that allowing love to dwell in us, to possess us is how we become like God, and as we become like him, we become able to see him as he is.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: It is not accidental, I don't believe, that Elder Bednar focused on Christ's pure love as he spoke about enduring.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Allowing charity to possess us is a lifelong endeavor.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: We can't flick a switch and make it happen.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: It is a daily, even hourly process.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: God's love possesses us bit by bit, not all at once.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And as it possesses us, we gradually see the world differently.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: We see others differently, and we see God differently.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: God's love recreates us every time we let it in.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps that is one of the best ways we can ready ourselves for revelation, not merely by waiting to hear something new, but by allowing the truths we have already received to possess us and transform us.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: As you can tell, I'm looking forward to General Conference.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Lonnie and I seem to look forward to it a little more every time it rolls around.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: There is so much in the world that attempts to distance us from God.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: But General Conference is like a beacon on a hill, a light in the darkness, a source of living water that keeps flowing and flowing.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you have your best conference experience ever, that you drink deeply of this living water.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, let's draw a little closer to God and to one another.