Listen to insights about acting on invitations from the prophet as well as thoughts on what a “hinge point in church history” means.
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Be Part of the Next Listener Call-in Episode
I start the episode with a reminder about how to be on the next listener call-in episode next week. Here are the instructions about how to call in.
- Call (480) 525-7145. Call anytime. It doesn’t ring to my phone so you won’t be waking me up or anything.
- Leave a message sharing the blessings you have received from following President Nelson’s invitations at the last general conference.
- Keep your answer to less than 3 minutes.
- Call and record your answer by Friday, March 27, 2020.
President Nelson’s Invitations at October 2019 General Conference
Invitations:
“Study prayerfully section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants and discover what the Holy Ghost will teach you.”
“Study prayerfully all the truths you can find about priesthood power. You might begin with the Doctrine and Covenants 84 and 107.”
Prepare for April 2020 general conference by “reading afresh Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price.”
“You may wish to ponder important questions such as, ‘How would my life be different if my knowledge gained from the Book of Mormon were suddenly taken away?’ or ‘How have the events that followed the First Vision made a difference for me and my loved ones?”
Incorporate the recent Book of Mormon videos into our study.
“Select your own questions. Design your own plan. Immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration.”
Promise:
“As you do, general conference next April will be not only memorable; it will be unforgettable.”
President Nelson’s Invitations via Social Media
November 17, 2019 – Invitation: “Always ask yourself–and prayerfully ask your Father in Heaven–’What can I do to become more like Jesus Christ?’” Promise: Miracles will happen.
November 18, 2019 – Invitation: He had invited young adults in Vietnam to study about the Savior and His atonement in the scriptures. He invited us to do the same. Promise: Enduring joy regardless of present circumstances.
November 20, 2019 – Invitation: “If I had one request to make of you, it would be that you would read the scriptures aloud to your children on a daily basis. Let them take turns when they can when they are able to read. Promise: “It will help them to have the doctrine of Christ embedded in their minds and in their memory banks at an early age.”
November 21, 2019 – Invitation: “I plead with you to draw near to the Lord and follow His teachings. Emulate His example. Love as He loved.” Promise: “He is our Savior, Redeemer and our Advocate with the Father.”
December 24, 2019 – Invitation: “Draw closer to the Savior.” Promise: “The ability to receive and feel the infinite love that our Savior and our Heavenly Father have for you.”
January 1, 2020 – Invitation: “Be a major part of sharing the message of the ongoing restoration of the Savior’s gospel.” He said to start with the invitations he gave at general conference and reminded us of these invitations to read Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision in the Pearl of Great Price and to ponder important questions. He repeated again to “Select your own questions. Design your own plan” to share the important messages of the ongoing restoration. Promise: Personal preparation will make conference “not only memorable but also unforgettable.”
February 2, 2020 – Invitation: “Pray to the Father in the name of His Son.” Promise: That you and your families may be blessed.”
February 26, 2020 – Invitation: “I invite you to think deeply and often about this key question: How do you hear Him?” Promise: He didn’t list a specific promise but he did say in a later post on March 14th, “I promise that you will receive comfort and peace as you continue to hear Him.”
March 14, 2020 – Invitation: Be comforted by the Savior’s invitation “I the Lord am bound when you do what I say.” Promise: “Joy is always within the reach of everyone who will hear Him and obey His laws.”
A Hinge Point in Church History
I shared what I learned from researching what a “hinge point” is.
I talk about a teaching website that shares about hinge-point questions in teaching and how they help a teacher ask questions to students to check if they are ready to move on and in what direction.
I share my thoughts that in the context of President Nelson’s invitations he may be asking us if we are ready to move on and if so, in what direction.
An “Unforgettable” General Conference
I talk about how the conditions we are living in currently and the changes already announced about conference will make it unforgettable. But I also share my belief that another element may be the bigger reason why conference will be unforgettable. Perhaps it is the condition of our heart from our own spiritual preparation that will make it unforgettable.
I illustrate this by sharing the story of Amulek and Alma contending with Zeezrom. I share Alma 12:9-10 to show that God is offering to let us know his mysteries but we have to prepare our hearts. It is up to us to use our agency to pay heed and diligence to Him.
Act Now + Your Part is Vital
After giving his invitations, President Nelson said “the time to act is now.” He also said “your part is vital.”
I give my thought that President Nelson doesn’t want to leave anyone behind. We can use our agency to be prepared to move on.
I also share a quote from a talk given by Elder Jeffery R. Holland where he tells about the story of the brother of Jared found in Ether. I shared this quote from the talk:
“And from that command given to the Lord, for it does seem to be something of a command, the brother of Jared and the reader of the Book of Mormon would never be the same again. Ordinary individuals with ordinary challenges could rend the veil of unbelief and enter the realms of eternity. And Christ, who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem His people, would be standing at the edge of that veil to usher the believer through.”
Figure Out the Invitations for Yourself
I share that I know everyone can find out for themselves how to act on the invitations of President Nelson for themselves. It’s never too late. You can ask the Holy Ghost to teach you what you need to know.
Episode Links
Spiritual Treasures talk from October 2019 by President Nelson
Closing Remarks talk from October 2019 by President Nelson
Invitation to #HearHim
President Nelson’s Facebook Page
Rending the Veil of Unbelief talk by Elder Jeffery R. Holland
Alma 12:9-10
SMM 84: A Resource to Help You Learn How You Hear Jesus || Darla Trendler
Follow Spiritually Minded Mom
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Podcast: Spiritually Minded Mom on Apple Podcasts
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Transcript
Intro: This is the spiritually minded mom podcast and you’re listening to episode 85: Acting on the Prophet’s Invitations at a Hinge Point in Church History.
I am so happy to have you here for episode 85. Today, it’s me sharing some insights about the invitations the prophet, President Nelson has given us in the past few months.
Before I jump in, I want to remind you that next week I will be airing an episode of listeners who called in to share their experiences of acting on President Nelson’s invitations. It’s not too late to participate. I am accepting recordings through Friday, March 27th. You can find all of the instructions in the show notes, but here is what to do:
- Call (480) 525-7145. Call anytime. It doesn’t ring to my phone so you won’t be waking me up or anything.
- Leave a message sharing the blessings you have received from following President Nelson’s invitations at the last general conference.
- Keep your answer to less than 3 minutes.
- Call and record your answer by Friday, March 27, 2020.
I hope to hear from you!
Let’s jump in talking more about President Nelson’s invitations:
You are probably familiar with the invitations President Nelson extended In the October 2019 general conference. President Nelson spoke directly to women in the talk Spiritual Treasures and invited women to “study prayerfully section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants and discover what the Holy Ghost will teach you.” He also asked us to “study prayerfully all the truths you can find about priesthood power. You might begin with the Doctrine and Covenants 84 and 107.”
In his closing remarks at General Conference he extended more invitations involving preparation for the April 2020 general conference, which will be the bicentennial of the First Vision of Joseph Smith.
He invited us to prepare by “reading afresh Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price.” He also asked us to think about the impact the Book of Mormon has had in our lives. He said, “You may wish to ponder important questions such as, ‘How would my life be different if my knowledge gained from the Book of Mormon were suddenly taken away?’ or ‘How have the events that followed the First Vision made a difference for me and my loved ones?” He also suggested incorporating the Book of Mormon videos just put out into our study.
Then he said this: “Select your own questions. Design your own plan. Immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration.”
As with any invitation given by a prophet, President Nelson also gave a promise for accepting the invitations. “As you do, general conference next April will be not only memorable; it will be unforgettable.” I’m going to come back to that thought.
I have thought a lot about President Nelson’s invitations. I also looked through His Facebook posts since general conference and he has given us other invitations. I would like to share with you what I found.
On November 17th he invited us to “Always ask yourself–and prayerfully ask your Father in Heaven–’What can I do to become more like Jesus Christ?’” The promise: miracles will happen.
On November 18th he posted that he had invited young adults in Vietnam to study about the Savior and His atonement in the scriptures. He invited us to do the same. The promise: enduring joy regardless of present circumstances.
On November 20th he posted this invitation: “If I had one request to make of you, it would be that you would read the scriptures aloud to your children on a daily basis. Let them take turns when they can when they are able to read. The promise: “it will help them to have the doctrine of Christ embedded in their minds and in their memory banks at an early age.”
On November 21st the prophet said this in social media: “I plead with you to draw near to the Lord and follow His teachings. Emulate His example. Love as He loved.” The promise: “He is our Savior, Redeemer and our Advocate with the Father.”
On Christmas Eve President Nelson invited us to “draw closer to the Savior.” The promise: “the ability to receive and feel the infinite love that our Savior and our Heavenly Father have for you.”
I’m going to come back to the invitation and promise he gave on January 1st.
On February 2nd, he invited us to “Pray to the Father in the name of His Son,” and the promise: “..that you and your families may be blessed.”
And then on February 26th came what he called a “special invitation.” Here is what he said:
“My dear friends, today I wish to share with you a special invitation. There are a few wonderful occasions in the scriptures when our Heavenly Father personally introduced His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, with a specific charge to “Hear Him!”
Today, this most-important invitation from our loving Heavenly Father to listen to the voice of the Lord and to follow His teachings is extended to us.
In this special year as we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the First Vision, I invite you to think deeply and often about this key question: How do you hear Him?”
He didn’t list a specific promise but he did say in a later post on March 14th, “I promise that you will receive comfort and peace as you continue to hear Him.”
On March 14th, just 10 days ago, as we are facing a huge challenge with a world-wide virus, he invited us to be comforted by the Savior’s invitation “I the Lord am bound when you do what I say.” And the promise was this: “Joy is always within the reach of everyone who will hear Him and obey His laws.”
I will list all of these invitations and promises in the show notes at SpirituallyMindedMom.com if you want to refer to them.
So now, let’s go back to the January 1st invitation and promise, which is what I want to expound on today.
On January 1, the prophet asked us to “be a major part of sharing the message of the ongoing restoration of the Savior’s gospel.” He said to start with the invitations he gave at general conference and reminded us of these invitations to read Joseph Smith’s account of the First Vision in the Pearl of Great Price and to ponder important questions. He repeated again to “Select your own questions. Design your own plan,” to share the important messages of the ongoing restoration. He said personal preparation was what would make conference “not only memorable but also unforgettable.”
His words on January 1st were very similar to what he said in general conference but he added two things to his invitation in January that he did not say in general conference.
President Nelson wrote, “The time to act is now. This is a hinge point in the history of the Church and your part is vital.”
So he reminded us to act now and that we are needed. I pondered a lot on the words “hinge point.”
I looked up the meaning of a hinge point and also had a discussion about it in a church meeting. I learned that a hinge point is a place where a shift happens. It is a point where things turn and where direction changes.
Guess what else I did to learn about a hinge point? Yes. that’s right, I Googled it!
The first thing that comes up in a Google search is a site for teachers that talks about hinge-point questions in teaching. I’ll link the site in the show notes if you want to see it, but it gives these points about hinge-point questions:
- A hinge is a point in a lesson when you need to check if students are ready to move on, and if yes, in which direction;
- A hinge-point question is a diagnostic question that you ask your students when you reach the hinge, responses to which give you evidence about what you and your students need to do next.
So thinking about this in the context of President Nelson’s statement, I surmise that when President Nelson says “This is a hinge point in the history of the church” he may be checking to see if we are ready to move on and if so, in what direction. Our answers to the invitations he has given determine what we need to do next.
The invitations and the promises as well as the teachings we have received recently from the prophet are nothing new. Have you ever heard anyone in the church ask you to ask the Holy Ghost to teach you, to understand the priesthood better, to read and pray about Joseph’s Smith first vision, to learn about the restoration, to study the Book of Mormon, to become more like Christ, to teach your children in your home and to connect with heaven?
Yes, we’ve heard it all before but now my personal opinion of what his statement about this being a hinge point means is that he’s asking us to prepare our hearts for what is next.
In his address “Closing Remarks” at the last general conference President Nelson said, “…general conference next April will be not only memorable; it will be unforgettable.”
I don’t know if President Nelson knew what the current state of our world would be in six months. Conference hasn’t even happened and we can already see that it is going to be one we will never forget with a change of venue, no one watching live and a recorded choir.
While I think our current conditions will make conference “unforgettable” I also think there is another element that will make conference unforgettable–the condition of our heart and our own spiritual preparation. If we have accepted his invitations and acted on them, that is what will make conference unforgettable to us.
This principle is illustrated in the Book of Mormon. The prophet Alma and his companion Amulek contended with a lawyer in Ammonihah named Zeezrom. Zeezrom is asking questions, inspired by Satan, about the existence of God and the mission of Jesus Christ in order to twist what Amulek and Alma are trying to teach. Zeezrom sees that they are on to his plan and he stops talking. Alma starts talking to Zeezrom and there is a crowd gathered around listening. Alma calls out Zeezrom that his plans were laid by Satan. Zeezrom gets scared and starts to ask more sincere questions.
And then I love what Alma tells Zeezrom in Alma 12:9. He says, “ It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.”
Alma goes on in verse 10 and says: “And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.”
God doesn’t keep anything from us. He wants us to have all that he hath. He wants us to know his mysteries, but He makes it clear that our hearts have to be prepared. It’s up to us to use our agency to pay heed and diligence.
Again, this is all my own opinion but I believe the prophet is saying the same thing to us that Alma said to Zeezrom.
When President Nelson said that this was a “hinge point in church history” he also said the time to act is now. Action is doing what he has invited us to do. It’s giving his invitations heed and diligence. Are we ready to move on? If so, what direction do we want to go?
The other part of President Nelson’s quote about a hinge point in church history is this: “…your part is vital.”
President Nelson doesn’t want to leave anyone behind. The work is moving forward despite the craziness going on around us. I believe President Nelson is a prophet of God who is here to guide us through turbulent times. Many times as I have studied and acted on his invitations over the past 6 months I have thought of the words of a primary song:
“Follow the prophet. He knows the way.”
Those words are more meaningful to me today than they have ever been.
I found a great talk given by Jeffery R. Holland where he talks about the experience of the Brother of Jared seeing the Savior. I’ll link the talk up in the show notes. I highly recommend it.
Elder Holland shares how the humbling experience of the brother of Jared shows how normal and mortal he was. He was like each of us. Elder Holland said his belief in God was “unprecedented.” “I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger” (Ether 3:4).
At the very end of the talk, Elder Holland shares something that says so much about our own potential. He said:
“And from that command given to the Lord, for it does seem to be something of a command, the brother of Jared and the reader of the Book of Mormon would never be the same again. Ordinary individuals with ordinary challenges could rend the veil of unbelief and enter the realms of eternity. And Christ, who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem His people, would be standing at the edge of that veil to usher the believer through.”
You and I are ordinary individuals. The Savior is not trying to disqualify us. He is inviting you and me, all of us, to use our agency to follow the prophet who is telling us our part is vital.
President Nelson has extended invitations to help us be prepared for what is next at this hinge point in church history. Who knows what that is? But each of us can be prepared. We can know the mysteries of God and we can “rend the veil of unbelief.”
As always, I invite you to figure out how to act on the invitations of President Nelson for yourself. It’s not too late. Maybe the extra time you have because of being asked to stay home is an opportunity to act.
What I have shared today are the things I have felt and learned through the Holy Ghost. I invite you to ask in prayer for your own interpretations and guidance on how to act, what a hinge point means to you and the vital part you personally must play.
I am excited to be back next week with a listener call-in show sharing your experiences acting on President Nelson’s invitations.
I’m so grateful for you. Stay safe and well and thanks for listening.