Welcome to Closer to Christ, their general conference,
where two friends who love Jesus share our own
approach to studying the most recent general
conference talks. This is Abby and Amy. Let's
jump into it. Welcome. Today we are talking.
about focus on Jesus Christ and his gospel. And
this is by Elder Raymond Egbo of the 70. I love
the story that he started out with, that Nigerians
men football team gold medal. So they won the
gold medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. It transformed
the nation into a unified, joyous celebration,
despite earlier hardships like lack of funding
and resources. I could only imagine. Overcoming
near elimination through focus and determination,
the dream team. I love the picture that he created
there. And I can pretty much cry about any sporting
events at the Olympics, especially when the underdogs
come through in a pinch. With you. Yes. I love
that he said with great pride and that there
was collective, there was a collective joy. You
can feel it, right? Yeah, when you have nothing
to do with the playing of whatever game is being
played, but you're invested because you're there
to support them or you're cheering them on, you
find joy when they have that victory. Amy and
I have a dear friend whose son is learning how
to walk, talk, swallow, multitude of other things
after a complication in his brain from his atrial
venous malformation. And we aren't in the hospital
day to day and working with him, but we are praying
for our friend and her family. And just today
after church, she sent us a video of him walking.
pretty little just a small amount of assistance
it was amazing and plus he was communicating
some thoughts to his therapist and i was like
he was huge speaking so well and so he was able
to like walk more than 20 feet today and i think
do you agree were you feeling some collective
pride and joy for that situation cheering him
on With tears. It's exciting because we've been
invested in the prayers. Like I said, we're not
there day to day and seeing all of the hard things
that he's having to hit, but as he's hitting
those milestones, we're as collectively happy
for the progress that he's making. So I'm sure
that most of you that are listening can think
of an experience like that, some trauma or something
hard that's come into your life and that has
been overcome. that you've seen the end result
of it. And maybe that's something that you're
going to want to bring to the top of your mind
as you're considering this talk. It'll help you
feel more depth as Elder Egbo dives into this
idea of what collective joy looks like, as we're
able to ignore the distractions of the world
and to focus on Christ and His gospel. I will
say there is a special guest with us today. Yes,
welcome! My best friend, Adam. Say hi. Hello.
would tell you that he never gets an word in
edgewise with me but he gets free right he can
say anything he wants in the mic today today
today um so we each accomplish things in our
on our own but when we consider the success we're
able to accomplish when we unite with others
focused on jesus christ and link ourselves to
him in his direction that he would have us take
We are guaranteed success beyond what we can
fully imagine and can feel great joy. That is
absolutely a miracle because you want to kind
of look around and say, there's no, like if you
put everything down on paper that's going on
right now, there's no real reason I should be
feeling this joy, but I am. So that's how you
know it's from God. You know what I mean? Absolutely.
I think this would be the perfect spot in a lesson,
Elder's Cormorant Relief Society, where you gave
people a chance to reflect on their life and
say, what was one of those experiences where
you know on your own that did not happen? Yeah,
it wasn't you. Only with the help of the Lord
or a focus on Jesus Christ did it come to. Does
anybody have any comments on that? I want to
put you on the spot. So I read the talk from
Elder Egbo, and he pulled up a very famous scripture
from the Book of Mormon with Alma. And if you
go to Alma 36, in verse number 3, it says, Whosoever
shall put their trust in God shall be supported
in their trials, and their troubles, and their
afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last
day. And then Alma says, I would not know, I
know this of myself, if I had not been born of
God, I should not have known these things. And
so he talks about his experience of going from,
in his own words, him and the sons of Mosiah
being the vilest of sinners, to seeing the angel,
the voice of thunder, and changing his life.
big events take place with life changing things
of such magnitude but in our lives it's small
things that bring us closer to the Savior but
Alma tells us that he knows that God loves him
because of his trials that he was supported in
so that's a good example That means God loves
Amy extra right now. He is throwing her away.
But you are coming out a different person. And
as you were talking, I was thinking the ripple
effect, you know, as we make changes and we focus
on Jesus Christ, the ripple effect that can have
on subsequent generations or ourselves or family
is priceless. And we recognize that in hindsight.
Amen. On the tail end of those things. I'm going
to jump right here to a quote by President Russell
M. Nelson. From the talk it said, When the focus
of our lives is on Jesus Christ and His gospel,
we can feel joy regardless of what is happening
or not happening in our lives. And we just finished
this weekend, we've been part of a stake conference,
and that word joy was like popping out to me
just in the very first hymn that we opened in
the adult session. I thought, this is a dumb
thought, but I was like, if I have to get up
and like, It's these guys that visit that could
just pull anybody out of the stand. If I had
to hop up and say something, I would talk about
the joy that I find in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's so great, Abby. I'd be crying as I was
talking about it, but I loved that this quote
was part of this talk that we get to enjoy today
just because it brought back the feelings and
thoughts that I kind of float through my mind
as I was considering that word joy. Men are that
they might have joy. How that can mean, it's
such a beautiful word to explain. Hard things
can be happening, but you can still feel joy
because of Jesus Christ. It's an amazing, powerful
tool that we, especially as members of this church,
get to learn about, get to experience, get to
witness. And I was thinking of a few things.
In our ward, or in our friend group, or just
in this small circle of people, I listed a few
things that we've experienced. We've had infant
loss. death to cancer we had a friend's child
caught in a food truck explosion and have to
deal with burns over a good portion of her body
um proceeding with grafting getting back to her
health and the list could go on and on i could
list all of these hard things but what i saw
in each of those cases with these friends was
how they made it through these instances. They
could have chosen to go either way. They could
have been angry about the circumstances, but
they focused on Jesus Christ. And all of them
were, they used this opportunity to testify of
Christ more, to rely on His power. And yes, there's
some sad outcomes, you know, losing babies, like
that doesn't feel so happy. But through their
testimony to me, because of the focus on the
Savior, That's not the end of the story. And
they're still able to find joy, joy in covenants,
joy in, you know, what we have offered to us
because of our Savior Jesus Christ. And so, just
time after time, the Holy Ghost has testified
to me the truthfulness of that. That despite,
I'll just read the quote again, when the focus
of our lives is on Jesus Christ and His gospel,
we can feel joy regardless of what is happening
or not happening. Abby, this has me thinking
of our listeners. You know, maybe you've experienced
great tragedy in your own life or witnessed close
friends like Abby talked about or family members
navigate life's challenges. I hope there have
been opportunities to reflect on how much focus
was on Jesus Christ and His gospel. To ask, you
know, did you experience joy in Christ regardless
of what is happening or not happening in our
lives? And it is true, like how you were saying,
you know, with these things happening, you really
can go either way. I almost don't fault people.
No, I don't fault people when they like kind
of give into it. And they're like, this is awful.
This is horrible. I'm like, yeah, you're right.
It is. You know what I mean? And at the same
time, if at a point they can turn to experience,
turn to choose to experience more fully Jesus
Christ's influence in their lives, then that
is the moment that things change dramatically
and for the best. Like that's when miracles happen.
And usually you don't know all these things are
processing in their head, but. They get to the
other side of the trial. They're feeling more
free to speak about it. And they'll stand up
and they'll say, you know, this diagnosis came
or this situation happened and I blamed God and
I was angry. And we'll explain to us. It's another
way of testifying what the process felt like
as they were trying to just blame him, not rely
on him, be angry. And then whatever something
happens, there's a turning point. That point,
right? They focus on Jesus Christ. Are they immediately
made better? Not often. But... No, it's usually
a process. It's a long process. And there's so
much growth and learning as we experience that.
And so their full circle testimony is, I've...
I got to feel what it felt like when I blamed
him and didn't turn to him. I got to feel like
what it felt like when I focused on him. He's
made things right in your life. I know as your
friend, I know your story up to this point. I
know my story. He's made things right that aren't
right. He's given me joy even when in my perfect
little boxes, things don't fit in my perfect
little boxes. He still made it right for me.
I have experienced the blessings of that promise
in my life. A conference talk from the session
of Elder Uchtdorf where he says, water the roots,
not the branches, water the roots of Jesus Christ.
And that's what's going to bless your life. But
if we remember from the Doctrine and Covenants
as we studied this year, the Savior says, look
unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not.
And that's Doctrine and Covenants 636. We already
studied that this year. And as we are rooted
in the Savior and remember to look unto him in
every thought, He will definitely be there. And
as we mentioned, these people that we know and
tragedies that they had in their life. But thinking
about a familiar scripture that you guys talked
about with blind Bartimaeus a while ago with
his baker's coat. That was an awesome story.
So good. But Bartimaeus knew who the Savior was.
And as the Savior left Jericho, Bartimaeus knew
that the Savior was there, and so he cried out.
And the people told him, hold your tongue. Basically,
don't say anything. Don't talk. Just stay inside
of yourself. You're a beggar. Just accept your
role and be a beggar. Know your place. Know your
place, right? And Bartimaeus cried even louder.
I know there's more for me. He's like, I know
I'm ready to shove this off. He's looking unto
the Savior in every thought. He doesn't care
what happens. He doesn't care what people think
about him. He doesn't care about perceptions.
And so then the Savior said to him, be of good
comfort. He called the arise and blind Bartimaeus,
cast away his garment, right? And then he goes
to the Savior and the Savior asks, What would
you have me that I should do for thee? And the
obvious question, you know, that we all know,
he's saying, I want to see you again. I didn't
know if you noticed. But I love the Savior asking
that question so that he can verbalize. This
is what I'm bringing to you. This is what I need
help with. I need help with this. Because the
Savior didn't take the blindness as being an
imperfection, because Bartimaeus' heart was where
he wanted to be, and that's perfection, right?
Yeah. Also, at this time when you told the story
was the first time I realized, this is kind of
humorous, but the Lord sees us fully. He sees
every imperfection we have. He's just asking,
what do you want to work on right now? Like a
good plastic surgeon, what are you here for today?
We're like, duh, this is it. But to him, he's
like, what is your desire? What are you going
to work on? Love that. All of me. When he was
talking, it's the youth theme for the year, look
unto me. I was just, the thought came to me.
We as parents, grandparents, I don't know, I'm
kind of picturing the age spectrum that we probably
reach, not mostly teenagers, but to be very aware
of that youth theme because you're going to be
encountering people in your lives that are going
to be taught this in a million different ways
if they attend FSY, like a lot of their firesides,
a lot of their things. This is a particularly
good year to be able to use that opportunity
to verbalize to those people that you rub shoulders
with, that you want to impact, that you want
to share your testimony with. Moments when you
do feel fear and that you've looked unto Christ.
And those can be like little daily things, almost
car accident or, you know, I can like list scenarios
in just a given day. That theme's important.
The more that we can weave it into our life,
that we can say, this is what that looks like
in our daily living. Great point. I love that.
Especially when Bartimaeus continued to acknowledge
his faith, and the Savior said, your faith has
made you whole. And immediately he receives his
sight. And then from that point, Bartimaeus followed
Jesus in the way. He didn't depart, right? He
continued to make those daily steps, looking
unto him in every thought. not doubting that
the Lord would heal him. I love the story of
Bartimaeus because I felt like when we hashed
it out the first time, it was like Bartimaeus
could see Jesus Christ in his blindness. Yeah.
Yeah, that was Massimo De Feo that gave that
to us. It was good. It was so powerful. He's
like, put away his beggar's coat. And I was like,
yes! We're in the scriptures, and I've got my,
I call. What did I call you? I call you the almanac
because that's your initials and you're the encyclopedia
of things for me. But in the talk, he kind of
goes into some scripture references. He focused
on some from the Book of Mormon that focused
or illustrated what a focus on Jesus Christ might
look like. So I'm going to ask you politely to
take us through those examples or ones that come
top of mind for you. So you talked about the
people of Helam, right? and them being relieved
of their burdens, of the bondage that they were
in. But I think it goes back to that same scripture
that we were talking about in Doctrine and Covenants.
The Savior wants us to know that we can be relieved
of our burdens. And we quote verse 36 a lot,
but 37, the Savior says, Behold, the wounds which
pierce my side, and also the prints of the nails
in my hands. And my feet. And he says, be faithful,
keep my commandments, and you shall inherit the
kingdom of heaven. And so as the Savior wants
us to know, with these marks that are on his
hands and his feet, but especially his side,
that's the sign that he died, man. That was a
mortal wound that he received. As we trust in
Him, especially as we're going into Easter season,
man, there's nothing that we can't overcome.
That's great. I would say, too, in that story
of Helam, yes, He did relieve them from bondage,
but not immediately. In the meantime of that
release, He blessed them with the ability to
bear that burden of being in bondage, to feel
more cheerfulness. that they would eventually
be delivered. And I think that's when we pray,
when we want out of our own suffering. I like
that Adam mentioned that, like, there's the story,
and then what does it mean to us? When we're
facing our own trials, we're asking, I mean,
if we got to pick, will you please just take
this away from me? But because He is who He is,
He can leave us in that. As we grow and we learn,
the time is taken that we need to get there,
and we can find joy in that interim. Any other
scripture stories? What you're talking about
is being able to bear those burdens cheerfully.
And as we talked about earlier, the joy that
comes from covenant keeping is real. And the
power and the strength that comes from keeping
our covenants in. I've been thinking about pondering
covenants more fully lately and talking about
how, as we have an example of a pencil is us
and how easy that is just to take the pencil
and just snap it in two. But if we take a piece
of metal like some rebar or a piece of two -inch
round stock and say that's the Savior Jesus Christ,
and as we... weld ourselves or covenant with
Him and bind ourselves to Him, we are unbreakable.
Even if you can come in and break the pencil,
Christ is still there. And He can't... That's
a good point. Sometimes I feel like I'm a broken
pencil. And we sometimes are, and He holds us
together until we can mend. I love that. We go
into the sacrament, and the Savior takes those
welds, and He... buffs them off and re -wells
them for us. He's a welder speaking. This is
teaching me a lot. I get what you're saying and
I love that because I would never, I'm not a
welder, I know none of this, but it makes sense.
I picture instead of a train axle, something
that's like two feet around that is just unbendable
and that's the Savior. And as we covenant ourselves
to Him and we are welded and bound to Him through
our covenants and we keep those covenants, Yeah,
we're going to get nicks and bumps and bruises,
but we're not going to be mortally wounded to
the point that we can't recover because he's
there showing us his wounds and his side, his
hand, his feet. What he did for us by covenant
because of his covenant. What did Megan say today
in our lesson? She quoted one of the brethren
and she said, like pegged as people that don't
do things that we can't do these things, but
we needed, oh, it was so powerful. But the spirit
of the idea is we're not people that can't do
things because our church says that we can't
do them. We use our agency to choose what we
want to do and to not do. And I guess when he's
giving that example of the flimsy pencil and
then the rebar and the binding, the covenant
making that's going with it, too many people
that are outside, outside of our religion and
looking in, want to act like what that actually
is, is like a metal encasement around our ankle,
like a ball and chain. That we're dragging around
this heavy burden to live this life that we're
living, to give up things that you would think,
oh, I really want to participate in this and
do that thing and make these choices. I want
to testify. I feel the power in the analogy that
he gave. He used that as a cool little... What
do you call those lessons? Visual. Visual lesson.
He brought these pieces through and some zip
ties because we couldn't bring the welder into
the church. Love it. He's zip tying down. We're
like, this is the baptismal covenant. Picture
these are welds, guys. But they got the gist
of it. And I felt like their eyes were really
open to the idea of, you know, the more effort
we put into that covenant making with him, the
more we bind ourselves. We can be as weak as
you can imagine. We can be nothing. He makes
us everything. I love it. It is not a burden
to be. covenanted with Jesus Christ. It never
has felt that way. You know, it's interesting
because I read DNC 25 again this week, and I
love the way that the Lord made very clear, you
know, He said, what I say to Emma, I say to all,
you know, but He said, except you do this where
I am, you cannot come. That makes things... And
it's not a ball and chain at all. It's like,
yeah, thank you for reminding me that that's
my goal. That's where I want to be. And except
I do these things, there are laws around it.
And he's saying, these are the laws that you
follow. So I am happy. I want you to be able
to comfortably abide with me. Amen. If this is
what your life looks like, that's going to be
where you'll comfortably abide. And if this is
what your life looks like, that is where you're...
So the Lord says to Emma, lay aside the things
of this world and seek for the things of a better,
right? As we seek for His covenants, He takes
us and raises us above... Our abilities. Our
abilities, but also the trials of the world.
Yes. If we want to be mired in the world... Go
for it. It's pretty easy. You're going to get
marred and beat up and abused. And if we live
God's covenants, he's saying, here's a higher
plane. Come join me up here. And there's joy.
There's so much joy. Yes, please. And I remember
something. You were speaking before and you referenced
the talk about the roots and the branches. Yeah,
Elder Uchtdorf's talk. I don't know, there's
kind of a challenge, an action item sort of comes
to mind with that, that you stop and you assess
your life. And are you so focused on the problem
that you're facing that you're putting a lot
of attention and watering the branches? Meaning,
you're so focused on the immediate problem in
front of your face that you're forgetting to
nourish the relationship with Jesus Christ and
how this can grow and strengthen you with Him.
That's the whole point of the talk, right? and
we keep saying this, it's kind of a redundant
thing, but I guess why we're having to repeat
it is because we've all found ourselves in these
trials and it takes us different amounts of time
depending on the trial to submit to His will,
to turn to Him, to give it to Him. And it's not
like a lazy thing. It's like, oh, the second
the trial comes, I'm like, I'm turning this to
you. You're in charge of that. That's not what
I'm saying, that I'm saying, this is a hard thing.
I know I can't do this on my own. This feels
like what my limit is. I'll get to the other
side of that because I told him what my limit
was. I will eventually overcome that, resolve
that, and I will say, I know what my limit was.
That was not his limit. I recognize that. And
I love seeing. where he made up the difference.
Yeah. It's funny too, Adam, as you were talking
about that story again, I like the spirit rushed
me back to like my five -year -old self where
my dad said, Amy, go water the citrus trees.
They had awesome citrus trees. And I, did I tell
you this before? No, I'm just picturing you just
how cute that is. And I watered, it was daytime
in Arizona. You don't put water on the leaves,
but I didn't know that. He said water the tree,
right? So I was spraying it on all of the leaves
and it was glistening like, I was making like
my own disco ball almost. I was like, this is
great. I love it. He probably was at the window
looking out and being like, what does she do?
She's going to learn something from this. So
he came out and he said, no, you got to put it
down here. And he started talking to me about
it. So he taught me the focus here is to water
the roots. And this is why. And I was like, oh,
where I'm someone who's so easily distracted
by the pretty and the lights and all that kind
of a thing. So I really appreciate the way that.
It's taught about the focus is the roots, because
that's where the real nourishment comes. Because
again, when I was in my younger years, and I
was a beehive teacher, whatever, back in the
day, I loved to have a pretty setup and a display
and things like that. But sometimes I could spend
too much time on that. And so I was like, okay,
I have now 45 minutes. It will take about three
minutes to decide what I'm going to do for my
setup. And the rest is for gospel, you know,
for doctrine teaching. That's where the roots
were. It wasn't, Amy, please don't get discouraged.
distracted by beautiful things, because where
is your time best put? If the Lord is going to
multiply your effort, I want it to be in the
things that are of most worth. So I appreciate
that. Well, I'm especially thinking of the tree
and the sun. I'm sure it felt relief from you
spraying water on the leaves. Until it got burned
by the sun. But I'm sure it's like, oh, that
felt so good. And sometimes we may feel like,
oh, this is making me feel so much better to
focus on the branches. But it's not. No, it's
fleeting. You're right. In Arizona sun, it's
very fleeting. That dew is gone. And maybe dangerous
implications in the long term. It was. I was
so sad that I burned the leaves. He told me that
and I was like, oh. It hurts. Okay, so there
is an awesome quote at the end talking about
joy. And joy is powerful, and focusing on joy
brings God's power into our lives. As in all
things, Jesus Christ is our ultimate exemplar,
who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross. That's in Hebrews 12, too. You know,
I love to close with his testimony, which I will
do, but as the last conference, well, we know
the prophet closed the session, but we... kicked
that up on on the chain and we'll do that again
um with the next conference talk the first thing
that you'll hear i did like that podcasting from
will be our prophets words and i think it gives
us like a nice umbrella overreach of what um
that the season will bring us so um i think it
might be appropriate to testify of our savior
jesus christ here in this final episode you want
to go first it can be short and sweet yeah um
so the first thing that comes to my mind is um
i was I was studying some past conference talks,
and this is what Richard G. Scott said about
conference. He said, we've come to the end of
a great conference. Through its messages, you've
been given inspirational truth without much effort
on your part. Love that. It's like a fire hose,
right? He pleads with us to make these truths
yours through the study and thoughtful application.
And then I like this, Abby. The privilege of
learning absolute truth is sacred. I stand in
awe that our Heavenly Father and His Beloved
Son are willing, even anxious, for us to learn
from them. Gaining spiritual knowledge is not
a mechanical process. It is a sacred privilege
based on spiritual law. I testify that you can
receive inspired help. Humbly ask your Eternal
Father. Seek divine light. Exercise faith in
the Savior. Strive to hearken to His counsel
and obey His commandments. And I just love that,
that he brought it right back to Where is this
truth being disseminated from? It's from Heavenly
Father and Jesus Christ. I love Doctrine and
Covenants section 6, verse 36, and Happy knows
why I love it so much. You should share. So every
morning, my alarm goes off at 6 .36 in the morning.
Sweet! And I've been doing that for... A couple
years now. Probably 10 years or more. I found
out. I'm defining a 1045. I found out last year
at FSY. I was like, that's why it's 636? Awesome.
Okay, I'm dying. So every morning when my alarm
goes off, I think of that scripture. And then
I use Amy's mindfulness. No, I'm just kidding.
And I think about the Lord and my day. And I
think about... how He's going to make my day
better. Yeah, sure is. Will you tell us what
that scripture is? Because I don't know. 636,
look unto me in every thought. Oh, when you start
saying it, I was like, I know scriptures, but
I always remember where they are. Okay, of course.
That's why Corley said, why don't you quote that
for us? That's so great. That was cute because
remember last Sunday you were subbing a primary
with me and the scripture wasn't there. And so
we're like, why don't you just read Wasn't it
Zelie? She's like 636. And then she was trying
to... So then the primary presence is like, oh,
good job. You came up with that one. I'm like,
no, your daughter did. She was sitting right
next to me. I just said it loud enough that you
could hear it. And then I was reminded this is
Adam's favorite scripture. I should have come
up with it and known it. But that is a good way
to start your day. It's a favorite. So good.
He likes a lot of them and he knows a lot of
them. Yeah. And that's why I need him by me all
the time. I like him, but I can't remember him
when it's important. I mean, like to quote him.
Right. Yeah. In this opportunity, I'll just take
to testify that I know that our Savior lives
and that He loves us. I know that He set the
perfect example for us. I know that He lived
a perfect life and really demonstrated everything
that a man needs to know to... become like Him,
come closer to Him. And, you know, there'll be
a couple weeks in between there, and we'll cover
the prophets thing. But we are fast approaching
the Easter season, and we have been given an
apostolic charge to make this holiday celebration.
I shouldn't call it a holiday. Put the holy in
the holy week. Make things meaningful. Make them
focused on Jesus Christ. What a neat opportunity.
People don't even agree that we're Christians.
Let's prove them wrong. Let's show them how much
Christian we are. Holy week. How about let's
do that. But I owe that to my Savior, Jesus Christ.
He's done so much for me. And I want that testimony
to... to be shared throughout the world, just
to say, like, I know that my Savior lives. I
know that He loves me. I know that He loves you.
And we're grateful that you've tuned in with
us for another season. And I'll close with the
testimony of Elder Egbo. He says, I know because
of Jesus Christ and priesthood keys restored
to the Prophet Joseph Smith, I will be with my
mother again. And he referenced her. her death,
you know, the sentence before. He said, the sorrow
of losing my mom has been swallowed up in the
joy of Christ. I am learning that to think celestial
and let God prevail includes focusing on the
joy available in Christ. He lovingly invites,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. And we add our
testimony to those words in the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen. Amen. Thanks for being with us.
We'll catch you on the next one. you