Welcome to Closer to Christ through 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. Today we're discussing and we talk
of Christ. This is by Elder Gary E. Stevenson
of the Quorum of the Twelve. Abby, we are now
on the third session of Saturday. This is a big
deal. It's amazing. Abby and I were just kind
of having a little bit of a celebration for that.
It feels good to get through these talks. I would
love— It kind of depressed me because I was like,
okay, thinking. How many more? Well, it's probably
two weeks kind of from here on out. And then
like summer disappears. It does. Which I love
fall, but. We love our summers here. We work
all, like we earn our summers. We earn them.
That's a good way to say it. So we would love
for you to share, like, and subscribe. It really
does help this to be seen by other people who
are looking for it, for like -minded people.
So when you leave a comment, it changes the number
of people that get to see it. I don't know why
it works that way, but like every time somebody
like. like leaves a review for the podcast, it
makes a difference on how many people it kind
of feeds to. Yeah. I'd also love to hear what
you have, just your thoughts on these things.
Yeah. Be part of the conversation. All right,
Abby, what do you have for us? This is such a
fantastic talk. This is a good talk. We talk
of Christ. I hope that's true. If it's not true,
this talk gives you plenty of opportunity to
reset yourself and think we need to do it more.
Yes. Because of the title of this talk, I thought
I would kind of dig into it. This is a session
that included 32 talks. And Amy's husband kind
of like, he does all of the, he fixes our mistakes
and like puts the music behind it. That's their
role. And then it's my job. He sends me the podcast
and then I put them up onto the podcast platform
and then it distributes out from there. And so.
Part of my job is to type the keywords into each
talk. So as people are like looking for certain
things that it will say like, oh, you want to
hear about Jesus Christ? You know, follow along
with this thing, whatever. So because I do this,
type the references for each, I've thought a
lot. I'm like, man, Jesus Christ comes up quite
a bit. So in preparation for this talk, I decided
to look and see specifically how many talks do
talk about Jesus Christ. And of the 32 talks,
23 have Jesus Christ as a keyword. And I was
like, I mean, really, is that true? So I counted
the nine that didn't have it. One that comes
up is the prophet's talk. And if you've read
the prophet's talk or you've listened to the
podcast on it, you know that he definitely did
not omit Jesus Christ in his talk. He specifically
referenced Jesus Christ seven times when he said
the rising generation is rising up as stalwart
followers of Jesus Christ. He said to build faith
in Jesus Christ. disciples of Jesus Christ have
access to a different kind of confidence. He
said he wanted us to be filled with the pure
love of Jesus Christ towards all men. Prepare
for the second coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
He said your faith in Jesus Christ will increase.
And in his concluding testimony, he testified
that Jesus Christ was the Redeemer of Israel
and leads this, his church. So like I'm saying,
I didn't go through the other. eight of the nine
that didn't specifically say that Jesus Christ
was included, but I was using that to emphasize
the point. Even when they don't, obviously I
could put Jesus Christ on every keyword of every
talk because we talk of Christ. We talk of Him.
Even when we don't claim to have that talk focused
on Jesus Christ, He is in there. He is in all
of them for a reason. Clearly, the leaders are
teaching us something really important here.
Christ is at the center of our church and should
be the center of literally everything we do.
There have been many, especially recently, who
have worked hard to emphasize the living Christ
in our worship and in our stories and in our
addresses and in our homes. In studying this
address by Elder Stevenson, I took his talk title,
And We Talk of Christ, and I put the word do
in front of it at the beginning of it. I said,
each point of this talk that he runs through.
How, especially in recent times, the church is
making an effort to speak more and teach more
and testify more of our Savior. And then I ask
myself, have I recognized this shift or emphasis
in my own life? Do I talk of Christ? That is
so powerful, Abby. Honestly, Jesus Christ changes
everything. Talking, testifying, and sharing
about Jesus Christ changes us and our interactions
with others. The opening story was so sweet.
I love this story. So just to paraphrase, at
the end of a long trip, the tired Stephensons
waited in a stressful airport customs line. He
talked about how the officer processed Elder
Stephenson's first with no emotion, then began
reviewing his wife's passport. When she spotted
a small card with an image of Jesus Christ tucked
inside, her demeanor changed. She looked up,
smiled warmly, and responded with kindness. This
is my favorite. sentence of the whole thing,
Abby. The simple presence of the Savior image
softened the moment and touched the heart of
the officer. Oh, it's the next one. This small
picture of the Savior connected the hearts of
two otherwise disconnected strangers. That is
kind of what we talked about this in our last
podcast. Yeah, the last podcast as well, that
the Savior connects people. I mean, it truly,
he brings down walls. He softens things that
may have been there before, but he just, he dissolves
boundaries. And I love, or sorry, he dissolves
walls. And I really, really love that. It transformed
the impersonal to personal, capturing the beauty,
the miracle, and the reality of the light of
Jesus Christ. Then he says this, for the remainder
of that day and often since I have contemplated
that sweet, simple moment with awe and have rejoiced
in the glorious effect of the light of Christ
upon God's children. Isn't it amazing when we
don't have the words to communicate how believers
of Jesus Christ can have their hearts knit together?
What did you say? It breaks down walls? Yeah,
it dissolves. It dissolves walls. He dissolves
walls. I absolutely agree. And I love that story
too. As followers of Jesus Christ, or if you
want to look at this talk like I did, you would
say, as a follower of Jesus Christ, am I seeking
to receive and share his light? On this talk,
Amy, I think I'll have you kind of hit the key
points of doctrine for us that he mentions. And
then, you know, as you list those, you and I
and the audience can consider where are our testimonies
on any one of these specific doctrines? Fantastic.
Would we be willing to learn more about any one
of these points or willing to share his light
with our testimony on these points? Abby, I love
that. Yeah. So Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone.
of his church Through ancient and living prophets,
our Heavenly Father has commanded us to hear
Him and to come unto Christ. We talk of Christ,
we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, and
we prophesy of Christ. We teach that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God, and during His earthly ministry,
Jesus taught His gospel and established His church.
We testify that at the end of His life, Jesus
atoned for our sins when He suffered in the Garden
of Gethsemane, was crucified on the cross, and
then was resurrected. Abby, I've got to share
this really quick. it came to my mind. I sent
out a missionary this week. And I just, with
this missionary, it's been a little bit different.
I've had impressions and thoughts of what to
do. And the thought was to send him a letter
every day in the MTC, which I was like, okay.
And I've been to the MTC. One day feels like
two weeks. So I called my son down, who's now
14, and said, listen, your brother's in the MTC.
It's been one day. So if we're early for him,
it's been two weeks already. We need to get him
some letters. So I said, look for two memes.
You can print out. We'll put that as part of
it. And then I want you to prayerfully find two
conference talks that you want to share with
your brother. What would be great for him to
learn or to just to remember and read right now?
So one of them was. One of them was actually
a conference talk way back from like, I think
2005. And it was his grandfather's talk. So he,
my son printed that out and he got another one
too that had, I forget which one it was, but
it talked about love and service. Anyways, then
when he came downstairs, I said, I would love
for you. I handed him a highlighter and just
said, just highlight two things from each talk.
So he knows it wasn't just like a print click.
It was like with real thought, I'd take these.
And so my son started reading it. I was addressing
the envelopes and putting stamps on them and
everything, getting them ready. And my son came
up and started reading it. And he said, Mom,
this is the part I chose. And he read. And we
talk of Christ. We rejoice in Christ. We preach
of Christ. I just loved it because he said, I
want to share this with my brother because that's
what he's doing right now. And so it just, again.
Sorry, my mom missionary heart is a little bit
tender right now, but I just loved that, number
one, that his grandpa first, you know, had the
words of preaching of Christ and testifying of
Christ so that our children know to what source
they can look for remission of their sins and
really to all the answers in life. I love that
that was a generational thing that I saw before
my eyes. just in that quick moment that day,
you know, and now it's in the mail and it's off
to our missionary. But again, when I read these
words, there is power behind the words and the
name of Jesus Christ. And the more we bring it
into our lives, the more power we have. Remembering
that his purpose as a missionary is going to
be to talk of Jesus Christ and rejoice in him
and knowing that there's going to be a fair bit
of rejection as a missionary, but regardless
of that, his successes will be. counted on his
willingness to share that message and and the
people that are open and willing and wanting
to hear that He is prepared and going to share
that, like all missionaries or like us as we
take those missionary opportunities. For anyone
who does that, we rejoice that because of this
Savior's atoning sacrifice, we can be forgiven
and cleansed of our sins as we repent. This brings
us peace and hope while making it possible for
us to return to God's presence and receive a
fullness of joy. We prophesy that because of
Jesus' resurrection, death is not the end but
an important step forward. We will all be resurrected
after we die. This means that each person's body
and spirit physically and literally will be reunited
and live forever. So Amy just mentioned she sent
a missionary out this week, and I stated it,
but I want to state it more firm and more clearly,
his purpose as a missionary. um for missionaries
everywhere both full -time member missionaries
is to invite others to come unto christ and partake
of his restored gospel and sometimes you know
this will come up in conversations and it's our
actions that do the testifying like what you
just talked about in your last one more than
just reading the words on the pages in the scriptures
learning about our savior we do the things that
he did that's the best way to testify I'm never
going to engage in a conversation where someone
is telling me that I don't know my Savior Jesus
Christ or that we worship a different Savior.
I'm going to choose to remain focused on teaching
opportunities when they present themselves and
consider my actions being really the way for
me to reflect that I know my Savior Jesus Christ.
I love your resolve there. That is a really,
really great point. Okay, Abby, so going with
your process, the next part is focused on messages
from living prophets in our day. So we might
ask the question, do we believe living prophets
receive revelation from God to teach and lead
us and are increasingly inviting us to come unto
Christ? Yeah, and he wrote that out. Like, we
believe in living prophets. I don't think it
makes a big difference when you're... Like really
combing through this talk to put the do in front
of it. Love that. Well, yeah, because then it's
a self -check. Yeah. Do we think recent adjustments
are to be politically correct or do we know this
direction and correction and emphasis came from
God? Let me run through just a few recent adjustments
that he shared in his talk. The decision to retire
the name Mormon Church and to replace it with
the correct name, the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter -day Saints. The availability of new
inspired Christ -themed art for display in meeting
houses. Oh, my gosh. Big difference, huh? Yes.
We've got some beautiful pieces. I just have
to say this, too. Our seminary in this valley,
Abby's husband is a seminary teacher. And I went
with Abby a few months ago to go. We were going
to do something. And the art in that meeting
house. I mean, you can call it a meeting house,
it's a seminary, is absolutely fantastic. And
just the thought that came to my mind is that
the Lord wants the youth to also be beneficiaries
of beautiful art of Jesus Christ. Well, I just
love that. Think about it. They're just coming
across the street from their public school. Such
a different feeling. I mean, you'd probably get
thrown in prison if you had like a picture of
Jesus at the school. Not the place for it, right?
I mean, the kids notice the difference in their
day between the two things, but maybe the artwork
is helping set that stage for them to feel the
contrast when Jesus is in your day versus when
he's not. It's almost, he's almost life -sized.
They're so big. So I just love that. I was so
taken by that. So I am very grateful that resources
have been given for that. Have you noticed that
in our church houses too? Yes. Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, like it's nice to like know who got their
young woman medallion in 1970. That's cool. It's
cool to know who was like the first bishop in
a warden stake back in the day. But at the end
of the day, those things only matter because
those people were trying to do something to grow
closer to Jesus Christ. Isn't it better to just
put a picture of him up there? Absolutely. Point
right directly to him. I love it. Because it's
him. Yes. Yeah. It is so great. Also, the availability
of new inspired. Okay. what i just said the christ
themed art love it young woman and ironic priesthood
quorum themes and the music focused on jesus
christ for example disciple of christ and look
unto christ do you like the new music do you
listen to it at all oh yeah I especially like
it when your husband adds or sends it to us in
our group text. Yeah, listen to this one. It's
so good. And then I'll continue listening on,
you know, while I'm making dinner or doing whatever.
It's so good. Greater emphasis, like you were
saying, Abby, on the atonement and literal resurrection
of Jesus Christ as the most glorious events in
history. And then there's the celebration of
Easter as a season and not just a holiday with
an emphasis on Jesus Christ. I really liked how
he talked about, you know, two years ago he talked
about this and that he and his family have been,
this will be the third Easter he said that they're
doing this. They reflect on the importance of
elevating Easter as a sacred celebration focused
on Jesus Christ. He says recent guidance from
church leaders encourages families and congregations
to develop Christ -centered Easter traditions
such as devotionals. Holy Week activities like
you and your husband did for the stake and home
worship. Elder Stevenson also shares how his
own family is working to make Easter more meaningful
by incorporating scripture readings, spiritual
plays, and decorations that emphasize Christ's
atonement and resurrection. And this is the part
I liked. He said it twice, this word balancing
or to balance. At one point, he called it a sweet
balance between traditional elements like eggs
and baskets with faith -based symbols. And I
really feel like that is the ultimate goal for
a disciple of Christ, is to balance life, just
the things that we do on an everyday basis, and
also with Jesus Christ, because we want to incorporate
Him into everything that we do. You don't want
it to feel like we can only do Jesus. on this
side, and we can only do fun on this side. We
want them to be married. We want people to be
like, wow, you can have fun and talk about Jesus.
Yeah. FSY again, Abby. I love it. It's still
fresh on my mind. It just happened. But as you
were talking, I'm like, okay, it's June. Right.
And I'm thinking back, it was in March this year.
Easter was. And I'm thinking. April, but still.
It was April. It was weird, though, I thought
this year. It was because the season was stretched
out longer and we got to enjoy it for a longer
time. Okay, well, fine. Okay, it was April. But
still, a few months have gone by. Oh, yeah. And
I'm like thinking about Easter. I'm like, it
was rad this year. So great. So that's the whole
point that I do think my kids bring up certain
things, certain traditions that we've been really
focused on bringing into focus, especially over
the last couple of years. And there are traditions
and there are things that they look forward to.
So I love that we're talking about this a couple
months after when it's been. And I'm thinking,
yeah, it's still relevant. It's changing our
lives that I'm like, oh, like I'm looking forward
to next Easter. Yeah, that's so awesome. And
again, he just the ultimate goal is to celebrate
Easter, not just as a holiday, but a holy season.
So the season of it centered on the Savior's
sacrifice and also his triumph over death. Do
you want to go for the next one, Abby? Yes. I'm
sure you've noticed the introduction of the visual
identifier of the Church of Jesus Christ and
how symbolic it is. In 2020, the prophet, President
Russell M. Nelson, introduced a new visual identifier.
The symbol reflects the truth that Christ is
at the center of his church and should be at
the center of our lives. We now see this familiar
symbol on temple recommends, church websites,
magazines, as the icon for the gospel library
app, and even on military ID tags for many members
of the church serving in the armed forces. The
symbol includes the name of the church contained
within a cornerstone, a reminder that Jesus Christ
is the chief cornerstone. Shown in, if you're
looking at the physical print of this talk, it
has this reference. It's Cambodian. and is in
use in 145 languages the center of the symbol
is a representation of bertal thor thor i don't
say his name good thor valdison's beloved marble
christus statue which has become widely associated
with the church and is found in visitor centers
and on temple grounds around the world its prominence
in the church symbol suggests that christ should
be the center of all we do likewise the savior's
outstretched arms indicate his promise to embrace
all who will come unto him the symbol is a visual
representation of the love of the savior jesus
christ and contains it's a constant reminder
of the living christ the symbol is of christ
exiting the tomb as a living resurrected being
there's a million things to You're going to see
that symbol. It's going to kind of be front and
center more often than not. I love that they're
emphasizing a representation of the living Christ.
I love the arch. I love the cornerstone. I love
the idea of the tomb, exiting the tomb, resurrected.
I don't know what my deal was, Abby. I mean,
this was, you know, shown to us in 2020. Now,
I was living in a cabin and I was watching, you
know, conference from that. But somehow. I missed
the part that the arch is him exiting the tomb.
I feel like that's an emphasis of this talk,
honestly. Yeah. And so when I heard that, like,
I love the symbol as well. And then when there
was that added measure, I mean, it's been out
there for all these years, but for me and for
my testimony, when it was the added measure of
the arch being the tomb and another representation
of the resurrected Christ, it just, I don't know,
it went further into my heart and I just loved
it even more. Why this matters is that since
the time that it's been introduced, we're seeing
how often it's being utilized by the church.
And so it's not just like, eh, it's this thing.
If you ever need a logo or emblem for the church,
like here's this thing. It's on a ton of things.
And the app that I open every single day. That
is the icon for it, right? It's part of our everyday
lives now. It's a great talking feature, a great
talking point. I think that's a common misconception
with other Christian creeds. It's like you don't
even believe in Jesus Christ and you're like,
Look at the logo. Look at the name of the church.
He's there. And people will be like, oh, yeah,
that's a PR stunt. That was an awfully expensive
PR stunt. Honestly, any sane individual that
was running a business, let's say, they wouldn't
make that decision. They'd be like, we've kind
of gone upstream on this, like this. But when
God's the one that said, I already told you the
name of my church. It was in print all those
years ago. You went off kilter. We've got to
bring it back to the Savior. You're not like,
well, that's going to be expensive. That's going
to be difficult and hard to do. You're just like,
okay, we'll make it happen. And in pretty short
order, it happened. It did. Overnight, Tabernacle
Choir was changed. There were a few things that
was just overnight done. It was great. I'm impressed.
I think, you know what that means? It was a big
hard thing to do. And because they did it, like,
think about all the other revelation we've been
able to add to that and the awesome things that
have come since that misstep was corrected. I
agree, Abby. So you went through these things.
Individually, those things might feel like they're
small. But since time has passed, since they've
been implemented. maybe each of those points,
like you take this slow enough to think like,
did that make a difference in my life? Is that
a big deal? Does it matter that the artwork is
more Christ -centered? Does it matter that there's
a new symbol? Does it matter that I use the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter -day Saints versus...
you know, Mormon church. Yeah. Does it make a
difference? By small and simple things, right?
They are small. They are small tweaks. They are
very simple, but that brings about such a different
feeling. And I am very grateful for it. I want
more peace in my life. I want more of the light
of Jesus Christ in my life. And I love that.
our prophet was humble enough to receive this
correction from the Lord and implement it. Because
when we do that, he is able to magnify those
efforts. And he magnified that on a worldwide
scale. So I just love that. I'm grateful I'm
a beneficiary of it. Yeah. And the point of this
talk was to say, I mean, I'm making it. The point
of this talk is to put the word, do I? Do I use
the proper name of the church? And if I do, what
changes, what impact is that having on my life?
It's great. And if I'm looking at that point
and say, I actually don't use the name of the
church properly. Let's say that I'm saying that.
Then I say, is it a big deal? That you just take
a minute to question if it's a big deal or not
to you. Do you think it came by revelation? Do
you think that it was like a strategic move?
Yeah. Thank you for that, Abby. Every one of
those points, I'm just kind of thinking. Take
time to just think on it. Where am I at on that?
And is there any, did it spark any desire to
have like minor corrections? Or am I like, yeah,
I'm doing that thing and I'm seeing the blessings
that come from doing it. Either way, it's a blessing,
right? Whether you make a tweak or whether you
recognize that those blessings are flowing through
your life. It's a good thing. Self -reflection,
big fan. It's just, it's just great. Okay, so
C .S. Lewis stated that to preach Christianity.
meant to the apostles primarily to preach the
resurrection. The resurrection is the central
theme in every Christian sermon report in the
Acts. The resurrection and its consequences were
the, quote, the gospel or good news which the
Christians brought. There is a resurrection,
the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death
is swallowed up in Christ. C .S. Lewis, he's
an amazing person. I think he did a lot of good.
You know why he did? Because he... I don't know
if he was like an atheist exactly. Yes. My husband's
giving me the yes on this. I watched some documentaries
on him and stuff. Especially after I became passionate
about the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. Like
just sobbing my eyes out about Aslan. Like, what
is this guy? What does he come from? We're always
quoting. He's always got these good things. But
I think his stuff really hits the hardest because
he lived a life without Jesus Christ. You know,
once he had his own testimony of the Savior,
he was never really afraid to put him in like
every piece of work that he wrote. And there's
a million good quotes from that guy. I love that.
That's a very good point. He knows the contrast.
He knows what a life without him looks like.
And kind of through intellectual means, he developed
a testimony of him and then I think it went way
above intellectual. Clearly, because A Lion,
Witch, and the Wardrobe, anyone who's reading
the words of that book, like it just sinks deep
into your heart. Jesus Christ is Aslan. I mean,
a representation and teaching it on a children's
level is just beautiful. Right. Love that. But
then an adult can read the book. Oh, totally.
That's why it's so great. It's like a primary
song at that point, right? Like I sit in primary
and just cry because I'm reading, I'm singing
about Gethsemane because it's such simple truths
that a child could understand it, which means
adults can. That's a fact. Any more thoughts?
I think I've shared everything here. So much
power when we talk of Jesus Christ. It really
is a great talk and a good opportunity to, like
you said, do I put do in front of these things.
I love it. So let me close with his testimony.
Go for it. I testify that all who accept the
invitations from our living prophet and his counselors
to more intentionally commemorate the holy events
that Easter represents will find that their bond
with Jesus Christ grows ever stronger. He is
risen. and that he lives, of which I testify
in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Thanks
for being here with us. Catch you next time.