Transcript Quick to Observe www.kevinhinckley.com With the financial crisis, even superheroes are taking part time jobs.

Quick to
Observe
www.kevinhinckley.com
With the financial crisis, even
superheroes are taking part time jobs
And, they discovered
a long lost photo of
two Nephites
Joseph Smith and Mormon
Joseph
Mormon
Named after their father
Joseph
Mormon
“Sober” child
Age 12
Age 11
Visited by the Lord
Age 14
By Age 15
Responsible for Nephite Records
Age 23
Age 24
Preached the Gospel
Yes
To the “peaceable”
Called as Apostle
Yes
Yes
Saw attacks against the Church
Yes
Yes
Became a General
Nauvoo
Killed defending his people
Carthage
Age 16
Cumorah
Mormon
And about the time that Ammaron hid
up the records unto the Lord, he
came unto me, (I being about ten
years of age, and I began to be
learned somewhat after the manner
of the learning of my people)
and Ammaron said unto me: I perceive
that thou art a sober child, and art
quick to observe;
Therefore,
when ye are about twenty
Question:
and four
years do
old you
I would
that ye
What
think
shouldAmmaron
remember was
the things
that
seeing?
ye have observed concerning this
people;
Elder Bednar
Before attending her sacrament meetings, Sister
Bednar frequently prays for the spiritual eyes to
see those who have a need. Often as
she
observes the brothers and sisters and
children in the congregation, she will feel a spiritual nudge to visit with
or make a phone call to a particular person.
And when Sister Bednar receives such an impression, she promptly
responds and obeys. It often is the case that as soon as the “amen” is
spoken in the benediction, she will talk with a teenager or hug a sister
or, upon returning home, immediately pick up the phone and make a
call.
As long as I have known Sister Bednar, people have marveled at her
capacity to discern and respond to their needs. Often they will ask
her, “How did you know?” The spiritual gift of being quick to
observe has enabled her to see and to act promptly and has been a
great blessing in the lives of many people.
BYU Devotional, May 2005
President Packer
If all you know is
what you see with
your natural eyes
and hear with your
natural ears, then
you will not know
very much…
Elder Bednar, BYU Devotional, 2005
Question:
What kind of things would the Lord have us
be “quick to observe” (or discern)
President Stephen L.
Richards
First, I mention the gift of discernment [quick to observe],
embodying the power to discriminate . . . between right
and wrong. I believe that this gift when highly developed
arises largely out of an acute sensitivity to impressions—
spiritual impressions, if you will—to read under the surface as it were,
to detect hidden evil, and more importantly to find the good that may
be concealed.
The highest type of discernment is that which perceives in others and
uncovers for them their better natures, the good inherent within them. .
. . . Every member in the restored Church of Christ could have this gift if
he willed to do so. He could not be deceived with the sophistries of the
world. He could not be led astray by pseudo-prophets and subversive
cults. Even the inexperienced would recognize false teachings, in a
measure at least. . .
. We ought to be grateful every day of our lives for this sense which
keeps alive a conscience which constantly alerts us to the dangers
inherent in wrongdoers and sin.
[CR, April 1950, 162–63; emphasis added]
Finally,
Election 2008
“Observe”- with your spiritual eyes
Why are so many people, on all sides of the
politicial isle, feeling hopeless?
Sorrow?
10 And it came to pass that the Nephites began to repent
of their iniquity, and began to cry … for behold no man
could keep that which was his own, for the thieves, and
the robbers, and the murderers, and the magic art, and
the witchcraft which was in the land.
11 Thus there began to be a mourning and a lamentation in
all the land…
12 And it came to pass that when I, Mormon, saw their lamentation and
their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord, my heart did begin
to rejoice within me, knowing the mercies and the long-suffering of
the Lord, therefore supposing that he would be merciful unto them
that they would again become a righteous people.
13 But behold this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto
repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the
sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer
them to take happiness in sin.
14 And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite
spirits, but they did curse God, and wish to die.
Elder Holland
Recently I was invited by President Bishop of the
Missionary Training Center to address the
nearly two thousand missionaries in residence
there. I accepted because I always assume it is
impossible to give a poor talk at the MTC. They
will take notes and make scriptural crossreferences if you read them the telephone
directory. Plus I love to hear them sing. So I
went.
I visited with many of them and the minutes
stretched into many minutes and then finally
into nearly an hour. During that time I noticed
one young elder hanging around the outer rim
of the circle as all the other missionaries came
and went.
Finally the traffic thinned out, and he stepped
forward. "Do you remember me?" he asked.
"No," I said, "I'm sorry I don't. Tell me your name."
He replied, "My name is Elder ___________." His
eyes searched mine for recognition, but I just
didn't know who this young man was.
Summoning his courage for the ultimate revelation
he said, "Hinckley Hall--A Faithful Friend Is a
Strong Defense." Then I knew who he was.
That little coded phrase may not ring any bells
for you, but it meant something to him and he
knew it meant something to me.
Elder Holland
On September 7, 1982, I stood in this exact spot and gave the only angry
public spanking I have ever given a group of BYU students. The title of my
remarks for that back-to-school message was "A Faithful Friend Is a Strong
Defense.“
I spoke of an offense, a felony--falsifying government documents--which had
been committed in Hinckley Hall the April before and which had been widely
covered by the press. Five months had passed but I was still hurting. Time had
not soothed me.
I spoke of that incident publicly--without mentioning the names of the
participants--because I care about matters of morality and honor and personal
virtue at BYU. I wanted it clear then (and now, if anyone is still wondering) that the behavior of every student at
Brigham Young University matters very much to me and to what this school stands for. So I said my piece and, for
all intents and purposes, forgot about it.
But, as you might guess, it was not easy for the students involved. Not only were there the burdens of university and
Church actions, but the civil laws made an indelible stroke across the record of some of these young lives. There
were tears and courts and sentences and probations. Legally it had been about as much of a nightmare as a
college freshman could have foreseen. Obviously it was more of a nightmare than they could have foreseen
because the sorrow and remorse over their "prank"--I put the word in quotation marks--was deep and rending.
I recall that very unsavory experience for you this morning simply to put a happy ending on one young man's very
difficult experience. His father wrote me later and said how much courage it had taken for him to come up and talk
with me at the MTC, but he said his son wanted me to know of his effort to make things right. It had not been easy
for him to get a mission call. Not only were there all the court-imposed sanctions and Church restrictions, but there
was the terrible personal burden of guilt.
But he wanted to serve a mission both because it was the right thing to do and because it was a way for him to say to
the Church, the government, the university and all who cared about him, "I'm back. I made a serious mistake but
I'm back. I am making up lost ground. I've still got a chance."