Quick to Observe

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Quick to Observe

• www.kevinhinckley.com

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With the financial crisis, even superheroes are
taking part time jobs
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And, they discovered a long lost photo of two
Nephites
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Joseph Smith and Mormon
Joseph
Mormon
Joseph
Mormon
Named after their father
Age 11
Age 12
Sober child
By Age 15
Age 14
Visited by the Lord
Age 24
Age 23
Responsible for Nephite Records
Preached the Gospel
To the peaceable
Yes
Called as Apostle
Yes
Yes
Saw attacks against the Church
Yes
Yes
Age 16
Became a General
Nauvoo
Killed defending his people
Cumorah
Carthage
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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 and four
  years old I would that ye should remember the
  things that ye have observed concerning this
  people

Question What do you think Ammaron was seeing?
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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

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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

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Question

• What kind of things would the Lord have us be
  quick to observe (or discern)

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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
  impressionsspiritual impressions, if you willto
  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, 16263 emphasis added

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Finally,Election 2008

• Observe- with your spiritual eyes
• Why are so many people, on all sides of the
  politicial isle, feeling hopeless?

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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.

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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 cross-references 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.

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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--becau
  se 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."