Last updated on January 21st, 2024 at 03:58 pm
General Conference Applied
S2 E15 – Sunday, January 14, 2024 | “Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ” by President Emily Belle Freeman; October 2023 General Conference
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Podcast Episode Social Media Posts
Corresponding Talk Outline: “Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ“
Podcast Episode Outline
REMEMBER THIS
If you remember nothing else from this podcast episode, remember this:
- President Freeman is inviting us to define our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Introduction
Doctrines, Principles, and Christlike Attributes
As we have discussed in previous episodes of General Conference Applied, it is important to identify the fundamental doctrine, principle, and Christlike attribute of each General Conference address. In “Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ,” I identified Covenants as the fundamental doctrine, The Lord’s Covenant People as the fundamental principle, and Obedience as the fundamental Christlike attribute. I have included a detailed breakdown of this doctrine, principle, and Christlike attribute in the talk outline, but I will share additional insights during this podcast episode.
In each episode of General Conference Applied, we are attempting to answer two questions:
- What is the speaker inviting me to do?
- How might I consider taking action?
What is the speaker inviting me to do?
Invitations
1: “When I returned home from Israel, I listened more closely to the conversations around me regarding covenants. I noticed people asking, Why should I walk a covenant path? Do I need to enter a house for making covenants? Why do I wear the holy garment? Should I invest in a covenant relationship with the Lord? The answer to these good and important questions is simple: it depends on what degree of relationship you want to experience with Jesus Christ. Each of us will have to discover our own response to those deeply personal questions.”
- What This Means (in 6 words or less): Define our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Connection
Bio
- “President Emily Belle Freeman was sustained as Young Women General President for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 1, 2023. She began serving on August 1, 2023.
“She has served in numerous Church callings, including gospel doctrine teacher, and ward Young Women and Relief Society president.
“President Freeman attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She has written more than a dozen books and spoken at a variety of conferences, workshops, and gatherings. She taught for many years in the Church Educational System.
“Emily Belle Freeman was born December 31, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts. She married Gregory Garth Freeman on December 19, 1989. They have five children.”
Personal Acquaintance
- President Freeman and her family lived in the same ward as my wife and her family many years ago.
- My mother-in-law served as the Ward Relief Society President, President Freeman served as her counselor, and her husband served in the Bishopric. (She and her family lived on the same street as my uncle, who also lived in the same ward as my wife’s family).
- When I asked my mother-in-law about President Freeman, she said she can’t think of a more devoted disciple of Jesus Christ. She stated that President Freeman is just “good.”
Overview
“Walking the Trail Broken”
“I love her for that, for believing I could walk the trail broken.”
- October 2023 General Conference, Elder Joaquim E. Costa, “The Power of Jesus Christ in Our Lives Every Day“:
- “At times, having faith in Jesus Christ may seem like something impossible, almost unattainable. We may think that coming unto Christ requires a strength, power, and perfection we don’t have, and we just can’t find the energy to do it all. But what I have learned from all these people is that faith in Jesus Christ is what gives us the energy to begin the journey. Sometimes we may think, ‘I need to fix my life before I come to Jesus,’ but the truth is that we come to Jesus to fix our lives through Him.
“We don’t come to Jesus because we are perfect. We come to Him because we are flawed and in Him we can ‘be perfected.'”
- “At times, having faith in Jesus Christ may seem like something impossible, almost unattainable. We may think that coming unto Christ requires a strength, power, and perfection we don’t have, and we just can’t find the energy to do it all. But what I have learned from all these people is that faith in Jesus Christ is what gives us the energy to begin the journey. Sometimes we may think, ‘I need to fix my life before I come to Jesus,’ but the truth is that we come to Jesus to fix our lives through Him.
“The Parable of the Slope”
“Begin where you are. Don’t let your condition hinder you. Remember, pace or placement on the path are not as important as progress.”
- October 2021 General Conference, Elder Clark G. Gilbert, “Becoming More in Christ: The Parable of the Slope“:
- “We all have different intercepts in life—we start in different places with different life endowments. Some are born with high intercepts, full of opportunity. Others face beginning circumstances that are challenging and seem unfair. We then progress along a slope of personal progress. Our future will be determined far less by our starting point and much more by our slope. Jesus Christ sees divine potential no matter where we start. He saw it in the beggar, the sinner, and the infirm. He saw it in the fisherman, the tax collector, and even the zealot. No matter where we start, Christ considers what we do with what we are given. While the world focuses on our intercept, God focuses on our slope. In the Lord’s calculus, He will do everything He can to help us turn our slopes toward heaven.”
Condescension, Ascension, and Relationship
“His is a mission of condescension. Jesus Christ will meet us where we are as we are. This is the why of the garden, the cross, and the tomb. The Savior was sent to help us overcome. But staying where we are won’t bring the deliverance we seek. Just as He didn’t leave Jacob there in the dirt, the Lord doesn’t intend to leave any of us where we are.
“His is also a mission of ascension. He will work within us to lift us up to where He is and, in the process, enable us to become as He is. Jesus Christ came to lift us. He wants to help us become. This is the why of the temple.
“We must remember: it’s not the course alone that will exalt us; it’s the companion—our Savior. And this is the why of covenant relationship.”
- October 2021 General Conference, Elder D. Todd Christofferson, “The Love of God“:
- “Some are wont to say, ‘The Savior loves me just as I am,’ and that is certainly true. But He cannot take any of us into His kingdom just as we are, ‘for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence.’ Our sins must first be resolved.”
- October 2023 General Conference, President Dallin H. Oaks, “Kingdoms of Glory“:
- “The Apostle Paul taught that the Lord’s teachings and commandments were given that we may all attain ‘the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.’ That process requires far more than acquiring knowledge. It is not even enough to be convinced of the gospel; we must act so that we are converted by it. In contrast to other preaching, which teaches us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to become something.”
- April 2017 General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson, “Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ Into Our Lives“:
- “It is doctrinally incomplete to speak of the Lord’s atoning sacrifice by shortcut phrases, such as ‘the Atonement’ or ‘the enabling power of the Atonement’ or ‘applying the Atonement’ or ‘being strengthened by the Atonement.’ These expressions present a real risk of misdirecting faith by treating the event as if it had living existence and capabilities independent of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
“Under the Father’s great eternal plan, it is the Savior who suffered. It is the Savior who broke the bands of death. It is the Savior who paid the price for our sins and transgressions and blots them out on condition of our repentance. It is the Savior who delivers us from physical and spiritual death.
“There is no amorphous entity called ‘the Atonement’ upon which we may call for succor, healing, forgiveness, or power. Jesus Christ is the source. Sacred terms such as Atonement and Resurrection describe what the Savior did, according to the Father’s plan, so that we may live with hope in this life and gain eternal life in the world to come. The Savior’s atoning sacrifice—the central act of all human history—is best understood and appreciated when we expressly and clearly connect it to Him.”
- “It is doctrinally incomplete to speak of the Lord’s atoning sacrifice by shortcut phrases, such as ‘the Atonement’ or ‘the enabling power of the Atonement’ or ‘applying the Atonement’ or ‘being strengthened by the Atonement.’ These expressions present a real risk of misdirecting faith by treating the event as if it had living existence and capabilities independent of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
How might I consider taking action?
Invitations
1: “When I returned home from Israel, I listened more closely to the conversations around me regarding covenants. I noticed people asking, Why should I walk a covenant path? Do I need to enter a house for making covenants? Why do I wear the holy garment? Should I invest in a covenant relationship with the Lord? The answer to these good and important questions is simple: it depends on what degree of relationship you want to experience with Jesus Christ. Each of us will have to discover our own response to those deeply personal questions.”
- What This Means (in 6 words or less): Define our relationship with Jesus Christ.
- Answer these four questions for reflection in my journal. However, as I do, also contemplate how walking the covenant path, entering the house of the Lord, and wearing the holy garment strengthen my relationship with Jesus Christ.
Directives (“an official or authoritative instruction”)
- “Here is mine: I walk this path as a ‘beloved daughter of heavenly parents,’ divinely known and deeply trusted. As a child of the covenant, I am eligible to receive promised blessings. I have chosen to walk with the Lord. I have been called to stand as a witness of Christ. When the path feels overwhelming, I am strengthened with enabling grace. Each time I cross the threshold of His house, I experience deeper covenant relationship with Him. I am sanctified with His Spirit, endowed with His power, and set apart to build His kingdom. Through a process of daily repentance and weekly partaking of the sacrament, I am learning to become steadfast and to go about doing good. I walk this path with Jesus Christ, looking forward to the promised day when He will come again. Then I will be sealed His and lifted up as a holy daughter of God.
“This is why I walk the covenant path.
“This is why I cling to covenant promises.
“This is why I enter His covenant house.
“This is why I wear the holy garment as a constant reminder.
“Because I want to live in committed covenant relationship with Him.”
- Craft a personal mission statement, just like President Freeman did:
- “A mission statement is a clear and concise summary of your purpose, priorities, and things you need to do each day to reach your goals. A mission statement is a critical part of building a life of purpose, accountability, and fulfillment. It’s a compass to keep you on the road to success.”
- Stephen R. Covey: “How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most.”
Other Ideas
In his book ‘Increase in Learning: Spiritual Patterns for Obtaining Your Own Answers’, Elder David A. Bednar wrote:
- “Meaningful morning and evening prayers are linked to and are a continuation of each other.
“Consider this example. There may be things in our character, in our behavior, or concerning our spiritual growth about which we need to counsel with Heavenly Father in morning prayer. After expressing appropriate thanks for blessings received, we plead for understanding, direction, and help to do the things we cannot do in our own strength alone…
“During the course of the day, we keep a prayer in our heart for continued assistance and guidance…
“At the end of our day, we kneel again and report back to our Father. We review the events of the day and express heartfelt thanks for the blessings and the help we received. We repent and, with the assistance of the Spirit of the Lord, identify ways we can do and become better tomorrow. Thus our evening prayer builds upon and is a continuation of our morning prayer. And our evening prayer also is a preparation for meaningful morning prayer.
“Morning and evening prayers – and all of the prayers in between – are not unrelated, discrete events; rather, they are linked together each day and across days, weeks, months, and even years.”
December 10, 1974, BYU Speech, President Ezra Taft Benson (quoting President Brigham Young), “Jesus Christ—Gifts and Expectations“:
- “A few years ago, we knew our Elder Brother and his and our Father in heaven well. We rejoiced at the upcoming opportunity for earthly life that could make it possible for us to have a fullness of joy as they had. We could hardly wait to demonstrate to our Father and our Brother, the Lord, how much we loved them and how we would be obedient to them in spite of the earthly opposition of the evil one. And now we’re here—our memories are veiled—and we’re showing God and ourselves what we can do. Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us. And then, President Young said, we’re going to wonder why we were so stupid in the flesh.”
In your journal, consider your prayers, and then consider this statement from President Brigham Young. Are your prayers strengthening your relationship with our Heavenly Father? Write down your thoughts.
Report on Prior Week’s Action Item
In General Conference Applied season 2 episode 14, I committed to completing the following two tasks:
- Journal for 10 minutes on this topic: “How do I currently ‘value the different attributes and varied gifts’ of my fellow spiritual brothers and sisters?”
- Then, journal for 10 minutes on this topic: “What changes will I make to better ‘value the different attributes and varied gifts’ of my fellow spiritual brothers and sisters?”
I determined that I first need to do a better job of identifying others’ attributes and gifts. Then, I need to go out of my way to make it easier for others to better develop those attributes and gifts.
This Week’s Action Item
“That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.”
Karl Pearson, an early 20th-century British mathematician
“Those who measure their progress improve. Those who measure and report their progress improve exponentially.”
Dan Sullivan, founder and president of The Strategic Coach Inc.
“Do something, do anything! But to start, just do ONE thing.”
Mitch Peterson
- I will answer these four questions for reflection in my journal:
- “Why should I walk a covenant path?”
- “Do I need to enter a house for making covenants?”
- “Why do I wear the holy garment?”
- “Should I invest in a covenant relationship with the Lord?”
Let Me Know
How will you take action on this General Conference address? Let me know on social media or email me.
REMEMBER THIS
If you remember nothing else from this podcast episode, remember this:
- President Freeman is inviting us to define our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Tags
Adversity | Covenants | Jesus Christ
Additional Content
Previous Podcast Episode (“Brothers and Sisters in Christ” by Elder Ulisses Soares)
Next Podcast Episode (“Abide the Day in Christ” by Sister Amy A. Wright)