"Live Up to Your Privileges"

Last updated on February 16th, 2025 at 10:47 pm

General Conference Applied

S4 E18 – Sunday, February 2, 2025 | “Live Up to Your Privileges” by President Emily Belle Freeman; October 2024 General Conference

Listen on Amazon Music | Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen and/or Watch on Spotify | Watch on YouTube

Podcast Episode Social Media Posts

Facebook | Instagram

Podcast Episode Outline

Introduction

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.”
This was President Freeman’s second general conference address. Her first address was “Walking in Covenant Relationship with Christ” from the October 2023 General Conference. That address included one invitation: 1) Ask ourselves “what degree of relationship [we] want to experience with Jesus Christ.”

Accepting a Prophetic Invitation

“In 2019 a prophetic invitation was extended to the women of the Church, teaching us how to draw the Savior’s power into our lives. President Russell M. Nelson invited us to study Doctrine and Covenants 25, a revelation given to Emma Smith in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Accepting that invitation changed my life.”
- President Nelson’s invitation: “Spiritual Treasures,” October 2019 General Conference: “Accessing the power of God in your life requires the same things that the Lord instructed Emma and each of you to do. So, I invite you to study prayerfully section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants and discover what the Holy Ghost will teach you. Your personal spiritual endeavor will bring you joy as you gain, understand, and use the power with which you have been endowed.”
- Action: “Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys“, President Russell M. Nelson, April 2024 General Conference: “Joseph Smith’s dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple is a tutorial about how the temple spiritually empowers you and me to meet the challenges of life in these last days. I encourage you to study that prayer, recorded in Doctrine and Covenants section 109.” Just as President Freeman took action on President Nelson’s invitation and prayerfully studied section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants, I need to prayerfully study section 109 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Read the Scriptures Carefully

“If we read section 25 carefully, we discover an important progression taking place. Emma would go from being a daughter in the kingdom to ‘elect lady’ to queen. Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood ordinances, combined with the keeping of her covenant promises, would increase her companionship with the Spirit and with angels, empowering her to navigate her life with divine guidance. Through His divine power, God would heal her heart, enlarge her capacity, and transform her into the version of herself He knew she could become. And through the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood, ‘the power of godliness [would be] manifest’ in her life, and the Lord would part the veil so she could receive understanding from Him. This is what it looks like for God’s power to work within us.”
- “In the Language of Adam: Reading Scripture Like the Book of Mormon’s Visionary Men” by D. John Butler: “This is the thesis of this book. I’m going to show you that the major Book of Mormon writers were temple initiates. By this I mean that their religion had an outward facing or exoteric side, in which all were welcome, and a private or esoteric portion which was reserved for people who were variously called children of God, the peaceable followers of Christ, and the visionary men. Over and over, the Book of Mormon writers used the sites, sounds, and even tastes of their temple experiences to construct their sermons, songs, psalms, visions, and exhortations. That imagery even informs passages that present themselves as historical narrative, which should move us to inquire whether more than simple narration is happening. … Given all the ‘mysteries’ content in Alma 10-14, we should consider the possibility that the debate with Zeezrom the accuser is showing us, disguised as mere history, what the worshippers’ encounter with the adversary looked like. This suggests that the adversary in Matthew 5 might be seen as a person of status and wealth, not obviously a monster. It suggests that some part of the encounter might be the adversary offering the worshipper money to deny their belief or walk away.”

“The Only One Taking the Sacrament”

“Recently my husband, Greg, received a diagnosis that would require an intensive surgery and months of chemotherapy. Like many of you who have faced a similar situation, we immediately began praying for heaven’s help and God’s power. The Sunday following Greg’s surgery, the sacrament was delivered to our hospital room.

“On this occasion, I was the only one taking the sacrament. One piece of bread. One cup of water. At church, my mind often focuses on the delivery system of the sacrament—the preparing, the blessing, and the passing. But on that afternoon, I pondered the gift of God’s power available to me through the sacred ordinance itself and the covenant promise I was making as I took that piece of bread and that cup of water. This was a time when I needed power from heaven. In the midst of great heartache, exhaustion, and uncertainty, I wondered about this gift that would allow me to draw upon the power from Him that I so desperately needed. Partaking of the sacrament would increase my companionship with the Spirit of the Lord, allowing me to draw upon the gift of God’s power, including the ministering of angels and the Savior’s enabling strength to overcome.

“I don’t think I had ever realized with this much clarity before that it’s not only who officiates in the ordinance that matters—what the ordinance and our covenant promise unlock also deserves the focus of our attention.
- “The Last Sacrament Cup“, December 2015 Ensign article
- followHim Podcast – Moroni 1-6 – Dr. Shalise Adams: [Dr. Shalise Adams] “This is something that I heard in Emily Freeman’s Inklings Podcast, but it also is very similar to what she said in this last conference. She said: ‘We access the power of the Aaronic Priesthood through the ordinance of the sacrament. It’s more than deacons and teachers in the sacrament. It’s the power to overcome everything that happens in mortality through the gospel of repentance, which allows us to have second chances, which allows us to overcome sin and temptation, which allows us, through the ordinance and keeping our covenants, to have an increase of the Holy Ghost, which helps us navigate life and increase our capacity to accomplish His work and give us strength. The ordinance unlocks ministering of angels. We say Aaronic Priesthood, and our first thought should be the gospel of repentance, the ministering of angels, the increase of the Holy Ghost. But our first thought usually is bless, pass, and prepare the sacrament – deacon, teacher, and priest. We go to the office instead of the ordinance that it unlocks.'”

What is the speaker inviting me to do, and how might I consider taking action?

Invitations

1: “Learn how priesthood ordinances and covenant promises will allow God’s power to flow into your life with greater efficacy, working in and through you, empowering and equipping you to reach your full purpose and potential.”

Learn how ordinances and covenants allow God’s power to flow into your life.
Christlike Attribute: “I feel the influence of the Holy Ghost in my life. (Doctrine and Covenants 11:12–13)” (Virtue)
“Carefully study and ponder the Aaronic and the Melchizedek Priesthood ordinances, the covenant promises we make with each, and the power of God we access through those ordinances.

“Remember, it’s not only who officiates in the ordinance that matters; what the ordinance and your covenant promise unlock also deserves the focus of your attention.

“Partaking of the bread and water is a weekly reminder of His power working in you to help you overcome. Wearing the garment of the holy priesthood is a daily reminder of the gift of His power working in you to help you become.

“We all have access to the gift of God’s power.

“Every time we partake of the sacrament.

“Every time we cross the threshold of a temple.

“This is the highlight of my Sabbath. This is why I cherish my temple recommend.”
Actions:
1. I want to better recognize God’s power in my life. For example, when someone tells me that they feel closer to God in nature rather than by attending Church and partaking of the Sacrament, I want to be able to articulate the power that comes into my life by consistently participating in the ordinance of the Sacrament.

Take Action

How will you take action on the invitations extended in this General Conference address?

Conclusion

As we conclude this episode, I have some important information. Show notes for this and all other episodes can be found on my website, mitchellryanpeterson.com. On my website, you will also find my weekly What? Eye. Read. 💡 newsletter.

In my newsletter, I share the best thing I heard, saw, and read during the past week, as well as the best idea I developed. If you are wondering how you can help me: if you could subscribe to, rate, and review the podcast as well as share it with others, I would appreciate it. And please also sign up for my newsletter at mitchellryanpeterson.com.

You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook where I share additional General Conference related content. The links to my social media accounts are in the podcast episode details for each podcast episode. Lastly, please remember that General Conference Applied is meant to be a supplement for your review of General Conference Addresses.

I promise that you will get more out of each General Conference Applied episode when you study the General Conference address first. Thank you for joining me in this effort to become doers of the word and to take action on general conference invitations.

Additional Content

Previous Podcast Episode (“Welcome to the Church of Joy” by Elder Patrick Kearon)

Next Podcast Episode (“The Joy of Our Redemption” by Sister Kristin M. Yee)

All Podcast Episodes