“God Loves All His Children”

Posted on by Mitch Peterson

Last updated on March 8th, 2025 at 11:36 am

General Conference Applied

S4 E26 – Sunday, March 2, 2025 | “God Loves All His Children” by Elder Gregorio E. Casillas; October 2024 General Conference

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Podcast Episode Outline

Introduction

Bio

  • “Elder Gregorio E. Casillas was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the April 2024 general conference. At the time of his call, he had been serving as a member of the Sixth Quorum of the Seventy in the Mexico Area.

    “Elder Casillas has served in a number of Church callings, including full-time missionary in the Mexico Tampico Mission, bishop, stake president, ward Young Men president, and president of the Mexico Mexico City South Mission from 2018 to 2021.

    “Elder Casillas received a degree in civil engineering from the Autonomous University of Baja California in 2003 and a master of business administration degree from the Xochicalco University in 2024. He has worked as a project manager for a few construction firms and for the Church as a temple engineer. Most recently, he worked for the Church as an area temple facilities manager.

    “Gregorio Enrique Casillas Bueno was born in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, on August 26, 1975. He married Alma Angelina Obeso Gonzalez in 1999. They are the parents of three children.”
  • This was Elder Casillas’s first general conference address.

Ministering In Silence

  • “A while ago, a stake president and I were visiting members of the Church in a local neighborhood. After we finished our scheduled visits, the stake president asked me if we could go see one more family. He felt impressed that we should talk with them.

    “We knocked on the door, and a sister opened it. She looked at me, but she didn’t know who I was, so she didn’t express much. I pointed my hand toward the stake president, who greeted her by name. As soon as she heard and saw him, she rejoiced. Standing there at the door, they both hugged each other and cried together. This set the tone for our visit. We didn’t know that the sister had received chemotherapy the day before. She felt too weak to care for her adult son. So I helped the stake president dress her son, and we put him in his wheelchair. We fed him the food that another sweet sister from the ward had brought earlier, and we helped with other tasks. Before we left their home, we were able to bless them.

    “All that was going through my mind during this visit was a confirmation that Jesus Christ loves them deeply. He understands them and personally knows the pain of their unique situation. Almost the entire visit happened in silence. On this occasion we did not give a big sermon or share our favorite scripture, but the Lord blessed us with His Spirit abundantly. …

    “My dear brothers and sisters, on that day when a priesthood leader felt impressed for us to visit a mother and a son that we did not have on our agenda, I proclaim that God knew they needed us. And at the end, I was the one who was ministered to.”     -Elder Casillas
    • followHim Podcast – Mosiah 18-24 – Dr. Melissa Inouye: [Dr. Melissa Inouye] “When I’ve had big surgeries, my family and members of the ward have always come and helped me. I think it’s also just really important… I mean, sometimes you can’t take away pain from someone. You just can’t do it. What I think the next best thing is just to be a witness, to just sit with them and say, ‘This is really hard.’ And then it gives the person who’s in pain or who’s going through a hard time just that recognition. You’re not making this up. This is a real challenge, and you’re tackling it. So I think that’s really helpful.

      “People who have cancer often talk about how their friends vanish. That hasn’t happened to me. But I think it’s because people just don’t know what to say any more. They feel like it’ll be awkward, they don’t know what to say, they don’t know how to help, and so they don’t come. But for me, it’s really powerful to have people come and just say, ‘This is really hard for you.’ And you say, ‘It’s really hard.’ And they say, ‘It looks like it kind of sucks.’ And you’re like, ‘Yes, it sucks.’ And it’s just nice to have someone there with you that way. I mean, I think that’s why Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane asked the Apostles to come to witness. It was hard for them, but I think that’s what he wanted. He didn’t want to be alone during that time.” (Dr. Melissa Inouye passed away just a few weeks after this recording. I found her testimony and her commitment to Jesus Christ and His Church to be inspiring!) (May 26, 2024, What? Eye. Read.  Newsletter)

Invitation One

What is the speaker inviting me to do?

  • “Because we have been reserved for these latter days, it is crucial for us to learn to be disciples of Jesus Christ.” -Elder Casillas

Why does it matter, or why is it important? (Doctrines, Principles, Christlike Attributes)

  • Christlike Attribute: “I find joy and satisfaction in my work. (Alma 36:24–25)” (Diligence)
    • “[24] Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. [25] Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors.”

What’s in it for us? (Promises)

  • “As you do this, God will bless your life; He will bless your current or future family; and He will bless the lives of His children who you encounter.” -Elder Casillas
    • “A Voice of Warning (FIRST EDITION – 1837, with an INDEX) (Classic Reprint Series)” by Parley P. Pratt: “The gift of the Holy Ghost…quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands, and purifies all the natural passions and affections, and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates, and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings, and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of person, form, and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation, and social feeling. It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being.”
  • “By going and blessing the lives of our brothers and sisters, we will collect testimonies that will fill our lives with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. These testimonies will revitalize us to try once more ourselves. The Holy Spirit will revive us and help us with renewed testimonies to continue with our own difficulties and personal trials. Whenever we seek to bless the lives of others, the Lord takes mercy upon us even more; He strengthens us and helps us in our lives.” -Elder Casillas

How will we take action? (Directives, Personal Revelation)

  • “One of the greatest reasons your Heavenly Father sent you here at this time is so that you can realize your full potential. Preach My Gospel teaches us that as disciples of Christ, we should avoid comparing ourselves to one another. Your spiritual abilities are unique, personal, and innate, and your Heavenly Father wants to help you develop them. There will always be someone you can help feel the love of your Heavenly Father. Your potential is divine. While it’s certainly important to prepare yourself to succeed in this very competitive world, one of your crucial missions throughout your life is to become a disciple of Jesus Christ and to follow the impressions of the Spirit.” -Elder Casillas
  • “Although we face many difficulties, I know they are there in part to allow us to help others feel the love of our Heavenly Father. President Nelson taught, ‘In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen.’ We have the privilege to watch over people who need a helping hand, an embrace, a feeling of comfort, or for us simply to be with them in silence. If we can help lighten their burdens, even if only for a moment, then we will be able to see the great manifestations of the Savior’s power in their lives.

    “As disciples of Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints can make a positive difference in the world. We can provide a sense of joy that is reflected in our countenance—a joy that we share with words of love and acts of kindness. Let us be good neighbors, good employers, good workers. Let us strive to be good Christians at all times.”     -Elder Casillas
  • “By helping our sisters and brothers in their daily challenges, let us also remember to help them make and keep these sacred promises with their Heavenly Father so that He in turn can promise them the richest blessings for this life and for eternity. … In other words, we can help others stay on the covenant path. … It is at this moment when our love, our words of encouragement and support, our time, and our help can give someone hope enough to try once more.” -Elder Casillas
  • Mitch: I will create more time “simply to be with [people who are in need] in silence.”

What will you do?

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

Conclusion

The focus of our next podcast episode will be the October 2024 General Conference address that was delivered by Elder Juan Pablo Villar and was entitled “His Hand Ready to Help Us.”

As we conclude this episode, we would invite you to refer to the podcast episode details for each podcast episode where we have provided important information for connecting with us and further supporting the General Conference Applied Podcast. The best ways to help us are to like and subscribe to the podcast and to share it with others.

Please remember that General Conference Applied is meant to be a supplement for your review of General Conference Addresses. We 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 us in this effort to become doers of the word and to take action on general conference invitations.

Tags

Discipleship | Love | Ministering

Additional Content

Previous Podcast Episode (“Trusting Our Father” by Elder David P. Homer)

Next Podcast Episode (“His Hand Ready to Help Us” by Elder Juan Pablo Villar)

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