- Alma 31:8-11…Members that fall into great errors (1) stop observing to keep the commandments of God and his statutes; (2) Stop observing the performances of the church – (daily prayer and supplication to God); (3) Do pervert the ways of the Lord; Need to have the word preached to them.
- Marion G. Romney: “Can we see how critical self-reliance becomes when looked upon as the prerequisite to service, when we also know service is what godhood is all about? Without self-reliance one cannot exercise these innate desires to serve. How can we give if there is nothing there? Food for the hungry cannot come from empty shelves. Money to assist the needy cannot come from an empty purse. Support and understanding cannot come from the emotionally starved. Teaching cannot come from the unlearned. And most important of all, spiritual guidance cannot come from the spiritually weak”
- “Several years ago I installed a stake president in England….He had an unusual sense of direction. He was like a mariner with a sextant who took his bearings from the stars. I met with him each time he came to conference and was impressed that he kept himself and his stake on course. Fortunately for me, when it was time for his release, I was assigned to reorganize the stake. It was then that I discovered what that sextant was and how he adjusted it to check his position and get a bearing for himself and for his members. He accepted his release, and said: ‘I was happy to accept the call to serve as stake president, and I am equally happy to accept my release. I did not serve just because I was under call. I served because I am under covenant. And I can keep my covenants quite as well as a home teacher as I can serving as stake president.’ “This president understood the word covenant. While he was neither a scriptorian nor a gospel scholar, he somehow had learned that exaltation is achieved by keeping covenants, not by holding high position.” (Boyd K Packer, Ensign, May 1987, 23-24)
- “Priesthood holders, the call to labor has been issued. We have received it. Now is the time to act. We have a world to save, a nation to strengthen, a community to beautify, a family to teach and uplift and bless. There are souls out there, precious in the sight of God ), who need what we have to offer. Let’s go to work!” (Men of Influence, 10)
- Jacob 1: 19… And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day.
- Jacob 6: 59… They are, however, to warn, expound, exhort, and teach, and invite all to come unto Christ.
- D&C 20: 4… And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith.
- Jarom 1: 11-12… Wherefore, the prophets, and the priests, and the teachers, did labor diligently, exhorting with all long-suffering the people to diligence; teaching the law of Moses, and the intent for which it was given; persuading them to look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already was. And after this manner did they teach them. 12 And it came to pass that by so doing they kept them from being destroyed upon the face of the land; for they did prick their hearts with the word, continually stirring them up unto repentance.
- Words of Mormon 1: 17-18… For behold, king Benjamin was a holy man, and he did reign over his people in righteousness; and there were many holy men in the land, and they did speak the word of God with power and with authority; and they did use much sharpness because of the stiffneckedness of the people– 18 Wherefore, with the help of these, king Benjamin, by laboring with all the might of his body and the faculty of his whole soul, and also the prophets, did once more establish peace in the land.
- “Sometimes we must help address the basic needs of those we serve before we can invite them to grow. A few years ago I received a call from Bishop Puckett asking if I could accompany him to meet a family he wanted me to serve as home teacher. Our visit was way more of a ministering opportunity than a home teaching one. The sister of concern had recently separated from her husband and faced alone a mountain of parental, financial, legal, and spiritual challenges. We went equipped to immediately offer a priesthood blessing and the full resources of a loving ward to assist. But as we settled in to offer counsel and blessings, we all noticed that of all things — her fire alarm had been triggered, and even though it had been disabled — it was emitting a periodic “beep, beep.” This was a huge distraction from everything we hoped to offer that night. So we reprioritized things, and as best we could, the three of us set off through the house to try to find way to reset that stupid alarm. There was no way we could just leave the family there to try to go to sleep that night with that annoying sound, on top of all the background stress. Finally, after a long time trying and with a lifeline call to a relative who knew the system, we were able to find and disable the alarm and to clear our heads for the influence of the Holy Ghost and the Savior’s balm. My point in sharing this experience is that even though Bishop Puckett and I had lofty goals and earnest hopes to bless that family, it was the very worldly annoyance of a smoke alarm beep that we needed to resolve first in order to minister effectively.” – President Scott Smith, San Clemente Stake Conference, June 13th, 2021