Bradley R. Wilcox: There Is A Hurry

thank you president sister kush it's an honor to be here with you and i am so grateful for the choir that's saying to us beautiful message in the song but also beautifully performed thank you very much we are in a historic building i am so honored to be standing right here because it was on this spot that the original bowery was built when this when the saints first came into the valley uh was a series of poles with a covering on top with some branches and that bowery is where brigham young and some of the early church speakers and teachers and leaders addressed the saints and then that later was replaced by an adobe tabernacle which was built on this same spot later this assembly hall was built out of the same stones that the salt lake temple is built out of some of the stones as they were shaped and shipped and prepared for the salt lake temple some of the pieces of those stones were large enough that then they were able to use them in the construction of this building so it's a historic place where we're gathered the wall that you walk through to come to this devotional today is the oldest structure still standing in the salt lake valley so it's an honor to be here and i feel very privileged and i feel the responsibility that comes with standing on the very spot where brigham young addressed the saints i'll try to not be quite as fiery as he was when he spoke i once attended a meeting at brigham young university where stephen r covey addressed the students brother covey was a very wealthy man because he was a very successful man he wrote a book called the seven habits of highly effective people and he lived those habits and he taught them all over the world even today the book is one of the best selling books of all time and brother covey spoke to the students and he asked how many of you want to be rich well most of the hands went up and he said why and the students gave very altruistic answers they said well part of it is because we want to help with the church's humanitarian aid programs one girl said i want to be able to give micro loans in third world countries to deserving people somebody else said i want to help promote education and dr covey listened and he complimented the students on their fine desires and goals and then he said simply if those are truly your desires you won't wait you'll find a way to do it right now you won't wait until you're rich if you wait until you're rich enough to do some good in the world then you're probably never going to do it brother covey certainly didn't wait another one of the men i admire a great deal is a man named john huntsman senior he's the founder of hudson huntsman chemicals it all started with a container that would hold eggs and the eggs wouldn't break because he figured if he could build the container out of kind of a styrofoam instead of cardboard then the eggs could survive a little better that led to the big mac container the little styrofoam container that would hold hamburgers even now when you go to a restaurant come home with a to-go package usually that's in a little styrofoam container that's what jon huntsman developed and later that grew into a a huge company that became one of the wealthiest companies in the world brother huntsman is well known for his philanthropic efforts his generosity began much earlier than when he attained great wealth his wife karen would always keep track of their finances when they were a young struggling couple and she could account for everything except 50 dollars every month she'd be 50 off in her accounting and she complained to her husband and said where's this extra 50 dollars going and he says i'm not too concerned about it well she found out where the money was going at a testimony meeting in their ward when a lady stood up who was a single mother and she said i just want to thank the anonymous donor who puts fifty dollars on my doorstep every month karen looked at her husband and said i know where the fifty dollars is going now brother huntsman said if you can't give when you have a little then you will not be likely to give when you have everything i admire stephen r covey and john m huntsman senior not just because of their philanthropy but also because of their sense of urgency they both felt and responded to the need to help others and to build the kingdom long before they had professional and economic success they were building people and they were building the kingdom long before they had buildings named after them satan has convinced many in the world that there is no god he has convinced others that there is no truth but even believers are not much better off if we allow him to convince us that there is no hurry we need to feel an urgency to draw closer to god and an urgency to live in accordance with his truth when the shepherds heard about the birth of the lord the scriptures say they came with haste to find him they didn't say tomorrow will be soon enough next month will be soon enough we would do well to follow the examples of the shepherds and to go with haste in our efforts to serve the lord i want to urge you today to proceed with haste in your education in your repentance and in your efforts to gather israel first of all let's talk about the urgency of obtaining pursuing your education when i was the bishop in a young single adult ward some of the boys came to me concerned about their roommate they said he spends all day and most of the night gaming and then he does day trading and we're just worried because he hasn't been going to classes at all and he hasn't been coming to church but when i finally was able to track this young man down and talk to him i expressed my concerns he said oh bishop don't worry about it i can make more in one month of day trading than you can in a whole year i said i am a teacher anybody makes more than i can make in a year but that's not the point the point is that education is not just about earning a living education is about enriching and making a better life i encourage this young man to start attending his classes to do well in his classes and i promise that what he learned in his classes would be so much more meaningful than whatever he was doing as he was gaming and trading online i make the same promise to you as latter-day saints education is simply part of our culture it is part of who we are former superintendent of schools in utah valley or in salt lake valley his name is m lynn bennion and he once wrote this it is doubtful if there is an organization in existence that more completely invests in the educational development of its people than does the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints only three years after its founding in 1830 the church joseph smith was establishing a school it was called the school of the prophets and it was for grown-ups it was for women as well as men and they studied philosophy and they studied a business and they studied history and they studied languages they didn't just study religion that's one of the earliest schools in this country that was for grown-ups and not just for teenagers or kids and because of that joseph smith is one of the pioneers of adult education in the united states brigham young picked up where joseph smith left off he picked right up and said man we're going west i want you to bring charts i want you to bring maps i want you to bring books oh yeah that's what i want to haul across the plains in my hand cart don't forget the encyclopedia set mildred i mean can you imagine you're hauling books across the continent those obedient saints did it because they knew they would need books to be able to continue to teach the youth when they got out here in the middle of nowhere where there was nothing so they brought books and they used those books just three months after the first pioneers arrived in salt lake valley the first school started and we have been in school ever since it was just four months later that they founded a university it was called the university of deseret and it was right here in salt lake when i studied at university of wyoming i took a class in the history of education and the teacher had an overhead some of you might remember an overhead projector it's what teachers used in the olden days and he had a transparency of all the universities in the country before the civil war and they were all on the east coast and somebody said what's that one over in the west and the teacher said i don't know he said i must have spilled something on that and he said he was trying to scratch off the little dot that and i raised my hand i said don't scratch that off that's the university of deseret that was founded by the early latter-day saint pioneers that was the university of deseret they were finding they were founding a university even though they'd only been in the valley a short time now that focus on education continues in the church today research indicates that latter-day saints both male and female have a significantly higher level of educational attainment than does the population of the united states as a whole it's true in our country it's true in countries in europe in canada in the orient and in latin america in mexico a member of the church is 30 percent more likely to have a higher level of education than those who are not members of the church interestingly church members are very unique because worldwide in every denomination as people get more education they usually become less faithful publicly like going to church meetings and privately like saying prayers you've seen that to be the case all around you but it's not the case in our church we are the only church in which the opposite is true as people gain more education they actually become more faithful in their public and private religiosity so our fear is not that people will find out something that will pull them away from the faith not when our doctrine is all truth that's a pretty big article of faith all truth see we don't fear that you're going to learn something or study something that's going to hurt your testimony the fear that we have is that you won't study deeply enough that you'll settle for sensational sound bites on social media and not look into an issue or a topic deeply enough because we're assured that as we study deeply enough there's nothing you could ever learn that's going to pull you from the faith it will only deepen your faith so our fear is not learning and education our fear is illiteracy people who can't nourish their testimonies because they can't read our fear is a literacy people who have the ability to read but they choose instead to do anything else that's what we're afraid of because then they won't be able to continue learning and they that's when their faith will be in danger contrary to public opinion everything we ever really needed to know we did not learn in kindergarten there is so much more to learn reading broadly matters education matters attending your classes matters and there is a hurry along with an urgency about education we should feel an urgency when it comes to repentance i once received an email from a young woman who said why not have sex with my boyfriend why not we can always repent later i said i'm so glad you know you can repent and i'm so glad you know you can be forgiven and i'm so glad you know that that can happen as many times as you need but cleanliness is only one of god's many attributes to become like god we need to become more than just clean more than just forgiven and the time you're wasting with your boyfriend is time that could be better spent it could be better spent developing the selflessness the charity developing the self-control that are the godly qualities that the law of chastity can teach us if we're willing to learn one young man said a returned missionary said well brother wilcox if there's a god and if there's anything to the plan of salvation at all then i'll just repent in the spirit world i said good plan except for one thing if you're not motivated to change now what makes you think you will be motivated then amulek taught the same spirit which death possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life that same spirit will have power to possess your body in the eternal world mortality is a school the spirit world is a continuation of that school but continued opportunity for learning doesn't give a desire for learning continued opportunity for repentance doesn't give a change of heart that change of heart comes from jesus christ and the sooner we can get started on that process of becoming more like him with his grace with his help the sooner we can begin that process the better off we are in today's world you hear people say yolo it's an acronym it means i don't need to tell you what it means i just have to look it up for myself it means you only live once and people use that to justify all kinds of risky choices however yolo is not in the scriptures instead we see yea woe yea woe be unto him that hearkeneth unto the precepts of men and denieth the power of god yea woe unto him that shall say eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die and it shall be well with us god's work in glory is to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life and it's time that we are about our father's business repentance matters change matters and there is a hurry now along with an urgency to be educated an urgency to repent there's also an urgency to gather israel in the worldwide youth devotional of june 2018 president russell m nelson said the lord is hastening the lord is hastening let me find it here the lord is hastening his uh his work to gather israel that gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today nothing else compares in magnitude nothing else compares in importance nothing else compares in majesty i testify that the gathering is now and it is real think of it we can be part of the most important thing taking place on earth we can change the world ah yeah but brother wilcox is are such statements just kind of stretching the truth not according to joseph smith who taught that the revelations associated with the restored gospel provide a foundation that will revolutionize the whole world many in your generation are desperately seeking a cause sadly their causes last about 15 minutes as they superficially flip from one cause to another cause to another cause depending on whatever happens to be the hot topic of the moment on social media please don't let your efforts to change the world be that superficial please don't let those causes distract you from the most important cause in the world today and that is the cause of christ the gathering of israel most people think that gathering israel means we go on a mission and that's an important part of it but gathering israel is much more comprehensive than that we gather israel as we live the gospel care for those in need invite others to receive the gospel and unite families for eternity that's the way the work of salvation and exaltation is expressed in the handbook of the church previously we talked of the threefold mission of the church prepare redeem the dead preach the gospel perfect the saints and then under president monson was added care for the poor and needy now do you see how elegantly those purposes are phrased today care for the poor and needy becomes care for those in need preach the gospel becomes invite others to receive the gospel perfect the saints becomes live the gospel and redeem the dead well there's something that raises eyebrows any anytime you say it that becomes unite families for eternity the purposes are the same but they've been so elegantly phrased that we can simply remember four key words live care invite unite gathering israel is about preparing for the second coming and that's how we do it if one million people wanted to join the church tomorrow would we be ready would we have enough bishops young women presidents state presidents relief society presence would we have enough full-time missionaries would we have enough full tithe payers no we would be totally swamped and that's just one million what's going to happen when jesus comes and says hello by the way i belong to the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints and that's what he's going to say are we going to be ready when two billion people want to join the church in one day we've got to be ready jesus isn't going to come to watch the church fail he's going to come when the church is ready to succeed when we have a leadership base that is strong enough all over the world that we will be able to welcome everyone into the church and we will be able to as a church as israel gather all of god's children on both sides of the veil home to him let me invite young single adults to consider one thing that you can do that will make a huge difference go to f s y counselor dot church of jesus christ dot org i'm going to say that one more time because the spirit is going to inspire you to put that in your notebooks it's fsy counselor.churchofjesuschrist.org and find out more about being an fsy counselor next summer fsy stands for for the strength of youth and these conferences have been modeled after byu's efy especially for youth that conference would reach about 30 000 to 40 000 teenagers every summer fsy because it's not under byu but it's a program of the church is going to reach 150 000 teenagers in north america next summer and the following summer about the same number that means 900 stakes are going to be turning their youth over to you to young single adult counselors who will be able to receive a room and board and a stipend if they wish to work all summer long sometimes people will just be able to volunteer for a week and that will definitely be an option as well whatever you can do we need you next summer this is completely unprecedented in the church we're going to need thousands of young single adults to teach the youth some crazy dance moves to yell and scream until you lose your voice to help the youth participate in stimulating classes that are going to keep them on the edge of their seat to participate in devotionals and to play games to be able to have fun with no drugs or alcohol or anything that the world says they need to have to be able to have fun as they play together on a field without any electronics this is what you're going to be able to do as you stand and as you become a hero for these young people and be able to show them that you can have fun and you can be strong in the gospel at the same time those teenagers are going to look at you and say wow she's cool you're thinking me i am not cool but they don't know that they think you're cool they they know adults aren't cool and they question that most of their peers are cool but young single adults you're cool and they are going to look at you and say wow he can dance like that and he can still read his scriptures wow she's got friends she's got all kinds of friends and everybody likes her and she still lives the standards of the gospel and dresses modestly they're going to look at you and you're going to become heroes that are truly going to make a difference in their lives one young man said to me he said among the teenagers i have taught more progressing investigators than i ever did on my mission another said it's amazing to see the youth come on monday and then leave on saturday totally different from when they came another said seeing these wonderful youth grow and develop is just the greatest thing in the world i agree a study was done to see which program of the church influenced youth testimonies and there were two that tied for first place of all the programs of the church including sunday meetings the two that tied for first place were seminary and efy you will have the chance in one week to have the kind of impact that will gather israel in a big way that gathering matters the work of salvation and exaltation matters preparing for the second coming matters and there is a hurry fsy was supposed to kick off in 2020. well we all know what happened then then it was supposed to roll out in 2021 and once again it was stopped by the colgate pandemic next summer it is going to roll out and at this point the youth don't even know what it is we have got to be ready to show them an experience that is going to turn the corner in their lives a turning point moment that is going to give them a foundation on which they will build and stay strong forever you can be a part of that as i conclude today i'd like to share a personal experience that happened when i was about your age i was home from my mission debbie and i were newly married and we were trying to figure out what i should major in the poor woman married a freshman a freshman i was going to the temple to seek direction and ponder what i should do for a major and as i was there i listened to the covenant in which we promised to give all of our time talents and treasure to the building up of the kingdom and i thought but i don't have any money to give i mean my wife and i paid our tithes and offerings but we were earning so little that like you know the bishop would get our envelope and go coins coins we just didn't have that much to offer talents well i mean i didn't feel like i had any great ability to offer i couldn't even decide on a major time well i had time but i didn't have any more or less time than the person next to me so what on earth did i have to offer and that's when the spirit prompted me in unspoken words in impressions you have something to offer that even president kimball doesn't have the impression took me aback president kimball was the prophet of my youth he was the man who signed my mission call i loved him dearly just as you loved president monson just as you love president nelson and i thought what on earth do i have to offer that one of the greatest men on the planet can't offer and then the spirit whispered your youth in that moment i realized that i did have something to offer that even president kimball no longer had i committed right then to devote my youth to the building of the kingdom please don't postpone activity and service in the church until you get through school until you settle down until you don't have to go to school and work a job at the same time please don't postpone it you have something that president russell m nelson doesn't have to offer this kingdom you have something that his wife doesn't have you have your youth and you can choose to not waste it rather to consecrate it as stephen arkhavian john huntsman senior taught if you wait until you're rich enough talented enough or have enough free time to make a difference you probably never will seek the help of the lord and do it now with all my heart i testify that education matters repentance matters the gathering of israel matters and in each case there is a hurry and i say this in the name of jesus christ amen

Channel: Ensign College

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Length: 33min 22sec (2002 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 19 2021