Week 70-  Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable 

Scriptures:

2 Ne 2:11,16

1 Ne 18:16

D&C 95:1-2

D&C 127: 2-4

John 14:18

General Conference Address:  

“An Ensign to the Nations” Elder Jeffrey Holland CR 4/2015

Thought:

“...we must speak to those who know us very well and those who know us not at all. Within the Church alone we must speak to the children, the youth and young adults, the middle-aged, and the elderly. We must speak to families and parents and children at home even as we speak to those who are not married, without children, and perhaps very far from home. In the course of a general conference, we always stress the eternal verities of faith, hope, charity, and Christ crucified even as we speak forthrightly on very specific moral issues of the day. We are commanded in the scriptures to “say nothing but repentance unto this generation,” while at the same time we are to preach “good tidings [to] the meek … [and] bind up the brokenhearted.” Whatever form they take, these conference messages “proclaim liberty to the captives” and declare “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” In the wide variety of sermons given is the assumption that there will be something for everyone. In this regard, I guess President Harold B. Lee put it best years ago when he said that the gospel is “to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the [comfortable].”(ibid)

Misc:

Take care not to be too generic in your invitations or messages.  While general themes apply to almost all of us, the more specific you can be, the more the spirit can touch their hearts and help them exercise faith so that they can begin to change.

Invitation: 

Identify 5 people that you’ll interact with this week. Identify an invitation that will either comfort them in their affliction or challenge them in their comfort. Deliver the invitation.