Teachings of Church Leaders: Lesson 206

Studying the Messages of the Lord’s Servants

Making the Words of Church Leaders Part of Your Gospel Learning

How have the messages of the Lord’s servants blessed your life? Studying the words of the Lord given by the leaders of His Church helps us hear the Lord’s voice. This lesson can help students include studying the Lord’s messages given by His servants as part of their personal gospel learning.

Student preparation: Invite students to think about some of the blessings they have received as they have studied recent messages from Church leaders. They may also want to ask a family member or local Church leader for blessings they have experienced. They will have an opportunity during class to share these blessings.

Possible Learning Activities

Why study the messages of Church leaders?

To begin, consider sharing the following statements and inviting students to privately evaluate their efforts to participate in general conference.

As you evaluate the two statements below, would you describe each one as “true of me” or “not true of me”?

• I watch general conference.

• I read and study the talks after general conference.

After students have had a moment to ponder, reassure them that the purpose of self–evaluation is an opportunity for them to evaluate how they are doing and where they can improve.

At the conclusion of general conference, President Russell M. Nelson said:

I hope you will repeatedly study the messages of this conference throughout the coming months. (“Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys,” Liahona, May 2024, 119)

• Why do you think it is important to study the messages of general conference?

• Why might it be difficult for teenagers to study these messages? What obstacles have you faced, or might you face, as you seek to regularly study these messages?

As students share, you may want to list on the board some of the obstacles they mention. You can use this list later in the lesson.

As you study today, invite the Holy Ghost to help you recognize why it’s important to study these messages. You might look for ways that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can help you overcome any struggles that make it challenging to include these messages in your personal gospel study.

Prophets speak the words of the Lord

To help students understand why studying the messages of the Lord’s servants is so important, you could invite them to study Ezekiel’s call to be a prophet during a time of Israel’s apostasy. Students may have studied Ezekiel’s call to be a “watchman on the tower” (see Ezekiel 3:16–17) in Lesson 138: “Ezekiel 1–3; 33”. If students have not had this lesson yet, you could share the following summary.

Along with many other Israelites, Ezekiel was captured and taken to Babylon. While in captivity, he was visited by the Lord and called to be a prophet (see Ezekiel 1–2).

Read Ezekiel 3:4, 10–11, 27, looking for the Lord’s instructions to His prophet.

• What can we learn about the role of the Lord’s prophet?

You may want to point out the phrases “whether they will hear” in verse 11 and “He that heareth, let him hear” in verse 27. Share that the Lord gives His people the choice to hear His words through His prophets and those He calls to lead.

You could then write the following incomplete truth on the board: As we choose to hear the Lord’s words given by His servants, He will …

Invite students to complete this phrase as a principle, using the following statement from President Nelson.

President Russell M. Nelson shared some of the blessings the Savior has promised to those who hear (listen to), hearken (are willing to obey), and heed (follow in faith) the Savior’s teachings given by His servants:

[W]e hear Him as we heed the words of prophets, seers, and revelators. Ordained Apostles of Jesus Christ always testify of Him. They point the way as we make our way through the heart-wrenching maze of our mortal experiences.

What will happen as you more intentionally hear, hearken, and heed what the Savior has said and what He is saying now through His prophets? I promise that you will be blessed with additional power to deal with temptation, struggles, and weakness. I promise miracles in your marriage, family relationships, and daily work. And I promise that your capacity to feel joy will increase even if turbulence increases in your life. (“Hear Him,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2020, 90) (time code 13:07 to 14:16)

• What promised blessings did you discover?

Students could identify that the Savior will:

• Point our way through the maze our mortal experiences.

• Bless us with His power to deal with temptation, struggles, and weakness.

• Bring miracles to our families and daily work.

• Increase our capacity to feel joy even when life’s turbulence increases.

Consider inviting students to share any other blessings they have seen from their efforts to study the Savior’s words and add them to the list on the board. Students might benefit from identifying some of the ways these promised blessings could help teenagers. To do this, you could organize students into small groups to discuss the following:

Looking at these promised blessings, think of a specific circumstance where one of these blessings would be helpful for a teenager.

• What could you share to help teenagers study the messages of Church leaders if they are struggling to do so?

• When have you or someone you know experienced these blessings?

Increase your study of the Lord’s messages

Consider inviting students to prayerfully select one or more of the promised blessings on the board that they would like to receive in their life and write them in their study journal.

You might refer to the list of obstacles teenagers may face created earlier in the lesson. You could select an obstacle and ask a question like the following:

• What counsel would you give to help someone overcome this obstacle?

Consider inviting students to think about how they could incorporate the study of the messages of Church leaders into their lives. Assure them that this does not need to take a lot of time. Share a few ideas with the class and invite students to share some that have been helpful for them. You can find additional digital activities in Supplemental Learning Activities in the online version of this manual.

Think of one way you feel like you could incorporate studying the messages of Church leaders into your personal study. Select one of the following ideas:

• Follow Church leaders’ social media accounts.

• Study a talk or a portion of a talk as part of your Sunday worship or on one or more other days of the week.

• Listen to a talk while doing another activity like exercising, commuting, or working.

• Use the Study Plan feature to create a plan to study the talks from the most recent general conference or the messages from the current President of the Church.

• Use the Scripture Citation Index when you find a scripture that is meaningful to you in your personal scripture study. Found at scriptures.byu.edu, this index can help you see the most recent uses of the verse in general conference. You could link the quote to the verse in Gospel Library.

• Come up with one of your own.

You could encourage students to pray for Heavenly Father’s help as they strive to study His word given through His servants. You could share your witness of the blessings you have received as you have tried to increase your study of the messages of the Lord’s servants. Consider following up with students in a few weeks, giving them a chance to share the successes and struggles they have had.

Additional Resources

What blessings can we receive from studying the messages of Church leaders?

Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

One aspect of being valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to heed His messengers. God does not force us into the better path, the covenant path, but He instructs His prophets to make us fully aware of the consequences of our choices. And it is not just the members of His Church. Through His prophets and apostles, He lovingly pleads with all the world to heed the truth that will make them free, spare them needless suffering, and bring them enduring joy. (“The Testimony of Jesus,” Liahona, May, 2024, 98–99) (time code 6:22 to 7:00)

I exhort you to study the messages of this conference frequently—even repeatedly—during the next six months. Conscientiously look for ways to incorporate these messages in your family home evenings, your gospel teaching, your conversations with family and friends, and even your discussions with those not of our faith. … And your desire to obey will be enhanced as you remember and reflect upon what you have felt these past two days. (“Let Us All Press On,” Liahona, May 2018, 118) (time code 6:22 to 7:00) (time code 1:18 to 1:59)

Where can I find other ideas to help me study the messages of Church leaders?

“Learn Elder Bednar’s Pattern for Studying Conference Messages — Doctrine, Invitations, Blessings,” (Newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, Mar. 30, 2021)

“Studying General Conference,” (New Era, June 2013, 40–42)

Supplemental Learning Activities

The Savior’s servants share His message

It might be helpful to point out that the Lord’s servants are sharing His message more frequently and in more ways than ever in the history of His Church. You could ask students to share some of the ways the Lord’s servants are pointing us to Jesus Christ.

Students might identify devotionals, face–to–face broadcasts, Church magazine articles, and social media posts as ways Church leaders are pointing us to the Savior. You might invite students to review one of the following resources and select a brief quote to share:

• The most recent general conference edition of the Liahona

• Summaries of several of the most recent general conference messages from Newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org

• Copies of the article “Recent Messages from Church Leaders,” from a current Liahona or For the Strength of Youth magazines

• A copy of one or more recent messages from the social media accounts of Church leaders

You could invite students to share the quote they selected and how this message could point someone to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Use the Gospel Library to create a study plan

Students may benefit from creating their study plan in the Gospel Library. The following instructions could help them create this plan:

• Open the home page of the Gospel Library and scroll to “Study Plans.” Then click the + button to create a new plan. (Students may have to “Edit” their home page to include the Study Plans feature.)

• Select General Conference and then the most recent conference available.

• Turn on Set a schedule, choosing how often you are planning to study.

• Turn on Add a reminder to help you create a study habit.

• Save the study plan. It should now be listed in the My Plans section of the home page.

Add “Quote of the Day” to your Gospel Library home page

Students could add the “Quote of the Day” feature to their Gospel Library home page to receive a message from Church leaders daily. To do this, they click Edit Home at the bottom of the screen and select the Quote of the Day feature. They could turn on the Notification option, which will send an alert to their phones when the quote is posted.

Students could make reviewing this quote part of their study plan.

Use social media to study the Word of God through His servants.

Students could include the messages given by Church leaders through their social media accounts to their study plan. The following instructions can help them do this.

• After locating the social media account, “Follow” the account, making it a “Favorite,” if available.

• Students could read through a few posts or threads. Invite them to click Like or the heart icon. They could also post a “Comment” expressing gratitude for the message or why they found the message meaningful. Doing this will increase the visibility of the leader’s social media accounts globally, helping to spread the Savior’s message.

• Students could create a “Push Notification” for the accounts they select. This will create an alert on their device whenever a new post is created.