Editor’s note: To support elders quorum and Relief Society classes, the Church News is publishing lesson resources on messages from October 2024 general conference. These are meant to be a starting point and not a strict lesson plan.
About this talk
- “God’s Favorite”
- by Elder Karl D. Hirst | General Authority Seventy
- Saturday morning session of October 2024 general conference.
- Theme: No one is ever beyond the reach of God’s love.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder Hirst’s message here.
Outline
- Elder Hirst relates the love he feels for his children to Heavenly Father’s love.
- In the scriptures, John and Nephi describe their personal relationships with Jesus. The Savior’s “divine love never runs dry, and we are each a cherished favorite.”
- The Savior’s love is meant to be shared. Heaven gets involved when God’s children love one another.
- Elder Hirst asks what circumstances lead one to feel God’s love.
- When someone doesn’t feel the warmth of divine love, it hasn’t gone away.
- Mountains — and the “mountain of the Lord’s house” — can serve as symbols for the evidence of the certainty of God’s love.
- Being loved is not the same as feeling loved.
- Experiment — patiently — with different ways of expressing and receiving divine love. If Jesus were to choose a place to meet with someone, He might choose a unique place of their personal suffering, where no one else can go but Him.
- The joy of the gospel is available to all, not just the happy or downcast.
Discussion questions
When do you feel God’s love the strongest?
How do covenants help to remind us of God’s love and our connection to Him? How can reflecting on these covenants strengthen our spiritual lives?
How can we rely on the knowledge of God’s love during times when we can’t feel it?
Can you share an example of when you’ve experienced God’s divine love through someone else?
What can we do to share God’s love with others?
Notable quotes
- “The house of the Lord is the home of our most precious covenants and a place for us all to retreat and sink deeply into the evidence of our Father’s love for us.”
- “I wonder, if Jesus were to choose a place where you and He could meet, a private place where you would be able to have a singular focus on Him, might He choose your unique place of personal suffering, the place of your deepest need, where no one else can go? Somewhere you feel so lonely that you must truly be all alone but you aren’t quite, a place to which perhaps only He has traveled but actually has already prepared to meet you there when you arrive? If you are waiting for Him to come, might He already be there and within reach?”
- “Being filled with God’s love shields us in life’s storms but also makes the happy moments happier — our joyful days, when there is sunshine in the sky, are made even brighter by the sunshine in our souls.”
Key scriptures
- “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.”
- “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
- “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.”
Invitations and promises
- “If someone we care about seems distant from a sense of divine love, we can follow this pattern — by doing things that bring us closer to God ourselves and then doing things that bring us closer to them — an unspoken beckoning to come to Christ.”
- “If you do feel filled with love in this season of your life, please try and hold on to it as effectively as a sieve holds water. Splash it everywhere you go. One of the miracles of the divine economy is that when we try to share Jesus’s love, we find ourselves being filled up in a variation of the principle that ‘whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.’”
- “Let’s become ‘rooted and grounded’ in our Jesus and in His love. Let’s look for and treasure experiences of feeling His love and power in our lives. The joy of the gospel is available to all: not just the happy, not just the downcast. Joy is our purpose, not the gift of our circumstances. We have every good reason to ‘rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men.’ Let’s get full.”
Stories
- Elder Hirst’s children will sometimes tease one another that they are the favorite child. The love Elder Hirst has for his children in turn helps him relate to Heavenly Father’s love for His children. As a joke, Elder Hirst will tell his children they each know which one is actually his favorite.
Notable footnotes
- 16. My experience bears out the truth of President Nelson’s promise that the safest place to be living is inside our temple covenants.
- 17. President [Russell M.] Nelson has assured us: “Time in the temple will help you to think celestial and to catch a vision of who you really are, who you can become, and the kind of life you can have forever. Regular temple worship will enhance the way you see yourself and how you fit into God’s magnificent plan. I promise you that. ... Nothing will soothe your spirit more during times of pain. Nothing will open the heavens more. Nothing!” (“Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys”).
Additional resources
- Related image: “One by One” by Walter Rane
- Related video: “Feeling the Lord’s Love and Goodness in Trials”
- Related hymn: No. 129, “Where Can I Turn for Peace?”
Recent conference talks on God’s love
- Elder Alan T. Phillips: “God Knows and Loves You” (October 2023)
- President Henry B. Eyring: “Finding Personal Peace” (April 2023)
- Sister J. Anette Dennis: “His Yoke Is Easy and His Burden Is Light” (October 2022)
Who is Elder Hirst?
- Elder Karl D. Hirst was sustained as a General Authority Seventy on April 6, 2024. He received a Bachelor of Law degree in 1996 from Lancaster University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Alliance Manchester Business School in 2016.
