Bishop Gary E. Stevenson of the Presiding Bishopric talked about obtaining ordinances immediately and urgently doing what the Lord wants us to do.
Bishop Stevenson started by looking back at the recent Winter Olympics. Ten athletes who participated in the Olympics were members of the Church, and three of them earned medals.
He spoke of Noelle Pikus-Pace, a member of the Church who earned a silver medal in skeleton. Her years of preparation came down to four minutes of competition at the Olympics. He compared her four minute competition to the period of people’s lives on earth.
He talked about how members of the Church prepared in the premortal life as athletes do for their sports.
“You are an eternal being,” Stevenson said. “Before you were born, you existed as a spirit. In the presence of a loving Heavenly Father, you trained and prepared to come to the earth for a brief mom, and, well, perform.”
He talked about how people have checkpoints like athletes do.
“These spiritual markers are the essential God-given ordinance of the gospel: baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, priesthood ordinations, temple ordinance and partaking of the sacrament each week,” Stevenson said.
Stevenson continued by discussing the importance of repentance.
“It is not yet too late to repent,” Stevenson said. “But it soon may be, because no one really knows when your four minutes will be over.”
He said that people will have help in their repentance process.
“Remember, you are not alone,” Stevenson said. “The Savior has promised the He will not leave you comfortless.”
He left the audience with a call to action.
“This is your moment to perform,” Stevenson said. “This is your four minutes. The time is now!”
