God made our World with brilliant creativity and tender care. He created humanity to take care of and take pleasure in the planet, with rest and recreation in perfect balance. Achieving eternal life is a personal obligation. To save the World is a great responsibility. This responsibility rests no only on church members, but also on us. We cannot rebel against God and be in harmony with him. There is open rebellion all over the World against the established order of decency and obedience to the laws of God and man. However, the only way Satan can be bound is for people to forsake his temptations and enticements to do evil, and to walk uprightly and circumspectly before the Lord. Satan and his followers are constantly looking for weakness in our armor of spiritual protection, and when it is found, every pressure and subterfuge is placed upon it to infiltrate our souls and destroy us. Our only hope of Heavenly protection is in establishing righteousness and humility in the heart of people everywhere. It takes real courage and purpose to live a saintly life. At the root of your lifestyle is your commitments and what you are dedicated to forges your life and the lives of the people around you. The Spirit of God is one of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, and faith. If we have been taught and determined always to choose the right and resist evil, we will have the strength to overcome obstacles.  #RandolphHarris 1 of 5

We must be honest with ourselves and others. In the Control of morals, there must be self-mastery, self-discipline, and self-control. If you do not like your lifestyle, look at what you are doing that could be throwing your life out of balance. Some people might be involved in things that are leading to the destruction of moral, ethical, and spiritual values of life. Look at your life with pure honesty and focus only on the results. We must be morally clean and not live a double moral standard. We must not have two personalities—one for Sunday and another for the other six days of the week. A lot of people are always searching for something better in life. They do not want to commit to some things because they see it as giving up their freedom and think that something better may come around, and want to keep their options open. In doing so, these individuals are giving up the joy of life. Real freedom comes from commitment. When you commit, you allow your mind the freedom to be relaxed and not worry about that aspect of life anymore and your mind is able to be more creative and move forward. The Lord says, “After you have arrived in the promise land, you will know that I, the Lord, am God; and that I, the Lord, did deliver you from destruction,” (Nephi 17.14). Overcoming temptation will provide us with deliverance and continued faith will have the promise of receiving blessings.   #RandolphHarris 2 of 5

 Possessing the word of God and having an understanding of it, no member should every yield to the temptation of evil. We have been properly taught, but we are not all living as we are taught. How many of us because of our failure to keep the commandments of God take the devil with us into our lives, into our homes, into the temples of God, into sacrament and other church meetings? We must be special people to God by being committed to him; and we must prove our commitment to God through our conduct and behavior and obedience to his commandments. In the family home, there, one should find high standards maintained with confidence, peace, companionship, and happiness. Also, obedience goes beyond that of Earthly parents. It obligates all of us children of our Heavenly Father to be obedient to his laws and commandments. “Mighty God shall deliver his covenant people. For this says the Lord: I will contend with them that content with thee. And I will feed them that oppress thee, with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Savior and the Redeemer,” (2 Nephi 6.17-18). We must realize that it is our duty and privilege to be good neighbors, especially to those who have no families.  #RandolphHarris 3 of 5

The image of God is within us. It is a joy to recognize the great gift that God has given to us all. It is time to bring out the likeness of God in all believers. The Holy Spirit shows us our need for God and assures us that we are saved and forgiven. The spirit writes a new script in our hearts, empowering us to live in freedom, service and joy. God treats us as if we had never sinned, never doubted, never gone our own way. God claims our hearts and transforms our outlook. Our spiritual life grows as we talk with God, ponder his word, share our faith and worship him. We are taught the glory of God is intelligence, or, in other terms, light and truth. We are taught to seek wisdom, seek learning; even by study and also by faith. Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his or her diligence and obedience than another, that individual will have so much the advantage in the World to come. “The final state of the souls of humans is to dwell in the kingdom of God, or to be cast out of that justice,” (1 Nephi 15.35). It is my earnest prayer that all of us will be firm, steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of our Lord, and this will keep Satan out of the Church. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5

Common sense suggest ability without sophistication or special knowledge. It is just good, sound, practical sense in judgment. All have been born with a measure of common sense. It is a matter of using it, of thinking things through instead of actin in too much haste. “And it came to pass that they did humble themselves before the Lord; insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of the righteousness,” 1 (Nephi 16.5). Wickedness never was happiness, but to the contrary, it is depressing; it destroys conscience and ultimately the spiritual life of the constant, erring individual. A child improperly taught and improperly trained by parents is apt to succumb to the temptations of evil and thus contaminate and ruin his or her life, both now and eternally. We must remember that no unclean thing can enter into the presence of God. One cannot win by following the path of evil. The earlier in life we learn to commit to God, the more rewarding and fruitful our lives will be. “Behold, the Lord has created the Earth that it should be inhabited; and he has created his children that they should possess it. And he raised up a righteous nation, and destroyed the nation of the wicked,” (1 Nephi 17.36-37). May God so bless us, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.  #RandolphHarris 5 of 5