Summary of my 70s project

I've spent the last while reviewing the last ten conferences, specifically studying each sermon given by a member of the seventy, so what I might have forgotten. I found some gems and thought I'd share them. Here are my favorite five talks and then five honorable mentions. They are my favorites either because they are profound and/or very important at this time, affected me personally, and/or enlightened a topic in a new and different way that I found particularly noteworthy.

1 - Gerald Lund - April 2008 - Opening our Hearts

God allows us to be the guardians, or the gatekeepers, of our own hearts.We must, of our own free will, open our hearts to the Spirit, for He will not force Himself upon us.

2 - Kent Watson - October 2009 - Temperate in All Things

Likewise, a temperate soul—one who is humble and full of love—is also a person of increased spiritual strength. With increased spiritual strength, we are able to develop self-mastery and to live with moderation. We learn to control, or temper, our anger, vanity, and pride. With increased spiritual strength, we can protect ourselves from the dangerous excesses and destructive addictions of today’s world.

3 - Neil Andersen - October 2008 - You Know Enough (he is now an apostle)

Brothers and sisters, we each have moments of spiritual power, moments of inspiration and revelation. We must sink them deep into the chambers of our souls. As we do, we prepare our spiritual home storage for moments of personal difficulty.

4 - Tad Callister - October 2009 - Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration

There will always be some seemingly intellectual crisis looming on the horizon as long as faith is required and our minds are finite, but likewise there will always be the sure and solid doctrines of the Restoration to cling to, which will provide the rock foundation upon which our testimonies may be built.

5 - Whitney Clayton - October 2007 - Blessed Are All the Pure in Heart

When a dinner-sized fish came near the trap and sensed the bait, it would find an opening on the side of the trap and swim in, just squeezing between the cut wires. Then, when a trapped fish tried to swim out, it would discover that it was one thing to squeeze past the cut wires to get into the trap, but it was an entirely different thing to swim against those sharp ends to get out—it was caught.

Joseph Sitati - October 2009 - Blessings of the Gospel Available to All

Through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord revealed that the determining criteria for the order in which the gentile nations are invited include the capacity to spiritually and temporally nourish the kingdom of God as it is established on the earth for the last time.

Dale Renlund - October 2009 - Preserving the Heart's Mighty Change

Enduring to the end can be challenging because the tendency of the natural man is to reject the spiritually changed heart and allow it to harden.

Carlos Amado - April 2008 - Service, A Divine Quality

Kindness, love, patience, understanding, and unity will increase as we serve, while intolerance, jealousy, envy, greed, and selfishness decrease or disappear. The more we give of ourselves, the more our capacity to serve, understand, and love will grow.

Lance Wickman - April 2008 - Today

This life is not so much a time for getting and accumulating as it is a time for giving and becoming.

Robert Oaks - October 2006 - The Power of Patience

Patience may well be thought of as a gateway virtue, contributing to the growth and strength of its fellow virtues of forgiveness, tolerance, and faith.