To me, they were the most important people in the highest leadership positions in the Church.

But over many years of studying their lives, learning the doctrine, and having my own experiences with service, I have had a change in perspective.

All the logistical stuff that comes with their calling is just a small part of their role.

I now view them as fifteen men called to serve and bear testimony of Jesus Christ with the entire world as their responsibility.

And they willingly agreed to do so.

As we learn in the parable of the wheat and tares, “. . . the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed.” (D&C 86:2)

The apostles sow the seeds.

With every new place they travel to and every new talk they research and deliver, they are planting seeds of goodness to the best of their abilities.

The apostles don’t point us to how awesome they are.

Instead, they point us straight to Jesus Christ.

I want to know, what have you heard from an apostle recently that “sowed a good seed” in your life?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The apostles  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I loved those days.

I knew each talk like the back of my hand, and I felt so close to each of the apostles and other general leaders.

A few of my favorites from that time were:

Elder Holland’s counsel to: “Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever.” (April 2016)

That talk always widened my perspective when I was stuck in the day-to-day craziness.

Elder (at the time) Nelson’s counsel to make the Sabbath a delight was life-changing in getting me to really consider my choices each Sunday in a much more mature way. (April 2015)

Elder Bednar’s perfect talk about meekness that made a bunch of Christlike principles click in my mind. (April 2018)

My General Conference listening isn’t quite as consistent anymore, but I will tell you one thing that has not changed.

I have a testimony that the apostles are special witnesses of Jesus Christ.

And as we learn in the parable of the wheat and tares, as explained in D&C section 86:

“the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed”. D&C 86:2

The apostles sow the seeds.

They sow really good seeds.

I used to view the apostles as the guys in the highest leadership positions in the church.

But now I view them a lot more like 15 men who have been called to serve and bear testimony of Jesus Christ, with the entire world as their responsibility.

They are servants who are sowing good seeds with every new place that they travel and every talk that they give.

We are almost exactly halfway in between Conferences right now.

And I think we can still do some heart-softening and some Conference-listening and some testimony-strengthening.

The apostles are different.

Their priesthood duty is to hold all of the priesthood keys and to bear special witness of Jesus Christ.

They don’t point us to how awesome they are.

Instead, they point us straight to Him.

I’d love to hear: What is something you’ve heard from an apostle recently that has really “sowed a good seed” into your life?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Sowers of the seed first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.