Elder Joseph W. Sitati: Blessings of the gospel available to all

The Spirit of the Lord is moving powerfully among the people, said Elder Joseph W. Sitati, who was sustained to the First Quorum of the Seventy last April conference.

"God's children on the earth today have the opportunity to understand His plan of happiness for them more fully than at any other time. The love of our Father in Heaven has been evident as the way has been opened for all living and dead of every nation now and in the future, to receive exaltation in His presence according to the exercise of their agency.

"The standard is the same and the blessing is the same for all. God has reaffirmed that He is no respecter of persons," he said.

Speaking Sunday afternoon, Elder Sitati opened with an observation made by Elder Melvin Perkins of the Seventy when they attended a stake conference in Vancouver, Canada.

"In a moving voice, [Elder Perkins] invited the saints to consider the image before them," related Elder Sitati, "a descendant of Mormon handcart pioneers, and a pioneer convert of the Church from a far-away African nation serving the Lord side by side."

The Church, he said, "has become a global faith."

Elder Sitati noted how the Savior after His resurrection signaled that the time had come for the gospel to be taken to the gentiles.

"He had revealed that the gentile nations would be visited and invited one after the other. … The blessings would be the same irrespective of the order of the invitation."

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

"I have seen the good fruit of the gospel blossom in my home continent of Africa," Elder Sitati continued. "After just 30 years, there are 300,000 saints. … A new celestial culture is developing in homes. … Many are able to break free from the shackles of traditions that restrict the exercise of their agency."

Watch video of this talk and other conference talks at ksl.com