Against the backdrop of the planned reopening of the majestic Salt Lake Temple across the street and with millions of members tuning in from around the world, top leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints commanded the pulpit of the Conference Center on Saturday for the first day of General Conference.

President Dallin H. Oaks, the 94-year-old leader of the nearly 18 million-member global faith, presided Saturday and is expected to deliver a keynote speech Sunday.

The weekend gathering comes amid increased tensions and divisions in the United States and across the globe — continued fighting in the Middle East, Ukraine and parts of Africa; a perilously warming planet; persistent inflation and affordability challenges for families and individuals; heightened worries about artificial intelligence; next month’s pivotal and polarizing midterm elections in the U.S.; and contested ballot questions on abortion in a couple of Western states.

Church authorities addressed none of those topics directly Saturday. Talks instead included a denunciation of gambling; the desire for more full-time missionaries; the benefits of fasting; the blessings of temples, testimony and tithing; and, especially, how Jesus Christ can bring comfort amid life’s trials and tragedies.

Men dominated the microphone Saturday in the patriarchal church. One woman spoke, and one offered a prayer.

Here are latest announcements and sermons from Saturday’s sessions:

Afternoon session

Apostle Ronald Rasband: Only Jesus can ‘bring them home’

Speaking directly to those whose loved ones have stepped away from the church, apostle Ronald A. Rasband said, “I ask you to turn over to Jesus Christ your despair for those wayward souls.”

All have their agency and only God can change a person’s heart, he taught, warning that foisting faith on others can sometimes backfire.

“We preach, cajole, argue, demand, lecture, ignore, sit them down to watch General Conference and even send them links to the talks, like this one, but to no avail,” he said. “If anything, these efforts can cause a greater rift.”

Instead, he instructed listeners to turn those efforts over to Jesus, who, “in the vernacular… says to all who grieve, ‘I’ve got this!’”

Shun guilt, remain interested and engaged in those individuals’ lives, and remember, Rasband instructed listeners, Jesus “gave his very life to bring them home, all the way home.”

“Never, never,” he pleaded, “give up on those you love.”

Seventy Matthew Eyring: Comfort from the Holy Ghost

At some point in their lives, said general authority Seventy Matthew Eyring,, all people encounter burdens that cannot be carried alone. That’s where Christ comes in.

“Our mortal journey is designed to try our faith,” he said. “It is important to not allow our challenges to negatively impact our faith.”

Eyring, son of apostle and First Presidency counselor Henry Eyring, taught that when people cast their burdens on the Savior, they will not only find comfort but also “hope in Jesus Christ.” And living worthy to receive that comfort should be one of members’ highest priorities.

“The Savior’s peace is made manifest through the comforting power of the Holy Ghost,” he said. “That comfort will help us when we go through the inevitable hardships of life and times when we can’t fix things on our own.”

Seventy Michael Dunn: How Jesus lightens our load

Reflecting on the time his friend Ted carried his water pack, encouraging him and enabling him to complete a 100-mile footrace, general authority Seventy Michael A. Dunn spoke about what it means to let Jesus lighten one’s load.

Dunn, an area president and the chief signer of recent a call to Nevada members to oppose a state abortion access measure this November, said grace “can free us from the freight we would otherwise carry.”

“Even when we don’t perceive him at our side,” Dunn taught, “he enlists the Teds both of this world — and sometimes even the Teds beyond — with his heartening promise of angels all round to bear us up.”

Apostle Patrick Kearon: Jesus loves to lift

To explain the ups and downs of faith, apostle Patrick Kearon discussed his teenage experience learning to pilot a “glider,” which he described as “a lightweight aircraft with long, slender wings — and no engine.”

The British-born apostle explained the concept of “lift,” which includes harnessing the rising air, and “sink,” a sensation like falling. He learned to seek lift and avoid sinking.

That, he added, is like a faith journey.

“At the heart of our faith is the glorious truth that we have an adoring Father in Heaven, whose son, our Savior, loves to lift,” Kearon said. “Just think of all the scriptural accounts that show our Redeemer lifting people from despair, out of their figurative ‘sink.’”

Jesus “is your lift. He is your ever-rising air,” he said. “There is no limit to how high you can climb with him.”

In gliding, “if you are not actively climbing in lift, you are descending,” the apostle said. “A descent can be so gradual that, unless you watch your altitude, you may not notice you are sinking.”

That is true of faith, too, Kearon said. “How easy it is to slowly slip from spiritual heights we have worked so hard to climb when we neglect the practices and behaviors that brought us there. We rarely intend to sink. We want lift — its joy and blessings — but we may not recognize the quiet cost of neglecting vital communion with our Father, Savior and the Holy Spirit.”

General authority Seventy Hutch Fale: Children of God

“I am a child of God, and he loves me,” said general authority Seventy Hutch Fale, reaffirming the powerful yet simple Latter-day Saint principle.

Understanding God’s love and each individual’s true identity as children of God, Fale taught, is “essential for our daily and eternal happiness.”

“It is often through families, despite all their imperfections,” Fale said, “that our Father teaches us about his love.”

The leader, named to his church post in April, warned that Satan tries to deceive God’s children into believing that because the Almighty loves his children, they can be saved regardless of their pride, sins or rejection of Christ. Members can find God’s love and guidance through priesthood keys, Fale said, which are held by prophets and apostles.

“God’s love is real, and Jesus Christ is evidence of that love,” Fale said. “To fulfill his divine responsibility to help his father’s children, he conquered sin and the grave.”

Seventy Jeremiah J. Morgan: The legacy of covenants

Jeremiah J. Morgan, named as general authority Seventy in April, grew up hearing his single mom reading from the Book of Mormon.

She wasn’t a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He grew up in Ohio, belonging to the Community of Christ, the former Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the group that stayed in the Midwest, rather than following Brigham Young to the West.

All he remembered of the faith’s sacred scripture, Morgan said Saturday, were the phrases “and it came to pass” and “wars and rumors of wars.”

More than any words that he heard, he knew the Book of Mormon “was important to my mother. And I knew she knew it was true.”

The lesson? “No time or effort is ever wasted in reading the Book of Mormon. Not for you, not for your children, not for your family, not for anyone.”

As a young teen, Morgan began to study the Utah-based faith, he said. Some members of that church were his friends.

For two months, he attended both churches.

“I can’t fully express the gratitude I have for my upbringing and the knowledge I had received,” Morgan said, “even so, I came to know that this is the Lord’s church.”

Morgan eventually joined and learned that his ancestors had made temple covenants in Nauvoo, Illinois.

“It was covenants that had impacted me, not my covenants,” Morgan began to understand, “but those that came before me.”

Covenants with God “are filled with incalculable power,” he said. “They do not bless just the maker of the covenant but are generational in their impact. We are all the intended beneficiaries of countless covenants. Like the great binding power of gravity that stretches across the universe, covenants with God stretch over all time and all space.”

Seventy Patricio M. Giuffra: The blessings of tithing

Chilean general authority Seventy Patricio M. Giuffra taught that obeying the law of tithing brings blessings to all, no matter their circumstance.

“During my years of service in Central America,” he said, “I have seen men and women prosper both temporally and spiritually. I have met families who once worried about their next meal but who now enjoy greater stability. I have known children of God who once could not afford a pair of shoes and who today, through faith and diligent effort, own successful businesses.”

Giuffra, named to his church post in April, tied all these blessings back to their willingness to dedicate a portion of their income to God, stating, “tithe paying is evidence that we accept the law of sacrifice.”

Seventy Christian C. Chigbundu: Building ‘spiritual immunity’

These are “troubled times marked by wars, family challenges and economic uncertainty,” said recently named general authority Seventy Christian C. Chigbundu. “Yet, as frightening as these challenges may be, we need not fear! As we build our spiritual immunity, we develop the strength and courage to withstand the challenges of life.”

Latter-day Saints can create such spiritual immunity, the native of Nigeria said, through scripture study, prayer, partaking of sacred ordinances like the sacrament, and making and keeping their covenants.

While these practices “may seem small and simple,” Chigbundu said, “they are truly the armor of God that help us stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Young Men President Timothy Farnes: Savor your divine appointments

Every opportunity to show kindness or compassion is never an inconvenience, said Young Men General President Timothy L. Farnes, but rather a “divine appointment.”

Farnes shared a story when he was called to serve in a stake (regional) presidency nearly 20 years ago. With five kids, a business and church meetings, he was feeling anxious about his new assignment.

Feeling overwhelmed, he reluctantly attended the temple with his wife and ran into Dallin Oaks. While they had never met, the two conversed and Oaks asked him how he was doing. Farnes said he responded with a polite “everything’s great!”

Later in the temple, Oaks was waiting for him and asked him again: “Brother, tell me how you are really doing.”

Farnes said that this encounter made an impression on him and showed him what followers of Christ did.

“As covenant followers of Jesus Christ, we minister with compassion to whomever God places in our path,” he said. “We do it because that’s what the Savior did. And we’ve made a covenant to follow him.”

Farnes invited members to minister to others as Jesus Christ did, turning ordinary encounters with people into “extraordinary moments of healing, encouragement and transformation.”

“To Jesus, these people were not interrupting his mission,” he said. “They were his mission.”

Apostle Dale G. Renlund: Cold oatmeal and mended hearts

While apostle Dale G. Renlund was working as a cardiologist, he once watched a patient survive a heart transplant only to complain that the hospital oatmeal was too cold.

“He lost sight of the bigger picture,” Renlund said, “both where he had been and the promise the future now held.”

This tendency to zoom in on the discomforts of the day, he explained, is hardly a trait unique to that particular man, but rather a human one manifest throughout scripture.

“Perhaps you have been served more than your share of cold oatmeal,” he mused. “Perhaps, like the children of Israel, you have doubted God’s care for you, his willingness to succor you or his capacity to keep his promises.”

To those individuals, Renlund declared: “The power of the Messiah to save and exalt is profoundly intimate and infinite beyond human comprehension; there is more than enough to cover any breach, need or deficit for all of us, for each of us.”

Morning session

President D. Todd Christofferson: For LDS, all bets should be off

Apostle D. Todd Christofferson, second counselor in the governing First Presidency, unloaded a triple-barreled blast at gambling, denouncing online sports betting, casino-type games and the booming “prediction markets.”

“The smartphone has transformed gambling,” he said, “from an occasional activity requiring a trip to a casino, racetrack or lottery kiosk into an activity available continuously, privately, and almost anywhere. This has led to an explosion in gambling.”

Placing such bets is antithetical to Christ’s gospel, Christofferson argued. “For us as Latter-day Saints,” he explained, “overarching all other concerns is the fact that gambling is morally wrong. Gambling is built on the desire to obtain something for nothing. Its structure requires that any gain comes at others’ expense. It’s hard to reconcile that with the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves.”

Christofferson highlighted an article by Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins about the dangers of sports betting. The magazine staked Coppins, a Latter-day Saint, to $10,000 to place bets while investigating wagering on games.

“I started with $10,000,” Coppins said in a recent “Mormon Land” podcast. “I ended with less than $200. I lost, basically, all of it.”

Coppins expressed a “hope” that church leaders would address the issue.

[Listen to our “Mormon Land” podcast interview with McKay Coppins about sports gambling.]

Christofferson did just that Saturday. He even quoted Coppins’ warning about this multibillion-dollar risky business.

“As a society, we are making an enormously risky bet: that we can reap the rewards of a runaway gambling industry without paying any price,” the journalist wrote. “[We are betting] that the litany of social ills long associated with this vice — addiction and impoverishment, isolation and abuse, cheating and … corrosive idleness — can, this time, be kept in check. [We are betting] that, unlike every civilization that came before us, we can beat the house.”

Coppins posted Saturday on social media about Christofferson’s talk, calling it a “powerful message on the moral, spiritual, and societal perils of gambling.”

“I was grateful to hear him quote my recent story,” the reporter wrote, “but mostly I was just grateful for his wisdom on what I think is an urgent issue.”

Christofferson cited statistics showing that 36% of boys ages 11 to 17 reported gambling last year. By age 17, almost half (49%) had placed wagers.

“Equally troubling,” the apostle said, “is the substantial percentage of 18- to 29-year-old women who now participate in gambling each year, especially mobile sports betting, slots and lotteries.”

Christofferson pointed out that prediction markets — such as Kalshi and Polymarket, though he did not name any specific business — “could be tied to anything: interest rates, elections, sports, wildfires or even, if you can imagine, the timing of the Second Coming.”

“Where do you go to collect on that bet?” he joked in reference the final item, drawing laughter from the Conference Center crowd.

Christofferson echoed statements by previous Latter-day Saint leaders, including church President Dallin H. Oaks, about lotteries, parimutuel gambling and other forms of betting.

“What does gambling do to its participants?” Oaks asked in a 1987 speech. “The attitude of taking something from someone else in order to enhance our own position — [which is] the essence of gambling — leads us away from the giving path of Christ and toward the taking path of the adversary.”

Christofferson urged members not to “treat gambling lightly” and shun participating in such activities — even though they may be allowed under the law.

“Our resources are stewardships, and the question is not merely whether a purchase is legal but whether it builds anything — in us, in our families or in those around us,” he said. “In the end, gambling produces nothing of value and enriches only its purveyors.”

Christofferson pleaded with Latter-day Saints “to live life on a higher plane.”

Bishop Sean Douglas: More missionaries needed

Despite its record-breaking missionary force of 90,000, the church needs more full-time proselytizers, said Sean Douglas, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, which is responsible for shepherding the church’s real estate, financial, investment and humanitarian operations

“To you wonderful young converts of the church,” Douglas said, “a mission may not have been on your radar, but it ought to be now.”

Douglas framed the decision to serve as a way for listeners to fulfill their spiritual destiny.

“God held you in reserve for now,” he said. “You were taught and prepared before you were born to invite God’s children to come unto Christ. We could say, this is in your spiritual DNA.”

He concluded: “You are needed!”

Apostle Ulisses Soares: Fasting will ‘bring miracles’

Fasting is as relevant to members now as it was to Isaiah in his biblical times, said apostle Ulisses Soares. He taught that, when accompanied by earnest prayer, fasting becomes an expression of a desire to become closer to God and in doing so brings miracles.

“Adopting this holy pattern of fasting is more than a physical test of restraint or a petition for specific blessings,” he said. “It is a way to align our desires with his purposes and our expectations with his wisdom.”

The Brazilian apostle encouraged members to ponder Isaiah’s teachings and to embrace the law of the fast in a “higher and holier way.” And if they do so, Soares said, “miracles will come into your life.”

When individuals fast prayerfully, Soares said, they will become more humble and aware of their dependence on God. Their hearts are softened, he added, and “our souls become more receptive to the influence of the Holy Ghost.”

He taught that fasting invites people to look beyond themselves and turn their hearts toward God’s children.

As members remember and more fully honor the purpose of fasting, Soares testified, God will fulfill the promises declared by Isaiah.

Seventy Kevin J. Hathaway: Deliverance through Jesus

General authority Seventy Kevin J. Hathaway spelled out a pattern on which those who turn to Jesus during difficult times can count:

• Opposition and heartrending questions.

• Sincere spiritual seeking.

• Assurances of deliverance.

• Enabled enduring through Jesus’ grace.

“To all who continue to face the pain, fear and loneliness of life, I echo the Savior’s words, ‘Be not afraid, only believe,’” Hathaway instructed. “In his time and way, Jesus Christ will deliver you. Some miracles are immediate, some come after long waiting, and some await the resurrection.”

Seventy Vaiangina Sikahema: ‘A time when apostles and prophets are on the earth’

In 1947, a young couple, Sione Tufui and Salote Tongi Wolfgramm, were serving a full-time church mission in Tonga and took an arduous trip to a nearby island with their three children.

During their journey, their 10-month old son died. For them, though, it had been crucial to make the trip to see a Latter-day Saint apostle, Matthew Cowley, who was coming to their mission.

For members “scattered across the Pacific, having an apostle of the Lord among them was the chance of a lifetime,” said general authority Seventy Vaiangina “Vai” Sikahema, a Tongan native and a former football star at church-owned Brigham Young University, who is their grandchild.

“Even in their despair and while mourning the tragic loss of their only son, their handsome, cheerful little boy, they solemnly buried him and made the herculean effort to sail just to listen to an apostle of the Lord,” Sikahema said. “What a blessing it is to live in a time when apostles and prophets are on the earth.”

Apostle Gérald Caussé: Share your testimony

The sacred responsibility to bear witness of Jesus Christ is not limited to the church’s prophets, said apostle Gérald Caussé. All members share the obligation to share their personal and spiritual testimonies.

In the church, testimonies are deeply personal experiences accumulated through a relationship with God and Jesus Christ, he taught. And all Latter-day Saints have covenanted to share their own — no matter how eloquent or small.

Caussé shared the story of one of his nieces when she bore her testimony at a Young Women camp. The other girls shared long and heartfelt messages about their beliefs. She managed to say only two simple sentences: “I know that God loves me,” and “I know that God has a plan for me.”

Later, her mother told her that it didn’t matter how dramatic or eloquent her testimony was— it only had to be true.

“Your testimony may be different from mine or that of other family members or fellow Saints,” Caussé said. “Please trust it, nurture it and bear it, because it is uniquely yours.”

The French apostle invited members to look for opportunities to bear witness of Jesus Christ. Imagine what would happen, Caussé said, if all of us “consistently shared our testimonies.”

Young Women leader Tamara Runia: ‘We’re going to get pelted’

Growing up, Tamara Runia, first counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, absorbed the message that she would be blessed if she kept God’s commandments.

Because of this, she said, “the gospel felt like a big umbrella I could hold over my head to keep the rain from falling on me.”

Life has since taught her otherwise.

More than a decade ago, Runia’s son died, leaving behind a widow and four young children.

“We’re all going to get rained on,” she said. “And sometimes we’re going to get pelted.”

This, Runia explained, is by design, a necessary part of a mortal journey meant to shape and grow each person into what God alone can envision.

Nowadays, she envisions a different metaphor for understanding faith.

“The gospel isn’t the umbrella,” Runia taught. “It’s the solid rock we’re standing on during the storm — the sure ‘foundation whereon if men build, they cannot fall.’”

Apostle Gerrit Gong: ‘Hope and healing’ in the temple

Latter-day Saint temples are places of “spiritual safety, harmony and holiness — the House of the Lord,” apostle Gerrit W. Gong said in the opening session Saturday morning.

It is where couples are united for eternity, he said, and where modern members do proxy work for their deceased ancestors.

“We find hope and healing,” Gong said, “when we perform temple ordinances for family members with whom we may earlier have had difficult relationships.”

As temples sprout across the world, the apostle encouraged members wherever they live “to always be grateful for the gifts of eternity sacred temples bring. Look for the miracles. New converts sometimes testify that family on the other side of the veil led the missionaries to find and baptize family on this side of the veil so their family could be united.”

Gong noted that some members compare the sizes and ornamentations in the faith’s various temples.

“I once heard, ‘Elder Gong, we are happy to have a temple, but sorry it is a small temple.’ I said, ‘Dear brother, dear sister, ordinances are not big or small. Covenants are not big or small.’ Please let us never speak of a temple as big or small, elaborate or plain. Let us always only speak with love and gratitude for ‘Holiness to the Lord, the House of the Lord.’”

Gong urged members to “come worship and rejoice with the Lord in the House of the Lord, in temple doctrine and in your personal temple culture.”