October 2026 General Conference › Lessons › Elder Patrick Kearon › Adults
Turning toward the Savior's Lift
From “Jesus Lives to Lift,” by Elder Patrick Kearon · Saturday afternoon session, October 2026 General Conference
The big idea
Jesus Christ loves to lift, and we stay in His lift by noticing the feelings of the Holy Spirit, turning away from what pulls us down, and continuing to turn toward Him.
Objective
Learners will name one practice that brings them spiritual lift, recognize one place where they may be slowly drifting, and choose one way this week to turn toward the Savior.
Before you teach
- Read Elder Kearon's talk, especially the sections on sink, on descending without noticing, and on what living in lift looks like.
- Bring paper and pens for everyone.
- Write two words on the board, far apart: LIFT on the left and SINK on the right.
- Mark Matthew 14:28–31, Mark 9:17–27 and 3 Nephi 27:22 in your scriptures.
- Pray by name for the people you will teach, and think of one time the Savior lifted you that you could share in a minute or less.
Lesson plan
Thirty minutes in 6 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.
Begin: a glider and a question
- Open with prayer. If you sing, choose one of the suggested hymns.
- In about one minute, tell Elder Kearon's story in your own words: as a teenager he learned to fly a glider with the Royal Air Force, a light aircraft with long wings and no engine. A glider climbs only by finding rising air, which pilots call lift. It loses height in sinking air, which they call sink. Neither can be seen, but both can be felt.
- Explain that years later he saw the same pattern in his life with God: we need to avoid sink and find lift.
- Hand out paper. Give two quiet minutes for each person to write an answer to the first question below. Tell them no one will be asked to read theirs aloud.
- When have you felt clearly lifted toward Heavenly Father? Where were you, and how did it feel?
Discover: the Savior's hand
- Divide the class in two. One half reads Matthew 14:28–31; the other reads Mark 9:17–27. Ask each to look for three things: how far the person had sunk, what that person or the father said to Jesus, and exactly what the Savior did with His hand.
- After three minutes, have one person from each half report in a few sentences.
- Read the first key quote aloud (the Savior sought out the most desperate souls and wants to lift you).
- Ask the questions below. Wait through the silence; let several people answer before you add anything.
- In both accounts, what did the person bring to the Savior, and what did the Savior supply?
- What does it change for you to believe that He loves to lift, and not only that He is able to?
Go deeper: descending without noticing
- Explain Elder Kearon's uncomfortable fact about gliding: a pilot who is not actively climbing in lift is descending, and the descent can be so gradual that it goes unnoticed unless the pilot watches the altitude.
- Read the second key quote aloud (how easily we slip from spiritual heights).
- Ask people to turn to one neighbor and discuss the first question below for three minutes. Each person should have a turn.
- Then give one quiet minute for a private altitude check on their paper: one place where I may be drifting lower without having meant to. Make clear this is between them and the Lord.
- Read the first aligned quote (Elder Dube) so that the check ends in hope, not discouragement. Remind the class of Elder Kearon's assurance that when we sink, the gentle Savior is there to lift us as we turn to Him.
- Think of a season when you felt close to God. What practices brought you there, and what has happened to those practices since?
- Why is a slow drift harder to notice than a sudden fall?
Apply: what living in lift looks like
- Read the third key quote aloud, and add Elder Kearon's next counsel: when you find lift yourself, show someone else where and how to rise. Write the five simple things under LIFT on the board in short form: find a faithful guide; tune in to the Holy Spirit; join those who are climbing; watch for sink and turn away; show someone else how to rise.
- Form groups of three or four and assign each group one of the five. Give them three minutes to answer: what would this look like on an ordinary Tuesday for someone in our ward?
- Have each group give one concrete example in a sentence or two. Write a word or two from each beside its line on the board.
- Point out Elder Kearon's counsel to notice two kinds of feelings: the sweet, peaceful ones that come with choosing lift, and the dim and dampening ones that lead away from the Redeemer. Ask the question below.
- How have you learned to tell the difference between those two kinds of feelings in your own life?
Lift another
- Tell the class that glider pilots who find lift often climb together in the same column of rising air, and that Elder Kearon called helping others turn from sink into the lift of Jesus Christ our glorious opportunity.
- Read the second aligned quote (President Chibota).
- Ask each person to write one name: someone they could quietly help toward the Savior this week. Invite one or two to share what they might do, without naming the person.
- Who once showed you where lift was to be found? What did that person actually do?
Choose and close
- Read 3 Nephi 27:22 together. Explain that Elder Kearon gave this as the Savior's promise: “If ye do these things blessed are ye, for ye shall be lifted up at the last day.”
- Read the fourth key quote (none of this is complicated).
- Ask each person to circle or write one thing on their paper they will do this week to turn toward the Savior, and to tell the person beside them what it is.
- Bear a brief testimony that Jesus Christ lives and loves to lift. Tell the class you will begin next week by asking where they felt lift.
Key passages from the talk
“Our Saviour constantly sought out the most desperate souls sinking into darkness and dread and lifted them up. And He wants to lift you!”
“How easy it is to slowly slip from spiritual heights we have worked so hard to climb when we neglect the practices and behaviours that brought us there.”
“Find a faithful guide and learn from them where lift is found. Actively tune in to the sweet feelings of the Holy Spirit and the things in your life that lead you there. Join those who are climbing. Do what they do. Watch closely for the subtle signs of sink in your own life, and turn away decisively.”
“None of this is complicated; we simply need to keep turning toward the Saviour, into the source of lift, and keep choosing to rise into the light rather than drift imperceptibly into the shadow.”
Scriptures
- Matthew 14:28–31 Half the class reads it silently, looking for how far Peter had sunk, what he said, and what the Savior did with His hand.
- Mark 9:17–27 The other half reads it, looking for what the father brought to Jesus and how the account ends for the boy.
- 3 Nephi 27:22 Read together at the close as the promise Elder Kearon attached to living in lift.
- Alma 26:14–16 Optional, if time allows or for home study: read Ammon's words and ask why being lifted by God is so hard to put into words.
Other voices that agree
“We do not need to perfect ourselves to come to Christ. We come to Christ to be perfected.”
“His grace is sufficient to lift you above every label and limitation.”
Three things to remember
- Jesus Christ loves to lift, and He wants to lift me.
- If I am not climbing toward Him I am slowly descending, so I watch my altitude.
- Staying in lift is not complicated: I keep turning toward the Savior.
Ways to act this week
- Each evening this week, write one line: where did I feel lift today, and what was I doing?
- Choose one practice that once brought you close to God and has slipped, and take it up again for seven days.
- Name one quiet source of sink in your week and decide in advance how you will turn away from it.
- Reach out to the person whose name you wrote, with a visit, a message or an invitation to come with you.
Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.
Music
- I Need Thee Every Hour
- Nearer, My God, to Thee
Adapting the lesson
- At home or with two or three people: skip the groups. Read Matthew 14:28–31 together, do the altitude check quietly, then talk through the five simple things as a family and choose one together.
- Large class: keep every discussion in pairs or threes and take only two or three reports each time, so that everyone speaks and you still finish.
- Only 15 minutes: do the opening question, the altitude check with the second key quote, and the closing choice with 3 Nephi 27:22.
This lesson is an independent study aid written for this site. It is not an official lesson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quotations are word for word from the official talk; paragraph numbers count the paragraphs of the talk as published at churchofjesuschrist.org, not counting headings or picture captions. The activities, questions and ideas for acting are suggestions; follow the Spirit and adapt them to those you teach.