Sunday, May 20, 2007

Sunday May 20, 2007

Sacrament Meeting
The first speaker was one of the young women. She chose 4 standards (agency, media, repentance, and education) from the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet to speak on.

Below is what the pamphlet says on each subject with comments I noted from the speaker.

Agency and Accountability

Pamphlet- "Choose righteousness and happiness, no matter what your circumstances. Take responsibility for the choices you make. Develop your abilities and talents, and use them for good. Avoid idleness and be willing to work hard."


Education
Pamphlet- "Prepare to be an influence for good in the world. Obtain an education, and be enthusiastic about learning. Attend seminary."
Speaker - She noted that being diligent in your school work is very important education also means seeking after spiritual knowledge. She also quoted
Alma 37: 35"O, remember, my son, and alearnbwisdom in thy cyouth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God."

Entertainment and the Media
Pamphlet - "Choose uplifting entertainment. Avoid anything that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Commit to keeping God’s standards."

Speaker - She quoted the 13th Article of Faith. "
aWe believe in being bhonest, true, cchaste, dbenevolent, virtuous, and in doing egood to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we fhope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to gendure all things. If there is anything hvirtuous, ilovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."
Repentance
Pamphlet - "Through the Savior’s Atonement, you can receive forgiveness and be cleansed from your sins when you repent. Confess your sins to the Lord and to those you have wronged. If the sins are serious, you also need to confess them to your bishop."

Second speaker
Young Woman Personal Progress program
The true measure of growth is not how tall you are, but what is in your heart.
Third speaker
Duty to God program for young men
The program is for young men to learn how to serve God and be good men. One aspect of this is when young men reach a certain age they are expected to help visit everyone in their congregation. He also quoted Alma 37: 35.

The folly of youth is not what is expected. They may still act foolishly at times, but this program let's them know that is not what is expected of them.


Sunday School
Luke 15 and Matthew 18:11-14
Prodigal son
We get very caught up in how much work it is to take care of the 99 that we don't go after the 1.

Ten Lepers
Nine were healed skin deep, but only one was made whole.

Priesthood
The reality of Satan. He seeks to make everyone miserable like unto himself (2 Ne. 2: 27).

His tactics are like the frog in boiling water. He slowly turns up the heat and you don't even notice. He gives you little temptations. If you give into it, then the next things is slightly bigger and more severe of a sin. We get use to things being shown to us that are sinful and we resist it less. Gradually the frog is boiled, because he doesn't realize the water is getting hot.

One does not yield to a henous sin without having first yielded to smaller ones.
Satan can not force us to do anything. Through using our agency, free will, we are more powerful than he is. To bolster our will, we should call upon God through Christ when those temptations start and be prepared to listen to the promptings we receive from him.

Right decisions are easier to make before we are in the depths of temptation.
Satan knows that where we were weak before we will be vulnerable again. We must fortify our weaknesses. We must be extra cautious around temptations that have tripped us up before.

When cows break through the fence they will again return to the spot in the fence that they broke before, so the owner of the cow must be very carefull to put extra fortifications in that area.

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