Sunday, July 28, 2013

Church Services This Week at Sullivan Hollow Second Ward Weber Heights Stake Ogden Utah 28 July 2013

Elders Quorum
The lesson was based on Elder Quentin L Cook's conference talk, Personal Peace: The Reward of Righteousness
There is a difference between world peace and personal peace.

We have a lot of control over personal peace, but less over world peace.

Personal peace is not dependent on world peace.

Agency makes peace possible.

2 Nephi 2:26
26 And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given.

Matthew 10:16
 16 ¶ Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Doctrine and Covenants 1:35
 35 For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion.

We must actively seek peace.  Our personal peace is not dependant on the peace of the earth.

Forgiveness is a key to peace.

Doctrine and Covenants 64:10
 10 I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.

All men, including yourself.

Trials are often given when we need and have been prepared for growth.

"Peace is not found by attaining great wealth, power, or prominence.22 Peace is not found in the pursuit of pleasure, entertainment, or leisure. None of these can, even when attained in abundance, create any lasting happiness or peace." - Elder Cook

Sunday school
Lesson 28 - Doctrine and Covenants 121,122,123
Some of the Lesson was taken from Elder Jeffrey R Holland’s talk at a CES fireside reprinted in the September 2009 Ensign, Lessons from Liberty Jail,

The Doctrine and Covenants is real answers to real prayers by real people that really apply to us today.

The early saints of the latter-days came out of the trials understanding things they did not understand before.  They knew things they didn't know before.  They were prepared for things they were not prepared to deal with before.

Sacrament service
Matthew 28:19-20
 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Church Services This Week at Sullivan Hollow Second Ward Weber Heights Stake Ogden Utah 21 July 2013

Elders Quorum
Chapter 14 - Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow
“We have to exert ourselves. … Remaining idle without putting ourselves into action is of no use.” (Lorenzo Snow, Deseret News, Jan. 28, 1857, 371)

“Where the Lord plants us, there we are to stand; when he requires us to exert ourselves for the support of these holy principles, that we are to do; that is all we need to trouble ourselves about; the rest our Heavenly Father will take care of.” (Lorenzo Snow,  Deseret News, Oct. 28, 1857, 270)

“In and of ourselves we cannot possibly comply with all the commandments that God has given unto us. Jesus himself could not without divine aid from His Father accomplish His work. He said on one occasion, “I can of mine own self do nothing, as I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will but the will of the Father who sent me.” [John 5:30.] And we, if it was necessary for Him, our Lord, to have divine assistance, will find it all the more important to receive His assistance. And in every circumstance and condition surrounding the Latter-day Saints, while in the performance of their duties, they are entitled to supernatural aid from the Holy Spirit, to help in the various conditions surrounding them, and in the duties that they are required to perform.” (From the manual)

Sunday school
Lesson 27
Doctrine and Covenants 101,103,105
Parts of the lesson were taken from, From High Hopes to Despair, Ensign, July 2001

Zion often has different related meanings.
Place:
  • The place where the pure in heart live.
  • The Saints are counseled to build up Zion wherever they are living in the world.
  • The New Jerusalem shall be called Zion, D&C 45: 66-67
  • Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent, A of F 1: 10
  • Enoch built a city that was called Zion (Moses 7: 18-19)
  • Solomon built his temple on Mount Zion (1 Kgs. 8: 1; cf. 2 Sam. 5: 6-7)
People:
  • The pure in heart (D&C 97: 21)
  • The Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, Moses 7: 18-19.

What's the trial of Abraham?  Being asked to sacrifice his son.

Isaac was to give a great posterity.
Abraham's father had tried to sacrifice Abraham.
Abraham had gone through much sorrow in getting Isaac born.
Isaac was not a small child.

All of this must have weighed heavily on Abraham and made it difficult for him.

Sacrament Service
Three young women and their young women camp director spoke about girls camp.

One of the speakers read line by line Come Come Ye Saints and gave commentary on the trials of the pioneers after each line.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Church Services This Week at Sullivan Hollow Second Ward Weber Heights Stake Ogden Utah 14 July 2013



Elders Quorum
Chapter 13 Teachings of presidents of the church: Lorenzo Snow
"The mission of the Relief Society is to succor the distressed, to minister to the sick and feeble, to feed the poor, to clothe the naked, and to bless all the sons and daughters of God." (From the manual)


The Relief Society is simply an extension of a woman's calling as a mother.  Women are called to be mothers whether they have children or not and even if their children are grown and have moved in.


Without the Relief Society it would be much harder for the priesthood in general and their husbands specifically to fulfill their callings.


The focus of the world is in things that distract women from their calling and what will make them happy.  It teaches them that they can't be fulfilled in the things that the Lord has revealed will give them joy.


Sunday School
Doctrine and Covenants 112 lesson 26
15 Exalt not yourselves; rebel not against my servant Joseph; for verily I say unto you, I am with him, and my hand shall be over him; and the keys which I have given unto him, and also to youward, shall not be taken from him till I come.


Sacrament Service
One of the speakers talked about the book A Wrinkle in Time.


She also talked about an episode of the Twilight Zone where everyone was going in for surgery to be made the same type of "beautiful" as everyone else.



Jude 1:6
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.


Abraham 3:26-28
26 And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.
27 And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.
28 And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.


“Exercising agency in a setting that sometimes includes opposition and hardship is what makes life more than a simple multiple-choice test. God is interested in what we are becoming as a result of our choices. He is not satisfied if our exercise of moral agency is simply a robotic effort at keeping some rules. Our Savior wants us to become something, not just do some things.5 He is endeavoring to make us independently strong—more able to act for ourselves than perhaps those of any prior generation. We must be righteous, even when He withdraws His Spirit, or, as President Brigham Young said, even “in the dark.”6” (Elder D Todd Christofferson, Moral Agency, Ensign June 2009)


A testimony is something you have to work for.


Luke 11:9-10
 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

“As you walk toward the hope of God’s light, you will discover the compassion, love, and goodness of a loving Heavenly Father..." (President Dieter F Uchtdorf, The Hope of God's Light, April 2013 General Conference)

Sunday, July 07, 2013

Church Services This Week at Sullivan Hollow Second Ward Weber Heights Stake Ogden Utah 7 July 2013

Ward Council
“The body serves us best when we are least aware of it, and so with money.” Hugh Nibley (LDS Speaker’s Sourcebook, Aspen Books 1991, page 288)

“You cannot accept the Lord's invitation to his banquet without neglecting other business. Remember, the Lord said a man gave a banquet. Everything was all ready, and he wanted his friends all to come and enjoy themselves. Ah! But they had more important things to do. The business of the world was more important. One of them said, "Well, I bought some land and I have to go inspect it"; another said, "I'm looking over a few oxen and they are important"; and another said, "I have a social obligation with this wedding I have to go to." The Lord was angry with them all. "You will never get to my feast, then. You must either come to "(see Matthew 22:2-14).(Hugh Nibley, Gifts, March 13, 1979, at Brigham Young University)

Matthew 6:31-33
 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.



True conversion happens in day to day living.  Teaching that includes invitations to apply Gospel principles are more effective.

Elders Quorum
The lesson was based on Elder L Tom Perry’s April 2013 General Conference talk, Obedience to Law Is Liberty
"Perhaps it is because we have a revealed knowledge of our premortal history. We recognize that when God the Eternal Father presented His plan to us at the beginning of time, Satan wanted to alter the plan. He said he would redeem all mankind. Not one soul would be lost, and Satan was confident he could deliver on his proposal. But there was an unacceptable cost—the destruction of man’s agency, which was and is a gift given by God (see Moses 4:1–3). About this gift, President Harold B. Lee said, “Next to life itself, free agency is God’s greatest gift to mankind.”3 Then it was no small thing for Satan to disregard man’s agency. In fact, it became the principal issue over which the War in Heaven was fought. Victory in the War in Heaven was a victory for man’s agency.
Satan, however, was not done. His backup plan—the plan he has been executing since the time of Adam and Eve—was to tempt men and women, essentially to prove we are undeserving of the God-given gift of agency. Satan has many reasons for doing what he does. Perhaps the most powerful is the motive of revenge, but he also wants to make men and women miserable like he is miserable. None of us should ever underestimate how driven Satan is to succeed."
When we disobey we are helping Satan take revenge of Heavenly Father.

2 Nephi 2:27
 27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

Do we treat our intimacy with our spouses as sacred or as recreation?

Romans 1:24-32
 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
 31 Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

What we watch as entertainment is very important.  Many minimize it, saying they are not committing the sins they are watching.  The above scripture seems to indicate that judgement will come upon those that do the sins and also those that take pleasure in the sins done by others.

Sunday School
Just because we have trials doesn't mean the Lord is not helping.  Perhaps there is a level of trial we need and he just teaches us how to survive it and grow from it.  Perhaps he is blocking for us, so the trials stays within bounds and doesn't crush us.

Sacrament Service
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is like sun screen.  It is very simple to apply, but takes times and sometimes is inconvenient to do so.  If we make the effort we will be protected from damage and misery.