Sacrament Service
First Speaker
What does it mean to take the name of the Lord upon us?
Exodus 20
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Mosiah 3
19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
Mosiah 18
8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—
10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?
Mosiah 5
7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.
8 And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.
John 10
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
DnC 20
77 O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.
79 O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.
“It is significant that when we partake of the sacrament we do not witness that we take upon us the name of Jesus Christ. We witness that we are willing to do so. (See D&C 20:77.) The fact that we only witness to our willingness suggests that something else must happen before we actually take that sacred name upon us in the most important sense.” (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, “Taking upon Us the Name of Jesus Christ”, April 1985 General Conference)
Does that willingness indicate that we are starting our week fresh and are indicating that we are willing to take His name upon us in the coming week?
Does that willingness signify that we will make more covenants after baptism to take upon us the name of Christ, to be sealed His?
“Study everything Jesus Christ is by prayerfully and vigorously seeking to understand what each of His various titles and names means personally for you.” (President Russell M. Nelson, “Prophets, Leadership, and Divine Law” (worldwide devotional for young adults, Jan. 8, 2017), broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.)
Next Speaker
John 4 - Jesus teaches a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.
Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, yet Jesus revealed himself to her.
I wonder if Jesus wasn’t speaking of terms like “living water” and “never thirst” and “springing up into eternal life”, because they were terms that were in her scriptures about the Messiah and in her culture which she was familiar with. Perhaps he was giving her the opportunity to connect in her mind and heart before he fully revealed Himself.
He keeps talking to her and giving her little bits of truth connecting to what she was already taught in her culture and scriptures. Whatever it was that He connected to, she says in verse 25, “The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.”
Once she made the connection, He said to her, “I that speak unto thee am he.”
Luke 22 - Jesus instituted the sacrament among His followers in the biblical world. He did this during the Passover feast. This is the feast where thanks is given for being saved from the plagues that were sent upon Egypt and for being delivered out of bondage. It was the day that the sacrificial lamb was killed. At the same time, the leaders of the Jews were seeking to kill Jesus. Again, Jesus connected their scriptures, traditions, and culture to the meaning of those thing which were being fulfilled before them.
3 Nephi 18 - Jesus instituted the sacrament among the believing Nephites. He explained to them the emblems and the covenant.
Moroni 6 - Moroni teaches how Christ had set up His Church among the Nephite.
5 And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.
6 And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.
“In modern revelation the Lord gave the answer in this commandment:
“And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
“For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High” (D&C 59:9–10).
This is a commandment with a promise. By participating weekly and appropriately in the ordinance of the sacrament we qualify for the promise that we will ‘always have his Spirit to be with [us]’ (D&C 20:77). That Spirit is the foundation of our testimony. It testifies of the Father and the Son, brings all things to our remembrance, and leads us into truth. It is the compass to guide us on our path. This gift of the Holy Ghost, President Wilford Woodruff taught, ‘is the greatest gift that can be bestowed upon man’ (Deseret Weekly, Apr. 6, 1889, 451).”
What does it mean to always remember him?
Helaman 5:12
12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.
Sunday School
There are good treasures and bad treasures.
Does everyone need to repent? Yes.
“The word for repentance in the Greek New Testament is metanoeo. The prefix meta- means “change.” The suffix -noeo is related to Greek words that mean “mind,” “knowledge,” “spirit,” and “breath.”
“Thus, when Jesus asks you and me to “repent,” He is inviting us to change our mind, our knowledge, our spirit—even the way we breathe. He is asking us to change the way we love, think, serve, spend our time, treat our wives, teach our children, and even care for our bodies.” (President Russell M. Nelson, “We Can Do Better and Be Better”, April 2019 General Conference)
No comments:
Post a Comment