Church Services This Week at Sullivan Hollow Second Ward Weber Heights Stake Ogden Utah 9-6-09

Doctrine and Covenants 20

46 The ^apriest’s duty is to preach, ^bteach, expound, exhort, and baptize, and administer the sacrament,

47 And visit the house of each member, and exhort them to ^apray ^bvocally and in secret and attend to all ^cfamily duties.

The duties of a priest are also the duties in every priesthood office beyond priest, thus they all have the duty stated in DnC 20 46-47.

Good, Better, Best - Elder Dalin H. Oaks October 2007 General Conference talk.

We should not let our hobbies or internet get in the way of our Church or family duties. We should not let our hobbies or internet get in the way of our employment. If we are pursuing hobbies on company time it can jeopardize our employment or cause us to have to work longer hours to make up for the time we used on other things. Those longer hours then get in the way of us doing our family and Church responsibilities.

“No man of himself can lead this church. It is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ; he is at the head. …

“He chooses men and calls them to be instruments in his hands to accomplish his purposes, and he guides and directs them in their labors. But men are only instruments in the Lord’s hands, and the honor and glory for all that his servants accomplish is and should be ascribed unto him forever.

“If this were the work of man, it would fail, but it is the work of the Lord, and he does not fail” (President Joseph Fielding Smith, in Conference Report, Apr. 1970, 113; orImprovement Era, June 1970, 26).

Doctrine and Covenants 107

22 Of the ^aMelchizedek Priesthood, three ^bPresiding High Priests, chosen by the body, appointed and ordained to that office, and ^cupheldby the confidence, faith, and prayer of the church, form a quorum of the Presidency of the Church.

23 The ^atwelve traveling councilors are called to be the Twelve ^bApostles, or special ^cwitnesses of the name of Christ in all the world—thus differing from other officers in the church in the duties of their calling.

24 And they form a quorum, ^aequal in authority and power to the three presidents previously mentioned.

Every decision the 12 make as a body is unanimous. Think of how hard it is to get 12 men to agree on anything. Most other bodies only require a majority of one type or another for the vote to be "won".

Things look more clear when looking through the glasses of the gospel.

From the Bulletin:
"Someone once said, 'The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot.' Please let's invest our time usage among chief priorities and let things that are not eternally significant find room on dusty shelves of 'interesting but not important.' We have covenanted with God to be dutiful, valiant and faithful. He is anxious to bless us. Elder Maxwell, former member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, said this about our faith (paraphrasing), 'To wonder if our faith is strong enough is natural. The father of Elder Bruce R. McConkie, in a situation of stress years ago, prayed for adequacy — the capacity and abilities of Enoch.

The answer to his prayer was Enoch's faith came through personal righteousness. We are reminded in D&C 121 that we cannot CONTROL the powers of heaven except upon the principles of righteousness.'

Elder Maxwell ends with, 'If you and I want to be more effective, we must be more righteous. If we want to have more faith we must be more righteous, and we might just as well face that reality.' (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, "Insights from My Life," 26 October 1886. The Inexhaustible Gospel.)

As we invest our time learning and applying truth, repenting, seeking to be more righteous and devoted each day, our lives will become centered, peaceful, confident, and fulfilled even in the face of great stress. I bear witness that this is so.

What can you (I) do today to take 'nice words' and turn them to action?"