Elders Quorum
Chapter 21 Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow
Genesis 25:29-34
29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
For what do we give up our privileges, such as personal revelation?
Often we set aside personal revelation and our duties because we are too busy or because we have pleasures we would like to partake of instead.
Luke 4:5-8
5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Doctrine and Covenants 93:29
29 Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.
"There is rapidly coming something that will try you, perhaps as you have never been tried before,” (President Lorenzo Snow, Deseret Semi-Weekly News, June 4, 1889, 4)
"Investment debt should be fully secured so as not to encumber a family’s security. Don’t invest in speculative ventures. The spirit of speculation can become intoxicating. Many fortunes have been wiped out by the uncontrolled appetite to accumulate more and more. Let us learn from the sorrows of the past and avoid enslaving our time, energy, and general health to a gluttonous appetite to acquire increased material goods." (Elder N Elden Tanner, CONSTANCY AMID CHANGE, October 1979 General Conference)
How do we overcome our temporal needs and still remain spiritual?
People sometimes say they need to put off having kids until they are financially ready. Many of those same people will go on a vacation or buy a car that is more expensive than they need or buy a big TV and often time on credit. Were they financially ready for those luxuries?
Sunday School
The Four-Fold Mission of the Church
#3 Redeem the Dead
Doctrine and Covenants 2
1 Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
2 And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.
3 If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
Elijah is an Old Testament prophet, yet very important in our day.
Malachi 4:5-6
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
1 Corinthians 15:29
29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
Joseph Smith history 1:36-39
36 After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi; and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus:
37 For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
Utterly wasted could mean for naught rather than to mean to be destroyed. If the sealing power were not available then the mission of the Earth would be a frustrated or wasted.
My own impressions outside of the lesson I had during the lesson.
{
Toddlers and grandparents in the ward should know each other. Toddlers should feel loved by everyone in the ward, so as they grow and life weighs on them and the world makes them feel unloved, the Church will be a place they remember where they have felt love.
This is true for teenagers as well. If the teens come to church and people know their name and know about what is important to them, they will feel loved.
Made me think of ELDER S. GIFFORD NIELSEN’s October 2013 General Conference talk where he quote Elder Russell M Nelson, “Elder Russell M. Nelson wisely contributed, ‘Until you know a person’s name and face, the Lord cannot help you know his or her heart.’”
}
Sacrament Service
A missionary the recently returned from a mission in Mexico spoke to us. He talked about conversion. How to be converted, how to stay converted, and how to be more converted.
3 Nephi 6:14
14 And thus there became a great inequality in all the land, insomuch that the church began to be broken up; yea, insomuch that in the thirtieth year the church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord.
Doctrine and Covenants 75:2-5
2 Hearken, O ye who have given your names to go forth to proclaim my gospel, and to prune my vineyard.
3 Behold, I say unto you that it is my will that you should go forth and not tarry, neither be idle but labor with your might—
4 Lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, proclaiming the truth according to the revelations and commandments which I have given you.
5 And thus, if ye are faithful ye shall be laden with many sheaves, and crowned with honor, and glory, and immortality, and eternal life.
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