Church Services This Week at Ridge Crest Ward Northridge Stake Layton Utah 23 February 2014

Elders Quorum

The stake president set apart a new elders quorum presidency.  After he shared with us things from his meeting with two members of the twelve and two members of the seventy.

He sat next to Elder Perry.  He said that Elder Perry would teach in a normal voice and then every so often he would boom with, "Now brethren" and get everyone's attention.

Sunday School

Abram and Lot had a lot of servants and large herds and they were bumping into each other.  Abram told lot they were family and he wanted no contention.  He let Lot have the pick of somewhere to live in another direction to spread out and Abram would got the other way to spread out. They perhaps left the land they previously lived in as a buffer between their herds and servants.

Lot chose a good plot of land, but faced his tent to a land of sinful behaviors.

The kings mentioned in the war where lot is captured are kind of cities.

Perhaps when the Lord can not find one righteous person in the city was because the righteous left and not because they all turned wicked.

Lot's wife perhaps looked back because she had family left behind that chose not to come with them.  I guess I never thought about and just judged her as wanted the worldly things of the city.

Sacrament Service

The primary presidency spoke.

The bible dictionary entry on prayer.  "...Many of the difficulties is that we forget that relationship."

Mosiah 3:19

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.

Do we often inflict our children for their good.  We give them chores, we make they go to school, we make them sit quietly at times, we take them on long car rides to take them somewhere fun.

"God expects you to have enough faith, determination, and trust in Him to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. He expects you not simply to face the future; He expects you to embrace and shape the future—to love it, rejoice in it, and delight in your opportunities."(Elder Jeffrey R Holland, This, the Greatest of All Dispensations, Ensign July 2007)

Teach our children to pray and pray often.

Church Services This Week at Ridge Crest Ward Northridge Stake Layton Utah 16 February 2014

Elders Quorum

The Bountiful Temple will be closed for two weeks.

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith Chapter 4

President Joseph Fielding Smith had a reputation for being down to business and stern.  His wife expressed that at home he was very tender.  It appears that he took his calling very seriously and was a bit more stern.

What are sins against a pure and happy family life?

Satan is spreading the ideas

• Marriage should able to be dissolved easily.
• There is no value in marriage unless someone says you can't get married and then it is important.
• That the optimal definition of family should be changed.
• Husband and wife are not both necessary.
• Marriage is not necessary to be a family
• Marriage is not necessary to have children

How much of our time is devoted to the most important organization in our life (our family)?

"The home … is the workshop where human characters are built and the manner in which they are formed depends upon the relationship existing between parents and the children. The home cannot be what it should be unless these relationships are of the proper character. Whether they are so or not depends, it is true, upon both parents and children, but much more upon parents. They must do their best." (“Our Children—‘The Loveliest Flowers from God’s Own Garden,’” 6)

"We have been trying to impress upon parents the need of paying more attention to their children, having a little more of the spirit of the gospel in their homes, a little more unity and a little more faith; a little more responsibility religiously, spiritually on the part of the fathers; also, of the mothers; more of the teaching of the gospel in the home" (Take Heed to Yourselves! (1966), 354)

Sunday School

Abraham is the father of the faithful.

Many religions look to Abraham as their father.

Later in life Abraham's father moved in with him and Abraham had forgiven him for trying to kill him.

There are great blessings being the posterity of Abraham, but there is also great responsibility. Just like with many things in life, much of the world that claims Abraham as their father claim the blessings, but fail to take responsibility.

The phrase that describes Abraham is "God first".

Sacrament Service

"I am asking that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight." (President Gordon B Hinckley, Ensign, Apr. 1986, 2–4)

"Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." (President Gordon B Hinckley, Ensign MAY 1996, STAND TRUE AND FAITHFUL)

One of the talks was based on Elder David A Bednar’s April 2005 General Conference talk, Tender Mercies of the Lord.

One of the tender mercies of the Lord is the reassurance that things will work out even though things are hard.

"Give temple attendance a high priority, and schedule it as part of your regular monthly or year-long calendar." (LARENE GAUNT, OCT. 1994, FINDING JOY IN TEMPLE SERVICE)

Especially in Utah with temples so close, we need to make temple attendance a high priority in our lives.

Take time and pray and ponder before we go to the temple.

Church Services This Week at Ridge Crest Ward Northridge Stake Layton Utah 9 February 2014

Elder Quorum

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith, Chapter 3, The Plan of Salvation

We call the Cold War a war, even though we weren't battling with swords.  I don't know if there was some physical element of the war in heaven, but we definitely see a battle of ideas and words now.

We see people or groups attack the Church's doctrines, often passionately.

Sunday School

Old Testament Lesson 6, Noah and the Flood

The people in Noah's day did not see what the problem was.  They felt they were doing just fine.  Some may have agreed with some of Noah's teaching, but the idea of it raining or some other doctrine may have been too hard for them.

"We all need to build a personal ark, to fortify ourselves against this rising tide of evil, to protect ourselves and our families against the floodwaters of iniquity around us. And we shouldn’t wait until it starts raining, but prepare in advance. This has been the message of all the prophets in this dispensation, including President Hunter, as well as the prophets of old." (W. DON LADD, Make Thee an Ark, General Conference October 1994)

You may not need a year supply of food for yourself, but you may need to provide food for 52 families for one week.

“[When Noah built the ark] there was no evidence of rain and flood. … His warnings were considered irrational. … How foolish to build an ark on dry ground with the sun shining and life moving forward as usual! But time ran out. The ark was finished. The floods came. The disobedient and rebellious were drowned. The miracle of the ark followed the faith manifested in its building” (President Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle [1972], 5–6).

Sacrament Service

The stake president split our ward today into the Grey Hawk and Ridge Crest Wards.

Church Services This Week at Ridge Crest Ward Northridge Stake Layton Utah 2 February 2014

Elders Quorum

The lesson was based on the First Presidency message from the February 2014 Ensign, Serve the Lord with Love

Service opportunities often come when it is inconvenient.

“Great service is given when we perform vicarious ordinances for those who have gone beyond the veil. In many cases we do not know those for whom we perform the work. We expect no thanks, nor do we have the assurance that they will accept that which we offer. However, we serve, and in that process we attain that which comes of no other effort: we literally become saviors on Mount Zion. As our Savior gave His life as a vicarious sacrifice for us, so we, in some small measure, do the same when we perform proxy work in the temple for those who have no means of moving forward unless something is done for them by those of us here on the earth.” (“Until We Meet Again,” Ensign, May 2009, 113–14)

The teacher gave the example from the movie Ground Hog’s Day, where the main character saves the boy that falls out of the tree and each time the boy never says thank you.

We don't serve to receive thanks, praise, or accolades.

Those who are dead that haven't been baptized or had other ordinances done are dependent on someone else to progress.  This is much like someone doing graduate work that is waiting for someone else to review and approve it.  During that time we have done as much as we can in that graduate program and are entirely dependent on someone else to allow us to move forward.

3 Ne. 27: 21

21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;

The bishop cannot get out to every home in the ward.  Home and visiting teachers are his eyes, ears, and hands in the Savior's work.

You can't help everyone, but you can help someone.  You can't make a difference in the entire world, but you can make a difference in the life of one person.

Sunday School

Old Testament Lesson 5

Cain was not Eve's first son, but when he was born she had hope in him, since many of her other children were falling away from God.

Enoch

Several parallels with Enoch and Moses (slow of speech, call my son by God).