Church Services This Week at Oak Ridge Ward Layton North Stake Layton Utah 27 November 2016

Sacrament Service

“Work is honorable. Developing the capacity to work will help you contribute to the world in which you live. It will bring you an increased sense of self-worth. It will bless you and your family, both now and in the future.”

…

“Remember that God has a great work for you to do. He will bless you in your efforts to accomplish that work.” (For the Strength of Youth, (2011), 40–41)

“An organist who has the sensitivity to quietly play prelude music from the hymnbook tempers our feelings and causes us to go over in our minds the lyrics which teach the peaceable things of the kingdom. If we will listen, they are teaching the gospel, for the hymns of the Restoration are, in fact, a course in doctrine!” (Elder Boyd K. Packer, “Reverence Invite Revelation”, October 1991 General Conference)

“If all the birds in the forest had to sing well, the forest would be a very quiet place indeed.” (unknown)

“If you love the hymns then sing them.” (Unknown)

Hymn 185 - “Reverently and Meekly Now”

DnC 93:23

23 Ye were also in the beginning with the Father; that which is Spirit, even the Spirit of truth;

DnC 29:34

34 Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created.

Romans 8:16,26

16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

“The more we know about the Light of Christ, the more we will understand about life and the more we will have a deep love for all mankind. We will be better teachers and missionaries and parents, and better men and women and children. We will have deeper regard for our brothers and sisters in the Church and for those who do not believe and have not yet had conferred upon them the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (President Boyd K. Packer, “The Light of Christ”, April 2005 General Conference)

DnC 84:45-47

 45 For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

 46 And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit.

 47 And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father.

88:12

12 Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space—

“It is upon this principle that we become acquainted with the truth, and the power of the gospel which we have received. The principles of eternal life are manifested unto us by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, for that Spirit rests upon us, it influences our minds, and if we watch those teachings, having within us the right feeling, we shall comprehend things clearly as they are” (Wilford Woodruff, Deseret News, June 26, 1861, 130)

“There is nothing that we ought to labor more to obtain while in the flesh than the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, which we are entitled to receive by reason of our having obeyed the requirements of the Gospel.” (Wilford Woodruff, Contributor, August 1895, 637)

Doctrine and Covenants 11:13

13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy;

In our efforts to understand the workings of the spirit we often look farther than we need to.  The spirit can be involved in the little things of our lives.

Sunday School

Childrens Songbook 109 Search, Ponder, and Pray

Isaiah 59:10

10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

Desolate places are places where there is not a stake of the church.  Desolate also means the parts of the house of Israel that did not produce fruit for the Lord and did not accept his church.

Ephraim’s job is to gather Israel. That is why most members of the Church so far are of the tribe of Israel.

Elders Quorum

Sharing the Restored Gospel,  Elder Dallin H Oaks, October 2016 General Conference

Matthew 28:19

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:

“As Elder Neil L. Andersen described in the morning session, Latter-day Saints are surely among those most committed to this great responsibility. We should be because we know that God loves all of His children and that in these last days He has restored vital additional knowledge and power to bless all of them.” - Elder Oaks

Primary keys to success in sharing the gospel:

1. Pray / desire to share
2. Keep the commandments
3. Pray with real intent for opportunities to share the gospel for ourselves and not just for the missionaries.

Church Services This Week at Oak Ridge Ward Layton North Stake Layton Utah 20 November 2016

From the Bulletin

Doctrine and Covenants 98:1

Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted, yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks.

“I am filled with awe, with an overwhelming sense of duty to prepare my life (and to the extent that I can, to help prepare the lives of the members of the Church) for that long-prophesied day, for that transfer of authority, for the time when we will make a presentation of the Church to Him whose Church it is.

“When Christ comes, the members of His Church must look and act like members of His Church are supposed to look and act if we are to be acceptable to Him. We must be doing His work, and we must be living His teachings. He must recognize us quickly and easily as truly being His disciples. As President J. Reuben Clark Jr. (1871–1961), former First Counselor in the First Presidency, once advised: our faith must not be difficult to detect.” (Elder Jeffrey R Holland, “Preparing for the Second Coming”, New Era December 2013)

Sacrament Service

“The Lord wants you to have a spirit of gratitude in all you do and say.” ("Gratitude," For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God, (2001))

Alma 34:20

20 Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks.

A young man called to the Washington Tacoma Mission spoke to us.

“Some experiences will come as serious challenges and heavy trials that test our ability to cope with them. No matter what the experience may be, each gives us a chance for personal growth, greater wisdom, and, in many cases, service to others with more empathy and love.” (Elder Ronald A. Rasband, “Special Experiences”, April 2008 General Conference)

Doctrine and Covenants 8:3-4

3 Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground.

4 Therefore this is thy gift; apply unto it, and blessed art thou, for it shall deliver you out of the hands of your enemies, when, if it were not so, they would slay you and bring your soul to destruction.

The Godhead is in our prayers.  We pray to the Father in the name of the Son and the Holy Ghost speaks back to us.

Sometimes the details of our baptism get fuzzy, but we can get new experiences of the gift of the Holy Ghost often.

Sunday School

3 Nephi 20:26

The house of Israel are all that covenant with Christ and keeps those covenants.

The gentiles are those that have not made covenants or who have not kept their covenants.

“The Book of Mormon is central to this work. It declares the doctrine of the gathering.19 It causes people to learn about Jesus Christ, to believe His gospel, and to join His Church. In fact, if there were no Book of Mormon, the promised gathering of Israel would not occur.20“ (Elder Russell M Nelson, “The Gathering of Scattered Israel”, October 2006 General Conference)

“You may enjoy music, athletics, or be mechanically inclined, and someday you may work in a trade or a profession or in the arts. As important as such activities and occupations can be, they do not define who we are. First and foremost, we are spiritual beings. We are sons of God and the seed of Abraham:“ (Elder David A Bednar, “Becoming a Missionary”, October 2005 General Conference)

Elders Quorum

My lesson

{

Howard W Hunter  Chapter 21 - Faith and Testimony

Page 267 2nd and 3rd paragraph

“Howard’s testimony grew over the years. When he was in his 20s and living in Los Angeles, California, he began to recognize the importance of serious gospel study. He wrote: ‘Although I had attended Church classes most of my life, my first real awakening to the gospel came in a Sunday School class in [the] Adams Ward taught by Brother Peter A. Clayton. He had a wealth of knowledge and the ability to inspire young people. I studied the lessons, read the outside assignments he gave us, and participated in speaking on assigned subjects. … I think of this period of my life as the time the truths of the gospel commenced to unfold. I always had a testimony of the gospel, but suddenly I commenced to understand.’2

“Many years later, President Hunter explained: ‘There comes a time when we understand the principles of our creation and who we are. Suddenly these things are illuminated to us and the cords of our hearts do vibrate. This is the time when testimony enters into our very souls and we know beyond a question of a doubt that God is our father—that he lives, that he is a reality, that we are literally his children.’3”

While this talks of an awakening in things of the gospel in general, I think if we are progressing as we should, we will have little awakenings about pieces of the gospel. Either in gaining a testimony of a doctrine that we haven't really accepted or in gaining a testimony that there is more to a doctrine that we have a testimony of than we previously understood.

Have you even experienced an awakening to a change you need to make in the way you live a doctrine that you thought you previously understood?

Page 269 1st paragraph under Teaching of Howard W Hunter

“The supreme achievement of life is to find God and to know that He lives. Like any other worthy accomplishment, this can only be obtained by those who will believe and have faith in that which at first may not be apparent”

Let’s break this down in a couple of ways.  First, it says, “those who believe AND have faith”.  Does anyone have anything to say about the phrase, “those who believe AND have faith”?

The second thing we should talk about is the phrase, “that which at first may not be apparent”.   What does the word apparent mean?  What do you think about “that which at first may not be apparent”?

John 9:1-3

1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

What do you think about the man being blind from birth “that the works of God should be made manifest in him”?

Doesn’t that make God mean to make a child blind just so he can use him?  Do we take the answer to this question for granted, that obvious it does not make God mean, but actually means that he is loving?  Have we stopped to ponder what people that don’t understand the world we live in from that perspective.  Many people are lost and hurting trying to make sense of the pain and suffering and turmoil around them.  We have information like this snippet about one man that was born blind that strengthen their knees and bind their wounds.

Do we look for ways that our trials can manifest the truth to us or to others?  Examples?

Page 270 2nd Paragraph under section 2

“. . . Sometimes faith means believing a thing to be true where the evidence is not sufficient to establish knowledge. We must continue the probe and follow the admonition: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’ (Matt. 7:7–8.) . . .”

How do you handle that, when something in the Church perhaps doesn't make sense to you and you haven't collected enough data yet to make it make sense yet?  Or when someone presents a criticism of the church, past or present, that you don't have an explanation for?

What is the longest you have waited on the Lord explain something to you?  How has that affected your testimony?

Page 271 2nd Full Paragraph

“When a man has found God and understands his ways, he learns that nothing in the universe came by chance, but all things resulted from a divinely prearranged plan. What a rich meaning comes into his life! Understanding which surpasses worldly learning is his. The beauties of the world become more beautiful, the order of the universe becomes more meaningful, and all of God’s creations are more understandable as he witnesses God’s days come and go and the seasons follow each in their order.”

“Understanding which surpasses worldly learning”.  What does the word surpasses mean?  Does it mean that it replaces worldly understanding?  Could it mean that in some cases it encompasses what man already understands and extends it?  The beauties of the world, that we can already see, become more beautiful.

What about fears?  When we take God’s plan out of the equation are the problems of the world sometimes scary and perplexing.  When learn His plan and His doctrine more and more, does it give us comfort and hope and knowledge about how things work and a glimpse at why things are happening?

John 20:24-29

24 ¶But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

26 ¶And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Thomas was an apostle.  He had been called by the Lord and was a special witness of Him and yet he is called doubting Thomas.  What was it like to be the first apostles, with only just a very short time to watch the Master and see how things work.  They did not have generations of apostles to show them things.  They were not raised with the knowledge of apostle since they were born.

Do any of you understand what Thomas was going through?  Tell me about Thomas.

}

Church Services This Week at Oak Ridge Ward Layton North Stake Layton Utah 13 November 2016

From the Bulletin

“As you choose to live on the Lord’s side, you are never alone.” (Elder Russell M Nelson, Ensign January 2015)

“The greatest lesson we can learn in mortality,” President Thomas S. Monson has taught, “is that when God speaks and we obey, we will always be right.”

…

“God’s commandments are not given to frustrate us or to become obstacles to our happiness. Just the opposite is true. He who created us and who loves us perfectly knows just how we need to live our lives in order to obtain the greatest happiness possible. He has provided us with guidelines which, if we follow them, will see us safely through this often treacherous mortal journey.” (President Thomas S Monson, “The Blessings of Obedience”, Ensign October 2016)

Sacrament Service

Apple cider is good, but it only comes after hard work.

Life and also eternity takes hard work to have the best things.

Work is a blessing in spite of its undesirable exterior.

John 14:27

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Luke 21:19

19 In your patience possess ye your souls.

Sunday School

No matter where the Savior was he taught and was prepared to teach.

We often speak of the Savior in the past tense, but he still is the same today.

The way that we teach like the Savior is to follow his example.

A teacher is a discussion leader. A teacher is a guide.

Matthew 10:5-8

5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

What is given to us we must freely give to others.

Elders Quorum

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Howard W Hunter - Walking the Savior's Path of Charity

A touch stone is a high-level test of the purity of gold.

We should love the Lord and others as we love ourselves. We should additionally be nice to ourselves and treat ourselves correctly, not selfishly, but correctly, so we know how to treat others.

In the parable of the good Samaritan the priest is a general priesthood holder. The levite is the equivalent of a bishop. The Samaritans were lower class citizens and often enemies to Israelites.

Church Services This Week at Oak Ridge Ward Layton North Stake Layton Utah 6 November 2016

Sacrament Service

Sunday School

3 Nephi 11

Matthew 5:48

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

We continue to work toward perfection even if we don't always gain it. We can have moments of perfection.

Someone in class suggested that not being able to be perfect or overcome all of our weaknesses perhaps gives us more time to learn in this life.

October 2014 Elder George…

“No matter what your current status, the very moment you voluntarily choose honest, joyful, daily repentance by striving to simply do and be your very best, the Savior’s Atonement envelops and follows you, as it were, wherever you go. Living in this manner, you can truly “always retain a remission of your sins” (Mosiah 4:12) every hour of every day, every second of every minute, and thus be fully clean and acceptable before God all the time.

“Yours is the privilege, if you want it, to come to know for yourself, today or soon, that you are pleasing God in spite of your shortcomings.” (Elder Jörg Klebingat, Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence, October 2014 General Conference)

We will make mistakes and fall, but fall forward and not backward.

Ether 12:27

 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

“Cultivate a spirit of thanksgiving for the blessing of life and for the marvelous gifts and privileges each of us enjoy. The Lord has said that the meek shall inherit the earth. (See Matt. 5:5.) I cannot escape the interpretation that meekness implies a spirit of gratitude as opposed to an attitude of self-sufficiency, an acknowledgment of a greater power beyond oneself, a recognition of God, and an acceptance of his commandments. This is the beginning of wisdom. Walk with gratitude before him who is the giver of life and every good gift.” (President Gordon B. Hinckley, “With All Thy Getting Get Understanding”, Ensign August 1988)

Pure heart refers to our thoughts.  Pure hands refer to our actions.

Elders Quorum

Lesson was based on Elder Jeffrey R Holland’s October 2016 General Conference talk, Songs Sung and Unsung”

“Home teachers have a sacred duty to be the Church’s first source of help to individuals and families“ (True to the Faith, (2004), 124–28)

“WE WARN that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.“ (The Family: A Proclamation to the World)