Church Services This Week at Oak Ridge Ward Layton North Stake Layton Utah 26 Dec 2021

Sacrament Service 

First Speaker

“Suppose one day before you leave for school, one of your parents makes a true promise that you can have your favorite food when you return home! You are excited! While in school you imagine eating that food, and you can already taste it. Naturally, you share your good news with others. Looking forward to going home makes you so happy that the tests and challenges of school seem light. Nothing can take away your joy or make you doubt because of how sure the promise is! Similarly, before you noble spirits were born, you learned to see Christ’s promises in this sure way, and you tasted of His salvation. Your great faith is like muscles that get stronger and bigger the more you exercise them, but they are already inside you.” (Ahmad S. Corbitt, “You Can Gather Israel!”, April 2021 General Conference)

“Your body is a temple, a gift from God. You will be blessed as you care for your body.” (For the Strength of Youth guide)

Next Speaker

We have role models when we are young that we look up to.  When we get older, we start to see their imperfections.  When we have Jesus as our role model, there are no imperfections.

Something I Thought About

“After I moved to central Missouri, I had the opportunity to serve an older couple. Their small, old country home needed a lot of repairs, including its leaky roof. The couple, however, suffered from serious health challenges that prevented them from doing physical labor.

“On a hot day in July, my good friend Dallas Martin and I were up on the roof putting down new shingles. We were uncomfortable and dripping with sweat. Suddenly, Dallas stopped nailing, stood up, and looked at me.

“‘Do you realize how blessed we are to be the ones capable of being up here doing this work and not the ones inside who can’t?’ he asked.

“His question hit me like a bolt of lightning. It was literally a life-changing moment. My whole perspective on service took on new meaning. I realized how blessed I was to be able to do all the things that I could do.

“At that moment, I felt that Dallas and I were not simply helping because of a sense of duty but were helping with a sense of gratitude. The Lord had blessed us with the ability to truly be His hands. With that realization, it was easy for me to feel love for those we were helping.” (December 2021 Liahona)

Church Services This Week at Oak Ridge Ward Layton North Stake Layton Utah 19 Dec 2021

Sacrament Service 

Christmas Program

Youth Sunday School - 12 and 13 year olds

What is it like to watch a toddler?  They are always getting into danger that you have to get them out of.  Often they scare you to death, because they are about to get hurt or break something.  Do you sometimes overreact, because they are getting into trouble so quickly?  Do you think at your age, your parents still feel scared for you?  Do they still see things you are heading for that are dangerous and they panic?  Maybe even overreact?

Church Services This Week at Oak Ridge Ward Layton North Stake Layton Utah 12 Dec 2021

Sacrament Service 

First Speaker - Missionary that recently returned from a mission to California and Brazil

Pray with a notebook, so you can write down revelation.

Receive revelation through scripture study.

Receive revelation through constant listening.

1 Nephi 2:15

15 And my father dwelt in a tent.

Nephi’s father dwelling in a tent is probably significant because he was a wealthy man, who probably had a very comfortable house.  He gave us everything he owned to follow the Lord and go dwell in a tent.

Next Speaker

Make connecting to the Savior a habit.  Something that is hard to quit that you do without thinking.

Relief Society

Trying to be 1% better means better than yourself, not 1% better than your neighbor does. It also doesn't mean completing 1% of a goal. It is just about being 1% better than what you were before. 

They talked about some things from Elder Holland. It made me think that it appears to me that Elder Holland has gotten better at speaking over the years. He seems to be more confident and more composed. So even apostles can improve little by little. 

Church Services This Week at Oak Ridge Ward Layton North Stake Layton Utah 5 Dec 2021

Sacrament Service

Testimonies

We don’t gain or lose a testimony all at once.  It is a process.

Sunday School

Dnc 137-138

137:7-9

7 Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying: All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God;

8 Also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom;

9 For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts.

Joseph F Smith is the son of Hyrum Smith. He was five years old when his father was murdered. He was the prophet during World War I and the Spanish flu. The Spanish flu killed at least ten times more people than covid has. 

Joseph F Smith said that the eyes of his understanding were opened. Have you had an experience like that? What is that experience like?

Matthew 27:52-53
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

"Any work you do in the temple is time well spent, but receiving ordinances vicariously for one of your own ancestors will make the time in the temple more sacred, and even greater blessings will be received." (Elder Richard G. Scott, “The Joy of Redeeming the Dead”, October 2012 General Conference)

First Presidency Christmas Devotional

Sister Michelle D. Craig

“God has given each of us gifts. You may not feel gifted, but you have spiritual gifts from God so you can bless others and draw closer to Him,”

"I have come to see the sacred power of God’s ‘less conspicuous gifts’”

"We sometimes hold back and fail to appreciate or share our gifts, fearing that they are not as polished, perfect, or pretty as we would like. When we fail to appreciate these less conspicuous gifts, we miss a chance to lift His children—and we miss a chance to feel God’s love." 

“Don’t let God’s gifts to you, even His less conspicuous ones, go unused or unappreciated.  Take the gifts He has given you from off the shelf.  If you have stored them out of self-doubt, shake off the dust and try.”

“The gifts we each have from our Heavenly Father are meant to be used and shared; our voices meant to be heard.”

Elder W. Mark Bassett

"“The message of the Restoration is the message of Christmas,”" 

"One of the most cherished titles of the Savior is ‘Prince of Peace,’" 

"We the children of God are called to be peacemakers" 

2 Nephi 25:26

26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

Elder Dale G. Renlund

“We are not asked to bring the Savior gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to qualify for this beautiful spiritual gift. We are asked to give of ourselves.”

“And now my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved” (Omni 1:26).

“...the babe in Bethlehem, who had ‘increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man,’ was his salvation, that the Son of God had grown up, and atoned for his sins.”

“This knowledge is better and longer lasting than any gift that Jultomten (Santa Claus) could ever bring you, because it can transform you.”

President Henry B Eyring

Hebrews 1:1–2

1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

John 5:30

30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

2 Nephi 9:21-22

21 And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.

22 And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men, that all might stand before him at the great and judgment day.

Doctrine and Covenants 121:7–8

7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.