Church Services This Week at Sullivan Hollow Second Ward Weber Heights Stake Ogden Utah 2-15-09

Priesthood Opening
1 Nephi 3:7
7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I ^awill go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no ^bcommandments unto the children of men, save he shall ^cprepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

Elders' Quorum
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith Chapter 27: Beware the Bitter Fruits of Apostasy 315–26
We may be tempted to think of what others are doing in apostasy, which is perhaps good to be aware of, but we should also be aware of things that we ourselves where our actions and ideas are not in tune with true doctrine.

The manual states, "Losing confidence in Church leaders, criticizing them, and neglecting any duty required by God lead to apostasy."
A couple of things to remember with this quote.
-Neglecting our duty can lead to apostasy. Selfishness breeds apostasy.
-Not criticizing our leaders doesn't mean we don't pray about what they tell us and gain our own testimony of what they say. Those who blindly follow are easily swayed this way and that. Those who pray and get a testimony are strong within themselves. They continue to build on their foundation and less easily swayed by ideas that come by that are not of God.
-Complaining in general tends to make a negative atmosphere and make us negative people. It chases away the spirit in any aspect of our life.

Putting our own knowledge about the Lord's also leads to apostasy.

Sunday School
Lesson 7: “The First Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel” 35
Sinning is like writing with your eyes closed. You lose where you are at and you have trouble making sense of what you are doing and communicating.

"If we place any condition on our willingness to serve the Lord with all our hearts, we diminish our faith." ("Lord, Increase Our Faith", Elder John K. Carmack, Ensign March 2002)

Faith is trust. Faith is action. Hebrews 11:1 talks of the ability to follow through, even when we haven't seen everything.
1 Now ^afaith is the ^bsubstance of things ^choped for, the ^devidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 12:2
2 Looking unto Jesus the ^aauthor and ^bfinisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him ^cendured the cross, despising the ^dshame, and is set down at the right hand of the ^ethrone of God.

He authors our faith and then finishes it after we do our best.
2 Nephi 25:23
23 For we labor diligently to write, to ^apersuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by ^bgrace that we are saved, after all we can ^cdo.

D&C 58: 26
26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is ^acompelled in all things, the same is a ^bslothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.

Don't look for the reward. Look for the next thing the Lord would require of us.

True repentance involves a change of heart and not just a change of behavior (see Alma 5:13)” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 71).

Sacrament Service
Missionary Work
The 40 day fast for missionary work was presented. This was for missionary efforts in our ward and in our lives. It was also for opening up missionary work where the work is currently not allowed to happen.

Charity
Moroni 7:47
47 But ^acharity is the pure ^blove of Christ, and it endureth ^cforever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

Matthew 22:36-39

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt ^alove the Lord thy God with all thy ^bheart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy ^cmind.

38 This is the first and great ^acommandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt ^alove thy neighbour as thyself.

Charitable Contributions
One speaker talked of paying tithing, helping the poor through a generous fast offering, and supporting the missionary effort throughout the world through donations to the missionary fund.

From the Bulletin
"Tithing is a principle that is fundamental to the personal happiness and well-being of the Church members worldwide, both rich and poor. Tithing is a principle of sacrifice and a key to the opening of the windows of heaven. In Primary I memorized the tithing poem, 'What is tithing ? I will tell you every time. Ten cents from a dollar, and a penny from a dime.' But I did not understand it fully until it was taught by Grandfather and President Henry D. Moyle.

The law of tithing is simple: we pay one-tenth of our individual increase annually. Increase has been interpreted by the First Presidency to mean income. What amounts to 10 percent of our individual income is between each of us and our Maker. There are no legalistic rules. As a convert in Korea once said: 'With tithing, it doesn't matter whether you are rich or poor. You pay 10 percent, and you don't have to be ashamed if you haven't earned very much. If you make lots of money, you pay 10 percent. If you make very little, you still pay 10 percent. Heavenly Father will love you for it. You can hold your head up proud.'

Some may feel that they cannot afford to pay tithing, but the Lord has promised that He would prepare a way for us to keep all of His commandments. To pay tithing takes a leap of faith in the beginning, but as Jesus said, 'If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.' We learn about tithing by paying it. Indeed, I believe it is possible to break out of poverty by having the faith to give back to the Lord part of what little we have.

Members of the Church who do not tithe do not lose their membership, they only lose blessings. Through Malachi the Lord asks, 'Will a man rob God?...But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.' If we will trust in the Lord, He will open the windows of heaven to us as we give back to Him the one-tenth He asks of us.

The ultimate offering was that offered by the Savior Himself in giving His very life. It causes each of us to wonder, 'How many drop of blood were shed for me?' "(President James E. Faust, General Conference, 1998)

General Conference Sunday Morning Session April 6, 2008

President Dieter F. UchtDorf - Second Counselor in the First Presidency (Audio, Video)

Faith of Our Father

We do not seek nor do we decline callings from God.

He related a story of President Monson climbing the stairs to the fifth floor to visit an ailing member in Hamburg, Germany after having had foot surgery. Some things are worth the hardships we have to go through to have them. This experience I think was that to President Monson.

Elder Uchtdorf said that his ancestors were an ocean away when the pioneers crossed the plains. He said that his ancestors did not settle Nauvoo or cross the plains, but he claims the heritage of those great pioneers.

He stated that there are those that do not join the Church because they do not want to dishonor the heritage of their ancestors who were of another faith.

We should be concerned with what pleases God and not what pleases our ancestors.

Elder D. Todd Chistofferson - Apostle (Audio, Video)

Born Again

He is the newest called apostle. He gave some introduction and history of himself and his family.

He spoke of an instance where a recently retired minister of another faith, who he did not know came to his home, because he was concerned for the welfare of his soul. He was concerned about this since Brother Christofferson was a member of the LDS church.

This was of interest to me since this happens very frequently to me. We received a similar letter with a DVD enclosed from a friend of my wife's family just a short time ago. Much like what was expressed by Elder Christofferson this man was sincere and I too felt appreciative of the man's interest in me. I could understand how, if he truly believed I was being led astray and my soul was in danger it took great courage and concern to reach out.

He said that one thing that he recalls about their visit was a discussion they had on being born again. Elder Christofferson noted that being born again requires a change within us and not just a one time act.

He gave some scriptures related to being born agin:
born of water and of the Spirit (see John 3:3–5).

the change from natural man to saint (see Mosiah 3:19).

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

“no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2).

“We are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments . . . all the remainder of our days” (Mosiah 5:5; emphasis added).

“Because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name” (Mosiah 5:7; see also D&C 76:24).

“And thus they become new creatures” (Mosiah 27:24–26).

"...faith unto repentance” (Alma 34:15).

Elder Sheldon F. Child - Seventy (Audio, Video)

The Best Investment

Tithing
Malachi 3:8, 10
8 ¶ ^aWill a man ^brob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In ^ctithes and offerings.

10 Bring ye all the ^atithes into the storehouse, that there may be ^bmeat in mine house, and ^cprove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not ^dopen you the ^ewindows of heaven, and pour you out a ^fblessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Elder Sheldon stated, "The Lord asked Israel to prove Him, to test Him, to have faith in Him so that He would be able to keep His promise to them."

His mother told him that her father always told them that tithing was the best investment that one could ever make.

President Heber J. Grant stated, “I want to say to you, if you will be honest with the Lord, paying your tithing and keeping His commandments, He will not only bless you with the light and inspiration of His Holy Spirit, but you will be blessed in dollars and cents; you will be enabled to pay your debts, and the Lord will pour out temporal blessings upon you in great abundance.” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1898, 16)

Susan W. Tanner - Just released as Young Woman General President (Audio, Video)

My Soul Delighteth in the Things of the Lord

2 Nephi 4:15–16

15 And upon ^athese I ^bwrite the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul ^cdelighteth in the scriptures, and my heart ^dpondereth them, and writeth them for the ^elearning and the profit of my children.

16 Behold, my ^asoul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my ^bheart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.

She listed things of the Lord that she delights in.

President Boyd K. Packer - President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (Audio, Video)

The Twelve

“He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”(John 14:12)

When Jesus taught that he was the Son of God many were offended by it.
"Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" John 6:60, 66–68.

"In 1976 an area general conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Following the closing session, President Spencer W. Kimball desired to visit the Vor Frue Church, where the Thorvaldsen statues of the Christus and of the Twelve Apostles stand. He had visited there some years earlier and wanted all of us to see it, to go there.

"We walked to the back of the chapel where the rest of the group was standing. Pointing to the statues, President Kimball said to the kind custodian, 'These are the dead Apostles.' Pointing to me, he said, 'Here we have the living Apostles. Elder Packer is an Apostle. Elder Thomas S. Monson and Elder L. Tom Perry are Apostles, and I am an Apostle. We are the living Apostles.

'You read about the Seventies in the New Testament, and here are two of the living Seventies, Elder Rex D. Pinegar and Elder Robert D. Hales.'" (From this talk)

President Thomas S. Monson - Prophet (Audio, Video)

Looking Back and Moving Forward

He talked about President Hickleys passing and how the Church has and will move forward.

He also talked about enduring.
"We are waging a war with sin, my brothers and sisters, but we need not despair. It is a war we can and will win. Our Father in Heaven has given us the tools we need in order to do so. He is at the helm. We have nothing to fear. He is the God of light. He is the God of hope. I testify that He loves us—each one."

Sunday March 30, 2008 - Services South Ogden Sixth Ward

Joint Relief Society/Priesthood Meeting
The pews in this chapel were huge. Even the pews on the sides were full sized pews. Every ward I have been in that I can recall had little pews on the side that would barely hold a small family. Generally smaller families would sit in them or single people.

1st Speaker
To help us be one Christ organized His Church.

To help us be one Christ set up authority. Matt. 16: 19 - And I will ^agive unto thee the ^bkeys of the ^ckingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt ^dbind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The people went to Peter to get a "ruling" on circumcision.

The apostles died and the rulers of Rome took over the Church. Through the reformation people tried to bring back the

D&C 132: 8 - Behold, mine house is a house of ^aorder, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion.

2nd Speaker
-Heber J. Grant set up the Church's welfare plan.

The speaker talked a bit of prayer and cited some scriptures.

Matt. 6: 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy ^acloset, and when thou hast ^bshut thy door, ^cpray to thy Father which is in ^dsecret; and thy Father which ^eseeth in secret shall ^freward thee openly.

D&C 109: 8, 16

8 Organize yourselves; ^aprepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a ^bhouse of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of ^corder, a ^dhouse of God;

• • •

16 And that this house may be a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of glory and of God, even thy house;

He also quoted some from Mark Twain's Huck Finn, "It made me shiver. And I about made up my mind to pray and see if I couldn’t try to quit being the kind of boy I was and be better. So I kneeled down. But the words wouldn’t come. Why wouldn’t they? It weren’t no use to try and hide it from Him … I knowed very well why they wouldn’t come. It was because my heart warn’t right; it was because I weren’t square: it was because I was playing double. I was letting on to give up sin, but away inside of me I was holding on to the biggest one of all. I was trying to make my mouth say I would do the right thing and the clean thing. But deep down in me, I knowed it was a lie, and He knowed it. YOU CAN’T PRAY A LIE … I found that out."

The bishop was the last speaker.
He talked about the challenges we have in our homes. One he mentioned was self control. He stated that as we keep our covenants we will find peace and joy.

"The opposite of fear is faith."

Sunday School
As we looked for the Gospel Doctrine class we were told they had two of them since the class was so big. That was something I had never seen in a ward. One was in the Relief Society room and one was in one of the seminary class rooms. Both of these were interesting to me.

Let's start with the seminary class rooms. Where I am from seminary is held early in the morning before school. I knew they has seminary as a part of school generally in Utah, but I hadn't expected that there was enough students in one building that they would need two class rooms. Ours are also either held in the teachers home or in a small classroom in the church with folding tables that they take down at the end of class. These classrooms were large rooms and they had actual school desks that stayed set up all the time.

The Relief Society room was the size of a small cultural hall. It had three doors and a folding divider in the middle. My experience with Relief Society rooms are that they are generally a small corner of the building, just a little bit bigger than a large classroom. Our RS room is not big enough for our gospel doctrine class. Their classes combined appeared to be twice the size of ours.

All right enough tourist commentary. Let's get to the lesson notes.

Book of Mormon Lesson 12: “Seek Ye for the Kingdom of God” p51

D&C 107: 99 - Wherefore, now let every man learn his ^aduty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all ^bdiligence.

D&C 58: 27 - Verily I say, men should be ^aanxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

Thoughts precede actions. One will more often give into temptations that they have been thinking about than temptations that we do impulsively. One's mind is a buffet and we are what we eat.

Thoughts that could affect us adversely could be negative self thoughts as well as temptations.

Sacrament Meeting
It was very loud in the meeting. It could've just been kids, but I'm not sure. Just seem a lot louder than my ward in Indiana.

The bishop announced a baptism that was coming up. It sounded like the missionaries would be bringing more than one person. It sounded like perhaps they would be bringing anyone who was ready by that date and it was not because there was one person that was ready for baptism. It kind of makes more sense about the way we were taught in the Missionary Training Center (MTC). The instructors always said, in giving us examples on how to invite someone to be baptized, "We are holding a baptism on ____..." Back home and even in my mission I only ever saw baptisms help for just one person or a family. Where their are more children being baptised you probably just schedule a baptism service for a certain day during the month and everyone just goes that day. Although when my oldest son was baptized there was talk that we might have to double up with another child's baptism if they were going to be baptized in the same month.

1st Speaker
She talked about preparing ourselves for conference and being ready to receive message for our lives and not just endure it. She said that when she was a kid they called it pajama church, since they got up, had breakfast, and turned on the TV and sat around and watched conference in their pajamas. Now more commentary on this from a "tourists" perspective. The day is usually well on its way by the time conference comes on in Indiana and when I was a kid you had to go to church to watch. Fortunately in the last few years the Church has had it on the internet. Generally all we have been able to get is audio, but the video stream gets more reliable each time.

She pointed out that God speaks to our leaders to teach them how to lead the entire church. We can listen to them to learn how to hear God to lead our own lives.

She said that we should not just say, "That was a great talk." We should apply each talk to our lives. Don't just turn on the TV and watch, but prepare in advance. Think during the week about your challenges and pray that you might be strengthened and inspired. Perhaps go to conference with a specific question you need answered. She talked about a couple that had ben raised differently. In the husband's home as a child the mother took care of the dishes. If the wife's home both had pitched in to get it done. They joked that they would take th question to conference. One of the speakers stated that men needed to help their wives around the house.

She quoted President Hinckley, "I will be a better man if I listen and apply these things to my life."

She recommended that we get to know our new prophet.

She noted that people, like her, that live in Utah should be grateful that they can turn ont heir TVs and watch conference. She said that not everyone in the world has that opportunity.

She said something about having gone to a marrieds ward. That was new to me. I have heard of singles wards and we have those in Indiana. I even saw as I was preparing to travel to Utah that there was a retireds ward. I guess I kind of understand the singles ward thing as it is important for singles to interact with other single people of their faith, but the retireds and marrieds wards concept is a little bit harder for me to get my head around why that would be important. Those groups do have unique needs and maybe it makes the congregation stronger having that commonality together.

After she spoke a lady played the chelo for us.

2nd Speaker
He said that he pondered what made up a good talk. He said that generally talks started either with a joke or a lie. He said, "I couldn't think of a joke, so I'm glad to speak to you today."

He talked about serving his mission in Norway. He said it is eight hours ahead of Salt Lake City, so the 12:00pm session of conference came at 8pm for him out there.

I was a little bit surprised at all the talk of how the rest of the world has things different than Utah. I guess some folks there notice the differences as they went other places as much as what I was noticing in coming to Utah.

He said that he likes snowmobiling and he just recovered from an accident where a guy in front of him had set off an avalanche and he got stuck in it. We have a lot of snowmobiling in Indiana, even though I have never done it, but one thing we never here about is an accident that was caused by someone setting off an avalanche.

The speaker noted that he wants to do better at forgiving.

Matt. 6: 14-15

14 For if ye ^aforgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 But if ye ^aforgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Moroni 10:32-33

32 Yea, ^acome unto Christ, and be ^bperfected in him, and ^cdeny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and ^dlove God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be ^eperfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye ^asanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the ^bblood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your ^csins, that ye become ^dholy, without spot.

He said that he has a testimony of paying tithing. He said that money has been tigh now that he has a wife, but they have continued to pay their tithing. He said that he has been surprised at how money has come in from places he would've never thought of.

Sunday June 10, 2007

Ward Conference
Sacrament Meeting
Our bishop is a truck driver. He related a story of prayer while he was driving. It was interesting and humerous listening to his use of truck driving terminology in his story.

President Cowley of the stake presidency
Prayers are answered in three ways.
1. A warm feeling or in a way that communicates to us, perhaps in our "love language." - A positive answer.
2. A Stupor of thought - a negative answer.
3. Nothing - Some action is required by us.

The ward choir sang Jesus Name of Wondrous Love.

President Sinclair - President of the Indiana Indianapolis North Stake
The time has past when praying when praying once a day was sufficient to protect our families.

Sunday School
The Stake Sunday School President gave the lesson today.
Matthew 25 - Parable of the ten virgins
Oil - Testimony, preparedness
Virgins - Church Memebers
Groom - Jesus
Wedding - Jesus' Second Coming

Priesthood
Provident Living - self reliance and preparedness.
Our high councilman gave the lesson.
Financial Self Reliance
1. Pay tithing
2. Get out of debt and where possible don't get into debt.
3. Get an education.
4. Save.

Sunday March 25, 2007

Testimony Meeting

Sunday School
Symbols used to represent Christ:
Rock Light Bread
Foundation Truth Sustenance

How does one demonstrate faith? Obedience.

Priesthood
Talk on Tithing from last conference.
Tithing is a commandment. Tithing is any increase (Income from a business, personal income, alimony...). Tithing is a lower law. The higher law is consecration, everyone having all things in common or giving all of your surplus to the Lord. Much like the Beatitudes. Ye heard that it was said...But I say unto you... Tithing would be the "Ye heard that it was said". Giving you surplus would be the "But I say unto you".