Sunday May 18, 2008 - Services Sullivan Hollow Second Ward

Priesthood
1 Nephi 1
1 I, NEPHI, having been ^aborn of ^bgoodly ^cparents, therefore I was ^dtaught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many ^eafflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a ^frecord of my proceedings in my days.

Elders' Quorum
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith
Chapter 9: Gifts of the Spirit pp. 114–24

Articles of Faith 1:7: "We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth."

Gifts of the spirit are special skills.
Moroni 10 is a good place to look for information on this.
Purposes of the Gifts:
Testimony
Direction
Tongues - Speak and Interpret
Help
Teaching
Faith

"The human family are very apt to run to extremes, especially in religious matters, and hence people in general either want some miraculous display, or they will not believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost at all. If an Elder lays his hands upon a person, it is thought by many that the person must immediately rise and speak in tongues and prophesy; this idea is gathered from the circumstance of Paul laying his hands upon certain individuals who had been previously (as they stated) baptized unto John's baptism; which when he had done, they 'spake in tongues and prophesied.' [See Acts 19:1-6.] . . .

"We believe that the Holy Ghost is imparted by the laying on of hands of those in authority, and that the gift of tongues, and also the gift of prophecy are gifts of the Spirit, and are obtained through that medium; but then to say that men always prophesied and spoke in tongues when they had the imposition of hands, would be to state that which is untrue, contrary to the practice of the Apostles, and at variance with holy writ. . . .
(History of the Church, 5:26-31; punctuation and grammar modernized; paragraph divisions altered; from "Gift of the Holy Ghost," an editorial published in Times and Seasons, June 15, 1842, pp. 823-25; Joseph Smith was the editor of the periodical.)

Grand manifestations are not the foundation of a testimony.

There are manifestations going on constantly, but many are personal and many are subtle.

"The manifestations of the gift of the Holy Ghost, the ministering of angels, or the development of the power, majesty or glory of God were very seldom manifested publicly, and that generally to the people of God, as to the Israelites; but most generally when angels have come, or God has revealed Himself, it has been to individuals in private, in their chamber; in the wilderness or fields, and that generally without noise or tumult. The angel delivered Peter out of prison in the dead of night; came to Paul unobserved by the rest of the crew; appeared to Mary and Elizabeth without the knowledge of others; spoke to John the Baptist whilst the people around were ignorant of it.

"When Elisha saw the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof, it was unknown to others. When the Lord appeared to Abraham it was at his tent door; when the angels went to Lot, no person knew them but himself, which was the case probably with Abraham and his wife; when the Lord appeared to Moses, it was in the burning bush, in the tabernacle, or in the mountain top; when Elijah was taken in a chariot of fire, it was unobserved by the world; and when he was in a cleft of a rock, there was loud thunder, but the Lord was not in the thunder; there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and then there was a still small voice, which was the voice of the Lord, saying, 'What doest thou here, Elijah?' [See 1 Kings 19:11-13.]"
(More from History of the Church, 5:26-31; punctuation and grammar modernized; paragraph divisions altered; from "Gift of the Holy Ghost," an editorial published in Times and Seasons, June 15, 1842, pp. 823-25; Joseph Smith was the editor of the periodical.)

Sunday School
Book of Mormon Lesson 18: “God Himself … Shall Redeem His People” p79
Mosiah 12-17
What is it about the gospel that makes the prophets willing to risk their lives to share it?

They ask Abinidi questions about the scriptures and he fires back to them that they are the teachers of the people and they do not know those things. He tells them that they have not applied their hearts to it. We can read the scriptures and still not have our lives changed or not understand what we have read.

Abinidi testifies of Christ and it would've appeared at that time that it came to nothing. But So much of the rest of the Book of Mormon are the results of Alma hearing Abinidi's words.

He talks about the law of Moses and its purpose. He talks of the law of Moses being types of things to come pointing to Christ.

Sacrament Meeting
Youth Speaker
Based his remarks on a talk by Henry B. Eyring.
4 Categeories Characteristics of the Book of Mormon (I missed the fourth one)
Powerful missionary tool
Testifies of Christ
Brings the spirit when reading

2nd Speaker
Luke 10 - Parable of the good Samaritan
"37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."

Fast Offering
It is a free will offering. You decide how much is appropriate to pay. God does not specifically say how much to give. The guideline has been the cost of the two meals you were abstaining from, since in the early days of the church it was to actually bring the food of those meals. Now the prophets have counseled to give as much as you are able.

“It has been, and now is, the desire and the objective of the Church to obtain from fast offerings the necessary funds to meet the cash needs of the welfare program. … At the present time we are not meeting this objective. We can, we ought, and we must do better. If we will double our fast offerings, we shall increase our own prosperity, both spiritually and temporally. This the Lord has promised, and this has been the record.” (President Marion G. Romney - “Basics of Church Welfare,” talk given to the Priesthood Board, 6 Mar. 1974, p. 10.)

Mosiah 4: 26
"And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you—that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may ^awalk guiltless before God—I would that ye should ^bimpart of your substance to the ^cpoor, every man according to that which he hath, such as ^dfeeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants."

The speaker read a portion of a letter that was included as part of Victor L. Brown, “Fast Offerings: Fulfilling Our Responsibility to Others,” Ensign, May 1981, 37.

“Enclosed find a check for $1,000 for excess fast offerings from the Tongan Mission. Normally this letter would end here, but because of an experience I recently had I would like to add a little more.

“As you may or may not be aware, Tonga is one of the poorest countries financially in the world. The average wage rate is only around 12¢ per hour if you are lucky enough to have a job. …

“Recently, while visiting one of the far distant islands that is very difficult to get to, I went late in the day to the home of one of the good widow sisters there.

“When I first approached her hut the sun was still quite bright and I could not help but notice the stark poverty of her surroundings. It had been raining earlier. The mud and decay and the ever-present smell of drying fish were at first repulsive. But the warmth of meeting with a fellow Church member—especially after years of separation—together with tears of appreciation for the long-awaited visit, soon pushed the unpleasantness of the surroundings temporarily into the background.

“As we conversed in her fluid native tongue and she told of her love for and faith in the Church and of all the blessings she had received, I could not help but think about her apparently miserable circumstances. … All sorts of ideas went through my mind, and I must have let my thoughts wander as I suddenly became aware that somewhere between phrases about blessings and poverty and service she had gone to her hut and was now returning with a small knotted rag.

“Suddenly my mind seemed to fill with light, and the words ‘fast offerings’ flooded in. I was so excited with the idea that had come so suddenly and so clearly, that you can imagine my utter amazement and unpreparedness when she took a threepence (a coin worth about 3¢) from her rag and said softly, ‘Here is my fast offering … to help the poor.’

“I wanted to explain that fast offering was to help her, not for her to help others. The explanation never came, for as I looked through misty eyes, first at the threepence then back at the good sister, the whole scene changed.

“The hut was a glowing mansion and the mud was gold. … The world seemed to stand still for a moment. All of nature seemed to stop and listen as from the heavens the whole universe seemed filled with the reassuring words: ‘Blessed are the poor … for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matt. 5:3.)

“As the setting sun signaled the end of the day, so it also told of the approaching end of her beautiful life of service.

“I took the threepence, and as I write this check the whole experience once again fills my mind and I wonder, ‘How many threepences to make a thousand dollars?’ ”

3rd Speaker
Alma 50:20
20 Blessed art thou and thy children; and they shall be blessed, inasmuch as they shall keep my ^acommandments they shall prosper in the land. But remember, inasmuch as they will not keep my commandments they shall be ^bcut off from the presence of the Lord.

In science there are cause and effect relationships. If we do this then that will happen. Obedience is like that. If we are obedient we prosper.

He said that he recalled from high school French calls that the word for hope in French is Prosper or at least it and prosperity have the same root. I found the following to possibly back that up.
---
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
prosper

c.1460, from O.Fr. prosperer (14c.), from L. prosperare "cause to succeed, render happy," from prosperus "favorable, fortunate, prosperous," perhaps lit. "agreeable to one's wishes," from Old L. pro spere "according to expectation," from pro "for" + abl. of spes "hope," from PIE base *spei- "to flourish, succeed." Prosperous is first recorded 1445, originally "tending to bring success;" in the sense of "flourishing" it is first recorded 1472.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
---

Misunderstanding what it means to prosper can mislead us. Prospering does not always mean financial wealth.

2 Ne. 2: 25
^aAdam ^bfell that men might be; and men ^care, that they might have ^djoy.

D&C 130: 20-21
20 There is a ^alaw, irrevocably decreed in ^bheaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all ^cblessings are predicated—
21 And when we obtain any ^ablessing from God, it is by ^bobedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

We will continue to have trials, because that is part of the learning process of this life.

Sunday April 27, 2008 - Services Cumberland Ward

Sacrament Meeting
Youth Speaker
Without the sun we have no life on earth. Without the light of Christ quickens our spirits. It leads us to receive the Holy Ghost.

2nd speaker
Prayer
3 Nephi 18 - 21 ^aPray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.

3rd Speaker
Church
Prior to the savior the law was the law of Moses.

Evangelist is patriarch. Pastor is Bishop.

Jesus makes up the difference where we fall short, if we do our best.

He talked about a letter he received from his aunt after she had heard all the reports about the polygamist cult in Texas. She compared us to other "cults". His first impulse was to call her, but he reflected on how much she cared for him. He still wants to respond, but he is considering his response.

Sunday School
Book of Mormon Manual - Lesson 15: “Eternally Indebted to Your Heavenly Father” p66
Mosiah 3 - 19 For the ^anatural ^bman is an ^cenemy to God, and has been from the ^dfall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he ^eyields to the enticings of the Holy ^fSpirit, and ^gputteth off the ^hnatural man and becometh a ⁱsaint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a ^jchild, ^ksubmissive, 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.

Jesus Christ is the primary focus of the Book of Mormon.

The atonement applies to those that were alive before Christ was born.

King Benjamin taught righteous principles to his sons and we have a record of some of those teachings in the book of Mosiah.

The teacher stated that she felt the Church was for us to help each other through the rough times.

DnC 42 - 56 Thou shalt ask, and my ^ascriptures shall be given as I have appointed, and they shall be ^bpreserved in safety;
One of the best ways to preserve the scriptures is to have them in our minds and in the minds of our children. Being intimately familiar with the scriptures and even memorizing to some degree ensures that the scriptures are readily available to us.

King Benjamin gave the people a name and that name was Christ. They were to take his name upon them.

Christ knows our pains personally because he felt those pains and he is able to have compassion for us and is able to help us through anything and understand.

Christ did not have to do what he did for us, but he chose to. He could've backed out at anytime.

Someone speculated that one of the reasons Satan wanted to compel everyone to do what was right was because he was not willing to pay the price that was necessary to atone for our sins.

Someone shared that we many times think of repentance as something we have to do, but it is more something that we can do, a blessing.

Christ was the son of God and the son of Mary. He had the ability to die from Mary and the ability to rise again from God the Father.

Three groups of people that are covered by the atonement of Christ.

• Those who die without the law or sinned ignorantly. The light of Christ probably comes into play here. Their "conscience" tells them right and wrong to some degree.
• People who sin and repent.
• Little children that die in their infancy. Even through children are born into a fallen world and will die because of Adam's transgression, they are innocent. - Find reference to children being innocent.
  

Why are little children “blameless before God”? (See Mosiah 3:16, Mosiah 3:21; Moroni 8:12; D&C 29:46. Although “by nature, they fall,” they are “blameless before God” because they are “alive in Christ” through the Atonement.)
Little children who die in their infancy (Mosiah 3:16, Mosiah 3:18, Mosiah 3:21; see also D&C 137:10).

Mosiah 3 - 16 And even if it were possible that little ^achildren could sin they could not be saved; but I say unto you they are ^bblessed; for behold, as in Adam, or by nature, they fall, even so the blood of Christ ^catoneth for their sins.

Mosiah 3 - 19 For the ^anatural ^bman is an ^cenemy to God, and has been from the ^dfall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he ^eyields to the enticings of the Holy ^fSpirit, and ^gputteth off the ^hnatural man and becometh a ⁱsaint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a ^jchild, ^ksubmissive, 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.

Elders' Quorum
Home Teaching
He related a story about a guy that was talking to his home teachers. The guy was not active. He asked them one day when they were going to tell him to stop smoking and drinking and such. They responded that they hadn't because they thought it would be insulting to tell him something that he already knew he should be doing.

My boys had talk and scripture in Primary, so I bailed out to go watch and help them.

Sunday October 21, 2007 - Sunday Services Cumberland Ward

Sacrament meeting
One of the young women talked about some of her experiences in working in her young woman personal progress book.

2nd speaker
In the NT church they had leaders over territories and such. Moses also divided the church into manageable groups.

Apostasy not about outside influences, from those within becoming more selfish.

Some were focused on who baptized them rather than the authority. Some were haughty about having been baptized by Paul even though the other church leaders had the same authority.

The apostasy occurred not because the apostles were gone. The apostles were gone because the apostasy occurred.

3rd speaker
Spoke on reverence, prayer, scripture reading, pondering, service.

Forgive them for they know not what they do. Think of that when others transgress against us. Do they really understand what they are doing.

Sunday School
Paul missionary journeys
After three missionary journey's he returned to Jerusalem. The first thing he did when arriving was report to the Church leadership of how his mission was. Much like missionaries do today when their mission is complete.

Paul called out by Jewish Christians in the temple for teaching that salvation came through Christ rather than the Law of Moses. Many people raised the Law of Moses above whatever new God might given them. Worshiping the law more than God.

Priesthood
The Women of the Church - Spencer W Kimball manual chapter 20
The manual shared one of President Kimball's stories about his mother. Part of it went like this, "She was serving as first counselor in our Relief Society in Thatcher, Arizona, and the presidency went to a sister's home where a sick baby had prevented the mother from doing her sewing. Mother took her machine, a picnic lunch, her baby, and a high chair, and they began work. She wrote that night, we 'made four aprons, four pairs of pants and started a shirt for one of the boys.' They had to stop at 4 P.M. to go to a funeral, so we 'did not get any more than that done.' I would have been impressed by such achievement, rather than thinking, 'Well, that's not much.'"

The manual also stated, "Having been given different responsibilities, women and men are to work together in a partnership of equality and respect."

The lesson talked about that because of our differences and different responsibilities sometimes men and women mistreat each other. We need to keep in mind that each of our roles are important and necessary.

"God has called women to help enrich, protect, and guard the home and family." Many ideas of our society get in the way of women fulfilling this calling. We should assess if our families goals and behaviors are in line with achieving this calling or if our lifestyle is hindering it.

Robert L. Millet - BYU Sperry Symposium 10-28-2006

An address given at the BYU Sperry Symposium on How the New Testament Came to Be.

Robert L. Millet - Department of Ancient Scripture - BYU
The Closed Canon: Blessings, Challenges, and Prospects
He talked of a canon of scripture being authoritative and books are included because they are deemed authoritative. There was a lot of discussion about books to be included in the Bible. There was a lot of Christian writings at the time, but they tried to determine which were authoritative.

Luke 24: 44-45
44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be ^afulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

45 Then opened he their ^aunderstanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

Jesus continued to teach His people from the Law of Moses, the words of the prophets, and other sacred writings. Those records testified of him to and it was of continued importance that the people learn and understand those scriptures too.

He described some of the history of how we got the Bible in the form we have it today. There was much debate of the the books to be included Old Testament and even the entire Old Testament itself. There were also disputes over what to include in the New Testament. There was also much that was removed and attempted to be removed that didn't match what some people wanted to believe. For example Martin Luther not like the Epistle of James because it talked so much about the need for works.

Some books were removed from the canon because they were not in narrative form. They didn't tell a story. They were trying to make Christianity more palatable to the rest of the world.

Professor N.T. Wright, a bishop in the Church of England stated, "The canonization of scripture, both Jewish and Christian, was no doubt complicated by all kinds of less than perfect human motivations."

Some writers in the early Church add titillation to their writings to make them more palatable to non Christians often taking liberties with the doctrines. The canonized books of the Bible helped keep some of that in check.

On the other hand too much reliance on the canon can shut off people to being open to further instruction from God. It can also lead to complacency if a point of doctrine is not dealt with directly in the Bible some may assume that God doesn't care how we deal with it. It can border on scripture worship.

Scripture points away from itself and toward God and delegated to Christ.

One Protestant scholar has inquired tellingly into the erroneous doctrine of a closed canon. He writes: “On what biblical or historical grounds has the inspiration of God been limited to the written documents that the church now calls its Bible? . . . If the Spirit inspired only the written documents of the first century, does that mean that the same Spirit does not speak today in the church about matters that are of significant concern?”(Lee M. McDonald, The Formation of the Christian Biblical Canon, rev. ed. (1995), 255–56.)

Who authorized the canon to be closed?

2 Nephi 28:26-31
26 Yea, wo be unto him that ^ahearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost!

27 Yea, wo be unto him that saith: We have received, and we ^aneed no more!

28 And in fine, wo unto all those who tremble, and are ^aangry because of ^bthe truth of God! For behold, he that is built upon the ^crock ^dreceiveth it with gladness; and he that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth lest he shall fall.

29 Wo be unto him that shall say: We have received the word of God, and we ^aneed ^bno more of the word of God, for we have enough!

30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon ^aprecept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn ^bwisdom; for unto him that ^creceiveth I will give ^dmore; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.

31 Cursed is he that putteth his ^atrust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the ^bprecepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Didn't the apostles in New Testament times declare that the canon was no more closed .

The Bible is a wonderful tool in the hand of God, but horrible when used as a weapon.

We do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, but we do believe that what we have today is what God intended for us to have.

Before we can write the Gospel in our own book of life we must learn the Gospel as it is in the books of scripture. - Bruce R. McKonkie 1982

We read the Bible through the lenses of restoration scriptures. Christians have been likewise taught to read the Old Testament through the lenses of the New Testament. They would probably rather read the book of John or other writings of the apostles than the book of Leviticus they nonetheless confess a love for the entire Bible. The same is true for Latter-day Saints. We would most like modern scripture, but we love all scripture.