Church Services This Week at Ridge Crest Ward Northridge Stake Layton Utah 30 November 2014

Elders Quorum

Chapter 25 -  Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith

“Our Savior was a God before he was born into this world, and he brought with him that same status when he came here. He was as much a God when he was born into the world as he was before. But as far as this life is concerned it appears that he had to start just as all other children do and gain his knowledge line upon line. Luke says he ‘increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.’ [Luke 2:52.] John records that ‘he received not of the fulness at the first,’ but had to progress ‘from grace to grace, until he received a fulness.’ [D&C 93:13.] …”

“Jesus grew up with his brethren, and waxed strong, and waited upon the Lord for the time of his ministry to come. And he served under his father, and he spake not as other men, neither could he be taught; for he needed not that any man should teach him. And after many years, the hour of his ministry drew nigh.” [Joseph Smith Translation, Matthew 3:24–26.]

Sunday School

We watched a video about a BYU basketball player, Tyler Haws, called A Work in Process.

L. Tom Perry, “Raising the Bar,” Ensign, Nov. 2007, 46–49

If we can aim higher than our goal then we can for sure meet our goal.

The Church raised the bar for missionary service, but it also raised the preparation for a mission to make you higher than than the minimum requirements.

Sacrament Service

Repentance, conversion and commitment are intertwined

Our temptations interrupt our spiritual gifts.

The speaker recommended the book Your Endowment by Mark Shields

Family Session Weber Heights Stake Conference Ogden Utah 10-26-08

The conference was held in the Ogden Tabernacle which is located next to the Ogden temple on the temple grounds.

1st Testimony - Former Stake Young Women President Who Was Just Released
She gave a departing speech of thank yous and eventually bore testimony of the atonement and of the restoration.

2nd Testimony - Former Stake Relief Society President
Testified that charity never fails.

The Children's Choir sang If the Savior Stood Beside Me

1st Youth Speaker
Alma The Elder - Abinadi had condemned the priests for not teaching the people. Alma defended Abinadi to the priests and was cast out.

The salvation of those around us is our responsibility.

Mosiah 18:9
9 Yea, and are ^awilling to mourn with those that ^bmourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as ^cwitnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the ^dfirst resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

2nd Youth Speaker
He talked of how scouting and the preparation to receive the Duty to God award has helped him prepare for a mission. He detailed the scout law and how that applied to missionaries as well. He listed the point of the scout law from a missionary perspective.

A Scout/Missionary is:
Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent.

1st Adult Speaker - 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency
He talked about the troubled times we live in and how things can feel very uncertain for us in our lives.
John 14:27
27 ^aPeace I leave with you, my ^bpeace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be ^ctroubled, neither let it be afraid.

Doctrine and Covenants 82:10
10 I, the Lord, am ^abound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no ^bpromise.

He talked of being obedient and the Lord will take care of us. Tithing is an exercise in obedience and receiving the Lord's blessings.
Malachi 3: 10
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.

Tithing is also a principle of sacrifice and of gratitude. It is a prelude to the law of consecration. It teaches us about frugality and to serve. It teaches us to live within our means.

Children's Choir - Medley of Songs and Scriptures (Keep the Commandments/I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus)
Mosiah 2:22
22 And behold, all that he ^arequires of you is to ^bkeep his commandments; and he has ^cpromised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth ^dvary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do ^ekeep his ^fcommandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

2nd Adult Speaker - Stake RS President
"In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike—and they will—you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham’s seed." (Jeffrey R. Holland, New Era October 1980 For Times of Trouble)

She said that the best place to fight the battles of this world is in the temple.

She quoted from Vaughn J. Featherstone's talk entitled "Holiness to the Lord", "The season of the world before us will be like no other in the history of mankind. Satan has and will unleash every evil, every scheme, every blatant vile perversion ever known to man in any generation. Just as this dispensation is the fullness of times, so it is also the dispensation of the fullness of evil. We and our wives and husbands, our children, and our members must find safety. There is no safety in the world; wealth cannot provide it, enforcement agencies cannot assure it, membership alone in this Church will not guarantee it. "

3rd Adult Speaker - 1st Counselor in Stake Presidency
He and the 2nd counselor both spoke of having peace no matter what is going on in the world or what is reported on the news.

Revelation Chapter 12
There is a war in Heaven and Satan and a third of the spirits choose to follow him and they are cast to earth. The battle for the souls of men continues here. Satan is overcome in the war by the atonement.

4th Speaker - Stake Young Women President
We were taught the gospel when we first heard it. We did not teach ourselves.

Be a friend to be a missionary. To have good friends we must be a good friend. If someone does not accept your missionary invitation continue to be their friend.

5th Speaker - Stake President
He shared his experience being challenged by his seminary teacher to pray about the Book of Mormon even though he felt he was a believer.

He then recited Joseph Smith's experience of praying to know the truth and the things we learned from just that one vision.

People have no trouble believing that God spoke to Adam, Moses, and Noah, but think that Joseph's story is impossible.

Sunday July 13, 2008 - Services Sullivan Hollow Second Ward

Priesthood Opening

The bishop talked about taking pen and paper with you when you pray .

Doctrine and Covenants 88:77-78

77 And I give unto you a commandment that you shall ^ateach one another the ^bdoctrine of the kingdom.

78 Teach ye diligently and my ^agrace shall attend you, that you may be ^binstructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;

Elders Quorum
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith Chapter 12: Proclaim Glad Tidings to All the World p.148–57

4 steps to member missionary work.

1. Be prepared - read scriptures and gain testimony.

2. Love those around you - serve others, pray to love.

3. Pray with faith for help to do your job.

4. Open your mouth -"Example helps, but you have to speak to share a testimony."

p.153
Wilford Woodruff, the fourth President of the Church, recalled the following words of the Prophet Joseph Smith: “The world is full of darkness. Sin and wickedness is overwhelming the world as the waters cover the great deep. The devil rules over the world in a great measure. The world will war against you; the devil will, earth will, and hell will. But … you must preach the Gospel, do your duty, and the Lord will stand by you. Earth and hell shall not prevail against you.”

Sunday School

Lesson 26: "Converted unto the Lord" p.116

Alma 23-29

-Gave up weapons of rebellion - What are our weapons of rebellion?

-They took a new name for themselves to distinguish themselves. They also chose to act in a way to honor their new name.

-It is important to make and keep covenants.

-The Anti-Lehi-Nephis would've rather died than to take the risk that they might break their covenant to God.

-Rather than take the life of another they would rather give their own.

-If something tempts us we should avoid it completely.

-If something uplifts us we should embrace it.

Below are some notes that my wife took in this same class.
Alma 23:1-7
Lamanites are converted to the gospel and give up all weapons of rebellion and never feel away from the gospel.

How can we give up our weapons of rebellion and never fall away from Christ?

Alma 24
How are we different from others? (dress, word of wisdom, happy)

How can we be grateful in times of hardships and be grateful for the growth of a trial?

Bury weapons (rebellion) deep to not be tempted again.

How should we keep covenants? A life change. What are we willing to do to keep our covenants with God? Giving up idleness etc.

The effort it takes to give up all can bring about that change of heart.

Alma 24:30
30 And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once ^aenlightened by the ^bSpirit of God, and have had great ^cknowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have ^dfallen away into sin and transgression, they become more ^ehardened, and thus their state becomes ^fworse than though they had never known these things.

Sacrament Meeting

Youth Speaker

He gave the boy scout oath and explained what it means.

First Adult Speaker

We have been chosen to run the last leg of a long relay race that was started by Adam and Eve.

Second Adult Speaker
Isaiah 2: 3
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us ^ago up to the ^bmountain of the Lord, to the ^chouse of the God of Jacob; and he will ^dteach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of ^eZion shall go forth the ^flaw, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Ephesians 6: 12
12 For we ^awrestle not ^bagainst ^cflesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the ^drulers of the ^edarkness of this world, against spiritual ^fwickedness in high places.

Sunday June 3, 2007

Sacrament Meeting
Testimony Meeting
My 11 year old daughter got up and bore her testimony today.

Sunday School
Hypocrite - One who is something different than what he believes.

Jesus' entry into Jerusalem

The people were not only in the city when Jesus rode in for the passover, but also to see him since they had heard about Lazarus being raised from the dead.


Focus on what matters. People get caught up in extraneous doctrines. What matters is how we are living our lives and raising our families. The intricacies of how God does what he does and the details of everything before and after our lives don't matter to our salvation. They need to be in place, but we have no control over that, so giving our focus to those things wastes our time and distracts us from more important things that we do have control of.

Priesthood
The war in Heaven (Rev 12) continues today just on a different battle field. The war is over the souls of men. Satan presented enticing ideas there and he continues to present enticing ideas here.

One thought I had during the lesson today was, "Do our temptations witness to us that the gospel is true?" I was thinking of God telling us that if we do certain things then it has certain effects on us. Do we see those effects? Also, if we pay attention do we see Satan inches us to bigger things?


What happened with you This Week at Church?

Sunday April 1, 2007 - Afternoon Session of General Conference

Elder L. Tom Perry - Apostle (Audio, Text)

The Message of the Restoration
The restoration of the gospel cleared up many misconceptions and points of contention among religious sects. One of them being the nature of God. When God and Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith this event revealed that God the Father and Jesus Christ were two separate beings and they each had "a body of flesh and bones that is glorified and perfected".

Elder Perry quoted from the Doctrine and Covenants about the bring forth of the Book of Mormon, "Proving to the world that the holy scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old" (D&C 20:7–11).

Elder Henry B. Eyring - Apostle (Audio, Text)
This Day

Someday means not today. "Someday I will repent." "Someday I will forgive him." "Someday I will speak to my friend about the Church." "Someday I will start to pay tithing." "Someday I will return to the temple." "Someday. . . . "

He talked of the purpose of creation was for us to prove ourselves. When we lived with God before we were born we chose to come here. "Hard as we knew the test would be, we felt joy because we had confidence that we could pass it. Our confidence came from knowing that Jesus Christ would come into the world as our Savior. He would overcome death. He would make it possible for us to be cleansed of our sins by qualifying for the effects of His Atonement."

Elder Gary J. Coleman - Seventy (Audio, Text)
"Mom, Are We Christians?"
He starts off his talk with the story of a girl that is scoffed at in school by those claiming that Latter-day Saints are not Christians.

Elder Coleman did not get into this in his talk, but I get to thinking about this every so often. So many lash out at the Church and most time at the members of the Church because some leader in the their church has told them that we are not Christians. It is interesting how they pick and choose who they label. Within protestantism there are churches that believe that God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are the same person. There are other protestant churches that believe that they are individuals with a single purpose. One of these doctrines would have to be non biblical, yet I rarely hear protestants calling other protestants or protestant churches out as being a cult or nonChristian. On the other hand, I have heard it frequently from others that I am not a Christian. Not because my actions don't represent what a follower of Christ would do, but because I am a Latter-day Saint.

The definition of a Christian has become so blurred that I sometimes wonder if that is even a title that I should try to claim. Does Christian mean follower of Christ or does it just mean someone that only uses parts of the New and Old Testaments in their sermons?

Charles W. Dahlquist II - Young Men General President (Audio, Text)

Who's on the Lord's side?
He quoted the words of a young pioneer which is now part of one of our hymns:
Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
Now is the time to show.
We ask it fearlessly:
Who's on the Lord's side? Who?
("Who’s on the Lord's Side?" Hymns, no. 260)

He talked of David fighting Goliath and his response contrasted with the other young men of Israel. "Their response to the question "Who's on the Lord side?" was not "I am!" but rather "Who me?""

He also gave some good thoughts on resisting temptations and becoming stronger people.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf - Apostle (Audio, Text)
Point of Safe Return
Elder Uchtdorf often pulls from his experience as a pilot to relate that to the gospel. He did so again this time. He talked of how in piloting there is a point of safe return sometimes referred to as the point of no return. Before this point you have enough fuel to return safely to where you started. He said that Satan tries to convince us that we are pasted the point of safe return. He does this in our individual lives, our marriages, our families, and in our sorrows.

Elder Russell M. Nelson - Apostle (Audio, Text)

Repentance and Conversion
His talk seemed to build on the points Elder Uchtdorf made on there being hope. Elder Nelson went on to describe the steps of repentance and the urgency of doing so.

President Gordon B. Hinckley - Prophet (Audio, Text)

Closing Remarks
He summarized the conference and dismissed everyone. He cautioned everyone to be safe when leaving the conference. He counseled that we should use the May Ensign magazine, which will contain this weekends proceedings, in our family home evening to teach our families. He closed with telling wife's and husbands to be decent and supportive of each other and to their children.