Church Services This Week at Ridge Crest Ward Northridge Stake Layton Utah 28 September 2014

Elders Quorum

Joseph fielding Smith chapter 20

How do we develop a sensitivity to those in need and inspiration to know how to help.

Matthew 19:19

 19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Matthew 22:39

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

As we think about people that constantly need help because of their choices, we should consider how many times we need help from the Lord about the same thing because of our choices.

Sunday School

My lesson for the 13/14 year olds on How Does Keeping the Commandments Help Us Understand the Gospel. I did not get through one tenth of this lesson, but here was my intent.

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Ask the youth if they have any questions or comments about what they are learning in their other classes. Invite them to share personal experiences or impressions they have received as a result of their learning.

How does keeping the commandments affect my ability to learn the gospel?  Or How does obedience affect my ability to learn the gospel?

What are the commandments?  They are instructions for how to be happy.  God’s purpose is that we can have joy, right?  God knows there are things that will make life harder and make us unhappy and the commandments are to steer us away from those things.

When I follow what I want to do rather than what God wants or when I am not keeping the commandments I find that often I get in a fog. It gets hard to make decisions. It sometimes gets hard to concentrate or remember things. Sometimes it is harder to be patient with others.

If that fog isn't there and the spirit is speaking to me more clearly, because I have kept the commandments, I find that I learn and understand things better. I listen more and hear more.

Read scriptures from lesson about how keeping the commandments leads to increased knowledge.

D&C 42:61

Are there any mysteries of God you would like to know?  How would you go about finding out that mystery?

The more we keep the commandments the more we understand the commandments and life in general.

People try to figure out the problems of life while removing God from the solution. Their solution to the problems are constantly changing as they don't take into account God's plan and how he designed us and this earth. They don't know his purpose for us being here or the purpose of the earth.

Doctrine and Covenants 93:26-28

26 The Spirit of truth is of God. I am the Spirit of truth, and John bore record of me, saying: He received a fulness of truth, yea, even of all truth;

27 And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments.

28 He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.

"A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God." - President Monson

“Keep the commandments; keep the commandments! In this there is safety; in this there is peace.

He will send blessings; He will send blessings.  Words of a prophet: Keep the commandments.

In this there is safety and peace.

Read Daniel 1

“What is the Lord trying to emphasize and why? Is there anything in these verses that applies to me personally?”

Tell the boys that when we read stories we can write notes in our scripture margins of things we want to remember the next time we read that part of the scriptures.

We can also pause while we are reading to write things we think of in our journal. They wet can read our journal in the future and remember things that were important to us and things we have learned. We can look back and see places where God's hand was in our life.

Our kids or grand kids will also be able to look through our journal and see the spiritual experiences we have with the scriptures.

What are some ways you have thought of as we have talked that you can do to help you understand the gospel better?

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Sacrament Service

The Temple Endowment is a gift of power or knowledge from God.

“We need to acquire a testimony and a reverent feeling of the temple being the house of the Lord. To preserve the sanctity of the temple and to invite the Spirit to bless those who enter the holy temple for their ordinances and covenants, we are taught that no unclean thing should enter the temple. Reverence in the temple is a vital element in inviting the Spirit to reside within it every hour of every day.”

…

“Throughout history, in every dispensation, the Lord has commanded prophets that temples should be built so that His people could receive temple ordinances. Moses and the Israelites were blessed with a portable temple, the tabernacle, where the sacred ordinance work under the law of Moses was performed—and where, on occasion, the Lord came to converse with Moses. King Solomon completed a beautiful temple in Jerusalem, which was later destroyed. Then, during Christ’s ministry, another temple in Jerusalem was being built.” (Elder Robert D Hales, From a Brigham Young University devotional address given on November 15, 2005. For the full text of the address in English, seehttp://speeches.byu.edu.)

Mosiah 1:18

18 And now, it came to pass that Mosiah went and did as his father had commanded him, and proclaimed unto all the people who were in the land of Zarahemla that thereby they might gather themselves together, to go up to the temple to hear the words which his father should speak unto them.

3 Nephi 11:1-11

Church Services This Week at Ogden Utah Temple Cultural Celebration/Dedication 20-21 September 2014

20 September 2014

Ogden Temple Cultural Celebration

Elder Eyring

Go home and write what you saw and felt in your journals.

21 September 2014

Ogden Temple Dedication

“May I remind you that when we dedicate a house to the Lord, what we really do is dedicate ourselves to the Lord’s service, with a covenant that we shall use the house in the way he intends that it shall be used.” (Joseph Fielding Smith,  “Ogden Temple Dedicatory Prayer,” Ensign, Mar. 1972, 6)

We shouldn't take our temple recommends lightly.  A temple recommend is not simply an entrance ticket.

Each person does one ordinance for one person at a time. It is not necessarily efficient. It takes time.

We should have temple experiences in our living rooms, in our minds, and in our behavior.

Church Services This Week at Ridge Crest Ward Northridge Stake Layton Utah 14 September 2014

Elders Quorum

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith chapter 19

Be in the World But Not of the World

"We should have no part in all its foolishness. We should not partake of its sins and its errors—errors of philosophy and errors of doctrine, errors in regard to government, or whatever those errors may be—we have no part in. " - From the lesson manual

Atonement

We should not let Satan dig up the garbage in our past,  but let it fertilize our life and let us grow. He would rather dig it up and throw it all over us. The atonement allows it to turn to fertilizer and be for our good. The atonement works for changing our sins and also for changing our trials.

Word of Wisdom

The word of wisdom is more than the don'ts.

We don't read the word of wisdom one time and think we have mastered it.  The same with the sabbath day or any doctrine. We study them over and over,  even if we think we've got it down.

Sabbath

The sabbath is not just the three hours at church. It is the sabbath day not the sabbath three hours.

Sunday School

Old testament lesson 34

Hosea 6:3

 3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

Saying "God is love" or "Jesus saves" is great, but the scriptures are so much deeper than that. The atonement is so much deeper than that.  Saying that He is as the rain brings an imagery of a part of the atonement. Jesus saves, but one of the ways He saves is by washing us clean as the rain. If we stay inside, the rain had no impact on our body.

We must schedule time for our prayers and our scriptures.  We can read the scriptures or pray any time, but we need to put it on the schedule to make sure it gets done everyday, at least once.

Just as the wife described in Hosea had to chose to put away her lovers and cleave to her husband, we can not cling to our agendas and lusts and expect the Lord maintain us.

The lesson referenced Julie B Beck’ April 2007 General Conference talk, Remembering, Repenting, and Changing.

Sacrament Service

Genealogy

None of us can be an expert in genealogy without first being a novice.

Hope

Hope is not a wish. Hope is a level of expectation.

Temple

If we want to visit our neighbor we go to his house. If he is not home we can go back. The more often we go back, the more likely we are to find him. If we want to have spiritual temple experiences and we only go a couple of times a year, then we are less likely to find them. The more we go, the more likely we are to find what we seek.

Church Services This Week at Ridge Crest Ward Northridge Stake Layton Utah 7 September 2014

Elders Quorum

The lesson was based on President Henry B Eyring’s April 2014 General Conference talk, A Priceless Heritage of Hope

"Whoever you are and wherever you may be, you hold in your hands the happiness of more people than you can now imagine. Every day and every hour you can choose to make or keep a covenant with God. "

What’s our purpose here?

Abraham 3:24-26

24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;

25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;

26 And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.

First estate = coming to earth /mortality.

Second estate  = making and keeping covenants that bring eternal life.

The results of a father praying for his son.

Mosiah 27:8-15

Gospel principles don't add up by the world's standards because they take God out of the algorithm.

Sunday School

Old Testament Lesson 33

Micah 7:18

18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

God delights in being merciful, so he wants to be able to bless us. He wants to be able to forgive us.

Nineveh was the capital of Assyria.  Assyria was an enemy of Israel. Assyria would take the northern kingdoms captive. It was prophesied that they would do this.

How hard would it be right after world War II for American missionaries to go to Germany or Japan on a mission? Or in the 1980s for someone to be called to Russia. Or today if we were called to be missionaries in Iran or Iraq or Afghanistan or Syria? These are nations that have tried to conquer us.  What if we were called to a nation that had succeeded in conquering us?

Is it hard to accept someone who has wronged us? Is it hard to accept someone that has made bad life choices? When we have witnessed their decisions, is it hard to accept that they have repented?

What a horrible thing to be swallowed by a big fish.

Jonah 2:2

2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

"Belly of Hell"

Does God ever allow hard things to come upon us to teach us or to build our character? He does this because he loves us and knows that struggles are for our eternal good.  It may be hard on our physical bodies or our physical things, but these are not eternal.  These harms disappear when this life is over, but if we endure them we are rewarded with God like character.

You can not receive mercy if you are not giving mercy.

Matthew 5:7

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Sacrament Service

The stake theme for the month is to find and prepare or help someone else find and prepare a name to go to the temple.

Isaiah 2:2

2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

The Savior's death had to happen to fulfill the plan. We should remember as we go through trials that our life experience must also happen.  There are things that must happen to shape us and to shape others.

Was it cruel of God to let him go through that?  It was a horrible thing and yet a wonderful thing.  Could our trials be classified similarly?

Church Services This Week at Ridge Crest Ward Northridge Stake Layton Utah 31 August 2014

Joint RS/Priesthood/Laurels

Why Temples?

Temples focus our attention by their appearance and also by what is taught within them.

In the temple we learn fundamental things on how to be like Heavenly Father.

When temples are dedicated they are given to Heavenly Father and He is invited to come there.

“I have a session with the missionary groups as they go out, in the temple, where they are permitted to ask intimate questions that wouldn’t be proper to be discussed elsewhere. They sometimes ask, Could you tell us a certain place in the temple where the Savior has been seen? My answer is, ‘Keep in mind that this is the house of the Lord; this is the place that we try to keep as pure and holy and sacred as any building we have. This is the most likely place he would come when he comes on earth. Don’t ask for a certain place because he has walked these halls. How do you know but what he is here in your midst?” (Harold B Lee, Ensign, Nov. 1971, pp. 12–13.)

John 17:3

3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Doctrine and Covenants 109:15

15 And that they may grow up in thee, and receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost, and be organized according to thy laws, and be prepared to obtain every needful thing;

John A Widsoe, in Conference Report, Apr. 1922, pp. 97–98

“Temple work … gives a wonderful opportunity for keeping alive our spiritual knowledge and strength. … The mighty perspective of eternity is unraveled before us in the holy temples; we see time from its infinite beginning to its endless end; and the drama of eternal life is unfolded before us. Then I see more clearly my place amidst the things of the universe, my place among the purposes of God; I am better able to place myself where I belong, and I am better able to value and to weigh, to separate and to organize the common, ordinary duties of my life so that the little things shall not oppress me or take away my vision of the greater things that God has given us.”

The Priesthood and You, Melchizedek Priesthood Lessons—1966, Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1966, page 293

“The temple is a place of instruction where profound truths pertaining to the Kingdom of God are unfolded. It is a place of peace where minds can be centered upon things of the spirit and the worries of the world can be laid aside. In the temple we take covenants to obey the laws of God, and promises are made to us, conditioned always on our faithfulness, which extend into eternity”

Attending the temples helps us overcome selfishness.

We empower ourselves at the temple. We empower those we pray for there.  We empower our dead,  who have not received all that God had for them in this life.

If everyone was allowed in the temple the environment would be less peaceful and more of a tourist experience.

The temple is also about commitment. It would be disruptive if uncommitted people were allowed to walk around in there.

From a handout from the teacher:

Transcribed:

We live below our previous existence...Worldly­ natural man-immorality, criticism, hate, envy, competition, pride, murder, iniquity, lying, strife, contention, hypocritical, bondage, despising others, costly apparel, robbings, whoredoms, popularity, lazy, selfishness (what's in it for me?), love of money, priestcraft, vanity, unrighteous judgement and dominion, apathy, flattery, idolatry, dissension, hardened hearts (Alma 1 and 5)

Preoccupied with things of the world, too often watching our clocks and our pocketbooks, looking down and not up, we find our "love" and focus on worshipping the works of our hands (3 Nephi 21:17), on class and rank (Mosiah 27), being critical of others, judging them to be a thing of naught. We try to climb the worldly ladder to be smarter or richer or prettier than our neighbor and seek for the praise of the worlds lowly standard.(1 Nephi 13:9).

Sunday School

Old Testament Lesson 32

What kind of man was Job?

He avoided evil,  was wealthy and humble,  had integrity,  strengthened the weak,  had compassion,  walked in the way of the Lord,  and prayed for his enemies.

What were Job's trials?

He lost his wealth and children,  had extreme pain,  had friends turn on him,  was confused as to why these things were happening to him,  people delighted in his downfall,  and had a feeling of being forsaken.

Was Heavenly Father surprised that Satan presented this plan to go against Job?   Did Father already know what trials Job would have to go through in our lives?

Could the story of Job give us a peek into how trials work behind the scenes? Does Satan need permission from God to afflict us? Are there boundaries Father gives?

We are told we are given no more than we can handle. Are we not only given what will be for our own good? To see that good we have to look beyond our current condition and even beyond the existences of this mortal life. What may be for our good in the long term, may be terribly painful in the here and now.  Satan would have you believe that God is cruel.  God has the perspective that nothing lasts forever in mortality.  Pain and suffering all pass, even death is a temporary thing.

If there is always adequate moisture for a plant, then there is no need for the plant to grow strong roots. Without strong roots a plant can be blown over or in times of severe drought, it will die.  Short periods of drought and suffering is good for the plant in the long term.

If things always go well in our lives, then we will never have need to grow stronger and little things will be massive trials in our perspective. We will also not grow the character of God within us.

Elder Joseph B Wirthlin, PERSONAL INTEGRITY, April 1990 General Conference

"I have felt impressed to speak today about the need for integrity—old-fashioned, personal, practical integrity. To me, integrity means always doing what is right and good, regardless of the immediate consequences. It means being righteous from the very depth of our soul, not only in our actions but, more importantly, in our thoughts and in our hearts. Personal integrity implies such trustworthiness and incorruptibility that we are incapable of being false to a trust or covenant."

Integrity is always doing what is right even when no one is around.

A building that has integrity holds up to the forces around it.

Sacrament Service

Several people that worked on the play Savior of the World spoke of their experiences.

Church Services This Week at Ridge Crest Ward Northridge Stake Layton Utah 24 August 2014

Elders Quorum

The lesson was based on Elder Holland’s conference talk, The Cost—and Blessings—of Discipleship, April 2014 General Conference

"if you haven’t already, you will one day find yourself called upon to defend your faith or perhaps even endure some personal abuse simply because you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Such moments will require both courage and courtesy on your part."

We should not be rude as we disagree. We also should not persecute non members or inactive members when we are in the majority in our workplace or community.

"Defend your beliefs with courtesy and with compassion, but defend them."

Sunday School

Old testament lesson 31

Words in Proverbs that might confuse :

-forward  -  contrary

-she /her -  often refers to wisdom

-simple -  weak in intellect or wisdom

-vanity - falsehood or deceit; empty

-scorn - contempt or disdain

-me/my - wisdom

Proverbs 23:7

7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:

This speaks to that our thinking and such happens in our spirit or our heart. Heart in the sense of core.

Proverbs 13:24

24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

Proverbs 14:3

3 In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.

"rod" in the context of "thy rod and thy staff comforts me”.  A rod is used to guide sheep,  not to beat them.

Isaiah 11:4
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Doctrine and Covenants 121:43

43 Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;

Proverbs 24:13-14

13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

Here he talks about the rod of his mouth smiting the earth.  That sounds like smiting the earth with words.  Compare that to chastising a child.

Psalms 2:9

9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

1 Nephi 8 also talks about a rod of iron that is the word of God.  That is further evidence that rod in the scriptures means the word of God.  Likely prophets in Old Testament times were taught of the tree of life and the rod of iron that guides people to it.

Deriving Meaning

We can derive meaning in Proverbs from comparison. When the comparison shows difference then there is meaning.   When the comparison shows similarity there is a different meaning.

Wisdom

Wisdom was before the world the world was created and while the world was being created.

We often do not seek after wisdom with enough zeal.  It often comes through listening more about Heavenly Father and Jesus.

Pride/Enmity

“The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means ‘hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.’ It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.

“Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of ‘my will and not thine be done.’ As Paul said, they ‘seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s’ (Philippians 2:21).

“Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled (see Alma 38:12; 3 Nephi 12:30).

“The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives (see Helaman 12:6). They pit their perceptions of truth against God’s great knowledge, their abilities versus God’s priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.

“Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’s. …

“Pride is a damning sin in the true sense of that word. It limits or stops progression (see Alma 12:10–11). The proud are not easily taught (see 1 Nephi 15:3, 7–11). They won’t change their minds to accept truths, because to do so implies they have been wrong” (President Ezra Taft Benson, in Conference Report, Apr. 1989, 3–5; or Ensign, May 1989, 4, 6).

Fear God

Fear of God could mean fear of doing anything that would separate us from God.

Sacrament Service

One of the youth speakers said that we don't have time to just sit around and do what we want.

Always Remember

Alma 5:6

6 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?

Hope

Proximate hope means hope in things that change.  Ultimate hope means how in things that don't change.

Man’s Wisdom

“Indeed, when we are unduly impatient with an omniscient God’s timing, we really are suggesting that we know what is best. Strange, isn’t it—we who wear wristwatches seek to counsel Him who oversees cosmic clocks and calendars.” (Neal A Maxwell, Hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, General Conference October 1998)

The War In Heaven

The war in heaven was over whether men should have agency. Today the battle continues on as Satan tries to get us to make decisions that limit or agency.

He wants us to develop addictions that bind us and limit our agency.   He wants us to get into debt that we may be bound and have our agency limited as our resources are bound toward posing of our debts and our time is taken as we have to work more to pay them.

He wants us to make choices so that we are impacted and acted upon by others rather acting of our own free will.  Things like peer pressure that makes us want to let others make our choices.   Things like making bad choices that result in loss of spouse and/or family. Our initial choices then take away or ability to choose certain things later.