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Uchtdorf - Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear - April 2017

11/26/2017

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President Uchtdorf speaks about the world's way of motivating people through fear and threat.  He shares that there are better ways to inspire people to make better decisions in their life.
  • My message has two purposes today: The first is to urge us to contemplate and consider the extent to which we use fear to motivate others—including ourselves. The second is to suggest a better way.

Speaking about fear, President Uchtdorf shares that fear seldom changes our hearts but instead gives us short bursts of compliance but isn't long-lasting.
  • Fear rarely has the power to change our hearts, and it will never transform us into people who love what is right and who want to obey Heavenly Father.
  • People who are fearful may say and do the right things, but they do not feel the right things. They often feel helpless and resentful, even angry. Over time these feelings lead to mistrust, defiance, even rebellion.

President Uchtdorf says there is a better way to help people and lead people in all aspects of our lives.  He shares that God is concerned with who we are in our hearts and if our hearts are changed, our behaviors will follow closely behind.
  • But He wants to change more than just our behaviors. He wants to change our very natures. He wants to change our hearts.
  • He wants us to reach out and take firm hold of the iron rod, confront our fears, and bravely step forward and upward along the strait and narrow path. He wants this for us because He loves us and because this is the way to happiness.
  • God motivates through persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and love unfeigned. God is on our side. He loves us, and when we stumble, He wants us to rise up, try again, and become stronger.

In our efforts to become more Christlike, President Uchtdorf shares that we need to love, be humble, and not look down on others.
  • Therefore, let us serve God and love our fellowmen. Let us do this with a natural confidence, with humility, never looking down on any other religion or group of people.

He concludes with some of the characteristics of God that we can emulate to become better leaders of others and better disciples of the Savior
  • Christ’s perfect love overcomes temptations to harm, coerce, bully, or oppress.
  • Christ’s perfect love allows us to walk with humility, dignity, and a bold confidence as followers of our beloved Savior. Christ’s perfect love gives us the confidence to press through our fears and place our complete trust in the power and goodness of our Heavenly Father and of His Son, Jesus Christ.
  • Loving God and our fellowmen will turn our obedience to God’s commandments into a blessing rather than a burden. Christ’s love will help us become a little kinder, more forgiving, more caring, and more dedicated to His work.

How grateful I am that we are moving away from motivating with fear rather than the love of Christ.  Several years ago there was a talk about there being no room in Christlike service for motivating with guilt.  Since that talk, I have tried to express the need to reach out to others, not as a guilt factor because of home teaching numbers are due next week, or it's the end of the month and I haven't checked on my families.  Rather, I have tried to encourage people to have stewardship over the families assigned to them.  I have encouraged them to want to do what the Lord would do.  I have encouraged one on one motivation to reach out to people that the Lord needs to be reached out to.  Guilt and fear are Satan's tools combated with the pure love of the Savior.  I hope we can look at our personal lives and find ways to bring people to Christ through love rather than fear.
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Oaks - The Godhead and the Plan of Salvation - April 2017

11/25/2017

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At the inception of the restoration is a basic truth that was lost for centuries in other religions.  The first thing restored to the earth at the restoration was the knowledge that God and Jesus Christ are separate beings.
  • In his First Vision, Joseph Smith saw two distinct personages, two beings, thus clarifying that the then-prevailing beliefs concerning God and the Godhead were not true.

Joseph Smith instructed us in the Doctrine and Covenants about the nature of the Godhead.
  • We know that the three members of the Godhead are separate and distinct beings. We know this from instruction given by the Prophet Joseph Smith: “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.”

A brief explanation of the plan of salvation is explained and why we needed a Savior to complete the plan of our Heavenly Father.
  • As spirit children of God, in an existence prior to mortality, we desired a destiny of eternal life but had progressed as far as we could without a mortal experience in a physical body. To provide that opportunity, our Heavenly Father presided over the Creation of this world, where, deprived of our memory of what preceded our mortal birth, we could prove our willingness to keep His commandments and experience and grow through the other challenges of mortal life. But in the course of that mortal experience, and as a result of the Fall of our first parents, we would suffer spiritual death by being cut off from the presence of God, be soiled by sin, and become subject to physical death. The Father’s plan anticipated and provided ways to overcome all of those barriers.

Elder Oaks speaks about each of the Godhead individually and their unique role in the Plan of Salvation.
  • God the Father is the Father of our spirits. We are His children. He loves us, and all that He does is for our eternal benefit. He is the author of the plan of salvation, and it is by His power that His plan achieves its purposes for the ultimate glory of His children.
  • On those unique and sacred occasions when God the Father personally introduced the Son, He has said, “This is my beloved Son: hear him.” Thus, it is Jesus Christ, Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel, who speaks to and through the prophets. So it is that when Jesus appeared to the Nephites after His Resurrection, He introduced Himself as “the God of the whole earth.” So it is that Jesus often speaks to the prophets of the Book of Mormon and to the Latter-day Saints as “the Father and the Son.”
  • The Savior promised that the Comforter will teach us all things, bring all things to our remembrance, and guide us into all truth. Thus, the Holy Ghost helps us discern between truth and falsehood, guides us in our major decisions, and helps us through the challenges of mortality. He is also the means by which we are sanctified, that is, cleansed and purified from sin.

Knowing the truths we know as member of the church provides us the greatest knowledge concerning our purpose here in life.  We understand the mind and will of God in bringing us home to Him again after this life.
  • Because we have the truth about the Godhead and our relationship to Them, the purpose of life, and the nature of our eternal destiny, we have the ultimate road map and assurance for our journey through mortality. We know whom we worship and why we worship. We know who we are and what we can become. We know who makes it all possible, and we know what we must do to enjoy the ultimate blessings that come through God’s plan of salvation. How do we know all of this? We know by the revelations of God to His prophets and to each of us individually.

Finally, Elder Oaks provides this memorable quote about what the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation does for us.
  • In contrast to the institutions of the world, which teach us to know something, the plan of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ challenge us to become something.

I love looking a the three of four key points of doctrine that make the LDS Church different from all other religions.  The first truth that makes us different is our belief in separate beings in the Godhead.  I love that this simple knowledge was restored in the Sacred Grove when Joseph Smith experienced the First Vision.  How grateful I am to know that I can have a personal relationship with the Savior and learn more about the Father and the Son through the Holy Ghost.  Elder Oaks gives us great insights into the nature of the Godhead, tells us their Plan of Salvation for us, and gives us hope that we can return to live with God after this life.  The plan is real and we have a loving Father in Heaven who desires all of His children to return to Him.
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Clayton - Whatsoever He Saith unto You, Do It -  April 2017

11/24/2017

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Elder L. Whitney Clayton speaks about the need to do whatever the Lord asks of us.  He speaks about obedience and doing what the Lord desires in faith, even when we don't understand why or how it will benefit us.
  • When we decide to do “whatsoever [God] saith unto” us, we earnestly commit to align our everyday behavior with God’s will. Such simple acts of faith as studying the scriptures daily, fasting regularly, and praying with real intent deepen our well of spiritual capacity to meet the demands of mortality. Over time, simple habits of belief lead to miraculous results. They transform our faith from a seedling into a dynamic power for good in our lives. Then, when challenges come our way, our rootedness in Christ provides steadfastness for our souls. God shores up our weaknesses, increases our joys, and causes “all things [to] work together for [our] good.”

He speaks about a discussion he had with a Bishop who was counseling members of his ward on various things.  This bishop observed how obedience was vital even when we don't understand how the guidance will help us.
  • I have observed that those who are deliberate about doing the “small and simple things”—obeying in seemingly little ways—are blessed with faith and strength that go far beyond the actual acts of obedience themselves and, in fact, may seem totally unrelated to them. It may seem hard to draw a connection between the basic daily acts of obedience and solutions to the big, complicated problems we face. But they are related. In my experience, getting the little daily habits of faith right is the single best way to fortify ourselves against the troubles of life, whatever they may be. Small acts of faith, even when they seem insignificant or entirely disconnected from the specific problems that vex us, bless us in all we do.

Patience is also important when we talk about obedience.  The result we are hoping for are not always given right away.
  • Some rewards of obedience do come quickly; others come only after we are tested.
  • God will always bless us for our steadfast obedience to His gospel and loyalty to His Church, but He rarely shows us His timetable for doing so in advance. He doesn’t show us the whole picture from the outset. That is where faith, hope, and trusting in the Lord come in.
  • God asks us to bear with Him—to trust Him and to follow Him. He pleads with us to “dispute not because ye see not.” He cautions us that we shouldn’t expect easy answers or quick fixes from heaven. Things work out when we stand firm during the “trial of [our] faith,” however hard that test may be to endure or slow the answer may be in coming. I am not speaking of “blind obedience” but of thoughtful confidence in the perfect love and the perfect timing of the Lord.

Finally, Elder Clayton reiterates the need for obedience in the small and simple things that we do each day.  Keeping these small and sometimes inconsequential actions allows us to show our faith, demonstrate our patience, and show our diligence in doing all that the Lord asks of us.
  • The trial of our faith will always involve staying true to simple, daily practices of faith. Then, and only then, does He promise that we will receive the divine response for which we long. Only once we have proven our willingness to do what He asks without demanding to know the whens, the whys, and the hows do we “reap the rewards of [our] faith, and [our] diligence, and patience, and long-suffering.” Real obedience accepts God’s commandments unconditionally and in advance.

Sometimes it is hard to do everything that the Lord asks of us.  I know recently I have found it hard to accomplish my household duties and my church responsibilities in a manner that I am pleased with.  I wish I had more time, less responsibilities at home and more time to devote to serving the Lord.  But I also know that God knows the demands that are on us.  He knows of my personal struggles to keep my household moving and meet the demands of my calling.  How grateful I am for the ability to start fresh, start anew, and to recommit myself to doing what the Lord needs me to do.  There is no room for guilt in the kingdom of God.  So let's move forward in keeping our commitments to the Savior, refocus on what matters most, and get back to doing what the Lord needs us to accomplish.
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