10/19/14 Review

Important Dates

• Sat. Oct 25: Ward Trunk-or-Treat, 10am at the Thomasville Rd Building!
• Wear costumes (no masks) and get ready for a fun time! Cake walk, games and trunk-or-treating for the kids! 
• Nov 1: Adult Temple Trip--seats still available for bus, see Bro or Sis Kent for details

Oct 2014 Lesson Schedule

• Oct 5: General Conference
• Oct 12: Chapter 19: In the World by Not of the World
• Oct 19: Chapter 20: Love and Concern for All Our Father's Children
• Oct 26: Conference Talk: TBA

Lesson Review

10/19/14 – Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Joseph Fielding Smith

Chapter 20 – Love and Concern for All Our Father’s Children

President Joseph Fielding Smith said, “I think if all men knew and understood who they are, and were aware of the divine source from whence they came….they would have feelings of kindness and kinship for each other that would change their whole way of living and bring peace on earth.”

Questions to ponder:  Joseph Fielding Smith, Jr., and John J. Stewart shared three examples of “thoughtful little things” that President Joseph Fielding Smith had done. What experiences have you had when people have shown love and concern for you?  What can we do to establish similar patterns of kindness in our lives?

President Smith said, “…our belief in the dignity and destiny of man is an essential part both of our theology and of our way of life. It is the very basis of our Lord’s teaching that ‘the first and great commandment’ is ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind’; and the second great commandment is: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’” (See Matt. 22:37-39)

Question to ponder:  What does it mean to you to keep the commandments in Matthew 22:37-40?

President Smith further said, “Because God is our Father, we have a natural desire to love and serve him and to be worthy members of his family. We felt an obligation to do what he would have us do, to keep his commandments and live in harmony with the standards of his gospel – all of which are essential parts of true worship….And because all men are our brothers, we have a desire to love and bless and fellowship them – and this too we accept as an essential part of true worship.”

President Smith counseled that it is “our solemn duty to love one another, to believe in each other, to have faith in each other, that it is our duty to overlook the faults and the failings of each other, and not to magnify them in our own eyes nor before the eyes of the world. There should be no faultfinding, no back-biting, no evil speaking, one against another, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. WE should be true to each other and to every principle of our religion and not be envious of one another. We should not be jealous one of another, nor angry with each other, and there should not arise in our hearts a feeling that we will not forgive one another our trespasses. There should be no feeling in the hearts of the children of God of unforgiveness against any man, no matter who he may be.”

President Smith further said that if we should “stand united together seeing eye to eye and overcoming our sins and imperfections. If we will do this, respecting all the commandments of the Lord, we shall be a power in the world for good; we shall overwhelm and overcome all evil, all opposition to the truth, and bring to pass righteousness upon the face of the earth. For the Gospel will be spread and the people in the world will feel the influence which will be shed forth from the people of Zion, and they will be inclined more to repent of their sins and to receive the truth.”