February Calendar

1/19/14 Review

1/19/14 – Teachings of the Presidents of the Church – Joseph Fielding Smith

Chapter 2 – Our Savior, Jesus Christ

President Joseph Fielding Smith said, “Let it be uppermost in your minds, now and at all times, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God who came into the world to lay down his life that we might live.  That is the truth, and is fundamental.  Upon that our faith is built.” He also said, “…all things are concentrated in and around the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world.”

President Smith declared that “I couldn’t be a special witness of Jesus Christ if I didn’t have the absolute and positive knowledge that He is the Son of God and Redeemer of the world.”

Question to ponder:  As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we are also to stand as special witnesses of Him.  Do we possess the positive knowledge that He is the Son of God and Redeemer of the world?

President Smith testified of the Savior to his sons while they were serving full-time missions for the Church.  He testified to his reflections and of the things he learned while reading the scriptures, of the mission of the Lord, what he did for him, personally, and he stated that he could not be untrue to the Savior.  The Savior loves us with a perfect love and we must love Him in return. 

His sons recounted the following:

“[Once] as I sat alone with my father in his study, I observed that he had been in deep meditation.  I hesitated to break the silence, but finally he spoke. ‘Oh, my son, I wish you could have been with me last Thursday as I met with my Brethren in the temple.  Oh, if you could have heard them testify of their love for their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!’ And then he lowered his head, and tears streamed from his face and dropped to his shirt.  Then, after many seconds, without as much as raising his head, but moving his head back and forth, he said, ‘Oh, how I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!’”

Questions to ponder:  Who is Jesus Christ?  Who is He to you?  What characteristics does He have?

President Smith said,

“We know that salvation is in Christ, that he was the Firstborn Son of the Eternal Father; that he was chosen and foreordain dint he councils of heaven to work out the infinite and eternal atonement; that he was born into the world as the Son of God; and that he has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

We believe with perfect surety that Christ came to ransom men from the temporal and spiritual death brought into the world by the fall of Adam and that he took upon himself the sins of all men on condition of repentance.”

What do we learn from this quote? 

Who is Heavenly Father in relation to Jesus Christ, and who are they both to us?

We know through modern revelation that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are two separate personages, but are one in purpose.  We are spirit sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven.  Jesus Christ is the son of Heavenly Father in the spirit and in the flesh, the Only Begotten in the flesh.  He is our elder brother.  We become the sons and daughters of Jesus Christ through His Atonement and through our covenants and obedience to Him. 

“The scriptures teach us that Jesus Christ is both the Father and the Son.  The simple truth is that he is the Son of God by birth, both in the spirit and in the flesh.  He is the Father because of the work he has performed….The savior becomes our Father, in the sense in which this term is used in the scriptures, because he offers us life, eternal life, through the atonement which he made for us.  In the wonderful instructions given by King Benjamin we find this:  ‘And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.´ [Mosiah 5:7; see also verses 8-11.]”

Question to ponder:  What does it mean to take upon the name of Christ? 

In Moroni 9:25 we read:  “My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto ^adeath; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and ^blong-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your ^cmindforever.”

Questions to ponder:  What are some specific ways we can pattern our lives after the life of Jesus Christ?  When we follow His example, how might we influence the lives of others?  What are some specific things we can do to be more like the Savior?

President Smith said, “We must believe in Christ and pattern our lives after Him.  We must be baptized s He was baptized.  We must worship the Father as He did.  We must do the will of the Father as He did.  We must seek to do good and work righteousness as He did.  He is our Exemplar, the great Prototype of salvation.”

President Smith made this simple, yet powerful statement concerning the Savior:  “I pray that we may all walk in His footsteps and keep his commandments so that we may be like Him.  This is my desire.  I hope it is yours.”

1/12/14 Review

1/12/14 – Teachings of the Presidents of the Church – Joseph Fielding Smith

Chapter 1 – Our Father in Heaven

“True and faithful.” For President Joseph Fielding Smith, this was more than an often-repeated phrase.  It was a heartfelt expression of his hope for all people.  It was also a description of his life, from his childhood through his service as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

How do we endeavor to be true and faithful? 

President Smith said, “It is my desire to remind you of the nature and kind of being that God is, so that you may worship him in spirit and in truth and thereby gain all of the blessings of his gospel.”

President Smith marveled at the technology and advances of his day, yet was concerned about another trend he saw in the world.  He lamented: “All of these discoveries and inventions have not drawn men nearer to God! Nor created in their hearts humility and the spirit of repentance, but to the contrary, to their condemnation….Faith has not increased in the world, nor has righteousness, nor obedience to God.”

President Smith recalled his grandfather’s prayers, which were always very personal.  He said they were “as if talking to a friend.”

What leads a person to be able to talk to Heavenly Father as if to a friend?  Some reasons might include: we are confident you are in good standing with Him; we’ve done if for a long time, and built up the habit and relationship; we have to have the knowledge and belief in Him.

Beginning with Joseph Smith’s First Vision, the true knowledge of God has been restored in our day.  From modern revelation, what are God’s characteristics?  We know that the Father and the Son were separate personages; they have tangible bodies as the body of man; we were created in God’s image; his “unchangeable”; the framer of heaven and earth; the literal and personal father of the spirits of men; He is omnipotent and omniscient; He has all power and all wisdom; He possesses all of the knowledge, faith, power, justice, judgment, mercy, truth, and the fullness of all godly attributes. 

President Smith said, “We know that Heavenly Father is a glorified, exalted personage who has all power, all might, and all dominion, and that He knows all things.  We testify that He, through His Only Begotten Son, is the Creator of this earth and of worlds without number.”

Question to ponder:  Who are we to Heavenly Father?  How has he shown His love to us? How can we help our family members feel like that?

The Lord said to Moses:  “…For behold there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power.  And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man, but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them.” [Moses 1:35]

And in verse 37, He told Moses: “…The ^aheavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine.”

Heavenly Father has provided, through His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Plan of Salvation, the way of redemption so we can be brought back to His presence. 

President Smith tells us that “a gracious and loving Father has in these last days spoken again from heaven to his servants the prophets….His voice has been one inviting all men to come t His Beloved Son, to learn of Him, to partake of His goodness, to take His yoke upon them, and to work out their salvation by obedience to the laws of His gospel.  His voice has been one of glory and honor, of peace in this life, and of eternal life in the world to come.”