1st and 2nd Samuel

Make sure to have scriptures, pen, and paper tonight. The post will be updated with the information after the class. =)

GeT eXcItEd!!

ponderings for Joshua and Judges . . .

• does the Lord ask us to do "weird" things?
• like what?
• when?
• why?

• what are the hard things He asked the children of Israel to do?
• why hard?
• what's hard for us? really hard, not just the sunday school answers.
  
• what is similar about joshua's "last lecture" and moses'?

• which characters would you like to most be like from these chapters?
  
• what characteristics would you like to steal?

thoughts for pondering from Deuteronomy:

NO GOSPEL ANSWERS! NO APPLYING TO YOUR LIFE!!

• protection: what do we protect from? why? how?
• passion, conviction, lifestyle: of what? why? how?
• rules: a mother's rules for her child -  can her child follow another's mother's rules and still be following her won mother's? how? when?
• ideal/great marriage: what are words that show this relationship? who, how, when, where do we seek ones to create this type of relationship with? what does life look like when we have this relationship? what does life look like when we don't? what in the world tells us it's okay to find it anywhere, anytime? what in our "culture" tells us it's okay to find it anywhere, anytime, etc?
• love: what is love? how is it shown? to whom is it shown? can it be demanded? how is it felt? how is it received?
• obey: when have you expected someone to obey you? why was it important for them to obey? what would happen if they hadn't - besides your personal frustrations?
• hurt: when has someone hurt you? have they been "out-to-get-you"? when have you hurt - or messed up and your boss or friend has let it go? how does that feel? how do you feel about them? why have they let it go?
• separate: when is it wise to separate good things or people? how are they separated? why and when and how is it good to bring them back together?
• struggle: how do you feel towards those who work, and strive, and struggle, and become more with your help or guidance? where do you want them?

 NOW you  can apply and think about your answers in relationship with the Lord. 

This week - June 24th - we wrote talks.
I have been thinking a lot about how we take personal responsibility for our spiritual learning and growth. I have also been thinking lots about the power of the scriptures as key to our personal accountability and responsibility. Thus, the following assignment:

Conference Talk

Sunday, October 5, 2008 * Morning Session

Topic: The Scriptures in Our Lives

Audience: Your audience is new or young members of the Church.

Goal: Inspire them to study, know, love, mark, and treasure the Scriptures.

Warnings: No TYPICAL MORMON WORDS. No phrases or words without defining them and showing what they really look like in your or other’s lives.

Ideas:

· Life Lessons you have learned from the Scriptures.

· A pattern of discipleship gained from the disciples of the Scriptures.

Quotes:

· “Do we truly know the scriptures and, therefore, the power of God?”

o Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Guided by His Exemplary Life,” Liahona, Feb 1999, 34

· “[The Book of Mormon] is also the best example of the connection between history and doctrine. I’ve come to understand and appreciate the power of scripture and history working together.”

o Marlin K. Jensen, “There Shall Be a Record Kept among You,” Liahona, Dec 2007, 26–31

· Scripture Power

o 1. Because I want to be like the Savior, and I can,
I’m reading His instructions, I’m following His plan.
Because I want the power His word will give to me,
I’m changing how I live, I’m changing what I’ll be.

Chorus

Scripture power keeps me safe from sin.
Scripture power is the power to win.
Scripture power! Ev’ry day I need
The power that I get each time I read

2. I’ll find the sword of truth in each scripture that I learn.
I’ll take the shield of faith from these pages that I turn.
I’ll wear each vital part of the armor of the Lord,
And fight my daily battles, and win a great reward.

o Scripture Power With conviction Words and music by Clive Romney

· “Do we look to the scriptures as a source of great spiritual power?”

o L. Tom Perry, “‘Give Heed unto the Word of the Lord’,” Ensign, Jun 2000, 22

· President Romney recalled; “I remember reading it with one of my lads when he was very young. … I lay in the lower bunk and he in the upper bunk. We were each reading aloud alternate paragraphs of those last three marvelous chapters of Second Nephi. I heard his voice breaking and thought he had a cold. … As we finished he said … , ‘Daddy, do you ever cry when you read the Book of Mormon?’

“‘Yes, Son, … sometimes the Spirit of the Lord so witnesses to my soul that the Book of Mormon is true that I do cry.’

“ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘that is what happened to me tonight.’ ” 8

o Richard G. Scott, “The Powerof a Strong Testimony,” Liahona, Jan 2002, 100–103

NO CLASS Tonight!!

I announced last week in class that we should have a temple night tonight since we didn't have class. I, however, think I am going to collapse and fall asleep right now. I think I need to work on getting more than 5 hours of sleep at night . . . I'm getting too old to do that!! :(

Please feel free to go and if you go and don't see me and get mad, I am sooo sorry!! I think I would crash if I drive down!!

SORRY!
--em

The Tabernacle and the Temple.

Planning of the Tabernacle. 

Bible Dictionary: Temple

A temple is literally a house of the Lord, a holy sanctuary in which sacred ceremonies and ordinances of the gospel are performed by and for the living and also in behalf of the dead. A place where the Lord may come, it is the most holy of any place of worship on the earth. Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.

Whenever the Lord has had a people on the earth who will obey his word, they have been commanded to build temples in which the ordinances of the gospel and other spiritual manifestations that pertain to exaltation and eternal life may be administered. In cases of extreme poverty or emergency, these ordinances may sometimes be done on a mountaintop (see D&C 124: 37-55). This may be the case with Mount Sinai and the Mount of Transfiguration. The tabernacle erected by Moses was a type of portable temple, since the Israelites were traveling in the wilderness.

From Adam to the time of Jesus, ordinances were performed in temples for the living only. After Jesus opened the way for the gospel to be preached in the world of spirits, ceremonial work for the dead, as well as for the living, has been done in temples on the earth by faithful members of the Church. Building and properly using a temple is one of the marks of the true Church in any dispensation, and is especially so in the present day.

Willing Heart

2 Nephi 31:13

                  

       

       

        

Lyrics to: This Is Home

I've got my memories 

Always inside of me

But I can't go back

Back to how it was 

I believe you now

I’ve come too far

No, I can’t go back

Back to how it was

 

Created for a place I’ve never known

 

Chorus:

This is home

Now I’m finally back to where I belong

Where I belong

Yeah, this is home

I’ve been searching for a place of my own

Now I’ve found it

Maybe this is home

This is home

 

Belief over misery

I’ve seen the enemy

And I won’t go back

Back to how it was

And I got my heart set on what happens next

I got my eyes wide it’s not over yet

We are miracles and we’re not alone

Chorus.

 

And now after all my searching

After all my questions

I’m gonna call it home

I’ve got a brand new mindset

I can finally see the sunset

I’m gonna call it home

 

Chorus.

 

Now I know

Yeah, this is home

 

I’ve come too far

And I won’t go back,

Yeah, this is home

The Law of Sacrifice.

• How do we continue to live the Law of Sacrifice today without offering blood sacrifices?

Alma 5: stripe of pride, envy, born again, cleanse garments, repent always.
matt 22:39 love thyself, love they neighbor as we love ourselves.
D&C 121:45 virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.
mosiah 18 bear burdens, comfort, stand as witness ALWAYS.
3 Nephi 15:16 conversations are eternally minded.
proverbs 31:9 open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
D&C 136:31 Tried in all things.