Sunday, May 31, 2015

Youth Lesson - How does reverence help me receive revelation?

What have you learned in your personal gospel study this week?

Have you had any gospel conversations with friends or family that you would like to share?

Did you all hear that Elder Perry died.

Did you all go to stake conference a couple weeks ago? What did they talk about in stake conference?

Here are a few things I heard:

They asked the question, "When was the last time you knelt in prayer and asked your father in heaven what he would like you to understand in your patriarchal blessing?"

Have any of you received your patriarchal blessings? What is a patriarchal blessing?

They quoted Bishop Gary E Stevenson, in his April 2014 talk Your Four Minutes
"I express my utmost confidence in your abilities. You have the Savior of the world on your side. If you seek His help and follow His directions, how can you fail?"

The Layton stakes are being shifted from the Ogden temple district to the Bountiful temple district. How do you guys feel about that.

We are going to talk about, "How does reverence help me receive revelation?"

What is reverence?

Psalms 46:10
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Part of reverence is being still. Is there more to being still than just folding your arms and keeping your mouth quiet?

With that in mind, think again about "be still... And know that I am God."

Does anyone have the Come Follow Me manual on your device? Have you been to the Come Follow Me web site to see all the things they have there on gospel topics to help youth figure out gospel stuff?

Could someone read the quote on reverence fun the manual?
"When we are reverent, we show our love for God and are better able to receive personal revelation. A reverent attitude helps make us more sensitive to the still, small voice of the Spirit. If we treat sacred things with reverence, Heavenly Father will trust us and reveal to us additional truths."

Why would Heavenly Father wait for us to show reverence for what he has given us before giving us more?

Let's say a parent gives a child a knife when they are old enough and the parent had explained what a knife is, what it does and the consequences of not being careful with it. What if that child starts swinging it around and not respecting that they are holding a knife? Will the parent trust the child with an ax or a gun or even a crystal vase?

These are all things one should be careful with. The parent will likely not only not trust them with other dangerous or fragile things, but the parent will likely take back the thing the kid was entrusted with in the first place.

When we are playing with toys we perhaps can be somewhat casual, but when we are given a knife things just got serious, right?

The same is true of the gospel. We can be joking about video games or movies, but when someone brings up Jesus, things just got serious.  We are much more reverent when the topic of Jesus or other sacred things are brought up.

Give reverence to sacred things
Reverence can mean to hold something sacred.  We give reverence to the temple, the sacrament, and the Savior because these are things that we hold sacred.  Do you have anything else that you hold sacred?

Dnc 63:64
64 Remember that that which cometh from above is sacred, and must be spoken with care, and by constraint of the Spirit; and in this there is no condemnation, and ye receive the Spirit through prayer; wherefore, without this there remaineth condemnation.

Things that come from above must be spoken with  care. What does that mean?

The scripture also says to speak of sacred things by constraint of the spirit. What does that mean?

Some things we only talk about when the spirit tells us to.   What are examples of some sacred things the Lord might ask you not to speak of except when told to by the Spirit.

Things like visions or words of blessings (like patriarchal blessings or guidance received when ordained to a calling).   What about our sins and our repentance process?  Is that sacred? Kind of weird to think of our sins as sacred isn't it?

Nephi was constrained not to write about John's revelation because it was John's calling.

So that is a little about what reverence is, but how can reverence help us receive revelation? What do you think?

Elder Oaks in last general conference had this to say about having reverence for the Sacrament :
"If the emblems of the sacrament are being passed and you are texting or whispering or playing video games or doing anything else to deny yourself essential spiritual food, you are severing your spiritual roots."

When we are irreverent when we ought to be paying close attention we are disconnecting from the spirit. What is critical to receiving revelation?... The spirit or the Holy Ghost, right?

So reverence helps us lock into the Holy Ghost and prepare to receive revelation.

Have any of you have experienced receiving inspiration from the Holy Ghost when you have been reverent that you would like to share?

Look up  reverence and revelation in true to the Faith and have class read.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Youth Lesson - What can I learn from living prophets and apostles? - 3 May 2015

What have you learned in your personal gospel study this week?

Have you had any gospel conversations with friends or family that you would like to share?

Today we are going to talk about:  What can I learn from living prophets and apostles?

Past prophets had specific instructions for the people in the times they lived in. The instructions and things they were asked to do were specific to their time but are things that we can learn from and much still applies to us, because they are key points of the gospel in all ages like the ten commandments and the beatitudes.

Some past prophets were specifically writing to our day that we might be prepared for things to come in our day. Some of the prophets that wrote to us or about us were Isaiah, John, and Moroni.

Can you think of scriptures that are specifically for our day? Use your topical guide and see what you can find.

The living prophets and apostles receive revelation to guide the Church, and their counsel reflects the will of the Lord, who knows us perfectly and understands our challenges. Their teachings can help us with the challenges we face today. We are blessed to be led by living prophets and apostles and to receive their counsel every six months during general conference.

What are some items of counsel or commandment that living prophets have given to the church in the last day?  (word of wisdom, FHE, food storage)

What are some things you remember from our current general conference that the prophet and apostles talked to us about that are very specific to what is going on in our world now.  (tolerance, freedom to choose,

DnC 1:38
38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

Let’s look at some thoughts from our prophet from last general conference.
"let us consider our callings; let us reflect on our responsibilities; let us determine our duty; and let us follow Jesus Christ, our Lord."
...
"Let us take most seriously the callings, the responsibilities, and the duties... " - President Monson

What is a calling?

What is the difference between duty and responsibility?

I saw someone online describe the difference between duty and responsibility like this :
" Duty is that you ought to do. Duty is derived from certain rights. For instance, it is my duty as a father to feed my kids. Violation of duty is a serious offense. Whereas, responsibility can be any commitment towards anything where you are free to obey or not to obey.."

Go around the room and ask each of them what their calling is.  (church calling, daughter, sister, mother, son, brother)

It is my belief that all women are called from birth to be mothers. Not in the sense to bear children, but to raise up everyone around them.

Go around the room and ask what are their responsibilities.

Go around the room and ask what is one of their duties.

What else did our prophet share with us during our last conference?

This year we anticipate rededicating 2 temples and dedicating 5 new temples which are scheduled for completion.

“For the past two years, as we have concentrated our efforts on completing previously announced temples, we have held in abeyance plans for any additional temples. This morning, however, I am very pleased to announce three new temples which will be built in the following locations: Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Port-au-Prince, Haiti; and Bangkok, Thailand.“

The prophet is guiding the work of the Lord in this time of great expansion of the Church and the work of the Lord.  He is sharing with us and allowing us to share in the great joy of temple building.  What does it feel like when a temple is announced that is built in our town, or in a place that is significant to us, or in a place that has world significance?

When President Monson once announced the first temple in my home state of Indiana it was a great feeling for me, even though I am now far from there.  That temple is now getting ready to be dedicated.

When he announced the temple in Rome, Italy you could hear a reaction from the audience as it sunk into them what this could mean.  Rome is the headquarters to the Catholic church, which is likely the Christian church with the most members worldwide.  They consider their church to be descended directly from Peter while he was still alive.

The prophet also talked about our behavior in the temple and some of the purpose of temples.
“As we enter through the doors of the temple, we leave behind us the distractions and confusion of the world. Inside this sacred sanctuary, we find beauty and order. There is rest for our souls and a respite from the cares of our lives.

“As we attend the temple, there can come to us a dimension of spirituality and a feeling of peace which will transcend any other feeling which could come into the human heart. We will grasp the true meaning of the words of the Savior when He said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. … Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”1

He tells us to leave behind distractions when we enter the temple.  He tells us that the temple is a sanctuary from things of the world.  He tells us that there is peace in the temple.  In that peace we can find clarity about things that are troubling us.


In his conference talk the prophet also talks about overcoming temptations as we visit the temple.
“My brothers and sisters, in our lives we will have temptations; we will have trials and challenges. As we go to the temple, as we remember the covenants we make there, we will be better able to overcome those temptations and to bear our trials. In the temple we can find peace.”

He tells us will have trials and challenges, but as we go to the temple and remember our covenants, we will better be able to fight temptation when we are outside the temple.