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The lesson for the week was Chapter 16, The Church of Jesus Christ in Former Times. We had two special guest teachers who worked together to present the lesson while teacher Traci Cline enjoyed a Hawaiian holiday with her family. Melissa Jones and Brittany Shaw, both home for a time from BYU Idaho, did a great job of sharing this material with the sisters. As our 6th Article of Faith tells us, we believe in the same organization that existed in the Church when it was organized by the Lord when he was on the earth during his mortal ministry and when he visited the Nephites shortly after His mortal ministry ended. Six foundational elements existed in that primitive church that are necessary to make it truly the Lord's Church
1. Revelation is a vital element in His church.He personally organized the Church and instructed and directed the leaders He had chosen, according to the instructions He received from His Father in Heaven. This is the rock upon which the Church would always be built: divine direction which would continue even after He had left them by way of the Holy Ghost which was given to them for the purpose of providing comfort and direction and revelation forever.
2. Authority from God was also necessary for the Church to function as God wanted it to. The priesthood, divine authority to act for God here on earth, was given to His Apostles by Jesus Christ, who had received that same authority from His Father. Order was placed on the Church through this priesthood and the manner that it could be given to those who were worthy by those who held the keys to the various functions that were required. All this is done through revelation as Jesus, through the Holy Ghost did and still does let it be known that He approves of the ordinations and appointments in His holy priesthood.
3.The Church organization was designed to best accomplish the work that was necessary to take the gospel to all the world and minister to the needs of those who embraced and lived the gospel in any given area. With Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone, a foundation of apostles and prophets, Seventies and patriarchs and presiding local leaders was formed and the governing of the church by the twelve apostles was established.
4.The doctrine of the gospel was uniformly based on the principles of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, all He was and all He did and especially His Great Atonement, repentance, made possible and meaningful by that faith in Christ, and the ordinances of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins and membership in the Church, and laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. These first principles and ordinances of the gospel allow entrance into His kingdom here on earth, and provide the foundation for all the other elements of the Lord's Church.
5.Ordinances performed for the dead were provided to allow all of God's children to have access to the saving ordinances even if they did not have the opportunity to have them while on the earth. They can learn of the gospel in the spirit world and the living can do for them what they can no longer do for themselves.
6. Spiritual gifts are a necessary component of the Lord's Church. All are entitled to one or more of the gifts of the Spirit, given according to individual needs and desire, to bless their own lives or the lives of others.
Because of the great apostasy history has shown that the Church of Jesus Christ did not survive intact after the deaths of the twelve apostles who were to govern it. Apostolic authority and the keys to govern the church were taken. While various elements of the church remained, more and more error crept into the doctrine and ordinances were altered and soon the everlasting covenant was broken and spiritual darkness covered the earth. In both the Old and New Testaments, the restoration of the true gospel was foretold and the restitution of all things was promised in the latter days.
Next Week: TFOT with Peggy Campbell "You Are My Hands" by President Uchtdorf.
Have a great week.
The Relief Society Presidency
1. Revelation is a vital element in His church.He personally organized the Church and instructed and directed the leaders He had chosen, according to the instructions He received from His Father in Heaven. This is the rock upon which the Church would always be built: divine direction which would continue even after He had left them by way of the Holy Ghost which was given to them for the purpose of providing comfort and direction and revelation forever.
2. Authority from God was also necessary for the Church to function as God wanted it to. The priesthood, divine authority to act for God here on earth, was given to His Apostles by Jesus Christ, who had received that same authority from His Father. Order was placed on the Church through this priesthood and the manner that it could be given to those who were worthy by those who held the keys to the various functions that were required. All this is done through revelation as Jesus, through the Holy Ghost did and still does let it be known that He approves of the ordinations and appointments in His holy priesthood.
3.The Church organization was designed to best accomplish the work that was necessary to take the gospel to all the world and minister to the needs of those who embraced and lived the gospel in any given area. With Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone, a foundation of apostles and prophets, Seventies and patriarchs and presiding local leaders was formed and the governing of the church by the twelve apostles was established.
4.The doctrine of the gospel was uniformly based on the principles of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, all He was and all He did and especially His Great Atonement, repentance, made possible and meaningful by that faith in Christ, and the ordinances of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins and membership in the Church, and laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. These first principles and ordinances of the gospel allow entrance into His kingdom here on earth, and provide the foundation for all the other elements of the Lord's Church.
5.Ordinances performed for the dead were provided to allow all of God's children to have access to the saving ordinances even if they did not have the opportunity to have them while on the earth. They can learn of the gospel in the spirit world and the living can do for them what they can no longer do for themselves.
6. Spiritual gifts are a necessary component of the Lord's Church. All are entitled to one or more of the gifts of the Spirit, given according to individual needs and desire, to bless their own lives or the lives of others.
Because of the great apostasy history has shown that the Church of Jesus Christ did not survive intact after the deaths of the twelve apostles who were to govern it. Apostolic authority and the keys to govern the church were taken. While various elements of the church remained, more and more error crept into the doctrine and ordinances were altered and soon the everlasting covenant was broken and spiritual darkness covered the earth. In both the Old and New Testaments, the restoration of the true gospel was foretold and the restitution of all things was promised in the latter days.
Next Week: TFOT with Peggy Campbell "You Are My Hands" by President Uchtdorf.
Have a great week.
The Relief Society Presidency
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