Sunday Report

Sunday's lesson was a fifth Sunday presentation under the direction of the bishopric. Brother Farish spent a few minutes giving a quick overview of the newly revised Duty to God program for the Aaronic Priesthood. He presented it as no longer a check list format but rather a process focusing on helping young men become life long worthy priesthood holders. They will be preparing to be missionaries, husbands and fathers and leaders in the Lord's Church. The program will be more completely explained at the September 22 Court of Honor for parents and youth. Brother Kropilniki spoke on the need to make sure that our actions reflect our eternal goals. Our choices must support our covenants and desires to return to live with our Heavenly Father and our own families. Brigham Young once expressed his confidence that the Saints could successfully survive the trials and hardships that faced them but that he was concerned that the time would come when the tests of prosperity would be serious challenges to their faithfulness. With so much at our fingertips, are we always choosing that which will help us stay on the path to the Celestial Kingdom? Sister Vach continued on a similar theme when she reminded us that in April conference both President Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve and Sister Beck General President of the Relief Society stressed the need for both priesthood holders and sisters to be blessed with power. Priesthood holders must not only receive and honor the authority of the priesthood, but through righteous obedience and service gain the power of that priesthood. Sisters should seek for the power of personal revelation which will guide and sustain them in every aspect of their lives, helping them to serve their families and those for whom they have been given stewardship by virtue of their callings and visiting teaching assignments. She warned of the many distractions that creep so easily into our lives and keep us from doing all we can to further our quest for personal righteousness and inspiration. Are we really acting upon what we know to be true by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost especially in how we spend the precious hours of each day? We are seeking to become a person worthy to live again with Heavenly Father. Elder Oaks spoke of the danger of dealing with choices between good, better and best. Those choices will, in a cumulative way, determine whether what we become eternally will be what we covenanted to become at baptism and in the temple. Brother Holt spoke on the role that callings play in helping us become what the Lord knows we can become. Callings, coming from God through revelation, are given to us that we might learn and grow by seeking to learn and do the Lord's will in that calling. The process of setting apart is a consecration of the will of the Lord for us, a priesthood blessing that counsels and encourages us and prepares us to magnify the calling to the blessing of ourselves and others. We are promised as we accept and seek to magnify a calling the Lord will be at our side and angels will bear us up in our service. The Bishop encouraged us to strengthen our faith in Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We must have that strong faith in order to allow us to seek repentance and trust in the will of the Lord in all things. Without that faith we cannot count on the help that They desire to give us in any righteous endeavor we undertake, from raising our families and doing our callings to perfecting ourselves and helping others to gain that same faith. We gain that strong faith by reading, studying and pondering the scriptures, and the words of the modern day prophets, seers and revelators that come to us each conference in the talks given by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. That is in reality the word of the Lord for our day and time and for the world in which we live and as such is a vital element to complete the ancient scriptures we have been given. This is what sets us apart from other Christian churches: that we know that God continues to speak in our day because we need His guidance that can only come to us in that way. Without it we are not armed and prepared to deal with the choices and temptations and adversities and even the prosperity of our day.

Next Sunday Presidency Message by Mary Vach

Have a great week!

The Relief Society Presidency