For one last journal entry this month I thought I would put in some kind of random thoughts I put together to share at a meeting. I was asked to talk about "The Role of the Church" from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 2010 Handbook. In the handbook it states, "The Church provides the organization and means for teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to all of God's Children. It provides the priesthood authority to administer the ordinances of salvation and exaltation to all who are worthy and willing to accept them." Hope this makes sense to anyone who chooses to read…
The organization of the Church helps us put the knowledge of the gospel into motion. Our Heavenly Father has laid this out to help us reach our full potential as a human being on the earth. It enables us to be taught and then choose with our free agency the path required to salvation & exaltation. The most obvious way is through the ordinance of baptism and then later temple covenants we make; but it is also found in the week to week progress that goes on each Sunday as we come to church. Not only do we have the privilege of partaking of the sacrament, through the means of the priesthood, to remind us of these covenants and recommit to follow the Savior's teachings, we each take turns to serve in different capacities to help fellow members learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a great to see the joy and happiness that comes into their lives as they do the will of the Lord. Other times we get to the chance to be the one who support the leaders by being humble & teachable. Either way gives us the opportunity to spiritually prepare ourselves for the ultimate goal of exaltation. Really stop to think about it??
Our family scripture study this week gave me an opportunity to see how the role of the church worked back even in the days of Alma.
In the middle of the book of Alma, Alma heads a mission to reclaim the apostate Zoramites who have denied Christ and built the Rameumpton to worship with set prayers. When he gets there, Alma prays and begins to go forth preaching the word of God in their synagogues, houses, and streets. After much labor, he eventually ends up finding some people who were "humbled because of their afflictions." These people were not allowed to meet with the apostate people because of the "coarseness of their apparel". Alma is able to have success to teach these people. As he teaches he compares the word unto a seed that must be planted and nourished. He explains that when the seed is nourished, "it can grow into a tree from which the fruit of eternal life is picked." In verse 23 of Chapter 33 in Alma, He says, "And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so noursith it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son And even all this can ye do if ye will. Amen." This is the part that sticks with me the most from both the paragraph in the handbook as well as the end of verse 23 is that they each remind us of our free agency: the handbook states: "all who are worthy and willing to accept them". The verse says:"And even all this can ye do if ye will." So it's essentially up to us. It is important for us to remember to do what our leaders ask of us –if it is from the Prophet and Apostles, our Area Authorities, Stake Presidency, Bishopric, and on down – we should be willing to accept and be ready to be humble and do the things we are taught. My nephew is on a mission in Paraguay right now. His letter from last Monday shared an experience of a less active family he and his companion have been working with. The dad of the family continuously told the missionaries week after week that he would be at church on Sunday, and week after week my nephew and his companion would be devastated that they had not come – but the missionaries persisted. Finally a week in a half ago on a Thursday this father told the missionaries he was tired of lying to them and that he would not be at church the coming Sunday. The missionaries were deflated because they had invested a lot of energy in the form of prayer and faith on this family's behalf. They went back on Saturday and had a great visit and a defining moment where my nephew said he was inspired to share certain scriptures about Nephi and Captian Moroni and then invite this father to be like the men in the scriptures. He then followed up and expressed how much he loved and genuinely cared for their family. The next day was Sunday, in his letter Elder Babock said, "Sunday, right as sacrament meeting was about to start, Claudio Ferreira and the whole family came walking through the front doors. I felt such a love for them, and for the tender mercies that the Lord always shows us. I came to learn something that a great missionary once taught me: 'We don't discourage members, we encourage them to become great leaders and members.' I know without a doubt that we can all become like the great scriptures heros and leaders, if we just have faith and take that faith to action. I came to learn that great lesson this Sunday, and am thankful for the knowledge that the Lord has trusted in me.