Good afternoon sisters. What a wonderful and uplifting day this has been.
THOUGHT: “The overwhelming message of the Atonement is the perfect love the Savior has for each and all of us. It is a love which is full of mercy, patience grace, equity, long-suffering, and , above all, forgiving”.
Ensign, Nov. 2001, 18, 20
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Mark your calendars for March 6th, Our Ward Anniversary Annual Endowment Session. Be at the temple chapel by 7:45 pm for a special session.
- Jen Rutter had her sweet baby girl on Tuesday. They are both doing fine and is much loved by the brothers.
- Thanks for all the help this week, either with Jen Rutter or the Chou's and with helping out Francesa with her grandfather while Martha was away. Sister Marlene Lindsey said she feels circled in strength even while in the Philippines, as she reads what is going on in our ward.
- Sign up for the Photo shop class. See the blog for more information. Http://manila12thwardrs.blogspot.com
BIRTHDAYS: Feb. 14th – Lisa Miller and Feb. 18th – Bobbi Teel. Happy Birthday to both of you.
Our lesson today was given by Holly McRae. She was substituting for Tiffany. Lesson 3 in the George Albert Smith manual “Our Testimony of Jesus Christ”.
I feel very humbled to be teaching this lesson. The topic is the testimony of Jesus Christ. It in intimidating to give justice to such a topic. As I read the lesson and George Albert Smith's testimony of the Savior, I wondered how I could pick and choose. I prayed for the spirit as to what we could discussed as all of it is of great worth. I wanted us to draw close to the Savior.
In his travels as a General Authority, George Albert Smith occasionally met those who thought that the Latter-day Saints do not believe in Jesus Christ. This misconception amazed and worried President Smith, and he tried to correct it by sharing his personal witness of the Savior.
On one occasion he spoke at a Church meeting in Cardston, Canada, about the life and mission of Christ. The next morning he went to the railway station to buy a train ticket. While he waited in line, he overheard a conversation between a woman and the ticket agent. The woman mentioned that the evening before she had decided to attend a Latter-day Saint worship service.
The ticket agent looked surprised. “My goodness,” she said. “You do not mean to say you went to church there.”
“Yes, I did,” the woman answered. “Why not?”
The ticket agent said, “They do not even believe in Jesus Christ.”
Then the woman replied, “Only last night I listened to one of the elders of the Church speaking of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, and I have never heard anybody who seemed more profoundly impressed with a knowledge that Jesus was indeed the Christ, than the speaker on that occasion.”
Robby: Quote 1
“I have been buoyed up and, as it were, lifted out of myself and given power not my own to teach the glorious truths proclaimed by the Redeemer of the world. I have not seen Him face to face but have enjoyed the companionship of His spirit and felt His presence in a way not to be mistaken. I know that my Redeemer lives and gladly yield my humble efforts to establish His teachings. … Every fibre of my being vibrates with the knowledge that He lives and some day all men will know it.
President Smith passed away on his 81st birthday, April 4, 1951. During the final moments of his life, with his family close by, his son asked, “Father, is there something you’d like to say to the family—something special?”
With a smile, he reaffirmed the testimony he had shared numerous times throughout his life: “Yes, only this: I know that my Redeemer liveth; I know that my Redeemer liveth.”
There is no doubt in my mind that he knew the Savior. As latter-day Saints we know many thing about the Savior. As we read some of the quotes, let's keep track of some of the things we do know as members of the Church. I will list them on the board. (I have put that list at the end of the lesson)
“I have found many in the world who have not known that we believe in the divine mission of our Lord, and I have been led to say upon more than one occasion that there are no people in the world who so well understand the divine mission of Jesus Christ, who so thoroughly believe him to have been the Son of God, who are so sanguine [confident] that at the present time he is enthroned in glory at the right hand of his Father, as the Latter-day Saints."
I know as I know that I live that he was the son of God, that through him and through him only will we gain exaltation in the celestial kingdom and all those who follow in his footsteps and live according to the teachings that he gave, will be happy in this life and will prepare for themselves a mansion in his celestial kingdom, where they will dwell with him forever."
What are the truths that we know that will help us gain exaltation in the Celestial Kingdom?
Robby: My eldest daughter when she was in her late teens felt that the church was very ristrictive. She has chosen to live her life and do whatever she wants to. She doesn't have true happiness and joy even though he has a sense of happiness. Actually she has limited freedom.
The Redeemer of mankind was more than a good man who came into the world to teach us ethics. The Redeemer of mankind possessed more than ordinary intelligence. He was indeed the Son of God, the only begotten of God in the flesh. … He came to call men to repentance, to turn them from the error of their way. He went among them representing God the Eternal Father, proclaiming that he was in the image of his Father, and that those who had seen him had seen the Father, and told them that he had been sent to do the will of his Father, and called on all men to turn from the error that had crept in among them, to repent of their sins and go down into the waters of baptism."
Robby: He called men to repentance. When I was a member of the Church of England, I was on my way home with some friends and there were these Catholic guys who said they needed to stop at their church so they could repent. They then felt that they were good for another week. It seemed odd to me that he could go and say a few 'hail Marys' and the do it again.
Megan: I feel that not only is He saying you need to repent of doing wrong but let me help you return.
Karen M: He is also saying that He is a representative of his Father and in the image of the Father.
Carol B: Quote 4
He was indeed the Son of God. He labored among [the people] in love and kindness; but they cast His name out as evil. … He was the Son of God, and He did have the right to speak in the name of the Father. The truths He brought to the earth came from the Father; and though they nailed Him to the cross, though they placed upon His head the plaited crown of thorns, and put the mock scepter in His hands, though they spilled His blood with the cruel spear, yet the word that He delivered to them was the word of the Lord, and He was indeed the Son of God."
Elder Tad R. Callister in his conference address quoted C.S..Lewis: "I am trying here to prevent anyone sayng the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. ...You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse....But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not indend to."
Fortunately, however, for the Latter-day Saints, we have received a witness that these things are true; and in addition to that, we have received the testimony that He came to [the] western hemisphere, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, and ministered unto the Nephites upon this continent. He did not come this time as a little child, but He came in the clouds of heaven; and His coming was proclaimed by a voice that penetrated to the very center of every person that dwelt in the land. He came this time as a man from heaven, and they saw Him come. They knew that He was the Christ, for His coming had been predicted by their prophets. He gave to them the same organization that existed in the Church at Jerusalem. He taught them that they must be baptized, as He had been, by those having authority to officiate in that ordinance. [See 3 Nephi 11:1–27.] This was not the word of an ordinary man; it was the word of the Son of God, who had ascended to His Father, and who had come back again, that the children of men might have another testimony added to the number that had already been given to them."
It was a wonderful experience for those people. After teaching them all day … he healed their sick and blessed their children and continued to instruct them in the beauty of his Gospel. There was no doubt in their minds that he was the Savior of the world. They saw him come from heaven and witnessed his marvelous power. … He came in glory. Angels came down from heaven as it were in the midst of fire and surrounded the little children so that they were encircled with fire. And the angels did minister unto them. [See 3 Nephi 17:6–24.]
We have so many witnesses. Each of us ha the opportunity to gain a testimony of Jesus Christ. To put it into our souls by the power of the Holy Ghost. Study the words of those who have seen him, and take the steps of repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost.
And finally we have the responsibility to share our testimony of Jesus Christ.
Luone: Quote 9
I say to you Latter-day Saints, there are no other people in all the world who have all the information that we have with reference to the divinity of the Savior; and if we did not believe in Him we would be under greater condemnation than the others that have never had that information. And so we can say to the world without hesitation that we believe these things. …
I congratulate you that there has come into your lives this privilege and this blessing. And now I adjure you as your brother, plead with you as one of the humblest among you, do not hide your candle under a bushel. Do not conceal the knowledge God has bestowed upon you from your fellows.”
I love what Brother Steve Jensen said in the Ward Letter about President Monson's words: “May we ever be courageous and prepared to stand for what we believe, and if we must stand alone in the process, may we do so courageously, strengthened by the knowledge that in reality we are never alone when we stand with our Father in Heaven.”
And finally Quote 10:
“The happiest men and the happiest women that you know in the world are those who are conforming their lives to the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are those who have the assurance of eternal life; they are those who understand the purpose of our being....As I have traveled to and fro in the world bearing this message, my soul has been filled with joy, and my eyes have been dimmed with tears, when I have seen how perfectly men's lives may be transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
We can share our testimony in many ways. I have put together this video and this is my testimony.
Here is the link so you can see a different version of the video along with the song. Enjoy
HIS HANDS by Kenneth Cope
his hands
tools of creation
stronger than nations
power without end
and yet through them we find our truest friend
his hands
sermons of kindness
healing men's blindness
halting years of pain
children waiting to be held again
his hands would serve his whole life though
showing man what hands might do
giving, ever giving, endlessly
each day was filled with selflessness
and i'll not rest until i make up my hands what they could be
'til these hands become like those from galilee
his hands
lifting a leper
warming a beggar
calling back the dead
breaking bread, five thousand fed
his hands
hushing contention
pointing to heaven
ever free of sin
then bidding man to follow him
his hands would serve his whole life though
showing man what hands might do
giving, ever giving, endlessly
each day was filled with selflessness
and i'll not rest until i make up my hands what they could be
'til these hands become like those from galilee
his hands
clasped in agony
as he he lay pleading, bleeding in the garden
while just moments away
other hands betray him
out of greed, shameful greed
and then his hands
are trembling
straining to carry the beam that they've been led to
as he stumbles through the streets
heading towards the hill on which he died
he would die
they take his hands, his mighty hands, those gentle hands
and then they pierce them, they pierce them
he lets them, because of love
from birth to death was selflessness
and clearly now i see him with his hands
calling to me
and though i'm not yet as i would be
he has shown me how i could be
i will make my hands like those from galilee
tools of creation
stronger than nations
power without end
and yet through them we find our truest friend
his hands
sermons of kindness
healing men's blindness
halting years of pain
children waiting to be held again
his hands would serve his whole life though
showing man what hands might do
giving, ever giving, endlessly
each day was filled with selflessness
and i'll not rest until i make up my hands what they could be
'til these hands become like those from galilee
his hands
lifting a leper
warming a beggar
calling back the dead
breaking bread, five thousand fed
his hands
hushing contention
pointing to heaven
ever free of sin
then bidding man to follow him
his hands would serve his whole life though
showing man what hands might do
giving, ever giving, endlessly
each day was filled with selflessness
and i'll not rest until i make up my hands what they could be
'til these hands become like those from galilee
his hands
clasped in agony
as he he lay pleading, bleeding in the garden
while just moments away
other hands betray him
out of greed, shameful greed
and then his hands
are trembling
straining to carry the beam that they've been led to
as he stumbles through the streets
heading towards the hill on which he died
he would die
they take his hands, his mighty hands, those gentle hands
and then they pierce them, they pierce them
he lets them, because of love
from birth to death was selflessness
and clearly now i see him with his hands
calling to me
and though i'm not yet as i would be
he has shown me how i could be
i will make my hands like those from galilee
Can't figure out why I have some words in black and others blue. Sorry.
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