Week # 22


PRIESTHOOD


"When we receive the priesthood, we do so with the understanding that it will be used for the benefit of others.  This is an obligation we take upon us.  In fact, priesthood blesses us in two ways:  first, it is the means through which exaltation comes to those who hold it;  second, is to be used in behalf of others that they also may be blessed. . . .  No man has been given the priesthood as an ornament only.  He is expected to use it in behalf of others.

Not only is he expected, but he is commanded to do so."  (Joseph Fielding Smith, "No Exaltation without the Priesthood,"  Improvement Era, June 1996, p.538).

Questions and Activities

• What is the priesthood?
• How were the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods restored?
• Why do we need the priesthood on the earth?
• What are the ordinances of the priesthood, and how is each administered?
• What does it mean to magnify a calling in the priesthood?
• What personal experiences have strengthened your testimony of the power of the priesthood?
• Record in your journal the blessings that have come into  your life through the priesthood.
• What are you doing to magnify your calling received through the power of the priesthood?

Topical Guide

Authority

Called of God

Calling

Election, Elect

False Priesthoods 

Foreordination

Jesus Christ, Authority of

Ordain

Ordinance

Ordination

Priesthood

Priesthood, Authority

Priesthood, History of

Priesthood, Ordination

Priesthood, Power of

Sealing, Sealed

Scriptures

Alma 13:1-19

D& C 2,  13,  84:6-44;  86,  110,  121

Official Declaration----2

John 15:1-10

Hebrews 5:1-10;  7

Abraham 1:1-5

Articles of Faith 1:5

Bible Dictionary

Aaronic Priesthood

Anoint

Birthright

Levites

Melchizedek Priesthood

Other Sources

Gospel Principles,  chapter 13

A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, chapter 9

The Articles of Faith, chapter 10

Week # 21


SCRIPTURES


"All that we teach in this church ought to be couched in the scriptures.  It ought to be found in the scriptures.  We ought to choose our texts from the scriptures"  (Harold B. Lee, "Using the Scriptures in Our Church Assignments, " Improvement Era, Jan. 1969, p.13.)

"The Lord is not trifling with us when he gives us these things, 'for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required' (Luke 12:48).  Access to these things means responsibility for them.  We must study the scriptures according to the Lord's commandment;  and we must let them govern our lIves and the lives of our children....

"So I ask all to begin now to study the scriptures in earnest, if you have not already done so" ( Spencer W. Kimball,  Ensign,  Sept. 1976, p.  5).

Questions and Activities

• What is scripture?
• What is the history and content of each of the standard works?
• What are the purposes of the scriptures?
• What do the standard works themselves tell us about how we should study the scriptures?
• What blessings are promised to those who study the scriptures faithfully?
• What blessings have come into your life through scripture study?
• How has your testimony been strengthened by studying the scriptures?
• What are you doing to improve the quality of your scripture study?

Topical Guide

Scripture

Scriptures, Lost

Scriptures, Preservation of

Scriptures to Come Forth

Scriptures, Study of

Scriptures, Value of

Scriptures, Writing of

Scriptures

1 Nephi 5:10-22;  13:20-29, 35-42;  19:1-7

2 Nephi 29

Mosiah 1:3-7;  8:9-13

Alma 37:1-14

3 Nephi 23

Mormon 7:9-10

D& C 18:1-4, 34-46;  68:3-4

2 Kings 22-23

Articles of Faith 1:8

Bible Dictionary

Apocrypha

Bible 

Canon

Chronology

Gospels

Lost Books

Pentateuch

Scripture

Other Sources

Gospel Principles, chapter 10

The Articles of Faith, chapter 13-15

Week # 20


APOSTASY


"From Adam to the present, the whole history of the world has been one recurring instance of personal and group apostasy after another. . . . Apostasy consists in abandonment and forsaking of . . . true principles, and all those who do not believe and conform to them are in an apostate condition, whether they are the ones who departed from the truth or whether they inherited their false concepts from their apostate fathers....

"With the loss of the gospel, the nations of the earth went into a moral eclipse called the Dark Ages.  Apostasy was universal.  'Darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face.'  (D&C 112:23.)  And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, pp. 265-326)
(Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp.43-44).


Questions and Activities

• What does the word apostasy mean?
• What were the causes of the great apostasy that lasted through the Dark Ages?
• What truths, ordinances, and covenants were lost during the great apostasy?
• Find in the scriptures prophecies about the great apostasy.
• What are the evidences of apostasy in the world today?
• What are the indications of individual apostasy?
• What is the role of missionary work in overcoming apostasy?

Topical Guide

Apostasy of Individuals

Apostasy of Israel

Apostasy of the Early Christian Church

Darkness, Spiritual

False Doctrine

Hardheartedness, Harden, Hardness

Holy Ghost, Loss of

Scriptures

2 Nephi 26-28

Jacob 5

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3

2 Timothy 4:1-5

Bible Dictionary

Darkness

Other Sources

Jesus the Christ, chapter 40

A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, chapter 4

The Articles of Faith, chapter 11,  pp. 198-204

Week # 19

SOURCE  OF  TRUTH


"If there is anything great or good in the world, it came from God." (Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 201).

"The Lord's 'law is truth' (Ps 119:142), all his 'commandments are truth' (Ps:119:151), all his 'works are truth' (Dan. 4:37), his scriptures are truth (Dan. 10:21), and his 'word is truth' (John 17:17). . . . Truth. . . conforms to reality, is centered in God, and is as enduring as Deity himself"  (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 810).

"Then knowledge through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the grand key that unlocks the glories and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 5:388-89).

Questions and Activities

• How do the scriptures define truth?
• How does the truth make you free?
• Through what means can we learn truth from God?
• What examples illustrate that man's understanding is not always based on true principles?
• How can you distinguish truth from error?
• What blessings have come into your life through the gospel truths?
• What are you doing to learn more truth?
• What are some of the gospel truths you have learned recently?

Topical Guide

Church Organization

Gospel

Knowledge

Learn, Learning

Light

Mysteries of Godliness

Revelation

Scriptures, Value of

True

Trust in God

Trust Not in the Arm of Flesh

Truth

Scriptures

1 Nephi 16:1-3

Jacob 4:8-14

Moroni 7:13-18; 10:3-7

D&C 50:23-25;  93:21-37;  100:1-8

Isaiah 55

Daniel 2

Matthew 16

John 8:12-58

1 Corinthians 2

Articles of Faith 1:9

Bible Dictionary

Knowledge

Light of Christ

Revelation

Other Sources

Gospel Principles,  chapter 16

The Articles of Faith, chapter 16

Jesus the Christ, chapter 25, pp. 408-12

A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, chapter 29