Do we covet the world or covenant with God? There is a careful balance of being ourselves and following the Savior our way and exploring our lives through the gospel. Be careful of wandering ideas that lead us away from the gospel. Remember what I wrote before, your testimony, the scriptures and words of the modern prophets are the iron rod that will lead us to heaven.
Are we jewels of the Lord or just coveting stones? Malachi 3:17 refers to us as the jewels of the Lord. We are His cherished offspring. Our relationship is important to Him, but we must work on it. It is said that we will recognize the Savior when we meet Him. We are trying to find how we connect to Him through the gospel and our obedience is the first step.
Paul warned us that if we use the wrong sources we could be "Ever learning but never coming to the truth" (2 Tim 36-7). We can be quickly seduces by threads of the gospel that lead us away from the fruit of the gospel. Keep to the core; to the root of the gospel, faith, repentance and covenant renewal. If you never depart from that your testimony will grow astronomically.
Leadership comes through decipleship. A long time ago I met a young man in the MTC (I was a missionary at the time) Blendi Kokona came from Albania. He was a convert who sought knowledge and because of his trials and tribulations got to know missionaries who saught someone to teach them. Through sharing the gospel. This young convert left his country and serve the Savior. Because of him friends and family joined the church, the scriptures were translated and he found joy in the Atonement and his Savior.
God does not expect perfect faith or knowledge. Satan knows the Savior lives but he has no faith or drive to follow the Savior. Avoid following people who think the same. Perfection comes through faith. We don't need to know everything. What is expected of us is our willingness to follow the Redeemer because he will carry us in hard times because we follow Him in our toughest times.
Despite not thy youth (see alt translation in https://www.biblestudytools.com/1-timothy/4-12-compare.html). You are young now. As I mentioned earlier you don't need to know everything. Your testimony of Christ is so important. Missionaries are young for a reason. In the translation of this scripture Timothy was told let no one mock you or trouble you or think less of you because of your youth. You are ten, don't worry about what you don't know. Pray, fast and study the scriptures, those simple things will give you a hidden strength always.
God doesn't give a Spirit of fear. An example of this is the story of Joan of Arc. As a young teen she followed the spirit. She wanted to follow the Savior and did this example for France. No one shook her testimony. Like the prophet Joseph, she lived and died in obedience to the principals and ordinances she knew. She died at nineteen because her own people could not accept her or her testimony. Be strong in trial and you will see trials are a small moment.
Reprove betimes with sharpness is counciled to us in the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C121:41-43). Paul was racing all over the countryside as was the other apostles. The devil was unraveling the church and administration was important. Chasing false doctrine without chasing the saints are a balance. We want to bring the members together. We want teachers and leaders to teach through the Scriptures, through their testimony, use the words of the prophets and Savior. When we do that, the priesthood power is manifested in the keys given to us as leaders. Class, you will see more of that as you are given more responsibility in the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints.
We will know pain but we choose to suffer. When the Apostle was tried, he didn't let pain define him but looked for what he could learn from his experience. Heavenly Father is doing the same for all of us. Pain will be part of all of our lives. Suffering, though, is defined by us. Is our pain, insult, betrayal going to define us? Yes it hurts and need time to heal but let it go and we can heal faster.
We need to make sure the sheep are fed what they need. (Timothy 1:3) Don't feed questions but answers. All too often we want to race beyond the mark and not give a simple answer to questions that you youth might have. For that, I apologize. (See President Kimball - Man of Action.)
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2007/01/spencer-w-kimball-man-of-action?lang=eng
Be bold. You and I have a unquenchable spirit that drives us to be a powerful lead towards the testimony of Jesus. All to often Satan wants us to cover from opportunities of telling others how much we know and love Jesus; how the gospel has changed us to be who we are now and who we aim to be an who we want to be with. (2 Tim 1:6-8)
2 Tim chapter 3 talks about what we should warn about. Reading it, I realized that it says nothing about pandemics, floods, storms, wars fires etc. It talks about what boils inside each of us. We are warned in the very ten commandments about all of it. When we lie, covet, dishonored parents, show pride this shows outwardly the things that Paul warned us in chapter three. We need to love God and our fellow man.
Truth will change behavior. When we embrace the gospel and follow the Savior it is like a pendulum that swings one way. We cannot go back to a resting state. We will swing hard to the other direction. We need to yoke ourselves to the Savior so that we can push towards the light.
Finally I want to discuss Predestined vs. Forordinated. The word predestined is used in Timothy. The idea that Heavenly Father wants some of us and not others is foolish. He wants all of us to come home. In the preexistence he ordained us to roles that we could accomplish in the preexistence, our mortality and in the eternity. We have been given and will be given blessings that will continue to enrich our lives. This is done through the gospel, through the priesthood, and the Savior's precious gift of the Atonement. Show your love for the Savior by helping others and you will know more about what the Savior wants more for your life.
We will learn more next week
Challenges
1) Read Hebrews 1-6
2) Think of times when you were given responsibility.
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