All things are one in Christ
Date
February 20, 2017
Area
Burleson Ward
Companion
Elder Matthew Newey
All things are one in Christ
This week was great! We had a lot of meetings and a lot of driving to
and fro but it was all good. We actually finished the Book of Mormon
this week! We have been listening to it on audio for the past 3 weeks
as we drove so it was cool to listen to it in 3 weeks.
Brian has been cutting back on some of the things that he is striving
to overcome for baptism! He has also been reading and praying everyday
which is awesome! He is progressing and we still have 3 weeks until he
is baptized. He will make it and it will be wonderful!
Victor is still moving forward, he is more comfortable at church and
everything. He just got his temple recommend so in the next couple of
weeks we will be making a trip up to Dallas for that. He is hooked on
family history! He has found so many people it is crazy! He is the
only member in his family so he has a lot of work to do but he also
has a lot of time so hopefully that will take care of it all for him.
On Saturday we had a blast of a lesson with Violet! We read and broke
down Alma 7:11-16 which talks about the Atonement and how we access
the Atonement: the Doctrine of Christ. It was perfect for her as far
as we could tell so now as we move on to teach her about the
commandments, she will be able to have sincere and complete repentance
which will prepare her for the covenant of baptism.
Mel is being baptized this Saturday and she called us and asked me to
baptize her. A while back I told myself that I would not be the person
to perform the ordinance of one of my converts so that the convert
will have a connection to someone in their ward. But, I guess I can
make an exception here. I just hope my pants fit me haha.
We had a special MLC this past Friday I loved the things that we
learned. We had Brother Gonzalez and Brother Glazier fro the
missionary department who helped us understand the connection between
the doctrine of Christ which is our true purpose and connected that to
CPR as well as what they taught about planning. Ever since I realized
how connected everything is to the doctrine of Christ, I have been
connecting more and more sciptures to it. You want to talk about "deep
doctrine?" Study the doctrine of Christ.
Elder Newey and I had an experience on Friday night when we tried to
contact a less-active that no one in our ward knew. They people were
sitting in their garage smoking when we asked for the name of the
sister that we thought lived there. They replied that no one by that
name has lived there. They asked us who we are and Elder Newey
responded, "We are representatives of Jesus Christ." One of the men
asked, "Have you ever seen Him?" "No," we replied, "we have not."
"Then how can you represent someone you have never met?" We then
taught about priesthood authority and prophets and how we have been
set apart by that priesthood to represent Jesus Christ by sharing the
message that we teach. The man invited us into his garage and we
proceeded to teach him for the next 45 minutes. Over the course of the
visit I strived to let my feelings through and show him how much this
means to me. I could see his heart being softened by the spirit as we
spoke. It was a real sweet experience.
Now, "I must speak concerning the doctrine of Christ" as it has been
on my mind lately. This is a connection that I have loved to make this
past week and I will hopefully try to make it make sense for y'all!
Remember that the Doctrine of Christ is all one big thing. It is not
separate, it is all part of the same thing. The elements of the
Doctrine of Christ are Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement,
repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.
Faith and repentance are inseparable. Repentance is a change. A
constant look to God and faith is a dependence upon Jesus Christ and
a knowledge that you can win the assurance that no matter what, as
long as you look to Him, all will be well. That is what faith and
repentance looks like. A constant look to Him and dependence upon Him
as we keep His commandments and knowing that when we mess up, we can
get up and try again.
We need to be baptized, but why?
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall
of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the
enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and
becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and
becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love,
willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict
upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." Mosiah 3:19
Keep that in mind.
"11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and
temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled
which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his
people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of
death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their
infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to
the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his
people according to their infirmities.
13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God
suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins
of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according
to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony
which is in me.
14 Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the
Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of
heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be
washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who
taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to
cleanse from all unrighteousness.
15 Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin,
which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction,
yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to
repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his
commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the
waters of baptism.
16 And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from
thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will
remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life,
according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in
me."
Verses 11-13 teach about the atonement. In verse 13 Alma says that
Christ can blot out transgressions according to the power of
deliverance. In Romans, Paul exclaims, "For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth." The gospel or Doctrine of Christ is the power of
God unto salvation. I find it pretty awesome that Alma teaches the
doctrine of Christ right after he teaches about the Atonement.
The way that we yield to the enticing of the Holy Ghost is through
putting off the natural man, but that isn't all. We need to become a
saint through the Atonement of Christ. But how do we do that? How do
we access the Atonement?
The powers of the Atonement are called many names. Grace, enabling
power and the power of godliness. Why is it called the power of
godliness? Because the atonement is what enables us to become like our
Heavenly Father. The Atonement is the power of Godliness.
"And [the Melchizedek] priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth
the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge
of God. Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness
is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of
the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the
flesh;" D&C 84:19-21
In the ordinances thereof, the power of the Atonement is manifest.
Therefore, the only way that we can have full access to the atonement
is through the ordinances of the priesthood. Notice how at the end, it
says that without the priesthood and the ordinances, the power of
Godliness is not made manifest unto men. That is why it is so
important that there is the priesthood on the earth.
So, when we are baptized and receive the Holy Ghost we have access to
the Atonement. And when we continue to partake of the sacrament, we
are enabling ourselves to further be perfected through the Atonement
as we continue depending on Jesus Christ and become more like Him as
we practice repentance in our lives.
I know that when we live the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can find the
most peace and the most happiness. If you aren't happy or experiencing
peace, then look for things that you can do differently in your
worship and try to look at yourself and the world through the eyes of
Heavenly Father as you grow closer to Him. This takes practice, but it
is worth it.
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power unto life
and salvation!
Keep the Faith and Hurrah for Israel!
Love, your missionary son and brother, Elder Jefferies
and fro but it was all good. We actually finished the Book of Mormon
this week! We have been listening to it on audio for the past 3 weeks
as we drove so it was cool to listen to it in 3 weeks.
Brian has been cutting back on some of the things that he is striving
to overcome for baptism! He has also been reading and praying everyday
which is awesome! He is progressing and we still have 3 weeks until he
is baptized. He will make it and it will be wonderful!
Victor is still moving forward, he is more comfortable at church and
everything. He just got his temple recommend so in the next couple of
weeks we will be making a trip up to Dallas for that. He is hooked on
family history! He has found so many people it is crazy! He is the
only member in his family so he has a lot of work to do but he also
has a lot of time so hopefully that will take care of it all for him.
On Saturday we had a blast of a lesson with Violet! We read and broke
down Alma 7:11-16 which talks about the Atonement and how we access
the Atonement: the Doctrine of Christ. It was perfect for her as far
as we could tell so now as we move on to teach her about the
commandments, she will be able to have sincere and complete repentance
which will prepare her for the covenant of baptism.
Mel is being baptized this Saturday and she called us and asked me to
baptize her. A while back I told myself that I would not be the person
to perform the ordinance of one of my converts so that the convert
will have a connection to someone in their ward. But, I guess I can
make an exception here. I just hope my pants fit me haha.
We had a special MLC this past Friday I loved the things that we
learned. We had Brother Gonzalez and Brother Glazier fro the
missionary department who helped us understand the connection between
the doctrine of Christ which is our true purpose and connected that to
CPR as well as what they taught about planning. Ever since I realized
how connected everything is to the doctrine of Christ, I have been
connecting more and more sciptures to it. You want to talk about "deep
doctrine?" Study the doctrine of Christ.
Elder Newey and I had an experience on Friday night when we tried to
contact a less-active that no one in our ward knew. They people were
sitting in their garage smoking when we asked for the name of the
sister that we thought lived there. They replied that no one by that
name has lived there. They asked us who we are and Elder Newey
responded, "We are representatives of Jesus Christ." One of the men
asked, "Have you ever seen Him?" "No," we replied, "we have not."
"Then how can you represent someone you have never met?" We then
taught about priesthood authority and prophets and how we have been
set apart by that priesthood to represent Jesus Christ by sharing the
message that we teach. The man invited us into his garage and we
proceeded to teach him for the next 45 minutes. Over the course of the
visit I strived to let my feelings through and show him how much this
means to me. I could see his heart being softened by the spirit as we
spoke. It was a real sweet experience.
Now, "I must speak concerning the doctrine of Christ" as it has been
on my mind lately. This is a connection that I have loved to make this
past week and I will hopefully try to make it make sense for y'all!
Remember that the Doctrine of Christ is all one big thing. It is not
separate, it is all part of the same thing. The elements of the
Doctrine of Christ are Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement,
repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.
Faith and repentance are inseparable. Repentance is a change. A
constant look to God and faith is a dependence upon Jesus Christ and
a knowledge that you can win the assurance that no matter what, as
long as you look to Him, all will be well. That is what faith and
repentance looks like. A constant look to Him and dependence upon Him
as we keep His commandments and knowing that when we mess up, we can
get up and try again.
We need to be baptized, but why?
"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall
of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the
enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and
becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and
becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love,
willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict
upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." Mosiah 3:19
Keep that in mind.
"11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and
temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled
which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his
people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of
death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their
infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to
the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his
people according to their infirmities.
13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God
suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins
of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according
to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony
which is in me.
14 Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the
Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of
heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be
washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who
taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to
cleanse from all unrighteousness.
15 Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin,
which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction,
yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to
repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his
commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the
waters of baptism.
16 And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from
thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will
remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life,
according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in
me."
Verses 11-13 teach about the atonement. In verse 13 Alma says that
Christ can blot out transgressions according to the power of
deliverance. In Romans, Paul exclaims, "For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth." The gospel or Doctrine of Christ is the power of
God unto salvation. I find it pretty awesome that Alma teaches the
doctrine of Christ right after he teaches about the Atonement.
The way that we yield to the enticing of the Holy Ghost is through
putting off the natural man, but that isn't all. We need to become a
saint through the Atonement of Christ. But how do we do that? How do
we access the Atonement?
The powers of the Atonement are called many names. Grace, enabling
power and the power of godliness. Why is it called the power of
godliness? Because the atonement is what enables us to become like our
Heavenly Father. The Atonement is the power of Godliness.
"And [the Melchizedek] priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth
the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge
of God. Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness
is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of
the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the
flesh;" D&C 84:19-21
In the ordinances thereof, the power of the Atonement is manifest.
Therefore, the only way that we can have full access to the atonement
is through the ordinances of the priesthood. Notice how at the end, it
says that without the priesthood and the ordinances, the power of
Godliness is not made manifest unto men. That is why it is so
important that there is the priesthood on the earth.
So, when we are baptized and receive the Holy Ghost we have access to
the Atonement. And when we continue to partake of the sacrament, we
are enabling ourselves to further be perfected through the Atonement
as we continue depending on Jesus Christ and become more like Him as
we practice repentance in our lives.
I know that when we live the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can find the
most peace and the most happiness. If you aren't happy or experiencing
peace, then look for things that you can do differently in your
worship and try to look at yourself and the world through the eyes of
Heavenly Father as you grow closer to Him. This takes practice, but it
is worth it.
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power unto life
and salvation!
Keep the Faith and Hurrah for Israel!
Love, your missionary son and brother, Elder Jefferies
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