“Articles and Covenants” GET TO THE POINT™ Come Follow Me: D&C 20

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Opening Hymn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ECFF9hxjoI
Intro
i. You're looking good today and it feels good to be with you.
II. Theme: "Articles and Covenants"
III. Point I 20 A&C
i. Lost, and refound revelation.
1. Sometimes called "Constitution of Church"
2. Revelation ultimate. Council of 50, "Ye are my constitution, and I am your God"
3. " The elders are to conduct the meetings as they are led by the Holy Ghost, according to the commandments and revelations of God" v 45
4. "And they shall observe the covenants and church articles to do them, and these shall be their teachings, as they shall be directed by the Spirit" D&C 42:13
5. Not as cut and dried. Church leaders told us okay to use incorrect name of church, but now back to scriptures.
ii. Breaks according to word "amen," and subheadings
iii. 1-4. Preface
1. Name of Church
2. JS and OC Authroity
3. Calendar accurate?
a. Debated issue
b. HC 1:337
c. HBL, April 1973
d. SWK, April 1973, 1975
e. Gordon B Hinckley April 1998, O 1998, Palmyra Temple Dedication
f. L Tom Perry, April, 1996
g. RGS April 1997
h. BRM
i. MD Christian Era
ii. DNTC 1:91
iii. Mortal Messiah, 349-350
iv. 5-2. 1st and 2nd vision, BOM
v. 13-16 Message to world
vi. 17-28 Events and Doctrine
1. Three Pillars of Eternity
2. Christ peccable
a. HWH Ch 24:
i. It is important to remember that Jesus was capable of sinning, that he could have succumbed, that the plan of life and salvation could have been foiled, but that he remained true. Had there been no possibility of his yielding to the enticement of Satan, there would have been no real test, no genuine victory in the result. If he had been stripped of the faculty to sin, he would have been stripped of his very agency. It was he who had come to safeguard and ensure the agency of man. He had to retain the capacity and ability to sin had he willed so to do.
b. BY Ch 7
i. "when he came in the flesh he was left free to choose or refuse to obey his Father. Had he refused to obey his Father, he would have become a son of perdition.
c. TLS, p 98" Had He fallen in the moment of temptation, what do you suppose would have become of us? Doubtless at some future period the plan would have been carried out by another person. But He did not fail.
d. EJST, sv. HG
i. Franklin Richards "Joseph also said that the Holy Ghost is now in a state of probation which if he should perform in righteousness he may pass through the same or a similar course of things that the Son has. (Joseph Smith, The Words of Joseph Smith, p. 245)
e. Recreational speculation
vii. 29-36
1. JT MA, 171 " By justification men are freed from the legal condemnation; by sanctification their moral law is restored; and by glorification physical death, the last enemy, will be overcome. "
2. Repentance
3. Justification: Justification is a judicial act, whereby God declares that the sinner who repents and by faith accepts the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, and who is baptized according to the Word of God, is acquitted and received into His Kingdom.
4. Sanctification: Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit by which he who is justified is enabled to keep the Commandments of God and grow in holiness
a. Luther and his children focus on Justification, have you been saved, we include sanctification and deification in process
b. Lord and Savior. Important
5. Fall from Grace: Narnia,once a king, always a king
viii. 37 Baptism
1. MRB: https://www.thechurchnews.com/2019/6/26/23221037/president-ballard-said-missionaries-shouldnt-invite-people-to-be-baptized-without-feeling-the-spirit/
a. Some missionaries have felt pressure to invite people to be baptized during the first lesson or even the first contact. “These missionaries have felt that inviting people to be baptized the very first time they meet them demonstrated the missionaries’ faith and supports their thinking that inviting people to be baptized early is what is expected,” he said. “Other missionaries have felt that an invitation to be baptized early allowed them to promptly separate the wheat from the tares. In this case, some see the baptismal invitation as a sifting tool.”
b. Church leaders don’t know where these practices began, but “it was never our intention to invite people to be baptized before they had learned something about the gospel, felt the Holy Ghost, and had been properly prepared to accept a lifelong commitment to follow Jesus Christ,” said President Ballard. “Our retention rates will dramatically increase when people desire to be baptized because of the spiritual experiences they are having rather than feeling pressured into being baptized by our missionaries.”
c. Two versions of this
i. two week pattern
1. Mon, W, F, Church, M, W, F
2. If not baptized, evil will get them, hectic
ii. REDHEDPED, Pg
1. Recognize spirit, and break off lesson
2. Then come back
3. If good, why not church using it generally?
d. This bothered me, since D&C suggests a slower process, why church out of sync with scriptures--I'm a JR
i. Manifest by works
ii. Show a determination
ix. 38 PH duties (cf 107)
1. Kneel with church
a. Joseph F. Smith, July 16, 1893
b. Collected Discourses, Vol. 3, Joseph F. Smith, July 16, 1893
2. Cup versus cups
3. Only Mel and Priests pass, changed
a. George Albert Smith, CR April 1908
b. “There are certain of the Priesthood who are not permitted to officiate in this ordinance. The Deacon or Teacher may not administer the sacrament, and those who bear no Priesthood, cannot act in this capacity. The Lord has certainly emphasized its importance by designating those who may officiate. ”
x. 68 Various
1. Ordinances
a. Baptism
i. "The elders or priests are to have a sufficient time to expound all things concerning the church of Christ to their understanding, previous to their partaking of the sacrament
ii. No sacrament before baptism
b. Confirmation
c. Sacrament
2. Church discipline
3. Conferences
4. Membership records
IV. Point II 21 Prophet
i. JS as translator: Don't sell out the BOM, JST, or BOM because you have questions
ii. Record: Best recorded organization
iii. Gates of Hell
1. Prevail, Once dead, we will not be held back in Hell
V. Point III 22 Other Churches
i. Need to rebaptize
ii. Against ecumenism, Christian cousins
VI. Christ Quotient
i. Atonement Quotient
1. Church, Gospel, Christ
2. Why we need organized religion and one true church
a. Organized religion, one true church intertwined
b. Establish org firtst, but accomplish both is use one true couch
c. obsessed with egalitarianism
3. Benefits: Doctrine, ordinances, economy of scales, order
ii. Place of Church handbooks
1. Legal things, such as tithing
2. Policies
3. Scriptures, handbooks,. living prophets, incorrect name of the church
iii. Tendency for a local leader to get a calling, and play it by ear, like own businessman, or how some protestant churches
iv. Aberrations, accretions, and unauthorized practices: golden calfs and steadying the ark.
VII. As read D&C 20, policy and procedure, but also doctrine, and how many times Christ is mentioned in this constitution. Christ: that's the point
 
 
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