Week 10
Week 10:
Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel
- Jesus Christ fulfilled the old covenant, and He established the new covenant through the sacrament.
- When we partake of the sacrament, we are reminded that the Savior bled at every pore and died for us.
- If we partake of the sacrament prayerfully and in a repentant spirit, we can receive a remission of sins just as we did when we were baptized.
- Worthily partaking of the sacrament renews our covenants.
- The Atonement, the agony of which Jesus willingly suffered, caused Jesus to bleed from every pore.
- Jesus suffered so that we might not be required to suffer as He did.
- The Atonement of Jesus Christ extends to us His grace, or enabling power.
- Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can receive comfort and strength through the Holy Ghost to endure “pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind.”
- Jesus Christ had power from the Father to lay down His life and to take it up again.
- Jesus Christ allowed Himself to suffer and die at the hands of others: no man took His life from Him.
- Jesus Christ faithfully completed everything Heavenly Father commanded Him to do in mortality.
- We show our appreciation for the Savior’s suffering on the cross by following His example of faithfully enduring to the end.
- Because of the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, all who are born into mortality will be resurrected.
- Because many individuals have witnessed the resurrected Jesus Christ, we can have confidence that He lives and that we, too, will live again after we die.
- Because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we can have hope and an eternal perspective as we face the challenges and trials of life.
The Savior is central to our Father’s plan. What a blessing it is to covenant in the sacrament ordinance to “always remember Him.” The Atonement of Jesus Christ is “the most transcendent event that ever has or ever will occur from Creation’s dawn through all the ages of a never-ending eternity” (Bruce R. McConkie, "The Purifying Power of Gethsemane").
The Prophet Joseph Smith declared, “the fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 121). The keystone of Father’s plan is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Jacob reminds us that if there were no Atonement “our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more…our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself” (2 Nephi 9:8–9).
The good news is that Jesus broke the bands of death and of hell and made us “free forever” (2 Nephi 2:26). Use this week's study to help you draw near unto Him (D&C 88:63): learn of this critical aspect of His divine mission, walk in ways that would unlock this infinite gift, and come to feel the peace, power, and love that only He can give (see D&C 19:23). He lives! He loves! He delivers!!!
Instructions
Study the following scriptures and resources in preparation for this week's activities. Here are a few questions to ponder as you study:
- Why did Christ perform the Atonement?
- How does a person unlock the blessings of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in their life?
- How does the Atonement cover more than sins and transgressions?
- How and in what ways has the Atonement of Jesus Christ blessed your life?
Study Material:
Bible Dictionary, "Atonement,"
Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Gift of Grace," Ensign, May 2015
David A. Bednar, "The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality," Ensign, April 2012
The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality:
- The atonement (grace) increases our natural capacity to do good.
- the atonement changes us from bad, to good, to better.
- We know about the redeeming power but do we know about the strengthening and enabling power of the atonement?
- The Lord desires to live in us. Not only to direct us but to empower us.
- The gospel is not about avoiding bad but about doing good.
- God's grace = resurrection
- INSERT "strengthening and enabling power" in place of word grace in the scriptures.
- Nephi did not pray to have his circumstances changed but rather to have the strength to change his circumstances.
- BECOME agents who act rather than objects that are acted upon.
- Alma and his followers burdens did not change, instead they were given more strength so their burdens became light.
- ...and they did submit cheerfully.
- PRAY to serve more effectively in the Lord
- Alma, Nephi, Daniel W. Jones, etc. had the spiritual insight to know what to ask for
- In our Latter-day world of ease, do we acknowledge our daily dependence on the Atonement?
- The Savior's atonement should not become common place.
- Grace unlocks the gates of heaven....to inherit His glory we need more than an unlocked gate.
- To whom little is forgiven the same loveth little
- When we kneel to pray is it to replay the greatest hits of our righteousness?
- Salvation cannot be bought with the currency of obedience. that's like buying a plane ticket and thinking we own the entire plane line.
- Living the gospel faithfully is not a burden, it is a joyful rehearsal, a preparation for inheriting the grand glory of the eternities.
- Enlightenment and understanding come to us when we do the will of the Father.
- We are saved after all we can do. After does not equal because.
- Does God wait to help us until we have done all that we can do? No
- See with new eyes and a new heart.
- Input and Output Variables
- Trendlines
- Correlation vs Causation
- Linear, Quadratic, or Exponential?
- Predictions from Trendlines
- Example: Old Faithful
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