Spiritual Notes, Most Important Parts of a Talk, Vicarious Ordinances in Temple, Serving

 Spiritual Notes

What makes a person mighty?

With any talk or book, there are three important things. The third is what you hear, second what the Holy Ghost teaches you and first the commitments that you make.

There are those who scoff at the ideas of vicarious ordinances performed for the salvation of souls. They think it all to be very strange. No thinking Christian should be surprised at such a doctrine. Was not he sacrifice of Christ a vicarious offering for and in behalf of all mankind? The very Atonement was wrought vicariously. -President Boyd K. Packer

When we say yes to serving, we are saying yes to Jesus Christ. And when we say yes to Christ, we are saying yes to the most abundant life possible. -Elder Steven D. Shumway, Participate to Prepare for Christ's Return

Elijah's Mission by Truman G. Madsen

 https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/truman-g-madsen/elijahs-mission/

•  offering to be given by the sons "and daughters!" of Levi
• "The dead are not really dead." Their bowels yearn over us. They are not merely idle spectators. They are not far from us. They are often pained and weep for us. 
• "Tell the people to get and keep the Spirit of the Lord." You can tell because it will take malice and envy and enmity from the heart. Your whole desire will be to build up the kingdom of God. We will be organized according to how we were before the world. We are currently disorganized.
• Most glorious family reunion, sacramental wedding breakfast on the morning of the first resurrection
• Elijah bridges some gap or separation that has happened in the human family.
• Had he not come, the earth would be wasted. It would just be a house, not a home of genuine familial love
• Family welded and united and filled with their love for Christ.
• Restoration of power to repair such a family came through Elijah
• The sealing or union of father and son. Restored priesthood keys
• Every marriage that is binding has been performed under those keys and proper authority. Turning hearts and not just heads
• Reveal to us covenants by our fathers and covenants made with our fathers.
• Elijah's mission is not yet over.
• Elijah and Enoch may be the two prophets who lie in the streets before the Savior comes again.
• Feeling centers in the heart. It's not just the intellect.
• By union of feeling we obtain power from heaven.
• Forgive all men. It's difficult to forgive enemies but even harder to forgive loved ones. I need to forgive them.
• We may have had some choice when it comes to parentage and posterity.
• We must be cleaned from the blood of ancestors and those who came before. 
• Purify life and it will affect both those who came before and those who come after. Roots and branches. Instrument in the sanctification of your fore-bearers. To achieve that kind of sanctification to those before and after, both ways is the greatest achievement in this world. This is done by connecting myself to Christ through temple ordinances. Saviors/Redeemers of your families.
• Care more about family than you care about anything else in this world.
• We should seem the ultimate embrace with our Heavenly Father.

Joseph Smith History, Temples and Consecration

 Thoughts from Institute

-Sister Traci Stefl feeling like the temple was boring. Words came to mind, "not about you". Interesting that her own sanctification comes from that very service. Power and protection. They need the physical body.

-Sister Sharon Duvall feeling like the temple had become a part of her. Thought came to mind of me thinking of anonymous family that donated a temple. What would it be like to be able to donate a temple? Comment, "Your body is a temple. That is a temple you can consecrate to Him."

Follow Him guy quoting Richard Bushman. "After all these years, I believe now more than ever." He testifies of the same thing.

Elder Faust - The Great Imitator

I wish to testify that there are forces which will save us from the ever-increasing lying, disorder, violence, chaos, destruction, misery, and deceit that are upon the earth. Those saving forces are the everlasting principles, covenants, and ordinances of the eternal gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. These same principles, covenants, and ordinances are coupled with the rights and powers of the priesthood of Almighty God. We of this church are the possessors and custodians of these commanding powers which can and do roll back much of the power of Satan on the earth. We believe that we hold these mighty forces in trust for all who have died, for all who are now living, and for the yet unborn.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1987/10/the-great-imitator?lang=eng

Temple like a hospital - place of healing

 https://www.ldsliving.com/the-initiatory-ordinance-is-beautifully-relevant-to-daily-life-heres-how/s/12487

This rang true to me because right around that time I read it, Ryan hurt both his knees badly sliding on turf in a soccer game. It was so painful for him to even have a bandaid touch his wounds. We try to use what we had on hand to care for them but it wasn't enough. The proper way to finally care for them was to wash them well, apply antibiotic ointment to keep it clean from germs and then applied white gauze to protect it as a shield from further injury. I think it was a good way for the Lord to teach me how he can heal spiritually. 

Also, we are told directly in the temple who we are and our relationship to Heavenly Father. It's important I recognize my worth and the worth of those around me.

Temple

 https://nibley.lib.byu.edu/1900/01/01/ancient-ordinances/

SYRIAC MANUSCRIPT:

Bishop and clergy from prayer circle behind veil and ask all to be reconciled or withdraw.

Records indicate that the apostles and their wives met in a circle around Jesus who performed at the altar.  The 12 repeated after Jesus, the “ordinances which lead to progression.”  The 12 stood in the circle arm on arm.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, said that before the birth of Christ she went through the temple and the person who took her through the veil was an angel (heavenly being) to whom she was married.

At every level and in every world there are 12 who officiate and 3 who direct.

There must be a place in the temple for recording the names of the people and the names of the people for whom they are giving their offerings.

NEW COPTIC WRITINGS:

At every stage there is a name and a sign.

Three levels of the temple as there are three degrees of blessedness.

Baptism was the first step of three holinesses.

The types in the temple prepare us for the world beyond.

If we don’t get the ordinances now we won’t get them later.

Endowment means having something which will come to fruition at a certain time when conditions are met.

(Everything in the temple is a type of things to come—it is a rehearsal of that which will have to be done again sometime whit real meaning and understanding.)

The church (temple) should be built with a baptistery below the other levels, there should be 3 pulpits on 3 levels, with a curtain (veil) of linen.  The men and the woman should stand on either side of the altar.

Jesus said to John—though you put your hand on my head, in reality I am baptizing myself.

DAMASCUS COVENANT (DEAD SEA SCROLLS):

With every covenant there is a blessing and a curse.  If one is not faithful he will be delivered up to the execution of the penalty of the covenant.

Satan’s program in the world is destruction and sickness—Christ’s program is to reverse that by preaching and healing. (the reversal of the work of death is prominent in these writings).

Judas when he disemboweled himself fulfilled the contract which he had made.

(Story of good Samaritan with oil and wine given to heal the afflicted—this is a reference to anointing and sacrament).

The Lord suffered that the blows he received may heal the blows we receive.

Satan was demoted and lost his Priesthood—he suffers the blows of death and cannot be healed.

(God uses Priesthood to command spirits and elements but does not command men, only asks and persuades, etc)

Anointing of eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands and feet that one does not go wrong.

The purpose of these rites is to bring about resurrection in cleanness and glory.

Marking on a special garment the same as those on the veil.

In the council in heaven Christ received his commission and a garment.

There are 5 marks which suggest something to the mind.

One cannot go to the king without a new garment.

(the writings indicate that the instructions given to the Apostles after the resurrection, during the forty days, were temple ordinances.)

When Adam was about to dies he sent Seth and Eve back to the garden to get the oil of healing, but and angel stopped them and said that the oil would not be available until Christ comes in the meridian of time.  The oil would be from the olive tree.

The sign of recognition with the Lord is to stretch out the hand and receive the sign of the cross in the hand.

(The final rite of the crowning of the Egyptian kings was an embrace which a priest have the king as a representative of the king’s father through a canvas in a special manner, whispering certain blessings in his ear.)

Three types of greeting coming from Adam’s time:

1) a call

2) a sign in the hand,

3) an embrace.                         These three signs are seals.

The Lord and his tow companions come and teach Adam the ordinances.

Adam was to teach all his children the law of chastity.

I. JEU.

There was an ordinance for the apostles in which they went through three doors and received signs and tokens.  They gathered in a circle and asked Christ for the names.  He game them some names at a veil and they went through the veil.

Patterning Home After the Temple

My sister, Rachel, lives 30 minutes from the D.C. temple. When it was renovated, they had to totally gut & rebuild the baptistery because of mold. At the rededication she felt the Spirit tell her that she needed to rededicate herself. Sometimes there are things we just need to gut & rebuild. Maybe stopping a bad habit of telling white lies or letting kids have screens in their beds. Maybe it’s dedicating 10 minutes to helping a child feel God’s love through one on one attention, reading a book, playing a game or singing a song. Maybe it’s teaching a difficult teen to do a good job of cleaning off the front porch or how to organize their room rather than doing it for them. Maybe it’s something as “small and simple” as an earlier bedtime. The idea is to ask the Lord what is one thing He wants me to completely “gut and rebuild”. 

My nephew, Joshua, was ironing white handkerchiefs for the D.C. rededication for Activity Days. His leader asked him why the material was perfectly white and explained our Savior’s atonement doesn’t leave a mark, rather, it completely cleanses. Sister Tamara Runia spoke at a stake meeting a couple years ago and I still remember my mom telling me what she said. She talked about how she took pride in her ability to remove stains. If there was any sort of stain she could remove it. However, when her adult son, suddenly passed away it felt like a stain she just couldn’t get out. At times, we face challenges that appear to have no solution. However, let’s take courage when all seems lost. We have a Savior who is “mighty to save” with a promise to eventually make whole (Matthew 9:6) & power to make even scarlet sin as white as snow.

I’ve seen apostles and prophets mocked for the Hosanna shout but if I look at it as cheering at a big event for the Lord and His great work, I can “sing and shout” for that. As part of a group text with a few of my old mission companions, one of them called the photo of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve dressed in white at the Rome temple dedication cute. I remember thinking, no, they’re not being cute, they’re making a statement—We have the same mantle of authority as Paul who was told he would “bare witness” in Rome so many years ago. We too, are called to witness to the entire world that Jesus Christ lives and this is the only way to covenants that outlast death; the only way to sanctification, true happiness & exhalation of the human family. Like us or hate us. This is who we are. This is what we do. 

Hebrews

 “Those who receive the Melchizedek Priesthood covenant and promise, before God and angels, to magnify their callings, to “live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God” (D&C 84:44), to marry for time and all eternity in the patriarchal order, and to live and serve as the Lord Jesus did in his life and ministry. In return the Lord covenants and promises to give them all that his Father hath, meaning eternal life, which is exaltation and godhood in that eternal realm where alone the family unit continues in eternity. In return the Lord admits them to his eternal patriarchal order, an order that prevails in the highest heaven of the celestial world, an order that assures its members of eternal increase, or in other words of spirit children in the resurrection. (See D&C 131:1-4) Elder Bruce R. McConkie

 

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord… This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21). 

 

“Your garment is symbolic of the veil [of the temple]; the veil is symbolic of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when you put on your garment, you may feel that you are truly putting upon yourself the very sacred symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ—His life, His ministry, and His mission, which was to atone for every daughter and son of God.” President Nelson

The English word Messiah comes from the Hebrew Meshiach,meaning “anointed.” The Greek equivalent is Christos. Both words carry the idea of one who is anointed of God. The Hebrew word Yeshua (Jesus in Greek) means “Savior” or “deliverer.” The two words combined denote one anointed of God to save or deliver His people.

 

Abraham 1:2

 

Joseph Smith later explained: “Why send Elijah? Because he holds the keys of the authority to administer in all the ordinances of the Priesthood; and [unless] the authority is given, the ordinances could not be administered in righteousness”—that is, the ordinances would not be valid in both time and eternity…Some have experienced unhappy and unhealthy family circumstances and feel little desire for an eternal family association…To you who have experienced the heartache of a divorce in your family or felt the agony of violated trust, please remember [that God’s pattern for families] begins again with you! One link in the chain of your generations may have been broken, but the other righteous links and what remains of the chain are nonetheless eternally important. You can add strength to your chain and perhaps even help to restore the broken links. That work will be accomplished one by one.” – Elder Christofferson

 

“Have ye received his image in your countenances?” (Alma 5:14) In other words, he asked, when people see you, do they see Jesus the Christ? Have you become such a representative disciple of Christ that when you are present the Spirit of Christ is there? These questions awaken all disciples to the fact that we must consider the essence of our existence; we are here to become like Christ.” -Jerome M. Perkins

 

What a Priesthood Holder Should Be Like

The faithful priesthood bearer is a sincere worshiper. He acts as if he were in the Lord’s presence when upon the Lord’s errand. He is honest in all his dealings with others, and his speech is dignified and appropriate. He walks with the Lord with confidence and assurance and is comfortable in his role of blessing others and leading them into a better way of life. He is the messenger [teacher, tool, representative] of the Lord of hosts…

 

I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory (1 Nephi 14:14).

 Without the sealing power we could do nothing, for there would be no validity to what which we did.

Joseph Fielding Smith

Families

President Brigham Young explained that our families are not yet ours. The Lord has committed them to us to see how we will treat them. Only if we are faithful will they be given to us forever. What we do on earth determines whether or not we will be worthy to become heavenly parents.

-Elder L. Tom Perry