The Gospel of Christ is the Power of God unto Salvation

This week should be pretty awesome. We get to look into Paul's epistle to the Romans.

We are going to go over a few scriptures and look at some of the things in them. 

1.   Lets Review Romans 1:3–4; Luke 1:31–32; 3:23–31. Jesus Christ is both the Son of David and the Son of God because of the way the lineage works. Mary came from the line of Davis as did Joseph, but he was also the Son of God because of how he was born. The Lord should be able to reign both the kingdom of God and the kingdom of David, which is Jerusalem. 

Being the son of David, He was mortal; being the Son of God, He was immortal. Reading John 10:17–18 we learn why it is important the Lord is both mortal and immortal. It was important because it was supposed to be his choice to lay down his life and to die for us and perform the Atonement. 

2.   Now let us Review Romans 1:15–20 and answer the following questions:

o       How did Paul feel about the gospel?

• Paul felt that he should not be ashamed of the gospel. Once converted, he did everything he could to spread the gospel of Christ.

o       In what ways can you show you are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

• I want you to think about this personally. Some things that I thought of are that we can continue to live as an example of Jesus Christ. 

3.    Review Romans 1:21–32. Then respond to the following items:

o       Make a list of the people’s sins by using the verses and the footnotes.

• Vain in their imaginations
• Worshiped images
• Lust
• Homosexuality
• Fornication
• Envy
• Murder
• Deceit
• Covenant breakers

o       Place a checkmark next to the sins on your list that are still a problem today. (This you can do on your own)

o       What reasons were given for why people commit these sins?

• They did not retain God in their knowledge, meaning they did not think about God.

o       What does it mean in verse 25 when Paul said that people “worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator”?

• It means that they did not follow the Spirit but followed the Natural Man.

Gospel Principles Chapter 6

"The Fall of Adam and Eve"

The Fall. This one is always a little tricky. There's so many different views on what actually took place and if it was symbolism or not. The way I like to look at it is that this record is an account, or in other words, what actually took place; also that everything can be taken as a symbol--especially for our day. So we can take out of this event is both literally what happened and that there is going to be some application for our day. So back to what happened. In a nutshell, God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and gave them two commandments. One, multiply and replenish the earth aka have kids, and two, don't eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They knew the consequence of eating the fruit and that was if they ate they would die, and be cast out of the garden. One day a serpent, Satan, came and tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit. He told them that if they ate they would "be as gods, knowing good and evil," and that they wouldn't die, which is where the lie came in because God said that they would and he doesn't go against his word. Anyway, they decided to eat of the fruit and they were both cast out. This brought in two types of death, physical and spiritual. Physical is pretty self-explanatory, and spiritual death is the separation of us and God. Many people think that this was a bad thing, that they transgressed the law and partook of the fruit, but like all things great things happen when we make mistakes. And this mistake was needed for all of us to be able to come here to the earth. The prophet Lehi explains in 2 Nephi 2:22-25,
             "And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the Garden of Eden. And all thigs which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created. ...
             "And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.
           " But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.
       "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."
I love this explanation of why it was necessary for the Fall. So many other great blessings have happened because of this one act. It was truly a great blessing.

Gospel Principles Chapter 5

"Creation"

Many of us, if not all of us, in the world love to create. I personally love it; whether it is something that I can actually make or something in my head. I know that eventually I will be able to see that come to pass. Today we have all kinds of technology to help us create, but we still can't be as great as the Master Creator: Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus Christ under the direction of Heavenly Father created the earth and all of its inhabitants and everything else on and in it. If we look around, there has to be a reason as to how this all got here. One of my favorite analogies is about this. Someone once said that without God it's like having a tornado go through a junk yard and end up with a Boeing 747 as the outcome. It's just not possible, but if there is someone directing this tornado, it might just actually work. I love being able to enjoy the warm summer nights. Now that I'm home and summer is fast approaching I will be able to do that once again. I remember one evening with Elder Parr in Bozeman. We went out into the courtyard after we got our planning done and we laid on the tables and looked at the stars and just talked about how great it is to be able to know the things we know and have the assurance of things to come. Just remember that this was created for you, and for me. This world is given especially to us and we need to make the best of it. Jesus love you. He loves everyone of us and if he had to suffer for only one person, He would. That is what makes all of this so great.

**The picture of the airplane is of a Boeing 747. Just to show how complicated it is.

Gospel Principles Chapter 1

Chapter 1 is one of my favorites. The title is "Our Heavenly Father." We learn all about our Heavenly Father in this chapter. First off, how can we know that there is a God? Alma, a prophet in the Book of Mormon, tells us, "All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:44).  Everything around us tells us that there is a God, and that he exists. That leads us into what is He like, or in other words, what is the nature of God? One of the first attributes we know is, because we are made in his image--he has a body like ours. "He is a God of righteousness, with attributes such as love, mercy, charity, truth, power, faith, knowledge, and judgment. He has all power. He knows all things. He is full of goodness" (Gospel Principles, 5). After we know the nature of our Heavenly Father, we would like to get to know him, right? I would think so anyway. So there's a few ways that we can do this. First, we need to believe that he is actually there. Second, we need to study his word, or the scriptures. Third, we gotta communicate, or pray. And fourth, is we need to be obedient to His commandments. "As we do these things, we will come to know God and eventually have eternal life" (Gospel Principles, 7). That is one of my favorite quotes in the whole chapter. I know this to be true.

The Articles of Faith part 5 of 13

Article of Faith #5, "We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer the ordinances thereof."

So this goes directly in line with the way the God works. He has always done this from the beginning. We can take Aaron for example. He was called by God, set apart, and he went out and did his work. We have another example in the New Testament with the Apostles. Christ called them all together, and set apart each one and sent them off to go do their work as well, and now days we have the same thing, not only with General Authorities, but with the missionaries that you see walking around as well.

So let's break down this sentence. The first part says, "We believe that a man must be called of God." This is a basic belief, I believe, amongst all Christian parties. That in order to preach, a man must be called of God. The second part, "by prophecy," this I think is where we start to differ. Modern revelation is a key thing in the Church. It helps not only those being called, but those of us who are the "average member" to know that the person is called as well. The third part, "and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority," this is another part of where we differ from a lot of other Christian religions. The laying on of hands is an important part of being called, and set apart to do His work. In Luke 9, we read, "Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick." This is the same call that we are given as missionaries. And the last part is, "to preach the Gospel and administer the ordinances thereof." We must go out and preach. We've been called of God and had all the power and authority given to us and it's now our job to go preach and teach and do the things the Lord would have us do, namely, baptize and give the gift of the holy ghost. This is one of those truths that must be fulfilled. Power and Authority don't come from the Bible or any other from of paper. It comes from the man upstairs, our Heavenly Father. He's in control and knows what and how it needs to happen. This is my testimony.

The Articles of Faith part 3 of 13

Article of Faith #3, "We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel."

Well, yesterday we were in Kalispell, MT for a missionary meeting, and President Gardner challenged all of us to put up a post specifically for someone we are teaching. I thought about this challenge this morning and realized that I was going to be blogging about Article of Faith #3 today, and found this to be perfect for someone I am teaching.


The Atonement of Jesus Christ is soooo special. It can be very hard to understand in the sense of how it works, or why it works. I don't know the answers to this, nor can I direct you to someone who knows, besides God. All I know is that it works. Our Heavenly Father knew us before we can to earth. He know that we were all going to make mistakes in this life and that we were going to need a Savior; that is why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ. The Atonement is so much larger than we think it is, but in the simple version it consists of three things: 1) Christ's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, 2) His death and suffering on the cross, and 3) His resurrection the third day. The Book of Mormon gives us some great insight as to what exactly Christ suffered for; in the book of Alma, chapter 7, verses 11-13 it tells us, "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 sicknesses of his people. 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. 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..." The book of Mormon also tells us of who this atonement covers it says in Alma 34:10, "For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice." The scripture continues on through verses 11-16. They are some great verses on the Atonement and I'll invite all of you to read those. I know that through the Atonement of Christ we can all be saved, as long as we are doing our part. Not that we can work our way into Heaven, because that is not the way we can do it, but we can't believe our way to Heaven either. We must do all we can and believe and then the grace of Christ is sufficient for all. I know that as we turn to our savior in humility he will forgive us of all our trespasses. The relief that we get when we use the Atonement in our lives is unbelievable. Alma tells us that he was "filled with joy as exceeding as was [his] pain." This can be the same for us. I know this is true.

The Articles of Faith part 2 of 13

Article of Faith #2, "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression."

This is a very significant statement about the Atonement of Christ. This statement is saying that we don't believe in "original sin," and so little children are the only people perfect on this earth, besides Jesus Christ. We believe that we are responsible for our own actions and sins. Adam definitely brought sin into the world, but it's not because of him that we sin. God gave us all our own agency to choose whether or not we were going to follow his commandments. The Atonement covered that original sin and we are able to repent and be forgiven of those things that we do wrong.This also has to do with when we believe people should be baptized, which is at the age of 8 years old. It says in the Bible, " For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us...." (1 Peter 3:18-21) This is saying that after Christ was crucified, he went to the spirits in prison and taught them. It also says that he taught those who were once disobedient and when Noah was saved only 8 were saved with him, which is the same number that saves us now when we are baptized. So we should be baptized at age 8. Also in modern revelation, "And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of hands." (Doctrine and Covenants 68:27) We are responsible for our own actions and sins. The Atonement of Jesus Christ covers all. I know that is it real and that it works, all we have to do is apply it to our own lives.

The Articles of Faith part 1 of 13

Article of Faith #1, "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost."

This is a very simple; yet powerful statement. This is a basic belief that needs to be held by anyone who can be considered Christian. We must believe that God is our Eternal Father, and that His Son is Jesus Christ and that His messenger is the Holy Ghost. Through the power of the Holy Ghost is how anyone gains a testimony of anything, namely that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Holy one of Israel. Without this basic doctrinal belief none of us would be here at this time. How would we know the Bible to be true, the Book of Mormon to be from God, that there really is a God and He is our Heavenly Father? We could not know. There is only one way we can know truth and that is through the confirmation of the Holy Ghost. Whether we recognize that or not, is up to us. This is a foundational doctrine that we believe. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet, that Jesus Christ lives, and that it is after all we can do and faith is Christ that His grace is sufficent for us, which leads into next weeks blog post...Article of Faith #2.

Our Words Mean More Than We Think...

They say that "our actions speak louder than words," but sometimes I think that our words are what really mean the most to people. One of my favorite hymns says,

"Let us oft speak kinds words to each other At home or where'er we may be; Like the warblings of birds on the heather, The tones will be welcome and free. They'll gladden the heart that's repining, Give courage and hope from above, And where the dark clouds hide the shining, Let in the bright sunlight of love. Oh, the kinds words we give shall in memory live And sunshine forever impart. Let us oft speak kind words to each other; Kind words are sweet tones of the heart. Like the sunbeams of morn on the mountains, The soul they awake to good cheer; Like the murmur of cool, pleasant fountains, They fall in sweet cadences near. Let's oft, then, in kindly toned voices, Our mutual friendship renew, Till heart meets with heart and rejoices In friendship that ever is true. Oh, the kind words we give shall in memory live And sunshine forever impart. Let us oft speak kind words to each other; Kind words are sweet tones of the heart."

The words we speak greatly influence the way that we can feel of the Spirit of God. It says in the Doctrine and Covenants 52:16, "He that speakth, whose spirit is contrite, whose language is meek and edifieth, the same is of God if he obey mine ordinances." God says that we need to watch out language. It also says in the 10 Commandments, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain....Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neightbour." The Lord gives us direct commandments to watch what we say. It is something that everyone can continue to work on in their lives.