The Importance of Church Attendants

 

      Today I wanted to talk about why it is important to go to church and how we benefit from going. First off why do we need to go to church? The first reason is because it a commandment. Exodus 20:8-11 says 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Heavenly father wants us to rest and think on how we can spiritually work and improve ourselves to continue to follow him. Another reason and one of the most important reasons of why I go to church is to remember my savior and what he did for me and to renew those promises that I have made . Our behavior shows our commitment to honor and worship God and keeping it Holy shows our willingness to keep our covenants. Moroni 6: 4-6 teaches us that it is important to go to church for this reason to partake of the Sacrament and that we need to go to renew or covenants . 4 And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith.

5 And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.
6 And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.

      Sunday is one of my favorite days  because after church I don't really have to worry about worldly things. Because we are to keep that spirit of worship with us all day and do those kind of activities that will invite it to stay with us. In Isaiah 58 the lord teaches us that if we keep this day holy and do as he ask he will bless us on high and our delight will be upon the lord. Isaiah 58:13-14. 13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
In preach my gospel it tells us what can and will happen if we neglect going to church or just ignore going. 
  When a community or nation grows careless in its Sabbath activities, its religious life decays and all aspects of life are negatively affected. The blessings associated with keeping the Sabbath day holy are lost. We should refrain from shopping on the Sabbath and participating in other commercial and sporting activities that now commonly desecrate the Sabbath.
 

      What are some of the blessing that we receive when we keep the sabbath day holy? So as I said earlier going to church is a commandment and the Lord has always blessed us if we keep his commandments, and there are many things that the Lord will bless us with and we can go on how he has blessed us from going to church every week. But to name some of them that we do know from the scriptures are one I mentioned earlier was from Isaiah and there are two more that I would like to share. The first one is found in Doctrine and Covenants 59:16 Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth;

the reason I like this blessing is because as we keep the Lords Holy day we are promised that the fulness of the earth is yours meaning that the lord will provide for us and make sure that our temporal well being will be taken care of. The other Blessing is my favorite one of them all and its found in the same section and its verse 23 and it says. But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.

The reason why this is my favorite blessing is because it promises us peace in this life and I think that's what all of us are seeking for, but most importantly that we can have eternal life to come. And how do we receive all these blessings?... BY COMING TO CHURCH!!!! its that easy church may seem long and boring at sometime but its not when we have our priories straight.

      I know that these things are true church use to be boring to me when I was in my teens but when I realized that its not just a 3 hour of scripture reading it about learning what the savior needs us to do and learn so that we can have this gift of eternal life. I go to church to receive the personal revelation that I need that is why I go. What a good place to go to receive an answer to an issue or concern that we may have. Please come and join us where ever you may be there will be a place of worship and all are welcome to join us. 

Come and Worship With Us!

Gifts of the Spirit

     Spiritual Gifts are given to those who are worthy to receive them and of course the only way we receive them is by the Power of the Holy Ghost. These gifts are blessings from God and they benefit those who love the Lord and seek to Obey and keep his commandments. They are a blessing because its a chance we get to serve others we are given these Gifts not just to help us grow and learn how to become better people but its so God can help all of his children.

The scriptures teach us of many of the gifts of the spirit:

●Knowledge “that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world” (D&C 46:13).
●The capacity to believe the words of those who testify of Jesus Christ (see D&C 46:14).
●Knowledge of “the differences of administration” (D&C 46:15; see also 1 Corinthians 12:5). This gift is used in administering and leading the Church.
●Knowledge of “the diversities of operations,” which helps individuals discern whether a teaching or influence comes from God or from some other source (D&C 46:16; see also 1 Corinthians 12:6-7).
●The gift of “the word of wisdom” (1 Corinthians 12:8; D&C 46:17). This does not refer to the law known as the Word of Wisdom (see D&C 89). Rather, it is the gift of wisdom—the ability to use knowledge in righteous ways.
●The gift of “the word of knowledge” (1 Corinthians 12:8; D&C 46:18).
●The ability to teach by the power of the Holy Ghost (see Moroni 10:9-10; see also D&C 46:18).
●The gift of faith (see 1 Corinthians 12:9; Moroni 10:11).
●The gift “to have faith to be healed” (D&C 46:19).
●The gift “to have faith to heal” (D&C 46:20; see also 1 Corinthians 12:9; Moroni 10:11).
●“The working of miracles” (1 Corinthians 12:10; D&C 46:21; see also Moroni 10:12).
●The gift of prophecy (see 1 Corinthians 12:10; Moroni 10:13; D&C 46:22). The Apostle John taught that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10).
●“The beholding of angels and ministering spirits” (Moroni 10:14).
●“Discerning of spirits” (1 Corinthians 12:10; D&C 46:23).
●The gift to speak in different languages, or tongues (see 1 Corinthians 12:10; Moroni 10:15; D&C 46:24).
●The gift of “the interpretation of tongues” (1 Corinthians 12:10; D&C 46:25; see also Moroni 10:16).
    These spiritual gifts and others listed in the scriptures are only some examples of the many gifts of the Spirit. The Lord blesses His children in many ways according to their faithfulness and their needs and the needs of those they serve.

     Now we are blessed with some of these to help others so now the question is how do we develop them? Well its simple really and its what the Savior asks us to do everyday. Have faith, Read from the scriptures daily, Pray for opportunities, and work when that opportunities come, and last it has to be in the will of God. We cant just say Okay God I want to heal someone today lets make it happen and all you do that day is saying be healed... I don’t think that’s how it works we need to go about doing these things the way the Lord intends them to be and when we see and realize that God has given us a chance to help his children and do so we see the blessing come to that persons life. And also we shouldn’t be going around boastful with these gifts and say hey I have the gift to heal let me heal you! These gift to me are ways that God is trying to teach us humility and to help when the time is inline with Gods time. Doctrine and Covenants tells us about this its found in D&C84:73But a commandment I give unto them, that they shall not boast themselves of these things, neither speak them before the world; for these things are given unto you for your profit and for salvation.

    Now those of you that know what Gift that God has blessed you with this is my pray today that you go and develop that gift and help build up the kingdom of God and bless his children that are in need of help. Pray for opportunities so that you may get the chance to not only help others but to help build your testimony and know that God really does love you and all of his Children. I promise you that if you do this God will indeed give you that opportunity to exercise faith and also to fill of his love as you see his hand in your life so that he can help ALL of his children.

    If you would like yo know more here is a great talk by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the quorum of the twelve Apostles on the topic.

http://www.lds.org/ensign/1986/09/spiritual-gifts?lang=eng

All scriptures references can be found at lds.org