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Grab your journal today!. D&C 60-62. Three Revelations in Six Days. A little history….
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Grab your journal today! D&C 60-62 Three Revelations in Six Days
A little history…. After dedicating western Missouri as Zion and a site for the New Jerusalem temple, Joseph and his companions wanted to know what the Lord would have them do next. On August 8, 1831, Section 60 is received, instructing them to return to Ohio.
Day 1- August 8 • After dedicating western Missouri as Zion and a site for the New Jerusalem temple, Joseph and his companions wanted to know what the Lord would have them do next. On August 8, 1831, Section 60 is received, instructing them to return to Ohio.
D&C 60 • What power lies hidden within this match? • What is required for this power to be released? • Read Doctrine and Covenants 60:2 and explain how it is similar to a match. Write down 10 talents and abilities YOU possess. Matt 5:14-16 Alma 17:28-29
Talents • What is the difference between talent and ability? • Matt 25:14-18, 19-23, 24-26, 30 • An ability becomes a talent when we turn it over to the Lord. Does God really reap where he hasn’t sown? Does God care what career you enter? How to discover talents: • Friends/Family tell you • Patriarchal blessings • Spirit nags you • Trial and error Why do people hesitate to develop talents?
What is an appropriate way to respond to this statement? “I don’t have any talents. I can’t play an instrument, sing, dance, or draw. And I’m not a very good student. We have lessons about how we should develop our talents, but what if you don’t have any?” (New Era, January 1996).
“Last year I was noticing how I didn’t have any “real” talents. Then I received my patriarchal blessing. It said, “You have a special gift to work with people.” When I heard that, I knew what my talent was and decided to do whatever I could to pursue that talent. I was called as the Beehive president and have been striving to do what I can to be a good leader for the Beehives of my ward.” Sherry Olson, 14 Sonora, California
“Talents don’t just come in athletics, music, or art, but your personality is also a talent. It is a talent you can work on and improve. For example, people that smile and are just plain friendly have a talent of spreading happiness.” Johnny Wudel, 16 Mesa, Arizona
“There are also spiritual talents such as having the ability to feel, listen, and understand the promptings of the Spirit, and being faithful to those things you have been taught which are true. These are also important talents which need to be nurtured and developed. Search inside yourself. They are there.” Emily Edwards, 16 Rexburg, Idaho
Once, on a very nice day in Washington Square Park in New York City, my companion and I were contacting in the park with little success. In the park, people were watching some Broadway-quality street dancers. At the end of the performance, my companion approached the dancers with a challenge: “We have the fastest man in NYC with us today, and he would like to have a race. Which one of you is the fastest?” One of them came out and said, “That’s me, bro. I’m a runner too.” The other dancers blocked the street, and the crowd leaving the dance performance was called back. Someone exclaimed, “It’s the Mormons!” Soon we had a large audience for the race.
My opponent was in athletic dancing clothes. I was in my suit, holding my Book of Mormon. The dancer asked if I wanted to give my suit coat and Book of Mormon to my companion, but I said, “I’m good. I will run with them.” He started the race with, “On your mark, get set, go,” and took off. I gave him a head start of a couple seconds, and then I began to chase him down. As I passed the dancer, I held up the Book of Mormon and said, “The Church is true, bro!” and ran on to win the race. Because of this performance, we became very popular in the neighborhood. Many people immediately took pass-along cards, and we made several return appointments. Gospel seeds were planted. I contacted people on the street and invited them to race me—if I won, they would agree to come to church. I ran in 77 races on my mission and never lost. (Jason Hinds, June 2012, New Era).
A few years ago I was visiting in Brazil, where a new mission president had just arrived. He was excited about returning to his old field of labor in the mission field, the same area in which he had served as a nineteen-year-old missionary. Years previous, he and his senior companion were assigned to open a new city some distance from the mission headquarters. As they arrived in this new city and walked down the street, they passed a church with a minister standing at the front door. As they walked by the church, the minister went in and called to his whole congregation to follow him out into the street. There they followed the missionaries and started calling them names; then they became more violent and started to throw rocks at them. The young elder was excited about this experience—his first day in the mission field and already he was being stoned, he thought. Then, a big rock suddenly hit him squarely in the middle of the back, and his feeling changed to anger. Before entering the mission field he had been quite a baseball pitcher; and in the flush of anger he wheeled around, grabbed the first rock he could find on the ground, reared back in his famous pitching pose, and just ready to let the rock fly when suddenly…
…he realized why he was there. He had not been sent all the way to Brazil to throw rocks at people; he was there to teach them the gospel. But what was he to do with the rock in his hand? If he dropped it to the ground, they would think it a sign of weakness and probably continue to throw rocks at them. Yet he could not throw it at the crowd. Then he saw a telephone post some distance away. He reared back and let the rock fly directly at the telephone post, hitting it squarely in the middle. The people in the crowd took a couple of steps back. They suddenly realized that that rock probably could have hit any one of them right between the eyes. Their mood changed; instead of throwing rocks at the missionaries, they began to throw them at the telephone post. After this incident, every time the elder went down that street he was challenged to a rock-throwing contest. The rock-throwing contests led to discussions of the gospel, which led to conversions, which led to the establishment of a branch of the Church in that community. Do you see the talents that we have but we never consider using to help build the Kingdom? I think we ought to use the talents our Father in Heaven has given to us to help this great work grow (Prophecies, Visions, and Dreams, L. TOM PERRY, BYU Speeches, 1979)
“We spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others—usually comparing our weaknesses to their strengths. This drives us to create expectations for ourselves that are impossible to meet. As a result, we never celebrate our good efforts because they seem to be less than what someone else does...
“Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. It’s wonderful that you have strengths. And it is part of your mortal experience that you do have weaknesses. “God wants to help us to eventually turn all of our weaknesses into strengths,but He knows that this is a long-term goal. He wants us to become perfect,and if we stay on the path of discipleship, one day we will. It’s OK that you’re not quite there yet. Keep working on it, but stop punishing yourself (President Uchtdorf, October 2011)
D&C 61-62 Three Revelations in Six Days
Day 2- August 9 • The next day 11 men get into canoes and start their journey on the Missouri River. …but there is contention.
Contention D&C 61:3-8 The Savior forbade disputations and contention by everyone, saying, "He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me." Men should not be stirred up "with anger, one against another." The commandment to avoid contention applies to those who are right as well as to those who are wrong. (Elder Dallin H. Oaks)
Day 3- August 10 • Contention continues on August 10. • Oliver Cowdery rebukes his brethren: “As the Lord God liveth, if you do not become better, some accident will befall you!”
Day 4- August 11 • The next day some men are so mad they refuse to paddle. One of the canoes hits a submerged tree and almost capsizes. • Joseph orders everyone off the river. They set up camp at McIlwaine’s Bend (now Miami, Missouri).
Day 4- August 11 • W. W. Phelps has a daylight vision: “I saw the destroyer, in most horrible power, ride upon the face of the water.”
Day 5- August 12 • Joseph Smith: “The next morning, after prayer, I received the following.” • D&C 61:14-19
D&C 61 Read Doctrine and Covenants 61:20, 36–37 looking for words and phrases that might have brought comfort to these elders.
Day 6- August 13 • The very next day Joseph and his band of 8 run into his brother Hyrum and 3 other missionaries, John Murdock, David Whitmer, and Harvey Whitlock. • The 13 men rejoice together and Joseph seeks and receives a revelation- Section 62.
D&C 62 True or false: "A person who has sinned much can do more to help others resist temptation than a person who has sinned little." "A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down" (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity [1952], 109–10). Read Doctrine and Covenants 62:1 looking for who is in the best position to help us when we are tempted. One more principle: D&C 62:8
D&C 60-62 Three Revelations in Six Days
