I have the great blessing of hosting this blog, and am even more touched by the willingness of this entire Branch to lift where they stand... to embolden and reinvigorate all whom are edified by them. This has always rang true to me. There is no better time to be driven to continual reflection on why we believe what we do, and why it helps us. Sometimes we simply follow because we are commanded and compelled to; That is a powerful demonstration of faith without having to see a sign, or additional witness (Of which the Light of Christ inside us all, already does witness through magnification and desire to listen to the still small voice).
Consider the words first, of the Savior to one disciple named Thomas:
"Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John 20:29)
And when it came to Alma, teaching and preaching unto those of the Zoramites after their seperation from the main body of Nephites, and more specifically unto those whom were cast out from the body of the Zoramites because of their poverty, Alma said this:
"And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh arepentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and bendureth to the end the same shall be saved.
14
And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be ahumble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word?
15
Yea, he that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and
endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed—yea, much more blessed
than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding
poverty.
16
Therefore, blessed are they who ahumble themselves without being bcompelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without cstubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.
17
Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a asign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe.
18
Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to abelieve, for he knoweth it.
19
And now, how much amore bcursed is he that cknoweth the dwill of God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause to believe, and falleth into etransgression?
20
Now of this thing ye must judge. Behold, I say unto you, that it is on
the one hand even as it is on the other; and it shall be unto every man
according to his work.
22
And now, behold, I say unto you, and I would that ye should remember, that God is amerciful unto all who believe on his name; therefore he desireth, in the first place, that ye should believe, yea, even on his word.
24
And now, my beloved brethren, as ye have desired to know of me what ye
shall do because ye are afflicted and cast out—now I do not desire that
ye should suppose that I mean to judge you only according to that which
is true—
25
For I do not mean that ye all of you have been compelled to humble
yourselves; for I verily believe that there are some among you who awould humble themselves, let them be in whatsoever circumstances they might.
26
Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even
so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto
perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.
27
But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an
experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if
ye can no more than adesire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
28
Now, we will compare the word unto a aseed. Now, if ye give place, that a bseed may be planted in your cheart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your dunbelief,
that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to
swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye
will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good
seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul;
yea, it beginneth to eenlighten my funderstanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.
29
Now behold, would not this increase your faith? I say unto you, Yea; nevertheless it hath not grown up to a perfect knowledge.
30
But behold, as the seed swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow,
then you must needs say that the seed is good; for behold it swelleth,
and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow. And now, behold, will not this
strengthen your faith? Yea, it will strengthen your faith: for ye will
say I know that this is a good seed; for behold it sprouteth and
beginneth to grow.
31
And now, behold, are ye sure that this is a good seed? I say unto you, Yea; for every seed bringeth forth unto its own alikeness.
32
Therefore, if a seed groweth it is good, but if it groweth not, behold it is not good, therefore it is cast away.
33
And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the
seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must
needs know that the seed is good.
34
And now, behold, is your aknowledge bperfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your cfaith
is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath
swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your
understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your dmind doth begin to expand.
36
Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither must ye lay aside your faith, for ye
have only exercised your faith to plant the seed that ye might try the
experiment to know if the seed was good.
37
And behold, as the tree beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish
it with great care, that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring
forth fruit unto us. And now behold, if ye nourish it with much care
it will get root, and grow up, and bring forth fruit.
38
But if ye aneglect
the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it will not
get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it,
because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it
out.
40
And thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye
of faith to the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the atree of life.
42
And because of your adiligence
and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that
it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the bfruit
thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is
sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above
all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are
filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst.
All that being said, brethren, I now wish to share with you, the story just published by the LDS Newsroom:
The First
Presidency of the Church has announced
a public open house beginning Saturday, 7 August
2010, and continuing through Saturday, 21 August 2010,
excluding Sundays. Public tours are available on Mondays
from 8:00 to 17:00, and Tuesdays through Saturdays from 8:00
to 20:00.
The temple is
located on Yabluneva Street in Sofiivska Borshagivka
Village. Tours consisting of a 12-minute video presentation
and a 25-minute walking tour will begin at the meetinghouse
adjacent to the temple. Free parking is available at the
temple site.
Following the
public open house, the temple will be formally dedicated on
Sunday, 29 August 2010. Three dedicatory sessions will be
held to accommodate Church members in the area who will be
served by the new temple.
The Kyiv Ukraine
Temple is the Church’s 134th
operating temple worldwide and the 11th
on the European continent. Other European temples of the
Church are located in Bern Switzerland (dedicated 1955),
London England (1958), Freiberg Germany (1985), Stockholm
Sweden (1985), Frankfurt Germany (1987), Preston England
(1998), Madrid Spain (1999), The Hague Netherlands (2002),
Copenhagen Denmark (2004) and Helsinki Finland (2006). A
temple to be built in Rome, Italy was announced in October
2008.
The Kyiv Ukraine
Temple was announced on 20 July 1998. Ground was broken for
the temple’s construction on 23 June 2007. The temple’s
exterior covered in Amarelo Macieira granite, which is a
light in color and has quartzite crystals designed to
reflect sunlight. The spire of the temple is 42 meters tall,
and is crowned with a gilded Angel Moroni statue. Moroni is
significant to members of the Church for his role in the
restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Latter-day
Saint temples differ from the meetinghouses or
chapels where members meet for Sunday worship services.
Temples are considered “houses of the Lord” where Christ’s
teachings are reaffirmed through baptism and other
ordinances that unite families for eternity. In the temple,
Church members learn more about the purpose of life and make
covenants to follow Jesus Christ and serve their fellow man.
Though only
recently introduced in 1991, the Church has grown steadily
in Ukraine. At the end of 2009 there were 10,722 Church
members organized into 64 congregations. Overall, the temple
will serve approximately 31,000 members of the Church living
in nine European nations.
When the temple
is formally dedicated, it will be open to members of the
Church who are actively engaged in the faith — unlike the
thousands of standard church meetinghouses that are open to
everyone for regular Sunday services, regardless of
religious affiliation (see
Newsroom article explaining difference between chapels
and temples).
Formal temple
work will commence at the Kyiv Ukraine Temple on Monday, 30
August 2010.
******************************************************
Lubbock Texas StakeSunday, August 8th 8:30a.m. Branch Council
Saturday, August 14th 10:00a.m. Baptism of Trey Beardsley @ Branch Building- ALL INVITED
Saturday, August 14th 3:00p.m. Beardsley Family Sealed In Lubbock Temple- ALL INVITED
Sunday, August 15th 8:30a.m. PEC Sunday,
August 22nd 8:30a.m. Branch Council Saturday,
August 28th 10:00a.m. Primary Activity Day Sunday,
August 29th Combined Priesthood/Relief Society Sunday,
August 29th 1:15p.m. BYC
************************ Plainview Branch Elders & High Priest Lessons By Date:
8-8-10 Chapter 15 "The Lord's Covenant People" (Gospel Principles)
8-15-10 Chapter 16 "The Church of Jesus Christ In Former Times" (Gospel Principles)
8-22-10 Conference Talk "The Blessing Of The Scriptures" (By D. Todd Christofferson)
8-29-10 Joint Meeting (5th Sunday Agenda)
9-5-10 September First Presidency Meeting (Ensign)
9-12-10 "The Church of Jesus Christ Today" (Gospel Principles, Chapter 17 - Page 95)
9-19-10 "Faith in Jesus Christ" (Gospel Principles, Chapter 18 - Page 101)
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