Ward Chess Tournament

Austin Pearce, the official ward chess master, is organizing a chess tournament for those who think they can beat him. Here are the details:

Date	Tuesday, July 17
Time	7:00 p.m.
Where	Interview Rooms in the New Building (MSB)

The Doctrine of Christ

We have the rare opportunity in this stake to have President Richard Heaton as a member of our Stake Presidency. As a handful of you know, President Heaton is the director of the MTC and in that capacity he has his finger on the pulse of the leadership of the church.

Last Sunday, in our Stake Bishop’s meeting, President Heaton shared with us some  critical counsel that was presented by the Brethren to the new mission presidents. They call this focus the Doctrine of Christ.This counsel is nothing new. But it shows the direction that President Monson is pushing the church. This gives us the opportunity to see if we are aligned with that direction.

Through this next series of blog post, I will share with you what President Heaton relayed to the Bishops and give my commentary. I urge you to ponder these thoughts and in your personal study time, seek to gain greater clarity about how this direction will impact you and what course corrections you may need to make.

Baby Benjamin is Home!

To all those who participated in the fasting and prayers on behalf of our tiny grandson, we thank you. Today, after five long weeks in the hospital,the miracle was complete. He came home!!!

Upcoming Stake Activities

Please make note of the following and try to attend those where you can.

Prospective Missionary Fireside Sunday, July 8 4:15-5:00 pm HRCB
		Engaged Couples Fireside Sunday, July 15 7:00-8:00 New Building on 9th
Blood Drive Saturday, August 1 4:00-8:00 pm WSC Garden Room

Relief Society Retreat

Please remember that tonight is the Relief Society Retreat. Here are the details:

 

Date	Friday, July 6
Time	5:30 p.m. Leave from Centennial
	6:30 p.m. Dinner
Where	Shaunzi Byron’s home at 50W 650N Lindon
What	Dinner, activities, program, and fun

  Hope to see you all there.

Understanding Covenants, Part 3

So, after that last lengthy post, let’s see if we can conclude with this segment.

What we discovered was that at times is seems like God is absent when it comes to Him doing His part in keeping covenants. As a reminder, we left the Children of God in bondage for what to them seemed to be for no reason at all. God is quite good at keeping us guessing at times.

But as their story concludes, we will see that God purposely arranged this awful situation to teach them and to teach us the personal nature of a covenant. The story ends with God not freeing the people from their awful plight at first. Rather, He miraculously lifts all their burdens that they did not feel them upon their backs. This is the key.

When we make a covenant with God, all we need to do is prove faithful in keeping that covenant and God will always lift the burden of that commandment or covenant so that we can succeed. Isn’t this exactly what missionaries promise their investigators as they struggle to keep the new commandments that are required to be baptized?

A covenant, then, binds us in a very personal way to God. He creates the condition for the covenant, we prove faithful, and He lifts the burden so that we can succeed. This is the very foundation of how God brings to pass our immortality and eternal life.

So, when you ponder the covenants we have made, or soon will make, you must look for those small and simple ways God lifts your burdens so that you can succeed. This is what King Benjamin taught his people and is the critical component in recognizing the love God has for you. Most important, this will help you better understand your individual worth.

Understanding Covenants, Part 2

So, with the foundation of a covenant being two willing and reliable partners, and if we are less than reliable partners in covenants that are eternal, why, would God insist on making covenants with us? The Book of Mormon can help us understand this important question.

All Book of Mormon prophets clearly taught that the Nephites and Lamanites were a covenant people. The covenant God made with them was that if they kept the commandments they would prosper in the land. Seems simple enough. But, as we all know, they constantly struggled with the simplicity of that covenant.

After the Nephites fled the Land of Nephi for Zarahemla, there was a man named Zeniff who had a strong desire to move back to the land of his forefathers, even though the Lamanites now ruled over it.

King Laman granted Zeniff and his people their request so now we have a small group of Nephites willingly surrounded by Lamanites. As was common for Nephites, they began to prosper, for they were keeping the commandments. Then Zeniff died.

His son, Noah, took over and this is where things got interesting. Noah saw his new  found power as an opportunity and quickly led his people, who were once very righteous, into iniquity. He did not do this alone. He has a cadre of loyalists that helped him subvert the commandments. Chief among them were Amulon and Alma.

Soon, God sent Abinidi to call the people to repentance. Alma believed and Amulon did not. Alma pled to the king to release Abinidi, Amulon demanded the king kill both Alma and Abinidi. Abinidi was killed and Alma fled.

Alma hid for a time and was not only able to fully repent of his sins, which were many, but  also became the vehicle to restore the gospel. As Alma’s movement grew, Amulon and Noah sought to kill all who believed. So, as happens so often in the Book of Mormon, Alma was warned to flee from those seeking to destroy him and to take the believers to a new land.

Alma and his followers arrived at a new place and called it the Land of Helam. Once their,  the sought to keep God’s commandments and they begin to prosper just as God promised in His covenant.

Well, as the Children of God were prospering in the Land of Helam, things are not going  to well for Noah and Amulon. Noah is killed by a mutiny among his followers and Amulon is forced to flee. Amulon and his gang kidnap a handful of Lamanite daughters and are later discovered by a lost Lamanite army.

As this army makes its way back to the Land of Nephi, they happened upon the Children of God in the Land of Helam. (Are you keeping all this straight?) Now we have a unhappy reunion of Alma and Amulon, two former friends now on the opposite side of the spiritual spectrum.

Somehow, Amulon convinced the main body of the Lamanite army to leave for a while and he becomes the dictator of the Land of Helam. To get back at Alma and his followers, Amulon enslaves them and places impossible burdens on the people. So difficult were these burdens that the people couldn't withstand it forcing them to cry unto God.

What would you pray for if you were one of these Children of God. Obviously, you would remind God of the covenant He made. They were keeping the commandments but God did not seem to be doing his part for the deal. They were not prospering in the land.

So, didn’t we say that God was a reliable partner? Why were these righteous people abandoned by God?