Sabbath Reflections

"For the natural man is an enemy to God,

and has been from the fall of Adam, and

will be, forever and ever, unless he yields

to the enticing of the Holy Spirit, and

putteth off the natural man and becometh a

saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord,

and becometh as a child, submissive, meek,

humble, patient, full of love, willing to

submit to all things which the Lord seeth

fit to inflict upon him, even as a child

doth submit to his father."

from: Book of Mormon

Mosiah 3:19

* ...disregarding what we know to be right, whether through laziness or rebelliousness, always brings undesirable and spiritually damaging consequences.

* ...we know the commandments and standards we have covenanted to uphold. When we choose another path from the one we know to be right, ...and as confirmed to our own hearts by the Holy Ghost, it is like stepping onto the desert sand....

* Perhaps we console ourselves with the thought that everyone else is doing it-or doing worse- and we wont be negatively affected...

*We refuse, sometimes willfully, to be "exactly obedient" -and we hold back a portion of our hearts from the Lord.

*The scriptures teach us that "the Lord requireth the heart." and we are commanded to love the Lord and serve Him with "all our heart."

* a generation of people in the Book of Mormon, became a righteous people because "they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more."

*...rebellious hearts sentence(d) them to live "in a state contrary to the nature of happiness" because they had "gone contrary to the nature of God."

*When they (we) laid down their weapons of rebellion, they (we) qualified themselves for the Lord's healing and peace.

* The Savior assures, "If they harden not their hearts, and stiffen not their necks against me, they shall be converted, and I will heal them."

*...what happens "when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride (or) our vain ambition?... "the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved."

*We must lay down our weapons of rebellion (and we each know what they are.) We must lay down our sin, our vanity, and pride.

* We must cease fighting against God and instead give our whole hearts to Him, holding nothing back.

* "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved."

* "When obedience becomes our goal, it it no longer an irritation; instead of a stumbling block, it becomes a building block... Obedience leads to true freedom. The more we obey revealed truth, the more we become liberated." (Faust)

* Our Savior is the Prince of Peace, the Great Healer, the only One who can truly cleanse us from the poison of pride and change our rebellious hearts...

thank you Elder Kearon for the sermon