Lesson
15: “Seek Ye Earnestly the Best Gifts”
I am excited about this
lesson because it is a good tie in to last weeks lesson on the law of
consecration. Last week we discussed the physical ways to live this eternal
law, and today we are going to tap into some of the spiritual ways we can live
it.
The lesson is entitled “Seek Ye Earnestly the Best Gifts”, but in preparing it, I would like it to read:
“Seek Ye Earnestly Your Best
gifts, and The Best Gifts of Others For We Are All One Body”.
Just to preface, I know
we are studying out of the D&C and I promise to utilize those amazing
scriptures; however, ever since I completed my senior literary course—The Bible
as Literature—I have a great affinity for the Bible. And as I was preparing this lesson, I was so pleased to see
it working in direct correlation with the BOM and The Pearl of Great Price.
*So get ready to get in
the trenches with Paul today as we read, verbatim, his message to the
Corinthians.
*HANDOUT BIBLES
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GARDEN
Before we get into the
meat of this lesson we are going to start off with an anaology of a garden,
which will give us the “thesis” for the lesson today.
Imagine that you are
planting a garden.
Q. What seeds would you plant?
Even though our gardens
would be different they would all be beautiful and useful.
Similarly we may
receive different gifts of the spirit but all of these gifts are useful for
building up the kingdom of God.
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DEFINE
GIFTS
Q. Keeping with the garden analogy, who can plant a garden (I am
not asking who has the know-how, rather who has the ability to plant one)?
EVERYONE
Q. Who can receive gifts of the spirit?
*(READ D&C 46:3-6 if anyone asks if only the faithful can
receive spiritual gifts)
God gives at least one of these gifts to every faithful member
of the Church who has received the gift of the Holy Ghost. people who have not
received the gift of the Holy Ghost may still be blessed with unique abilities
to lift and strengthen others” (Lesson Manual)
3 Nevertheless ye are commanded never to acast any one out from
your public bmeetings, which are held before the world.
4 Ye are also commanded not to cast any one who belongeth
to the church out of your sacrament meetings; nevertheless, if any have
trespassed, let him anot bpartake until he makes reconciliation.
5 And again I say unto you, ye shall not cast any out of
your sacrament meetings who are earnestly aseeking the kingdom—I speak this concerning those
who are not of the church.
6 And again I
say unto you, concerning your aconfirmation meetings, that if there be any that are not of the
church, that are earnestly seeking after the kingdom, ye shall not cast them
out.
“Gifts of the Spirit are spiritual blessings or abilities that
are given through the Holy Ghost. These gifts were taken from the earth during the Great
Apostasy, but God restored them in the early days of this dispensation.”
(Lesson Manual)
So just as each of us had different seeds we planted in our
garden, so do each of us have different spiritual gifts.
We are going to define some of these gifts found in D&C
46. We will go verse-by-verse and whomever reads the scripture if you could
share what that gift is. Also any
examples you may have of any of these gifts please feel free to share.
.
a. D&C 46:13. (Knowledge “given by the Holy Ghost … that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.”)
.
b. D&C 46:14. (Belief in others’ testimonies of the Savior.) I
have a testimony that this is just as important a gift as that of bearing
testimony. In my patriarchal
blessing it tells me to “bear my testimony often that others may hear and know
and glorify my Father in Heaven.” What a gift it is to hear something and
automatically recognize it as truth
.
c. D&C 46:15. (Knowledge of “the differences of administration.”)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve said that this gift is
“used in administering and regulating the church” (A New Witness for the
Articles of Faith [1985], 278).
.
d. D&C 46:16. (Discernment “to know the diversities of operations,
whether they be of God.” This gift helps us discern whether a teaching or
influence comes from God or from some other source.)
.
g. D&C 46:20. (Faith to heal.) I love this because it exemplifies
the gift of the priesthood holder in administering a blessing (faith to heal)
AND the gift of the receiver of that blessing (the faith to be healed)—each
work TOETHER to call upon Gods power
.
k. D&C 46:24. (Speaking in tongues.) I have a testimony that
sometimes temporary gifts are bestowed upon us as a sign of Gods tender
mercy. I had to learn Swedish
under less than pleasing circumstances and later when I went back to school to
finish my degree I had to take a language course to complete my education and
since foreign language isn’t my
strength I decided to take Swedish (having had a basic knowledge of it). And I can tell you the Lord helped me
learn to speak it for four years just so I could get my degree. * So sometimes gifts are
temporary, so don’t think because you don’t possess that gift now you never
will.
*It just hit me, isn’t it so interesting how these gifts are
two-fold (the gift to bear
testimony/the gift to believe in a testimony; the gift to heal/the gift to have
the faith to be healed; the gift to speak tongues/the gift to understand) ,
there is a give and take, yet no one gift is more important than the other,
each are essential.
Q. There are many other gifts besides the ones mentioned
here. What are a few?
----EXAMPLE by RYAN LYMAN of a spiritual gift his wife
possesses-----
#1 HANDOUT: Elder Marvin J.
Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve said some “less-conspicuous gifts” include
“the gift of asking; the gift of listening; the gift of hearing and using a
still, small voice; … the gift of avoiding contention; the gift of being
agreeable; … the gift of seeking that which is righteous; the gift of not
passing judgment; the gift of looking to God for guidance; the gift of being a
disciple; the gift of caring for others; the gift of being able to ponder; the
gift of offering prayer; the gift of bearing a mighty testimony; and the gift
of receiving the Holy Ghost” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1987, 23; or Ensign,
Nov. 1987, 20).
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WHY DO WE HAVE GIFTS
Q. Why do we plant a garden? Benefits us
Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve taught that
gifts of the Spirit “can lead us to God. They can shield us from the power of
the adversary. They can compensate for our inadequacies and repair our
imperfections” (“Spiritual Gifts,” Ensign, Sept. 1986, 72).
*Pretty amazing that our own talents can override and/or
compensate for our own imperfections.
No wonder Satan wants us to hide our talents
Q. Do others benefit from our garden? Sure, if we share. Each of us benefit from farmers and the
fruits and vegetables they harvest each year.
#2 HANDOUT: Elder Orson Pratt
of the Quorum of the Twelve said, “Spiritual gifts are distributed among the
members of the Church, according to their faithfulness, circumstances, natural
abilities, duties, and callings; that the whole may be properly instructed,
confirmed, perfected, and saved” (Masterful Discourses and Writings of Orson
Pratt, comp. N. B. Lundwall [1953], 571).
——EXAMPLE of how someone else’s spiritual gift has
blessed her life——
So just as a garden
benefits us individually, and as a whole, so do our spiritual gifts. And this is where I want to pause and
spend some time.
Q. Who is afraid to use their spiritual gifts? Why?
(seen as being prideful, etc,)
Q. Who has ever been envious of another’s gift? Why? (famine mentality: if I don’t
possess it I will be empty or without).
It is hard living in a
world where people are seeking to attain as much as they can to enable them to
rise in status above another.
However, just as we learned about the law of consecration last week, we
need to share and further utilize each others gifts so we call all be lifted to
ONE EQUAL status, for we are all of THE SAME status in Gods eyes—we are all his
sons and daughters.
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PAULS SERMON: ONE BODY
Now, I want to delve
into this wonderful sermon Paul gives to the Corinthians. Let’s pull out our bibles. One of you
pull out your BOM.
Read Moroni 10:8, 17. ------------Read 1 Cor 12:4-6----------Paul proceeds to define a few
of the gifts we read in D&C
1 Cor 12:12 (and this is the ever famous analogy of the body).
*The “members’=toes,
feet, hands, arms, etc. ALL are members of this body we have
17—in other words each part is necessary to the whole
19—each member (or body
part) isn’t as useful without the other. you can’t just be a toe, or a finger .
. . you are the eye, I am the ear, this person is the hand . . . all together
we make ONE BODY
20—the NEED of every SINGLE one of us—this can tie
into missionary work: all of us
23—How many in here think “I don’t really need my
belly button?” “We don’t really need you to complete the whole?” Here he is
saying EVERY PART—again I stress PERSON is vital!
24—In other words I give to you because you lack
something; you give to me because I lack something, and TOGETHER we are
TEMPERED..
*I have always been
fascinated with the origin of words so I want to pause and define tempered for a quick moment. Listen to some of these definitions:
Definition
of TEMPER
1
: to dilute, qualify, or soften by
the addition or influence of something else : moderate <temper justice with mercy>
3
: to bring to a suitable state by
mixing in or adding a usually liquid ingredient: as
a : to mix (clay) with water or a
modifier (as grog) and knead to a uniform texture
5
in battle>
6
#3
HANDOUT: Heat treatment of steel in a
school workshop is normally a two stage process (KEY WORD: TWO). For example, if a high carbon
steel or silver steel screw driver blade has been manufactured, at some point
it will have to be ‘’hardened’ (SYNONYM: STRENGTHENED) to prevent it wearing down when
used. On the other hand it will have to be ‘tempered’. This second heating
process reduces the hardness a little but toughens the steel. It also
significantly reduces the brittleness of the steel so that it does not break
easily. The whole process is called ‘hardening and tempering’. (SO IN ORDER
FOR STEEL TO BECOME WHAT IT IS IT HAS TO GO THROUGH A TWO STEP PROCESS) LET’S
RE-READ THAT VERSE: 1 Cor 12:24.
http://www.technologystudent.com/equip1/heat1.htm
READ 1 Cor 12:25-27
25: don’t you think
that if we truly believed that we were extremely beneficial to one another we
would care for each other deeply because we know that I am not whole without
you and you are not whole without me, just as all of us are not whole without
CHRIST.
26—NO ENVY this is no longer the “I mentality.”
Quickly turn to 13:11,
I really love this scripture because it is so applicable to me now having
kids—Children envy others things and are possessive of what they have. But guess what, we are no longer
children, we are adults, and we need to act like adults by sharing our gifts as
well as being grateful for the gifts others have been blessed with).
So going back to verse
26: (READ) so clap, jump up and down when your fellowman is successful, and
instead of elevating yourself through the weakness of another, reach down to
pick someone up. WHY? READ
27—together our parts
are perfected and ultimately we become members of Christ!
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CULTIVATING
OUR GIFTS
We
know we need to cultivate a garden so we can harvest good fruit.
Q. How can we cultivate
the gifts we have been given?
§ Pray: HANDOUT#4 President George Q. Cannon taught: “If any of us
are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make us perfect.
Have I imperfections? I am full of them. What is my duty? To pray to God to
give me the gifts that will correct these imperfections. If I am an angry man,
it is my duty to pray for charity, which suffereth long and is kind. Am I an
envious man? It is my duty to seek for charity, which envieth not. So with all
the gifts of the Gospel. They are intended for this purpose. No man ought to
say, ‘Oh, I cannot help this; it is my nature.’ He is not justified in it, for the
reason that God has promised to give strength to correct these things, and to
give gifts that will eradicate them” (Millennial Star, 23 Apr. 1894, 260).
§ Act: The Prophet
Joseph Smith taught that many gifts of the Spirit, such as wisdom or the gift
to heal, are not evident until they are needed (my Swedish example). He said that “it
would require time and circumstances to call these gifts into operation”
(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976],
246).
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CONCLUSION
Read D&C 46:10-12
10 And again, verily I say unto you, I would that ye should
always remember, and always retain in your aminds what those bgifts are, that are given unto the church.
11 For all have not every agift given unto them; for there are many gifts,
and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
12 To some is given one, and to some is given another, that
all may be profited thereby.
TESTIFY:
1) I testify of the
power of our patriarchal blessings brothers and sisters—that contained therein
are spiritual gifts the Lord has bestowed upon us. In preparing for this lesson I re-read mine and underlined
all of the gifts the Lord has given me.
I encourage you to go home and do the same.
2) I also encourage you
to get a priesthood blessing. My
patriarchal blessing ends by saying: “I bless you to this end by the power of
the priesthood which I hold and in the name of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Amen.” I was ONLY able to know of these gifts and blessings I have been given
through a priesthood holder.
I honestly believe the priesthood isn’t used
enough; it is often left to be used in times of sickness—when we are on our
death bead persae—but it NEEDS to be used on a weekly basis to help us with the
smallest to the largest obstacles we face in our daily lives; from the simple
ability to get through one more week—SANELY—to helping us overcome fears and/or
weaknesses.
For as we learned in this lesson we only
overcome our imperfections by utilizing our strengths, or our gifts. And the Lord is waiting to reveal those
to you and me, and further empower us with them through a member of his
priesthood.
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