Have ye spiritually been born of God?

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Alternate Primary Songs"When I Go to Church,“I always take a box of candy.When I go to church.I nibble it, it's soft and sweet.I let it fall beneath my feet.It gets stuck to the bishop's feetWhen I go to church.

"A Happy Family,“I love money, it loves me.I love spending lavishly.But I'm broke, and so you see,That's why I'm into burglary.

"The Golden Plates,“The china plates lay hiddenDeep in the cabinet drawerUntil the child found themAnd dropped them on the floor.

President Kimball"This impression weighs upon me—

that the Church is at a point in its growth and maturity when we are at last ready to move forward in a major way. . .

The basic decisions needed for us to move forward, as a people, must be made by the individual members of the Church. The major strides which must be made by the Church will follow upon the major strides to be made by us as individuals.

We have paused on some plateaus long enough. Let us resume our journey forward and upward."

(Conference Report, April 1979, p. 114.)

Why would we, as Saints, “pause” in our spiritual growth?

Pathway to “The Awakening”

Alma 5:6And now behold, I say unto…

you that belong to this church, have you:

1) sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers?

2) … sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them?

3) …sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell?

Captivity

Mercy

Deliverance

Elder C.S. LewisWe are not merely

imperfect creatures who must be improved: we are…rebels who must lay down our arms.

The first answer, then, to the question why our cure should be painful, is that to render back the will which we have so long claimed for our own, is in itself, wherever and however it is done, a grievous pain…

But to surrender a self will inflamed and swollen…is a kind of death.

The problem of Pain, p. 91

Alma 528- Behold are ye

stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God…

29- Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy?

Two Part ProcessClean Hands(We Do)Obedience and

Commandments

Pure Hearts(He Does)GrudgesPrideEnvy

Elder OaksI have spoken about miracles.  I have given

illustrations of miracles in the Church as a whole and in many different circumstances involving a few individuals or a crisis of weather or war. 

But the greatest miracle is not in such things as restoring sight to the blind, healing an illness, or even raising the dead, since all of these restorations will happen, in any event, in the Resurrection.

Changing bodies or protecting temples are miracles, but an even greater miracle is a mighty change of heart by a son or daughter of God. . . If of the right kind, this change opens the door to the process of repentance that cleanses us to dwell in the presence of God.

It introduces the perspective and priorities that lead us to make the choices that qualify us for eternal life, ‘the greatest of all the gifts of God’ (D&C 14:7).” (Ensign, June 2001, p. 17)

How do you know?Alma 5:14Alma 5:34

Maya Kings: In the Image of God

President BensonThe Lord works from the inside out. The world

works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums.

Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment.

Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature. Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 77.

Big Gulp Scripture…Alma 7:11

President BensonMost of us think of pride

as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is still missing.

The central feature of pride is ???Enmity—enmity toward God and enmity

toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.”

It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.

One last thought…When I am hot and rebellious, bitter and cynical and

sarcastic; when it seems as though evil can win in the world and the battle is to the strong;

when it seems as though pride possesses all the high places, and greatness belongs to those who can grab the most;

when it seems as if faith is mocked, love fails miserably and humility is trodden in the dust;

when pity seems weakness and sympathy folly; when a foul egotism rises up within me and would bid me assert myself, plan for myself, serve my own interests, play for my own hand and "take care of number one";

then, O my Lord, may I hear in imagination the gentle splashing of water falling into a basin, and see the Son of God washing His disciples' feet!

(Leslie D. Weatherhead, The Eternal Voice, New York: Abingdon Press, 1940, pp. 81-82.)