Ot lesson31

Old Testament Sunday School

Next Week: Old TestamentLesson 32: “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth”

This WeekLesson 31: “Happy Is the Man That Findeth Wisdom”

Daniel [email protected] voice/text

“Happy Is the Man That Findeth Wisdom”


1. Wisdom

2. Trust in the Lord

3. The words we speak

4. Pride

5. Friendship

6. Raising children

7. Happiness and good humor


1. Wisdom

7 ¶The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy isunderstanding.

Proverbs 1:7 & 9:10



5 ¶Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5-7



24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

Proverbs 16:24


4. Pride

13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward mouth, do I hate.

14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.

Proverbs 8:13-14


5. Friendship

17 A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Proverbs 17:17


6. Raising children

6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6



13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

Proverbs 15:13


1. Wisdom



4. Pride

5. Friendship

6. Raising children


2 ….Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee;

…. because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires…..

Rediscovering the Scriptures

Ether 2:23 (23–24).

6 And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger.


Ether 2:23 (23–24).

(Learning from Noah)

16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a

cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the

ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower,

second, and third stories shalt thou make it.


(Learning from Noah)

17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters

upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the

breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing

that is in the earth shall die.

Genesis 6:16-17



16 a window

HEB sohar; some rabbis believed it was a precious stone that shone in the ark.

. . . the purpose of the gospel is . . . tomake bad men good and good menbetter, and to change humannature

Thus, the journey of a lifetime is toprogress from bad to good to better and toexperience the mighty change of heart--and to have our fallen natures changed.

May I suggest that the Book ofMormon is our handbook ofinstructions as we travel the pathwayfrom bad to good to better and tohave our hearts changed.Elder David A. Bednar, In the Strength of the Lord Brigham Young University–Idaho Devotional January 8, 2002

BAD

Good

Better

Scriptures Help Us Become Good

FEAR: To the restored Church the Lord has stated time and time again that fear is not of God and will not enter the hearts of those who love the Lord and live righteously: "Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you" (D&C 68:6).

DUTY: Men who only carry out that which is within their duty and go no further have no claim to any reward beyond the scope of that duty and are unprofitable servants. (Luke 17:7-10)

LOVE: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment…The logic of this is simple, clear, and unequivocal: the proof of love of God is love of one's brother. This becomes the fundamental commandment of Christianity. (Mark 12:30-31).

Elder Howard W. Hunter; Motivations for Good , Conference Report, April 1966, pp. 46-49

http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/68/6

http://scriptures.lds.org/luke/17/7-10

http://scriptures.lds.org/mark/12/30-31


FEAR

What examples are there of those we know or

in Scripture that have been motivated by

FEAR?

FEAR

24 And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, aclinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the bfruit of the tree.25 And after they had partaken of the

fruit of the tree they did cast their eyes about as if they were aashamed.

1 Nephi 8:24-25

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8?lang=eng



DUTY



DUTY?

Nephi

16 And it came to pass that I,

Nephi , being exceedingly

young, nevertheless being large

in stature, and also having great

desires to know of the mysteries

of God, wherefore, I did cry unto

the Lord; and behold he did

visit me, and did soften my

heart that I did believe all the

words which had been spoken

by my father; wherefore, I did

not rebel against him like unto

my brothers.

1 Nephi 2: 16

Laman & Lemuel

7 And they said: Behold, we

cannot understand the words

which our father hath spoken

concerning the natural

branches of the olive tree, and

also concerning the Gentiles.

8 And I said unto them: Have

ye inquired of the Lord?

9 And they said unto me: We

have not; for the Lord

maketh no such thing known

unto us.

1 Nephi 15:7-9

VS.


LOVE



LOVE?

FEAR: To the restored Church the Lord has stated time and time again that fear is not of God and will not enter the hearts of those who love the Lord and live righteously: "Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you" (D&C 68:6).

DUTY: Men who only carry out that which is within their duty and go no further have no claim to any reward beyond the scope of that duty and are unprofitable servants. (Luke 17:7-10)

LOVE: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment…The logic of this is simple, clear, and unequivocal: the proof of love of God is love of one's brother. This becomes the fundamental commandment of Christianity. (Mark 12:30-31).


http://scriptures.lds.org/dc/68/6

http://scriptures.lds.org/luke/17/7-10

http://scriptures.lds.org/mark/12/30-31

Excuses and Testimony

Word of Wisdom

Blacks and the Priesthood

Gay Marriage

Polygamy

Book of Mormon

Faith

Religion

Words and actions of Love in Marriage?

If you love me or care about this relationship and family you will…..If you honor the Priesthood you will….If you are a good mother you will….Happy wife, happy lifeYou don’t own your spouseWe’re married, now you’re stuck with meWe are married for Eternity ConditionsObligationsPunishmentsShameFear

Destroying Stealing Agency

Change Playing Field

Discredit

Fear, Obligation & Guilt “F.O.G”. Dr. Susan Forward

Feel Stupid, doubt, Responsible, Shame

Using your values against you

Intellect & Superiority

Delusional Behavior

Crazy Making

AgencyAtonement

Destroying Stealing Agency

Fear

Obligation

Guilt

Stupid

Doubt

Resentment

YOU

Things of the Testimony

Intellectual

SpiritualRational

Testimony

You Have No Power Here

WITCH:

You stay out of this, Glinda, or I'll fix you as well!

GLINDA:

(laughs)Oh, rubbish! You have no power here. Be gone, before somebody drops a house on you, too.

Lehi’s Dream

1 Nephi 8

Would not partake, Didn’t even start Path V.18

Mist of darkness V. 23

Clinging to Rod/Ashamed V. 24-5

Mocking/Ashamed V. 27-8

Feeling their way/Drowned V. 31-2

Wandering, Lost/Join mocking. V. 33-4

Nephi

“but we heeded them not.”

Things of a Testimony

Throughout my life, I have gained spiritual strength from the phrase “we heeded them not” (1 Nephi 8:33).

In 1 Nephi some who are making their way to the tree of life don’t heed the mocking voices. Fingers of scorn are pointed at them, but they don’t falter.

They don’t listen. Likewise, we hear many loud, tempting voices today. Sometimes it can be a real struggle not to heed those voices, but Lehi shows that it is possible.

Pure Testimony - M. Russell Ballard


My experience throughout the Church leads me to worry that too many of our members’ testimonies linger on “I am thankful” and “I love,” and too few are able to say with humble but sincere clarity, “I know.”

As a result, our meetings sometimes lack the testimony-rich, spiritual underpinnings that stir the soul and have meaningful, positive impact on the lives of all those who hear them.



Our testimony meetings need to be more centered on the Savior, the doctrines of the gospel, the blessings of the Restoration, and the teachings of the scriptures. We need to replace stories, travelogues, and lectures with pure testimonies.

Those who are entrusted to speak and teach in our meetings need to do so with doctrinal power that will be both heard and felt, lifting the spirits and edifying our people.




Principle #1 — We must desire the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

Principle #2 — We must invite the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

Principle #3 — We must heed simple promptings.

Principle #4 — We must heed promptings quickly.

Receiving, Recognizing, and Responding to the Promptings of the Holy GhostElder David A. Bednar


Principle #1 — We must desire the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

And when they had ministered those same words which Jesus had spoken—nothing varying from the words which Jesus had spoken—behold, they knelt again and prayed to the Father in the name of Jesus.

And they did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them. 3 Nephi 19:6-9


Principle #2 — We must invite the companionship of the Holy Ghost

We cannot compel or coerce or command the Holy Ghost. We must invite Him into our lives with the same gentleness and tenderness by which He influences us.

Frankly, I am bothered by frequently repeated language that suggests we can "call down the powers of heaven." Certainly we can invite such power, but I would never suggest we can "call it down" according to our will and timing.



The law of the harvest is real; we cannot gather crops in the fall which we did not properly plant and cultivate during the spring and summer. And we cannot realistically expect to recognize "big" promptings if we consistently fail to heed the "small" ones. The Lord’s pattern is to teach us ". . . line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little . . ." (2 Nephi 28:30).




Thus, revelation from our Heavenly Father comes most frequently in small increments and, like all knowledge, is granted according to our preparation. Misguided attempts to get spiritually supercharged through unusually long prayers, lengthy and unwise fasting, and intensive, short-term temple attendance certainly are no substitute for gradual, consistent, and conscientious attention to the promptings of the Holy Ghost




Have you ever received and recognized a prompting from the Holy Ghost, and then decided to respond to it "later"? And then when later arrived, you found that you could not remember the prompting. I have learned that acting upon promptings quickly greatly increases our capacity to receive and recognize the influence of the Holy Ghost.




I have also learned that properly recording spiritual impressions demonstrates to the Savior how much I treasure His direction. The simple practice of writing down spiritual thoughts and feelings greatly enhances the likelihood of receiving and recognizing additional promptings from the Holy Ghost.
