Transcript I Will Remember my Covenant 3 Nephi 16, 20-22

I Will Remember
my Covenant
3 Nephi 16, 20-22
Update on “Church Program Bloopers”
Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of
those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands.
The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.
Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want
remembered.
The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious
hostility.
Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.
The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement
Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large
double door at the side entrance.
3 Nephi 16: 7,10
…because of the unbelief … I
have caused my people who are
of the house of Israel to be
smitten, and to be afflicted, and to
be slain, and to be cast
out from among [the Gentiles],
and to become hated by them,
and to become a hiss and a
byword among them—
3 Nephi 16
10 At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against
my gospel, … and shall reject the fulness of my
gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the
fulness of my gospel from among them.
11 And then will I remember
my covenant which
I have made unto my
people, O house of
Israel, and I will bring
my gospel unto them.
Covenants with Abraham
Genesis 17 JST
And thou shalt observe to keep all my covenants
wherein I covenanted with thy fathers; and thou
shalt keep the commandments which I have
given thee with mine own mouth, and I will be a
God unto thee and thy seed after thee.
And I will give unto thee and thy seed after thee, a
land wherein thou art a stranger; all the land of
Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will
be their God.
The Abrahamic
Covenant with Israel
Bro. Rhodes, BYU
1. They will be ministers of the Gospel to the
world (the nations of the earth blessed)
2. They will have Eternal increase
3. They will Inherit a promised land- Canaan
4. They have the right to hold the Holy
Priesthood
5. They will become like God
Is the Covenant unfair?
"Israel is a group of souls tested, tried, and
proven before they were born into the
world. . . . Through this lineage were to
come the true and tried souls that had
demonstrated their righteousness in the
spirit world before they came here.
(Melvin J. Ballard)
President Harold B. Lee
"Those born to the lineage of Jacob, who was later
to be called Israel, and his posterity, who were
known as the children of Israel, were born
into the most
illustrious lineage of
any of those who
came upon the
earth as mortal beings.
All these rewards were
seemingly promised, or
foreordained before
the world was.
John A. Widstoe
"All who accept
God's plan for his
children on earth
and who live it are
the children of
Abraham. Those
who reject the gospel, whether children in
the flesh, or others, forfeit the promises
made to Abraham and are not children of
Abraham."
The Covenants of God are
“Unilateral”
The Lord Makes Covenants with usThen calls to us through prophets
Our Response?
SCATTERED
REPENT!
GATHERED IN
Having mentioned my intention of going to Downham
and Chatburn, to several of the brethren, they
endeavoured to dissuade me from going, informing me
there could be no prospect of success whatever,
However, this did not discourage me, believing that the
Gospel of Jesus Christ could reach the heart, when the
gospels of men proved abortive; I consequently told
those brethren that these were the places I wanted to go
to, for that it was my business not to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance.
At Chatburn I was cordially received by the inhabitants, who turned out in
great numbers to hear me preach. They procured a large tithing barn,
placing a barrel in the center, upon which I stood.
I preached to them the first principles of the
Gospel, spoke in simplicity upon the
principles revealed by our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, …
My testimony was accompanied by the Spirit
of the Lord, and was received with joy, and
these people who had been represented
as being hard and obdurate, were melted
into tenderness and love.
I told them that, being a servant of the
Lord Jesus Christ, I stood ready at all
times to administer the ordinances of the
Gospel, and explained what was
necessary to prepare them for baptism;..
When I concluded I felt someone pulling
at my coat. . . . I turned round and asked
what was wanted. Mrs. Elizabeth
Partington said, "Please sir, will you
baptize me?" "And me?" "And me?"
exclaimed more than a dozen voices.
Accordingly I went down into the water and baptized twenty-five. I was engaged
in this duty, and confirming them and conversing with the people until after
midnight.
The next morning I returned to Downham, and baptized between twenty-five and
thirty in the course of the day.
The next evening I returned to Chatburn. The congregation was so numerous that
I had to preach in the open air, and took my stand on a stone wall, and
afterwards baptized several.
We were absent from Preston five days, during which time Brother Fielding and I
baptized and confirmed about 110 persons; organized branches in Downham,
Chatburn, Waddington and Clithero
The Promise
5 Therefore, when these works and the works which shall be wrought
among you hereafter (The Book of Mormon) shall come forth from the
Gentiles, unto your seed which shall dwindle in unbelief because of
iniquity (The Lamanites);
7 And when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know
these things—it shall be a sign unto them (The Lamanites), that they
may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the
fulfilling of the covenant (of Abraham) which he hath made unto the
people who are of the house of Israel.
22 But if [the Gentiles] will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden
not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall
come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of
Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance;
23 And they [the Gentiles] shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob
[The Lamanites], and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come,
that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.
24 And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who
are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.
Why haven’t we built Zion yet?
"Behold, I say unto you, were it not for the transgressions of my people,
speaking concerning the church and not individuals, they might have
been redeemed even now.
"But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I
required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil, and do not
impart of their substance, as becometh saints, to the poor and
afflicted among them;
"And are not united according to the union required by the law of the
celestial kingdom;
"And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of
the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself.
"Therefore it is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little
season, for the redemption of Zion." (D&C 105:2-5, 13)
How does the Temple prepare us to build Zion?
Wilford Woodruff
I saw a short distance from the Missouri River,
where I stood, twelve[men…[whose] hands
were uplifted while they were consecrating the
ground; and later they laid the corner-stones of
the house of God. I saw myriads of angels
hovering over them, and above their heads
there was a pillar-like cloud. I heard the most
beautiful singing in the words:
"Now is established the Kingdom of our God and His Christ,
and He shall reign forever and forever,
and the Kingdom shall never be thrown down,
for the Saints have overcome."
I saw people coming from the river and from distant places to help build
the Temple. It seemed as though there were hosts of angels helping
to bring material for the construction of that building.