(Below is a list of questions and quotes that help me think about each verse as I read it. The numbers represent the verses in the chapter.)
As we choose to follow the Master, we choose to be changed. As we exercise faith in Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit, we can experience a mighty change of heart. You take upon your self the name of Jesus Christ through sacred covenants. The Lord has the power to change you so that the things you are commanded to do you are also the things you love to do.
1. Why do you think King Benjamin wanted to know if the people believed his words? What opportunities are you given to indicate to your leaders and teachers that you have received the words which they have taught?
2. Have you ever wished you could change something about yourself? What did you do about it? What does it mean to say a person has changed for the better? What might cause a person to change? Do you think it would be easier to notice a change in another person or in your self? Why? What would it be like to be so converted that you have no desire to send? How much easier would it be to live the commandments if you had no more disposition to do evil but to do good continually?
"God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect… The nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evil's of his life and lost every desire for sin." – Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 2:8
"Christ says, Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down… Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked, the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours." -CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, 167
2. How did the people receive the words of King Benjamin? How did they know without doubt that he had spoken the truth to them? What happened to their hearts? How did the people feel about evil? How did they feel about good works? What do you think it means to experience a mighty change of heart? Has the Spirit wrought a mighty change in your heart? What indications do you have that He has? How often do you seek to do good?
“The essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ entails a fundamental and permanent change in our very nature made possible through our reliance upon ‘the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah’ (2 Nephi 2:8). As we choose to follow the Master, we choose to be changed—to be spiritually reborn” - David A Bednar, GC, April 2007
"Heavenly Father… has provided a way to rise higher – almost beyond our limits of imagination – not by our own powers alone, which would not be nearly enough, but through the power of the Atonement of his Son, Jesus Christ." – Henry B Eyring, CES fireside, September 6, 1996
3. How does the influence of the Holy Ghost heighten your awareness of your surroundings and ideas? How does the Spirit help you and guide you as you make choices and decisions so that the things you do are harmonious with the will of God?
4. How do the words of the prophets and church leaders help you receive great knowledge? In what ways do you think you choose to change when you choose to follow Jesus Christ? When you choose to follow Jesus Christ, why do you need to change your dispositions and not just your behavior? Why do you think that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is necessary for a change to occur within you? What can you do to exercise more faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ? What specific things can you do, starting today, to exercise more faith so that you can encourage and maintain a mighty change of heart in your life?
5. What effect did the change of heart have on the people? What level of commitment did King Benjamin's people feel toward making and keeping a covenant with God? What promises did King Benjamin's people make as they entered into a covenant? How can you submit your will to that of your Father in Heaven? What phrases in this verse remind you of the promises you renew each time you partake of the sacrament?
6-7. What covenant did King Benjamin's people make? How do you become a son or daughter of Christ? Have you taken his name upon you? How do you think making and keeping covenants help you maintain a mighty change of heart?
"When we make covenants with God, he determines the conditions for the covenants, and we agree to the conditions. God then promises are certain blessings for our obedience. Making evidence is one way we show the Lord we are sincere in our desire to serve him." – Book of Mormon Study Guide for Home-study Seminary Students, 114
7. Why are we called children of Christ? What blessing did King Benjamin's people of team because of their covenant?
"Christ became a father to us because he gave us in mortality or eternal life through his death and sacrifice upon the cross." – Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 4:178-79
8-15. What does it mean to take upon you the name of Christ? How often do you take upon yourself the name of Christ? What promises are made to covenant keepers? How do your covenants Johlke you to Jesus Christ? What is the value of being bound to or yoked to Jesus Christ? What kinds of Burtons does Christ help you carry that are too much for you to bear alone? What advantages might this real covenant relationship bring, if you begin to stray away from Christ?
"Through baptism we take on ourselves the name of Christ and promised to do the things that He would do, including obeying God's Commandments. In return, the Lord promises to send His spirit to guide, strengthen, and comfort us. Perhaps most importantly, He also promises to forgive us of our sins for which we truly repent. In a very literal way, those who go down into the waters of baptism have their sins washed away. They emerge from the baptismal font as sin-free and clean as the day they were born." – M Russell Ballard, Our Search for Happiness 1993, 90
"Some wonder if they were baptized too soon. If only they could be baptized now and have a clean start. But that is not necessary! Through the ordinance of the sacrament, you renew the covenants made at baptism. When you meet all of the conditions of repentance, however difficult, you may be forgiven and your transgressions will trouble your minds no more." – Boyd K Packer, GC, April 1997
8. Through whom do you become free? What are you free from? How does obedience to God's law bring you true freedom? Whose name did King Benjamin's people take upon them as part of their covenant?
9. What reward is in store for the faithful and obedient who indoor in this way throughout their lives? Why do you want to be found on the right hand of God?
9. Why is it more important to find out whose you are rather than who you are? Will you be called by the name of Christ and belong to Him? What can you do to further your progress in becoming His?
10. Where do those who will not take upon themselves the name of God find themselves? Who dwells on the left hand of God?
11. Whose name should you carry in your heart? How does carrying the name of Christ within your heart, everywhere you go, affect your choices and actions? What are some blessings of having the name of Jesus Christ written in your heart? How do you feel when you think about having the name of Jesus Christ written in your heart? Why do you want to keep his name and never lose it?
12. How can you come to hear and know the voice by which you will be called on the day of judgment? How does retaining a remembrance of Christ and seeking to emulate Christlike qualities in your life help you retain that name written upon your heart?
13. Who is your master? How does any leaving the savior who is your master, prevent you from being a stranger to him? As you come to know the Savior what kinds of thoughts and intents will be in your heart?
14. When the neighbors cattle get into a farmers fields, how does the farmer treat them? Why don't those cows being there? Can you belong feeding in the green pastures of Christ if you do not know the name by which you are called?
15. What does it mean to be steadfast and immovable? What does the word abound mean? Why are you to always abound in good works? What does it mean to be sealed to Christ? What is the ultimate blessing to those who choose to be bound to Jesus Christ?
"Why face life's burdens alone, Christ asks, or why face them with temporal support that will quickly falter? To the heavy laden, Christ's yoke gives the power and peace of standing side-by-side with a God who will provide the support, balance, and the strength to meet our challenges and endure our tasks here in the hard-pan field of mortality." – Howard W Hunter, That we Might Have Joy, 13-14
No comments:
Post a Comment