VISITING TEACHING MESSAGE
Temple Ordinances and Covenants
All the ordinances necessary for salvation and exaltation are
accompanied by covenants with God. “Making and keeping covenants means choosing
to bind ourselves to our Father in Heaven and Jesus
Christ,” said Linda K. Burton, Relief Society general president.1
Elder Neil L.
Andersen of the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostles said:
“The Lord said, ‘In the ordinances … the power of godliness is
manifest.’
“There
are special blessings from God for every worthy person who is baptized,
receives the Holy
Ghost, and regularly partakes of the sacrament.”2
“When
men and women go to the temple,” said Elder M. Russell
Ballard of the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostles, “they are both endowed with the same power, which is
priesthood power …
“… All
men and all women have access to this power for help in their lives. All who
have made sacred covenants with the Lord and who honor those covenants are
eligible to receive personal revelation, to be blessed by the ministering of
angels, to commune with God, to receive the fulness of the gospel, and,
ultimately, to become heirs alongside Jesus Christ of all our Father has.”3
Additional
Scriptures
Living Stories
In 2007, four days after a massive earthquake in Peru, Elder
Marcus B. Nash of the Seventy met branch president Wenceslao Conde and his
wife, Pamela. “Elder Nash asked Sister Conde how her little children were. With
a smile, she replied that through the goodness of God they were all safe and
well. He asked about the Condes’ home.
“‘It’s
gone,’ she said simply.
“… ’And
yet,’ Elder Nash noted, ‘you are smiling as we talk.’
“’Yes,’
she said, ‘I have prayed and I am at peace. We have all we need. We have each
other, we have our children, we are sealed in the temple, we have this
marvelous Church, and we have the Lord. We can build again with the Lord’s
help.’ …
“What
is it about making and keeping covenants with God that gives us the power to
smile through hardships, to convert tribulation into triumph … ?”
“The
source is God. Our access to that power is through our covenants with Him.”4
Consider This
How do temple ordinances and covenants strengthen and empower
us?
“Within
Sacred Walls”
cji
6/1/16
Within
the House of the Lord
sanctuary
from the world
doing as
Paul had taught
works
for our kindred dead
as also
for the living
married
for time all eternity
covenants
and ordinances
performed
by proper authority
all if
worthy remaining pure
within
sacred walls quiet!
Copyright © 2016 – cji
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