Announcements:
This Wednesday we have a wonderful Enrichment meeting for you on the topics of Emotional Wellbeing. You will have the chance to attend 2 classes - one given by Sister Ros Lafevre and one by Sister Jill Lucas who is a professional counsellor within our stake. It starts at 7.30pm and will be a great and uplifting evening.
On Saturday we have the baptism of Nuno Alves at 6pm.
Our Stake Conference will be held the weekend of 3rd-4th May. There will be a Priesthood leadership session on Saturday afternoon, followed at 6pm by a General Adult session. Then the normal Sunday session at 10am. All meetings will be held at the Ipswich Chapel.
May 17th is our Stake Women's Day. Please put the date in your diaries and plan on coming, it is always a wonderful occasion.
Lesson:
Todays lesson was given by Sister Sara McCullum from Chapter 8 of the Joseph Fielding Smith manual on The Church & Kingdom of God.
President Smith made an interesting remark: "I hope the Saints throughout the world DAILY thank the Lord for being members of the Church." So we took some time to consider and share today what blessings we personally are grateful for that come to us as members of His church. These included the temple and blessings of eternal family units, the Holy Ghost and the safety and guidance it brings, the opportunity to be able to talk to God at all times, the Atonement and the chance to repent and live forever, Priesthood blessings, knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, the comfort and teachings the scriptures bring, and a knowledge of truth. Then we considered life without any of them! How dark and scary the world would be. A life without hope and joy. It soon became clear what a blessing being a member of His church really is and that we absolutely need to be thanking the Lord for it every day!
We then went on to consider President Smiths statement:
"The Lord has established all things in order and has given us a perfect system. Men cannot improve on it. If we could carry out that which the Lord has revealed, as he has revealed it, then all things would be perfect, for the organization is a perfect organization. The theory of it - the plan of it - is without flaw."
We looked at how perfectly for example the system of VT is. Our RS President Louise shared her testimony of how when actioned correctly is ensures no one is left out, everyone is cared for and uplifted and strengthened but at the same time those serving were also being made for Christlike. It truly is a perfect system.
But some days it seems we come to church and our experiences are not so good - the day doesn't go well, or someone upsets us and we talked about how vital it is to make the distinction in our minds that although we as individuals are not perfect and can at times upset or make mistakes - still that does not affect the perfection of the Lord's gospel.
Elder Holland said it perfectly - "Except in the case of His Only Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we!" How much kinder and more understanding we sometimes need to be to each other.
We then talked about our role in the Kingdom - the need to serve one another and help each other along that path. President Smith counselled us to 'never refuse' a call to serve and had some strong truths to teach:
"The man who does only those things in the church which concern himself alone will never reach exaltation. For instance, the man who is willing to pray, pay his tithes and offerings, and to attend to the ordinary duties which concern his own personal life and nothing more, will never reach the goal of perfection."
Sisters how blessed we are to be members of the church at this time on the earth. Never again will the church be removed, now instead is the time to prepare a world for the return of Jesus Christ. The Lords needs each of us. He needs us to stay close to Him and to help His children along the path to eternal life.
Are we ready to help?
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