What Jesus taught part 6

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The sixth thing that Jesus taught was how He and Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost work together.    To know Jesus Christ is to know Heavenly Father.  Jesus testifies of the Father, and the Holy Ghost testifies of Jesus and the Father.

35 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
36 And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me;

What Jesus taught part 5

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Closely related to the fourth learning of unity is the fifth learning which is contention is of the devil and not of Jesus.

29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.

 30 Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.

A sure way to have the Spirit flee is through contention.  I'm not sure if any of you have had the experience of kneeling for family prayer and there is an argument over whose turn it is to say the prayer, or during a family home evening where the lesson is on "Love one another" and there is fighting over who gets to hold up the visuals to help tell a story.  Satan in a very subtle way causes us to contend over even the simple things.

What Jesus taught part 4

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The fourth thing that I learned from 3 Nephi chapter 11 that Jesus taught was the importance of unity.

 27 ... for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.

35 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.


 36 And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are one.

Some people believe and understand that this means that God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are one person.  This is not what this says.  They are one in purpose.  They are united.  What can we learn from this?  If you are married, how important is it to be one?  What blessings come from being united?  This may be easier said than done.  Do any of you know someone that is stubborn?   For me, I don't have to look very far.  When I look in the mirror their sometimes stands a very stubborn person.  For some reason if it is not my way, it is wrong, and sometimes this can lead into the next teaching I learn from Jesus and that is to avoid contention.  I find myself struggling with this all too often, especially when it comes to disciplining my children.  When we me and my wife are one and on the same page, it is a beautiful thing.  But, when we are not, it doesn't always go so well.  Can you imagine the chaos if the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost were not united and on the same page?  What about being united as a family?  There is power in being united and close as a family.  Satan knows there is power in this and is doing everything he can to destroy this unit.  May I suggest a challenge for your families.  Read and study as a family "The Family. A Proclamation to the World."  In this document you will find power, truth, and teachings that when followed will protect and keep the family united.  

What about being united and one as His church?  In 4th Nephi, this is where we read an account of the people in America after the visit of Jesus Christ.  There was peace and happiness.  There existed a people that was united.  

 3 And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.

  10 And now, behold, it came to pass that the people of Nephi did wax strong, and did multiply exceedingly fast, and became an exceedingly fair and delightsome people.

This was not to last though.  As the people were blessed and prospered, there began to be divisions that were created.  People began to become prideful and the unity that was once there was no more.

24 And now, in this two hundred and first year there began to be among them those who were lifted up in pride, such as the wearing of costly apparel, and all manner of fine pearls, and of the fine things of the world.

 25 And from that time forth they did have their goods and their substance no more common among them.

 26 And they began to be divided into classes; and they began to build up churches unto themselves to get gain, and began to deny the true church of Christ.

 27 And it came to pass that when two hundred and ten years had passed away there were many churches in the land; yea, there were many churches which professed to know the Christ, and yet they did deny the more parts of his gospel, insomuch that they did receive all manner of wickedness, and did administer that which was sacred unto him to whom it had been forbidden because of unworthiness.

As a church, we need to be careful.  For the Lord will bless us as we keep His commandments.  Let us not get caught up in our prosperous times and become prideful.  Let us always remember God's greatest commandment.  In Matthew 22: 36-40 we read:

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

 38 This is the first and great commandment.

 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

What Jesus taught part 3

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The third thing that I learned from 3 Nephi chapter 11 that Jesus taught was "how we are to baptize."

 22 ... And he said unto them: On this wise shall ye baptize; and there shall be no disputations among you.

 23 Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them.

 24 And now behold, these are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying:

 25 Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

 26 And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.

 27 And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name;

I'll get to this in a later point, but notice as Jesus teaches about baptism he says, "and there shall be no disputations among you."  He must have understood the contention that Satan would stir up around such an important ordinance and step we take to make it back to our Father in Heaven.  I learned at a very young age the importance of baptism.  I was making a covenant with my Father in Heaven when getting baptized.  I was saying, "I'll keep your commandments, follow you, and always remember you Jesus."  In return, He was promising that I would always have His spirit to be with me, which would help me on my journey while down here on earth.  

I remember teaching an investigator of the LDS church over in Portugal the principle of eternal families and how in the LDS temples we practice a ordinance that seals our families forever.  The gentlemen was very interested in this, for he knew of no other religion that practiced such a belief.  He wanted to do this without going through baptism though.  He felt he'd already been baptized, so why would he have to do it again.  As we learned in my previous post, authority to baptize is important, and now in this post, there is a certain way baptism needs to occur, which includes having the appropriate authority; "Having authority given me of Jesus Christ...." 

Baptism is a foundational step in the process.  Jesus knew this and taught this, and led by example by being baptized himself.

What Jesus taught part 2

Jesus identifies who He is and allows the people to see and feel; "and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets that should come." Then He calls on Nephi and gives him priesthood authority to baptize.

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The second point I pulled out was this: "Once we have a knowledge of who Jesus is, we've seen and felt in a spiritual manner, we then take on His name by being baptized by authority"  In 3 Nephi 11:18-21 in reads:

 18 And it came to pass that he spake unto Nephi (for Nephi was among the multitude) and he commanded him that he should come forth.
19 And Nephi arose and went forth, and bowed himself before the Lord and did kiss his feet.
20 And the Lord commanded him that he should arise. And he arose and stood before him.
21 And the Lord said unto him: I give unto you power that ye shall baptize this people when I am again ascended into heaven.

Proper authority is important.  Without the priesthood, we lack the power to act in God's name.  Jesus went on to give others there besides Nephi the power and authority to baptize.  Then He taught the proper way to baptize.

23 Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them.

 24 And now behold, these are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying:

 25 Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Notice in the baptismal prayer it starts out as "Having authority given me of Jesus Christ."  In the LDS faith when we baptize we start out with "Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ."  How do we get this authority?  It is passed down by the laying of hands by those in authority.  The Aaronic Priesthood that has the authority to baptize was restored in the latter-days by John the Baptist to Joseph Smith. We learn of this in the 13th section in the Doctrine and Covenants.

An extract from Joseph Smith’s history recounting the ordination of the Prophet and Oliver Cowdery to the Aaronic Priesthood near Harmony, Pennsylvania, May 15, 1829. The ordination was done by the hands of an angel who announced himself as John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament. The angel explained that he was acting under the direction of Peter, James, and John, the ancient Apostles, who held the keys of the higher priesthood, which was called the Priesthood of Melchizedek. The promise was given to Joseph and Oliver that in due time this higher priesthood would be conferred upon them. (See section 27:7–8, 12.)
The keys and powers of the Aaronic Priesthood are set forth.

 1 Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.

Now with the proper authority restored on the earth, it has been passed down by the laying on of hands.  For example I can trace back the priesthood authority that I've been blessed to hold this way:

I was ordained with the Melchizedek Priesthood in 1993 by my father David William Austad who was a high priest.  He was ordained by June Duffy Palmer who was ordained by George Quayle Morris who was ordained by Rudger Clawson who was ordained by Lorenzo Snow who was ordained by Heber Chase Kimball who was ordained by Oliver Cowdery David Whitmer, and Martin Harris, who was ordained by Joseph Smith Jr. who was ordained by Peter, James and John, who was ordained by Jesus Christ.

So having authority to act in Jesus name is a big deal and I do not take it lightly.  There is a difference between power of the priesthood and authority of the priesthood.  One who holds the authority needs to be worthy to use the priesthood.  We learn in Doctrine and Covenants 121:

36 That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.

 37 That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.

What Jesus taught.....

I'm going to start a multipart post on somethings that Jesus taught.  Back some years ago, while serving a LDS mission in Portugal I was taught to study the chapters in 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon to learn of what Jesus taught.  This past couple of weeks I started to jump into this section of the Book of Mormon again.  I started in chapter 3rd Nephi chapter 11.  This is the account of when Jesus Christ the Savior appears to the American people.  Just from this chapter alone I pulled out 6 different teachings.  I know there is even more than the 6 that I pulled out.  I'd like to talk about these 6 points.

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The first point I pulled out was this: "He is Jesus Christ, the one who took on the sins of the world."  In 3 Nephi 11:11 in reads:

11 And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.

Who is the world?  Is it not everyone who has lived, currently lives, and is yet to live on this earth?  Yes, indeed.  He took on all of it.  Because of what He did, it qualifies Him to be able to be the light and life of the world.  Are you experiencing dark times?  Do you need to get a life?  Look to Him, He is there and has the capacity to take on your burdens and trials and to understand you wholly and fully. He lifts and will take us all to a better place if we will allow Him to do so.  Don't lose hope and faith in this.