Week 12- “Preach Nothing But Repentance…”
Scriptures:
D&C 6:9
D&C 11:9
Mosiah 18:20
Mosiah 25:22
General Conference Address:
We Can Do Better and Be Better By President Russell M. Nelson
Thought:
The scriptures are full of references that would direct us to “only” call people to repentance. That seems awkward, doesn’t it? “Hey, you, REPENT!” feels like a less effective way to help people become interested in the church. So why do we have that charge? One of the reasons might just be that we’re not trying to trick people into joining a church. We’re trying to help them become like their Heavenly Father and partake of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And that we can only do as we change. Change our hearts, minds, and spirits, even the way we breathe (see President Nelson talk above), and that can only be done with help from our Savior. Asking people to repent is asking them to change by exercising faith in Jesus Christ. Another way to call people to repentance is just to bring the spirit with you. That spirit can help them feel something new and want to change so that they can feel it more often.
Misc:
“Repentance is a central component of the gospel because it focuses directly on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. In 1835, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught: “We believe in preaching the doctrine of repentance in all the world. … But … in order to be benefited by the doctrine of repentance, we must believe in obtaining the remission of sins. And in order to obtain the remission of sins, we must believe in the doctrine of baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we believe in baptism for the remission of sins, we may expect a fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Ghost” (History of the Church, 2:256; see also D&C 84:27).” How can we keep the Lord’s command to ‘say nothing but repentance’? By George F Hilton Ensign March 1999
Invitation:
Repentance is a daily process of change and improvement. Identify 5 things that you’d like to change or improve, and pick one of them to work on this week.