1st Cephas

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1st Cephas

• www.kevinhinckley.com

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April Conference

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General Petraeus at BYU10 Reasons BYU Students
make good soldiers

• 10  They have already been on many a mission.
• 9  Army chow is no problem for folks accustomed
  to eating green Jell-o and shredded carrots.
• 8  It's not a problem if they don't know what
  rank someone is, they just refer to them as
  Brother or Sister so-and-so.
• 7  They never go AWOL. They just call it being
  less active.
• 6  They will seize any objective swiftly if you
  tell them refreshments will be served.
• 5  They know how to make things happen. In fact
  if you ever need a base built quickly in a barren
  wasteland, stride out to where you want them to
  start, plant your walking stick down and say in a
  loud voice, "This is the place.
• 4  They have innovative ideas for handling
  insurgents like assigning them home teachers.
• 3  They always have a years' supply of
  provisions on hand.
• 2  They are the world's most reliable designated
  drivers.
• 1  They understand how far Iraq has come over
  the last seven years, and they think that Iraq's
  old spot in the "Axis of Evil" can now be filled
  by the University of Utah.

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Peter, Son of Thunder

• We only have these two letters
• This one written slightly before 62 or 63 AD
• Finally, along with Paul, imprisoned by Nero in
  Rome.
• Crucified, tradition says upside down.
• Joseph Smith
• Peter penned the most sublime language of the
  apostles

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1st Letter

• 1 Peter 11-7
• Question
• Can the trial of your faith be different from
  trials and why would we need it?
• 3 Nephi 26 9-11

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Brother Skinner A Reminder

• all things in our premortal existence were done
  in accord with a preparatory redemption. That is
  to say, the atonement of Jesus Christ already
  operated on our behalf in premortality in
  preparation for our mortal sojourn.
• His infinite and eternal atonement meaning it
  was effective both before and after mortality
  made it possible for us to enter mortality
  without stain or guilt, unmarred, born with a
  clean slate, so to speak.
• The Lord put it more powerfully Every spirit of
  man was innocent in the beginning and God having
  redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in
  their infant state, innocent before God (DC
  9338). From the beginning of mortal life on this
  earth it was revealed that the atonement of Jesus
  Christ operated from the foundation of the
  world
• (Moses 654 see also 747). (p. 39) (Temple
  Worship)

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President Eyring

• One time when I was serving in the Presiding
  Bishopric, I had a remarkable week during which
  we were dealing with a series of tough problems.
• I met with the First Presidency four or five
  times during that week, and in each meeting I was
  supposed to suggest answers to some very, very
  hard problems.
• In every instance I felt the hand of heaven touch
  me and guide me so that I knew what to say. In
  one case the First Presidency even confirmed that
  my proposed solution was what needed to be done.
  That's a wonderful feeling, and I started
  thinking that things were rolling along pretty
  well in my life.
• Then I came home, and my wife and I got into a
  conversation about some problem that she and I
  were working on at that time. During the
  conversation I expressed my opinion a little too
  forcefully, as if I knew the answer and there
  didn't need to be a lot more discussion.
• I immediately felt the Holy Ghost leave the room.
  I was about to leave for a stake conference, and
  I was almost frightened because I knew I could do
  no good without the Lord's help.
• So on that stake conference trip I began to
  analyze what had gone wrong, and I suddenly
  realized that you can have a trial of your faith
  from success. I had thought that I was doing
  wonderfully well, and that led me to act as if I
  were someone specialto act in a way that grieved
  the Holy Ghost.
• To Draw Closer to God A Collection of
  Discourses ( 1997)

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And yet

• 1 Peter 2 7-11
• Question
• How can I be nothing, according to Moses, and a
  chosen generation according to Peter?

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Celestial Realizations As we mature in Gospel
Understanding
If men come unto me, I will show unto them their
weakness
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Elder CS Lewis(Warning, incoming Ouch-iee!)

• surely what a man does when he is taken off his
  guard is the best evidence for what sort of man
  he is Surely what pops out before the man has
  time to put on a disguise is the truth
• If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely
  to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the
  suddenness does not create the rats it only
  prevents them from hiding.
• In the same way the suddenness of the provocation
  does not make me an ill-tempered man it only
  shows me what an ill-tempered man I am
• (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)

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Celestial Realizations As we mature in Gospel
Understanding
The sooner we understand both, the greater will
be our gratitude.
The Great Gap
For ye were as sheep going astray but are now
returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your
souls
And the greater my gratitude, the less I judge
and the more quickly I forgive.
If men come unto me, I will show unto them their
weakness
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Elder John H. Groberg

• (This note was included with a check for 1000 to
  the presiding Bishop from Elder Groberg)
• Recently, while visiting one of the far distant
  islands that is very difficult to get to, I went
  late in the day to the home of one of the good
  widow sisters there.
• When I first approached her hut the sun was
  still quite bright and I could not help but
  notice the stark poverty of her surroundings. It
  had been raining earlier. The mud and decay and
  the ever-present smell of drying fish were at
  first repulsive. But the warmth of meeting with a
  fellow Church memberespecially after years of
  separationtogether with tears of appreciation
  for the long-awaited visit, soon pushed the
  unpleasantness of the surroundings temporarily
  into the background.
• As we conversed in her fluid native tongue and
  she told of her love for and faith in the Church
  and of all the blessings she had received, I
  could not help but think about her apparently
  miserable circumstances. All sorts of ideas
  went through my mind, and I must have let my
  thoughts wander as I suddenly became aware that
  somewhere between phrases about blessings and
  poverty and service she had gone to her hut and
  was now returning with a small knotted rag.

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Threepence

• Suddenly my mind seemed to fill with light,
  and the words fast offerings flooded in. I
  was so excited with the idea that had come so
  suddenly and so clearly, that you can imagine
  my utter amazement and unpreparedness when she
  took a threepence (a coin worth about 3) from
  her rag and said softly, Here is my fast
  offering to help the poor.
• I wanted to explain that fast offering was
  to help her, not for her to help others. The
  explanation never came, for as I looked
  through misty eyes, first at the threepence
  then back at the good sister, the whole scene
  changed.
• The hut was a glowing mansion and the mud was
  gold. The world seemed to stand still for a
  moment. All of nature seemed to stop and listen
  as from the heavens the whole universe seemed
  filled with the reassuring words Blessed are
  the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  (  Matt. 53.)
• As the setting sun signaled the end of the day,
  so it also told of the approaching end of her
  beautiful life of service.
• I took the threepence, and as I write this check
  the whole experience once again fills my mind and
  I wonder,
• How many threepences to make a thousand
  dollars?