Gospel Doctrine Lesson #10 "He inviteth All to Come Unto Him"

#10 “He Inviteth All to Come Unto Him”
2 Nephi 26-30
2 Nephi 26:24-25-Lord Loveth us, He laid his life for us, so that we could partake of His salvation; He invites us to “Come Unto Me”
*So what does Coming unto Christ Feel like? Defining what it isn’t sometimes helps us know how to define what it is! It isn’t Fear (fear about jobs, money, bills, kids, self); isn’t discouragement; isn’t dread. Now what is it? What does it feel like? If we were to take away fear, discouragement or dread what would we have?

‘Coming Unto Christ’ Feels like…& what we can do to ‘feel’ it more often
[1-]Peace
[2-]Hope
[3-]Contentment Learn Charity (pure love) by serving, by putting yourself in their shoes,
[4-]Joy
[5-]Happiness
[6-]Fulfillment Labor(serve/testify) in our homes/callings
[7-]Rejoicing watching for signs and testifying of them to others
[8-]Knowing(knowledge)/Believe the scriptures-read them, then apply them in our daily doings
[9-]Spiritual Awakening-Repent
[10-]Pure/Faithful thoughts and desires-positive thoughts write them down
[11-]Delightsome People- we flourish and have Power (holy ghost) among us(use our gifts all day)
[12-]Power of Heaven is upon us (holy ghost is working in every aspect of our lives)/use it
[13-] We have a Sheild of righteousness-be example
[14-] GRATITUDE

*Now that we’ve defined what (coming to Christ) is supposed to look and feel like-here is the Soul searching question? How often do you feel this? Daily? Monthly? Yearly? Never? Have you ever felt any one of these attributes?
Hopefully you can say you’ve felt a few of these on our small list at least sometime in your life. If you can, you can feel hopeful-you have been coming unto Christ, moving closer to Him, during those times.
*Now, think back, did you enjoy that/those feelings?
*What were you doing when you felt them? [Have class respond]
**My favorite place to feel close to my Savior is when I am out in nature. Even if it means just sitting on my back step in the sun and listening to the birds and leaves rustling meditating, in a sense, enjoying His creations and just feeling gratitude!
Now let’s turn to the scriptures and see what else ‘coming to Christ’ Feels/looks like, and what we can do to feel it more often.[add to list above as you go]
[1st go over list they made](1st few items) how can we feel those more often?
[1-5]2 Nephi 26:30-Charity/w/o it we are nothing! This scripture also tells us if we had it (Charity) we wouldn’t suffer as much-we wouldn’t judge, we wouldn’t get upset when we fall short ourselves.
[7-11]2 Nephi 30:6 Coming unto Christ feels like…Rejoicing, knowing, spiritual Awakening (not darkness), pure and delightsome people.
*What does a delightsome people look like? In footnote it takes us to D&C 49:24 It says we will flourish That footnote takes us to 3 Nephi 21:25-Coming unto Christ means that the Power of Heaven is among us in all our undertakings.
*What is the Power of Heaven? [12] 2 Nephi 28:26 tells us that it is denying power of men; use of power of God through the Holy Ghost: gifts of: revelation, visions, healings, tongues, teaching, speaking, compassion, empathy, listening, being good friend (someone you can trust)
*What can we do to get more of this feeling (power of holy ghost)? [6] 2 Nephi 26:13 WE WORK AMONG THE CHILDREN OF MEN! *the more we use it the more we get!
2 Nephi 30:11 by being righteous we ourselves come unto Christ and we bring others with us. Who do we bring? Who are our loins? Posterity!!! How does our being righteous become a girdle or a protective covering for our posterity?
**If we ourselves are making good choices by paying our tithing, attending the temple, doing our callings, etc. then we are protecting our children with a shield of righteousness! How is this done? [13] Our example, if we are doing right they have a model during a tough decision. If we enjoy going to the temple and tell our kids that we are going, act happy about it and tell them when we get back how peaceful and happy we felt while being there do you think that when baptisms for the dead come up that they might be curious themselves? Or how ‘bout callings, if we are always complaining about our callings and the people we work with do you think they will ever want to serve? I doubt it.
**Just a few years ago when we would come home from the temple our boys would ask why we would go, we explained what happened there and how we feel when we go. Then when Bryson turned 12 and he was given the opportunity to go do baptisms for the dead he was excited he almost couldn’t contain himself, I don’t know how many times I had to tell him to settle down. He went and when he came back we asked him how it was. He loved it he had fun, he felt good, he looked happy. Then guess what happened, He started to testify to his brother how cool it was and how much fun he had. Now I believe that Adam can’t wait till he gets those opportunities for himself. That is how we bring others unto Christ. Excitement, enthusiasm for the work, sharing the feelings we get when we are doing good!
Now will that shield of righteousness always keep our children from satan’s grasp? No-there is this pesky thing called agency, however, will fortifying them with testimony building experiences, Charity (love), help them in their lives when faced with temptation, they may at least think twice about the temptation before they do it.
*Let’s look at the other part of that verse. Girdle of their reins- what are reins? on our it says on our symbolism sheet that reins are our kidneys, which are symbolic of our [10] desires and thoughts if our thoughts are filtered by our faith first before they are actions what do those thoughts sound like? “I know I can do anything! I know I am worthy to receive my hearts desire! I know that my bills will be paid in full with no problems! I know that the spirit speaks to me regularly! If our thoughts are like this then what will our attitude be?
** I did an experiment where I got a notebook and started writing positive statements, just like the ones I just said. Every day I wrote one or 2 more. Guess what happened? My mom and my sisters started saying you’ve changed-what is different? I said I have no idea what you are talking about. My mom who also was doing the same affirmations said, you’ve been doing more positive affirmations haven’t you? Such a simple thing and yet it helped me to be more positive in my attitude, actions, and the way I treated others. When I stopped doing those affirmations, I got grouchy and judgmental again, I started to feel down and discouraged. I know that a simple act such as this can and does make a difference in my life.

[7-8]2 Nephi 30:3 (middle of verse) there shall be… believe the words in the book of Mormon and prophets and then carry them. Coming unto Christ means we believe. Why? Because we have felt the power of the words change us as we apply them do our daily doings. What does carry them mean? Carry them is to testify of them to others. How can we feel the power of coming to Christ more often in this area?
2 Nephi 26:8 Hearken (meaning do them) look forward to Christ by watching for signs steadfastly (all the time, constantly), despite the persecution.
[6] 2 Nephi 26:31 Labor in Zion. We testify by Laboring-serving(in our homes, YM, YW, Primary, Scouts, Relief Society Elder, High Priests etc), providing activities and lessons that testify of Christ and His gospel principles.
2 Nephi 28:30 Hearken unto his precepts/lend ear to counsel if we do these things it says that we will learn wisdom (know advice is true and works) in other words, we get more and more wisdom and knowledge of God the more we take His advice and apply it to our lives. (you wanna know what genius feels like?) Do what the Lord says!
*I had an experience with this in High School. I was a Dr. Pepper freak. I had to have a big mug full every day. I love it and never went without one. Well then I joined the Soccer team and my coach told our team that if we would give up our soda that our endurance would skyrocket- we could out run any team. Well, some of us took the challenge. I felt better, I did have more endurance, I could run longer and faster than many of my opponents I was hardly the star of the team, however I myself felt better, I haven’t had a Dr. Pepper since, Now just because I don’t drink it now doesn’t mean I can outrun anyone, that is hardly the case, that has something to do with being in shape, however I have the knowledge that staying away from items like that do my body good and help me to stay healthy and strong. (just in case I have to spell it out for you)
It is the knowledge I gained by applying the word of wisdom that I am trying to point out to you.

What is the word and how do I know what it is?
2 Nephi 30:5 The Gospel will be declared- as we attend our meetings/conferences we will know what the word is.
2 Nephi 29:1 A marvelous work will be among us. What is that marvelous work he is talking about? The Book of Mormon.
So From the word of our leaders/teachers and the scriptures, namely the Book of Mormon we will know the word and how we can apply it.

I testify to you that if you like these feelings of contentment, peace, fulfillment, happiness, hope then we need to do the things required to get them. The more you do them the closer you are coming to Christ, the closer you come to Christ the more you will feel His presence and Love for you. I testify that when I do these things I do feel closer to my Savior, when I don’t I feel just as Satan wants me to. Obviously some days are harder than others to achieve these feelings, but if we want something bad enough than do we not do everything we can to attain it? I challenge then, let’s want to come to Christ bad enough that we are willing to do something everyday and work on a new one until it is second nature to us, then we can work on another; so on and so forth until we are walking in His presence daily. I love Him I want to be near Him. I want to be like Him and I know I can by ‘Coming Unto Him!’ In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.