The Saviors Last Week

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6	Day 7 (Sabbath)	Day of Resurrection
Arrived in Jerusalem. Rode the colt into the city.  Went to the temple.	Cleared out the temple, which challenged Jewish leadership, Jesus Returned to Bethany.	Clearing the temple raised problems with the priests. Jesus is question and answers in parables. He condemns the Pharisees.  Jesus did not teach the public, only to the 12.	Jesus knew of the Plot to kill him, he stayed outside the city.  Not much is known of this day.	Arranged the Passover, introduced the sacrament, and prophesied his death.  Offered the intercessory prayer.  Entered Gethsemane, completed the Atonement, rejoined the Apostles. He was betrayed and put on trial.	Jesus is charged with blasphemy. Pilot found Jesus guiltless.  But by this time the Pharisees had riled up the crowd to have the intention to kill Jesus.  He is crucified.	Jewish Sabbath.  Jesus remained in the tomb.	Jesus was resurrected.  He appeared to many to bear witness that he indeed was the son of God.

The Savior lived his life guiltless, he was regarded as a prophet and by some as who he really was, the Son Of God.  Those who betrayed him that day who were in the crowd shouting to crucify him were clearly not in the right state of mind.  I was told a story once of someone who attended and armature UFC match realate the experience quite well.

He told of watching a match where one man clearly dominated the other.  The beaten man was on the ground on all fours bleeding.  He had clearly given up.  Yet, the crowd who had come to see more action, not a match as short as this started to yell; “Kill him!, Kill him!”.  No one in this crowd when taken to the side individually would ever advise that one good man should kill another.  In a group though, many individuals can allow satan to influence them in horrible ways if they are not careful.  May I always stay away from crowds that stand a chance of influencing me in such a horrible way.

When I look at the crucifixion in this light, I have a little easier time understanding why the Lord would say “forgive them, for the know not what they do”. 

Become like a Little Child (Not to be confused with being childish)

Choice 3: Matthew 18:1–14. “Become as Little Children” 

·         Review Matthew 18:3–4 and Doctrine and Covenants 78:17–18. Explain in writing the ways we are like little children. In these verses, how does the Lord ​say He will help us?

We are very similar to children when we compare a relationship that we have with God and that of a small child.  A small child lives at home and has all the necessary things of life provided through the loving efforts of a father.  They go to the fridge and open it expecting it to be full of food, the same expectation is with the pantry.  Small children do not even realize that while their father is away he is planning and preparing for their future.  A good father anticipates the needs of his children and meets them at the appropriate time.  Fathers also look critically at what is best for their children.  Sometimes this may disappoint the child because the father will let them struggle to learn a valuable life lesson.

We are the selfish child.  We get up in the morning and expect air to breath, the sun to come up.  We expect to be able to drill a well and find water there.  We expect the sun to rise each day and supply energy to power our homes and grow our crops.  We often experience struggles in life and do not understand while a loving father would allow us to meet this fate or why he wouldn't take it out of our way.  Indeed we are like children and we do not realize how our father is always doing that which is best for us.

·         Read Mosiah 3:19 and list the ways in which we are to become as little children.

We become a little child when we put complete trust in our father.  When he asks us to do something, we do it because we believe that he is right.  We are teachable and humble enough to ask our father lots of questions because we value his advice.  To becometh a child is not to be confused with being childish.  We are expected to be like a child in a sense of spiritual maturity and avoid hard hardheartedness.

There is no body I'd rather be than me

1. The Savior provided two similar miracles. As a summary of what took place, complete the following chart:

	Matthew 14:14-21	Matthew 15:32-38
How many people were present?	5000 men + Women and Children	4000 men + women and children
What did they need?	Food and the Word of God	Food, healing, and the word of God
What were they able to offer in an effort to meet that need?	A tiny portion of food and the willingness to tarry with the Lord.	Seven loaves and a few little fishes
What words or phrases describe the Savior’s feeling toward the multitudes in their time of need?	He had compassion on them and wanted their physical and spiritual needs to be met.	He had compassion on them because they were willing to stay with him for 3 days
What words or phrases describe what the Savior was able to provide for the multitudes?	They ate and were filled and there were fragments left over.	They ate and had 7 full baskets left over.

2. In each story, the available food was insufficient to feed the multitude, yet with the help of the Lord the insufficiency was overcome. Read Romans 3:23 and explain in writing another way human effort is insufficient in receiving the glory of God. According to Ether 12:27, how does the Lord help us overcome this insufficiency?

All of us have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.  Just as both groups of people in the stories above we all have little bread and few fish to offer.  It is important to remember that our weaknesses help us reach a depth of humility that can only be achieved by having a lack or deficiency of some sort.  When we recognize our weakness and plead for the Lords help, then we will receive his strength.

Only when we are humble and recognize our weakness will the Lord be able to help us overcome them.  However, recognizing our weakness and being humble is not accomplished by telling ourselves or others how bad, poor, and ugly we are.

Putting oneself down is not humility it is Satan’s way convincing us that humility is weakness.  In reality humility is all the strength, it is when we can say to ourselves, “I am a lot better of a person today than I was yesterday because God helped me do it”.  There can be confidence and optimism in a humble individual.  Let us remember not to confuse humility with self-destruction or poor self-image.

Christs Parables

The parables of the treasure and the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44-46)

If you went into a field of grain that was for sale and while looking it over you found an underground tunnel that led to a great treasure.  You would be set for the rest of your life.  It would be possible for you to take out a loan, buy the property, own the treasure, then pay for the property, what a deal.  This is the parable of the treasure. 

The parable of the pearl of great price is a similar concept.  When a merchant found a pearl that was magnificent he sold all that he had to obtain it.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is that desired treasure or pearl.  It is the only thing that can bring us true happiness in life.  In my life I have made sacrifices of time, money, talents, and perceived worldly pleasantries to obtain this treasure.  I still need more of the Gospel in my life, which means I will have to learn to do what it takes to obtain it.  Some things that I could work on to gain this pearl is to give more time to the Lord by sharing his word with my neighbors and friends.  I am still working on being better at that as well as being sure I always am good to my family and co-workers.  I have seen some that have sacrificed all that they had to know Christ, a woman I taught in Thailand was rejected by her own sister because she believed in Christ.  My wife has sacrificed vacation, family, and work time to help others in need because she knows that it is what Christ would want her to do.

The Net that was cast into the sea in Matt 13:47 is the Gospel of Christ.  It accepts all who enter into it with no respecter of persons.  To be gathered into the net is to start following the teachings of Christ.  Then the good are kept and the bad are cast away.  This represents the final day when we will be judged.  If we have been found to be good servants of God we will be worthy to dwell with him.   However, if we have chosen not to strive to follow him, yet we knew of him, we will not be able to dwell with him in his Kingdom.

Zacharias's Big Surprise

Zacharias was a little shocked when he found out that he was going to have a baby because it was impossible.  He was lucky that he and his wife didn’t have to think of a name the Lord had already taken care of that for him.  I had a similar feeling when I found out that my wife and I were able to get Pregnant.  I must say I am glad that I was not struck dumb for my lack of faith.  John’s entry into this world was a miracle, that is something to rejoice over.  His parent’s were unable to have children until him.  It was prophesied that John would prepare the way for the Messiah.  This is something to rejoice over as well.  Not to mention John received that authority to baptize.  Anyone who had a good understanding of the gospel at that time would have been thrilled to be able to make the first important covenant that would help them qualify to be with God after this life.

CAPSTONE: Education

We have been commanded and asked to get as much education as possible.  God has asked us to do this for a reason.  The only thing we get to take with us in the next life is our education.  Being educated also helps us in so many ways.  We are able to protect ourselves if we are educated and we are able to keep things fair if we are educated.  We need to gain education in temporal matters as well as in spiritual matters.  It has been said that it isn’t just a suggestion, that it is a commandment and we need to be putting forth all the effort we can to get our education.  I am going to be graduating with my Bachelors Degree in July.  I have been so thankful for the opportunities to get an education and to learn so much as I have been going to college.  I have recently been considering getting a Masters degree as well because I know that it is so important for us to get as much education as possible.  I need to be making the most out of the education that I am given and prepare to educate the children that I will be blessed with some day.  If I do not do so, I will be held accountable before God.

CAPSTONE: Prayer

Oh, what a blessing prayer is.  God truly loves His children and wants them to pray unto Him about everything.  Praying sincerely when we are going through a hard time is the easy part.  It is also just as important to pray to God when we are having good times and when we have had successes and are thankful to Him.  Without prayer, we cannot have a relationship with our Father in Heaven.  Without this, we cannot have the faith that is required for us to make it back to live with Him again someday.  Because of the importance of this, we are asked to “pray always.”  I have found this kind of hard for me to do.  I really have to think about it if I want to pray always throughout the day.  I think it would e a good measure to get a CTR ring or something that I can look at that will remind me that I can always pray and should always pray, especially when I could use help from God.  God always answers our prayers.  I know this is true.  He does not always answer them when we would like Him to, and He doesn’t always answer them the way we would like Him to but He truly does know what is best for us and He can see and understand so much more than we can.  We should involve God in our lives by praying always.