Discipleship

"True discipleship is for volunteers only." It's been too long since I had an Elder Maxwell quote. I love this one! To be a true disciple of Christ one must desire it within. And at times somethings need to be left behind.

I love the island of Ovalau in Fiji. I spent 4 months here as a missionary. It was awesome! And I've been lucky enough to get out to it in both of my return trips. The island has a beautiful coastline, with a mountainous interior (not a "rocky mountain" standard, but for Fiji). There is only one town on the island, Levuka. The first capital of Fiji (it has since moved to Suva). The little town of Levuka has a lot of heritage and a lot of pride. Anywhere you are on the island, however, there's only one road that will take you to town. Any other road will end up in some other village. There's just the one road, which circles the island, that goes to Levuka. What's the message?? John 14:6= Christ is the only road back to our Father, so we better follow Him.

In Matthew chapter 4 we learn of the calling of 4 apostles; Peter, Andrew, James and John. The Savior testified of who He was and called them to "Follow Him". This call is for all who wish to hear it. We need to follow Him. I had students search verses 18-22 to see how these disciples responded to the call. They were quick to notice the words "straightway" and "immediately" in verses 20 and 22. They also brought up that they left what they were doing to follow Him. I had them circle the word "left" in those to verses. True discipleship takes sacrifice and the Lord won't force us to give up things. That has to come from within. Remember, "For volunteers only." Wow! What it must have taken to leave behind their jobs, their source of income and food, their families. It's amazing to see such faith when we really look at what they did.

I asked a class, "When have you made sacrifices and left things behind, so that you could better follow the Savior?" A dark haired senior, the class president of that class, shared about deleting certain songs, even songs she liked, but knew were inappropriate. Then, a small, very quiet, blond haired girl raised her hand and said, "My friends. I left my friends in Richfield and came here hoping to find better friends."

Students then were each given a piece of paper and wrote down one thing that needed to be left behind so they could follow the Savior. My amazing and domestic wife totally made me a miniature fishing net for students to come and leave behind their worldly nets that might get them tangled up.

I know that His path is hard, but it's worth following. Let's volunteer to be better disciples by picking something from our lives that can be left behind.

Loosening the tongues...

In Third Nephi 26 we learn an important principle of teaching; I'll call it the principle of loosening the tongues. Christ had been teaching the people and breaking bread with them, and then we get verse 14: And it came to pass that he did teach and minister unto the children of the multitude of whom hath been spoken, and he did loose their tongues, and they did speak unto their fathers great and marvelous things, even greater than he had revealed unto the people; and he loosed their tongues that they could utter.

On this page (457 in the Book of Mormon) I have written from sometime in my seminary teaching training "I will seek to be like the Savior by loosening the tongues of the students/people I teach."

In class a few days ago I was briefly introducing some of the scripture mastery references for the New Testament and trying to help the students get an understanding of what those passages mean. We were discussing Matthew 25:40 and how when we've done service for someone, it's as if we'd done it for the Savior. Then, we turned to the flipside and started talking about what if we do something bad to someone... It's hard to think that our unkind words, or unkind actions that we commit against others are really being committed against the Savior. I tried to explain how everyone is a child of God and if we hurt someone we're hurting God, because that's his child. A young lady with dark brown, super curly hair looked up and said, "Yeah, because Christ suffered for all of our pains and sorrows and afflictions, so when we cause pain to others we really are doing it to Christ."

I was blown away. What she had revealed was much greater than what I had revealed or could have revealed. I had never seen that scripture so literally before.

I am so grateful for what I learned that day and for the Spirit enlightening the mind of a student and loosening her tongue to speak of such wonderful things.

Update

So, one week of school is down and I'm still alive. I love being a seminary teacher. I teach six classes a day: "0" hour, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th. I have more than 130 students and easily had everyone's name by the second day (many returning students). First week shocks=My feet and legs are not in teaching shape. By Thursday and Friday I was taking many an opportunity to sit and get off my feet for a little bit. My voice, was also not in teaching shape. Our last day of the first week was opening football game and my voice was completely gone after that. However, as far as teaching goes the Lord has blessed me. I'm excited to learn and grow as a teacher as I know I have SO much to learn. The students are great! They are eager for the gospel. One student commented on a "survey" thingy that I handed out that she really wants her testimony to grow this year. I know that this is very typical for the youth of the Church and hope we'll remember that in our interactions with them. It was a great first week.

Happy Birthday Harry!!

Well, to celebrate the birthday of "The boy who lived" I thought I'd post a spiritual analogy from Harry Potter. This was one I used in Jeremiah 30 to help teach about the power of Christ.

What is the power of Christ? What can Jesus do for me? Why do I need a Savior?

Harry, in Year Two at Hogwarts, finds himself in the Chamber of Secrets facing almost certain death from a Basilisk. The huge snake-like creature that kills just with a look of its eyes is being commanded by a memory of Harry's nemesis Lord Voldemort. Harry it seems is alone with no way out, but then in comes Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix, to poke out the eyes of the Basilisk. Now Harry has a chance. Fawkes also brought Harry the sorting hat, which gave Harry the sword of Godric Gryffindor, which he used to fight and kill the Basilisk. Although he killed the Basilisk, he didn't escape unscathed. He took a fang to his arm, which would have killed him, but swooping in again came that Phoenix. It shed a tear into his wound and completely healed him. Then, if that wasn't enough, this magnificent bird carried Harry, Ginny, Ron, and a loopy Lockhart out of the Chamber delivering them from being trapped.

Now, long before J.K. penned The Chamber of Secrets, the Phoenix bird has been a symbol of Jesus Christ. A Phoenix, as I'm sure you know, rises from its ashes, symbolic of the Resurrection. And like Fawkes, our Savior is there for us to fight our enemies, to give us the sword of truth (it's sharp--to the dividing asunder), to heal us, and to deliver us!

How was Harry able to access such a powerful ally? The answer will help us see how we can gain the power of Christ in our lives.

Dumbledore told Harry that the only way for him to have summoned Fawkes to his aid was (I'm summarizing here) if Harry had been loyal to him. Later in the series Scrimgeour tries to recruit Harry to the ministry. Harry declines and the new minister comments that Harry must be Dumbledore's boy through and through.

Jeremiah 30:22 "And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."

I testify that Jesus Christ, the Lord Jehovah, wants us to be His people. He wants to be our God so that He can fight for us, equip us with the weapons we need, heal us, and ultimately deliver us. I know that He will if we will be loyal to Him and keep His commandments.

"When the Lord commands, do it."

Obedience...what comes to mind? Well, to me, I think obedience is the first law of heaven. What does that mean?

Our Priesthood/Relief Society lesson today, Ch. 13 from the Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, focused on this topic of obedience. The lesson began with a personal experience from the Prophet Joseph's life, where they had to up and move "in the middle of an especially severe winter." Although it was hard for them, did I mention they had to travel by sleigh and Emma was expecting twins, Joseph obeyed when the Lord commanded. A question was read in class, "How have you been blessed when you have obeyed...commands without hesitation?" My mind, with the help of a class comment, went to that phrase, "without hesitation." How do I get to where I can obey, without hesitation?

Why do we have commandments that we need to obey anyway? When we understand the doctrine it will help change our behavior. It will make it easier to obey and hopefully to obey without hesitation, so we can say with Joseph, "When the Lord commands, do it." Let's turn to section 82 of the Doctrine and Covenants to gain insight on why we have commandments:

8 And again, I say unto you, I give unto you a new commandment, that you may understand my will concerning you;

9 Or, in other words, I give unto you directions how you may act before me, that it may turn to you for your salvation.

I see two reasons in these verses. One, commandments are God's will. Two, commandments teach us how to act so that we can be saved.

Obedience, that's what should come first in our lives. When the Lord commands, do it!

I hope that understanding the why will improve my ability to obey. What are some other things that hinder our obedience?

Fighting for family

The books of Nehemiah and Ezra teach us some great principles about the temple and the family. After King Solomon's death the Israel that his father David united splits in less than a year. The northern country is inhabited by Israel and the Jews take the south. Both countries end up getting conquered. The Persians had reign over the Jews and granted them return to their homeland. Here Ezra led and encouraged the Jews to build the temple. Later, Nehemiah was granted to return to Jerusalem as well, but his mission was to rebuild the wall around the city. A wall? Why did ancient cities have walls? One word: Protection.

They met some opposition to this project, coming from the Samaritans. But they overcame it because "the people had a mind to work" (Neh. 4:6). Nehemiah encouraged them saying, "Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses" (Neh. 4:14).

Is the family being attacked? Do we today need protective walls around our families and the temple? What can we do to protect the family and fight Satan?

Here are some ideas from seminary students as we "built a wall" (red=Spanish Fork High, yellow= South Sevier High):

I love the imagery of this verse and I hope it's how I can be in this quest to protect our families:

Nehemiah 4: 17 They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon."

Cell phones?

So thinking about the coming year one of the classroom issues that I want to alleviate deals with cell phones. If you wonder how many high schoolers have them, check this out. This was from just one class of only 9th graders.

I also know that it becomes addicting to teenagers and some are staying up way late into the night texting. So...I've also been wondering how to teach students proper cell phone use. A scripture came to me during sacrament meeting.

Alma 38:12 Here Alma teaches his son Shiblon and all of us that we need to "bridle all [our] passions."

I think this will be great in Monroe, since they'll know more about bridles than I ever will.

Any other ideas??