Scripture References for Sacrement Talk on Thanksgiving 11/24/2013

Thanks 153
Thanksgiving 54
Grateful 1
Gratitude - topical guide

Psalm 100

 1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

 2 Serve the Lord with ^agladness: come before his presence with ^bsinging.

 3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath ^amade us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the ^bsheep of his pasture.

 4 Enter into his gates with ^athanksgiving, and into his ^bcourts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

 5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

3 Nephi 9
15 Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I ^acreated the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. ^bI am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name.

1 Corinthians 2
9 But as it is written, ^aEye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath ^bprepared for them that love him.

D&C 78

17 Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are ^alittle children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

 18 And ye cannot ^abear all things now; nevertheless, be of good ^bcheer, for I will ^clead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the ^driches of ^eeternity are yours.

 19 And he who receiveth all things with ^athankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an ^bhundred fold, yea, more.

John 14
 15 ¶If ye ^alove me, ^bkeep my ^ccommandments.

John 15

 10 If ye ^akeep my commandments, ye shall abide in my ^blove; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your ^ajoy might be full.

 12 This is my commandment, That ye ^alove one another, as I have ^bloved you.

Mosiah 2 16-26

 16 Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have only been in the service of God.

 17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn ^awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the ^bservice of your ^cfellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.

 18 Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to ^aserve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?

19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to ^athank your heavenly ^bKing!

 20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the ^athanks and ^bpraise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and ^cpreserved you, and has caused that ye should ^drejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—

 21 I say unto you that if ye should ^aserve him who has created you from the beginning, and is ^bpreserving you from day to day, by lending you ^cbreath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own ^dwill, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your ^ewhole souls yet ye would be ^funprofitable servants.

 22 And behold, all that he ^arequires of you is to ^bkeep his commandments; and he has ^cpromised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth ^dvary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do ^ekeep his ^fcommandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

 23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

 24 And secondly, he doth ^arequire that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately ^bbless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

 25 And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were ^acreated of the ^bdust of the earth; but behold, it ^cbelongeth to him who created you.

 26 And I, even I, whom ye call your king, am ^ano better than ye yourselves are; for I am also of the dust.

D&C Section 59

7 Thou shalt ^athank the Lord thy God in all things.

Speaks of sacrament service, and fasting.

14 Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer.

 15 And inasmuch as ye do these things with ^athanksgiving, with ^bcheerful ^chearts and countenances, not with ^dmuch ^elaughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance—

 16 Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the ^afulness of the earth is yours,

 20 And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to ^aexcess, neither by extortion.

 21 And in nothing doth man ^aoffend God, or against none is his ^bwrath ^ckindled, save those who ^dconfess not his hand in all things, and ^eobey not his commandments.

Alma 37

35 O, remember, my son, and ^alearn ^bwisdom in thy ^cyouth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.

 36 Yea, and ^acry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy ^bdoings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy ^cthoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

 37 ^aCounsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for ^bgood; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the ^cmorning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

Alma 34

38 That ye ^acontend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the ^bname of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and ^cworship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in ^dthanksgiving daily, for the many ^emercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, took one of the daughters of Ishmael to wife;

and also, my brethren took of the daughters of Ishmael to wife; and also Zoram took the eldest daughter of Ishmael to wife.

Everybody is taking to wife; my cousin Nathan (to Racheal), my sister LeAnna (to Rudy)... and me? I have 'known' I'd get married someday since I was 14 and received my Patriarchal Blessing. It was impressed upon me that the blessings therein are obtained "through your faithfulness", and I stand convicted of a real lack of faith.

Twenty-two years after receiving that blessing, and having a bright recollection of all my guilt, too often giving in to the temptation and the sins which so easily beset me, I let the Adversary convince me I was unworthy of those blessings (and that was true enough, he loves to lead off with a depressing truth... it makes the following lie so much easier to swallow) and that I never would be... and there's the lie... one of his favorites. He doesn't want me to repent, to pray, or to change... he wants me to stay miserable, just like him.

I don't want to be miserable anymore.

And there is so much more to this than my own personal worthiness. I had an Eternal Companion searching for me, I have children waiting to be born, a little brother (on his mission!) who prays that I will be married before him, and a Mother who prays for much the same thing... and an Elder Brother who wants me to be happy, and who is looking out for me constantly. Four years ago He prompted my cousin, a woman of great spiritual sensitivity and love for me, to reprove me with some sharpness because I was not even looking for my mate, and she was looking for me. I found out last night that at the same time I was being (lovingly) rebuked by the Lord, Mary had that same week (and only some 20 miles away) dumped her last boyfriend, and was so desperate to find me that she was considering moving to Salt Lake to try and find a good LDS man to date. I am eternally grateful that the length of the drive & move stayed her hand.

In my Blessing I am told that God will "bring to my presence" the woman who will be my wife... which, with a lot of help from my very great friends Jeff and Rebekah He did do. The same line instructs me to fast and to pray about the choice, which I am doing... I'm praying a lot these days. The paragraph regarding marriage in my Blessing ends with the instruction to "be patient and not to go faster than you are capable of going but to move carefully forward and upward..." Repentance is not a quick or easy process, and neither is changing your life to be worthy of the blessings of a Temple Marriage, but I will do it.

There are a lot of things Mary and I need to do to prepare, but I have faith that together we and the Lord can do all things. She waited alone and lonely for four years living in her parent's basement without giving up hope that she would one day find me. Those four years didn't have to happen. I was told by inspiration from God that she was looking, and that I needed to look for her... and I didn't. I felt the touch of the Holy Spirit when I heard it, and by the witness of The Spirit I knew it was true... and I kept on doing the same old things. And Mary has suffered much for my failure to answer God's call. She has forgiven me, and perhaps someday I will forgive myself.

I have promised her that unless she or God tells me otherwise, I will be Sealed to her in the temple for time and all eternity. I am praying about it constantly (as instructed in my Blessing... I'm not going to ignore God on this topic anymore!), but I don't expect either of them to tell me no. I am doing my very best to listen with an open heart and mind to the will of the Lord, I'm working hard to mean it when I say "not my will, but thine be done".  I have to get this right. I need to know God's will, and then do it. If I am not her Eternal Companion I will be devastated, but I will not act against the will of God in this most important of all decisions.

I have a new (and sometimes terrifying) purpose in life: to do what is right for Mary.

I will not fail her again.