BUILDING CHRIST CENTERED RELATIONSHIPS

And again, verily I say unto you, I command you again to build a house to my name, even in this place, that you may prove yourselves unto me that ye are faithful in all things whatsoever I command you, that I may bless you, and crown you with honor, immortality, and eternal life.

-D&C 124:55

Today’s Purpose Discuss how having a Christ-centered

identity improves our relationship with our Heavenly Father

Review what specific tactics Satan uses to destroy our perception of our identity

How having a Christ-centered identity increases our power and abilities

Everything about our lives is an indicator of our Father’s respect for us,  that He recommended and selected us for now, when the stakes are so high, when His kingdom is being established once and for all, never again to be taken from the earth. He chose us to run the last leg of the relay, when He needs His strongest, fittest runners. He believes in us.

Sheri Dew

Acts 7:27-29 That they should seek the Lord, if

haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that

What Is Our Divine Role as Children of God?

Abraham 3:22, 24-25 Now the Lord had shown unto me,

Abraham, the intelligence that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And there stood on among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;

Matthew 22:36-40 Master, which is the great

commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Mosiah 5:7-9 And now, because of the covenant which ye

have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.

And under this head ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free. There is no other name given whereby salvation cometh; therefore, I would that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God that ye should be obedient unto the end of your lives.

And it shall come to pass that whosoever doeth this shall be found at the right hand of God, for

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way,

the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

1 Timothy 2:5

1 Nephi 13:26-27, 29 And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles

of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.

And all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord, that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men.

And after these plain and precious things were taken away it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles; and after it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity, thou seest—because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God—because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.

1 Nephi 14:1 And it shall come to pass, that if the

Gentiles shall hearken unto the Lamb of God in that day that he shall manifest himself unto them in word, and also in power, in very deed, unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks—

What tools does Satan use to destroy our relationships?

Moses 4:4-5 And he became Satan, yea, even the devil,

the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice. And now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which I, the Lord God, had made.

God wants a powerful people, and He has made it possible for us to have access to His power, for He never intended us to face the perils of mortality alone, having only our own strength, wisdom, and power to draw upon.   

-From God Wants a Powerful People

Sheri Dew

Satan’s Tools &

Deceive Blind

-To make an untrue statement

Lies

-D&C 93:28,36-37,39-Elder Busche Quote

The issue is truth, my dear brothers and sisters, and the only way to find truth is through uncompromising self-education toward self-honesty to see the original “real me,” the child of God, in its innocence and potential in contrast to the influence from the other part of me, “the flesh,” with its selfish desires and foolishness. Only in that state of pure honesty are we able to see truth in its complete dimension. Honesty may not be everything, but everything is nothing without honesty. In its final state, honesty is a gift of the Spirit through which the true disciples of Christ feel the force to bear testimony of the truth in such a powerful way that it penetrates the very core of our existence.

”Truth Is the

F. Enzio BuscheEmeritus Seventy

Satan’s Tools &

-To fail to fulfill

Deceives Blinds

-To make an untrue statement

Lies-Lacking in Direction-Unable to Unwilling to Discern or Judge

-D&C 93:28,36-37,39-Elder Busche Quote

-Deuteronomy 31:6-John 14:16-18

-Isaiah 42: 16,20,23

-Moroni 7:46-47

The solutions to life's problems are always gospel solutions. Not only are answers found in Christ, but so is the power, the gift, the bestowal, the miracle of giving and receiving those answers. In this matter of love, no doctrine could be more encouraging to us than that. “How Do I

Jeffrey R. HollandQuorum of the Twelve Apostles

This Week’s Invitation Think of one or two ways that Satan specifically

attacks you?

How can you specifically protect/defend yourself from those attacks?

Find one or two ways to center Christ in to your personal view of yourself. Practice doing so…

-To fail to fulfill

Deceives Blinds

-To make an untrue statement

Lies

-Lacking in Direction-Unable to Unwilling to Discern or Judge

-D&C 93:28,36-37,39-Elder Busche Quote

-Deuteronomy 31:6

-John 14:16-18

-Isaiah 42: 16,20,23