Saturday Morning Session April 2010
" This “dispensation of the fulness of times” opened with the appearance of the Father and the Son to the boy Joseph Smith. Next the angel Moroni showed Joseph where the plates containing the Book of Mormon had been buried. Joseph was given power to translate them.
During translation Joseph and Oliver Cowdery read about baptism. They prayed to know what to do. There appeared to them an angelic messenger, John the Baptist. He conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood, “which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.”
The Apostles Peter, James, and John, who were closest to the Lord in His ministry, appeared next and conferred upon Joseph and Oliver the higher priesthood, or “the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God.” The priesthood, the scriptures direct, was to be named after Melchizedek, the great high priest to whom Abraham paid tithes.
This then became their authority. Through the keys of the priesthood, they had access to all of the powers of heaven. They were commanded to carry the gospel unto all nations."
What a blessing it is to live on the earth with the Priesthood restored to the Earth. I have seen its power and know that the power of the Priesthood is real.
" Some years ago I gave a talk entitled “What Every Elder Should Know: A Primer on Principles of Priesthood Government.” Later, when it was to be published, I changed the title to read “What Every Elder Should Know—and Every Sister as Well.”
I include the sisters because it is crucial for everyone to understand what is expected of the brethren. Unless we enlist the attention of the mothers and daughters and sisters—who have influence on their husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers—we cannot progress. The priesthood will lose great power if the sisters are neglected.
Priesthood is the authority and the power which God has granted to men on earth to act for Him. When priesthood authority is exercised properly, priesthood bearers do what He would do if He were present."
What are we as sisters doing to help our Priesthood bearers? What are we, as sisters, doing to uplift and encourage them? What are we teaching our sons and future Priesthood holders about the Priesthood? Are we teaching them the standards that they need to keep to be worthy to hold and exercise the Priesthood?
President Packer says,
"We have done very well at distributing the authority of the priesthood. We have priesthood authority planted nearly everywhere. We have quorums of elders and high priests worldwide. But distributing the authority of the priesthood has raced, I think, ahead of distributing the power of the priesthood. The priesthood does not have the strength that it should have and will not have until the power of the priesthood is firmly fixed in the families as it should be."
Here are some more quotes because my narration won't do them justice.
President Harold B. Lee stated: “It seems clear to me that the Church has no choice—and never has had—but to do more to assist the family in carrying out its divine mission, not only because that is the order of heaven, but also because that is the most practical contribution we can make to our youth—to help improve the quality of life in the Latter-day Saint homes. As important as our many programs and organizational efforts are, these should not supplant the home; they should support the home.”
President Joseph F. Smith made this statement about the priesthood in the home: “In the home the presiding authority is always vested in the father, and in all home affairs and family matters there is no other authority paramount. To illustrate this principle, a single incident will perhaps suffice. It sometimes happens that the elders are called in to administer to the members of a family. Among these elders there may be presidents of stakes, apostles, or even members of the first presidency of the Church. It is not proper under these circumstances for the father to stand back and expect the elders to direct the administration of this important ordinance. The father is there. It is his right and it is his duty to preside. He should select the one who is to administer the oil, and the one who is to be mouth in prayer, and he should not feel that because there are present presiding authorities in the Church that he is therefore divested of his rights to direct the administration of that blessing of the gospel in his home. (If the father be absent, the mother should request the presiding authority present to take charge.) The father presides at the table, at prayer, and gives general directions relating to his family life whoever may be present.”
Women all too often try to take then man's place in the home as the Patriarch of the Home. A lot of women state that they don't think family prayer and scripture reading would happen if they took charge. Instead we should be more equal partners with our husbands and encourage him to take his proper place.
I recently took a class by John Bythway about this very subject. He said work out a deal with your husband that you can let him know when a good time to do these things would be but then step back and let him lead the way. I will often call the family down for prayers but then step back and let my husband lead the actual event.
I think we can also positively influence our Priesthood bearers by letting them know how much it means to us that they are living worthily to hold and use the Priesthood. Also, Br. Bytheway
"The authority of the priesthood is with us. After all that we have correlated and organized, it is now our responsibility to activate the power of the priesthood in the Church. Authority in the priesthood comes by way of ordination; power in the priesthood comes through faithful and obedient living in honoring covenants. It is increased by exercising and using the priesthood in righteousness."
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