Lesson Recap: Receiving the Ordinances and Blessings of the Temple

Joseph Smith Lesson 36

Taught by Marie Tiller

...on conditions of our obedience He has promised us great things: yea, even a visit from the heavens to honor us with His own presence.

The Saints are commanded by God to build temples

In September 1840 Joseph Smith said,

...it behooves the Saints to weigh the importance of these things, in their minds, in all their bearings, and then take such steps as are necessary to carry them into operation; and arming themselves with courage, resolve to do all they can, and feel themselves as much interested as though the whole labor depended on themselves alone. By so doing they will emulate the glorious deeds of the fathers, and secure the blessings of heaven upon themselves and their posterity to the latest generation.

In April 1842 he said,

The Church is not fully organized, in its proper order, and cannot be, until the Temple is completed, where places will be provided for the administration of the ordinances of the Priesthood.

In March 1844,

We need the temple more than anything else.

We are a temple building people and do so by commandment. In the temple we learn the things of eternity and receive ordinances of salvation for ourselves and our ancestors. We go to prepare to be with God again. We set ourselves apart from the world, remind ourselves to be more righteous and seek personal strength and revelation.

The temple is where we receive the greatest blessings God has for his children.

With effort on our part and blessings from God we can go more faithfully to the temple and do our family history work. Here are a few of our sisters' ideas...

Chell Leighton: We on the public affairs committee are preparing a special FHE lesson for families to teach us how to talk to others about the new temple coming to Philadelphia.

Eileen Almeida: Where there are temples there is opposition and we need to be prepared for that too. We need to take advantage of the attention brought by this and turn it to the positive.

Owenna Nagy: The Lord is blessing us with a temple and where there is a temple great growth can be expected, brought about by the special spirit of the temple and through our examples.

Marie Tiller: The "house of order" could mean our own homes, meaning that we need to manage our time and homes so that we are able to go to the temple more often.

Trudy Cook: I plan my calendar at the first of the year. I schedule temple days for the whole year, then when someone wants to schedule something, I say I'm away that day. It's a matter of priority and commitment.

Amanda Hall: Heavenly Father opens doors. I can't do family history research right now, but I have a cousin in South Africa who has sent me lists of names of ancestors. I just need to type them in.

Jen Low: Going to the temple is an active choice I make that testifies to my Father that I am coming to visit Him and dedicate myself to Him.

Marie Tiller: Being a part of the Relief Society organization helps prepare us to be worthy to serve in the temple. Then we take our temple experiences and influence those around us. It can help increase our love for those around us.

We ask thee, Holy Father, to establish the people that shall worship, and honorably hold a name and standing in this thy house, to all generations and for eternity; that no weapon formed against them shall prosper; that he who diggeth a pit for them shall fall into the same himself; that no combination of wickedness shall have power to rise up and prevail over thy people upon whom thy name shall be put in this house. ~D&C 109: 24-26