O

Obedience

Alma 8:18- "Alma returned speedily" (they were wicked and threw him out, but he was commanded to go back)

"Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future" -Oscar Wilde

Alma 11:23- "Oh thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?

Alma 37:32- "Teach them an everlasting hatred against sin and iniquity"

Alma 41:10 "wickedness never was happiness"

Alma 41:14 "deal justly, judge righteously, and do good continually"

Alma 45:16 "The lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance"

"The key to freedom is obedience" -Boyd K. Packer

D&C 21:4 if you will give heed to all words and commandments then..

-gates of hell will not prevail against you

-powers of darkness will be dispersed

-heavens will shake for your good

"Stay on the Lord's side of the line" -President Smith

Alma 47:6-20- Sin by degrees- Satan wants us to come off our safe mountain top, but many of us will not. Instead, he lures us by having us meet him halfway. We think we are safe and in control, but that moment we step down, we have lost to him. (Amalickiah and Lehonti)

Alma 48:17- "If all were like Moroni, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men"

Alma 50:6 - Moroni prepared strongholds against his enemies (prepare spiritually to keep away enemies)

Alma 57: 2000 stripling warriors

Alma 57:20-21 "firm and undaunted… obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness"

Helaman 6:1 "the Lamanites had become a righteous people, insomuch that their righteousness did exceed that of the Nephites, because of their firmness and their steadiness in the faith"

• Always must be actively developing your testimony, or you will fall away from Christ

"Don't flee Babylon- attack it!" -Jeffrey R. Holland

"Never check your religion at the door" -Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

3 Nephi 3:12 "I could not be frightened by the demands and the threatenings of a robber"

• Doesn't even name him, doesn't give him the time of day
• Stands strong in his own beliefs and faith

3 Nephi 4:8-10 "they did lift their cries to the Lord their God… when the armies of Giddianhi saw this they began to shout with a loud voice, because of their joy, for they had supposed that the Nephites had fallen with fear because of the terror of their armies… But in this thing they were disappointed, for the Nephites did not fear them, but they did fear their God and did supplicate him for protection… they were prepared to meet them, in the strength of the Lord they did receive them"

3 Nephi 12:14-16 "I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house. Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven"

"The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team's jersey we want to wear" -Jeffrey R. Holland

3 Nephi 18:24 "Hold up your light that it may shine unto the world"

3 Nephi 22:14 "In righteousness shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far from oppression for thou shalt not fear, and rom terror for it shall not come near thee"

Mormon 1:2 "thou art quick to observe"

"Obedience isn't obedience unless it's immediate. Anything else is repentance" -Hank Smith

Mormon 1:15 "I was visited of the Lord, and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus"

• Private victories precede public

• Compare to Mormon 2:2- head of army, public victories

Mormon 2:26 "nevertheless the strength of the Lord was not in us; yea, we were left to ourselves, that the Spirit of the Lord did not abide in us; therefore we had become weak like unto our brethren"

• Do not confuse personal strength and compensation for the presence of the Lord
• Don't focus on when the spirit is there. Recognize when it is not there, and how you feel (Hank Smith)
• Mormon 3:3 "They did not realize that it was the Lord that had spared them"

Mormon 3:11-13 "And it came to pass that I, Mormon did utterly refuse from this time forth to be a commander and leader of this people, because of their wickedness and abomination"

• You can still be a kind, good person and choose to not associate yourself with bad people

Mormon 5:21 "The Lord will remember the prayers of the righteous"

"Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus" -Neil  A. Maxwell

"The heavenly grandstands are cheering you on. We are fast coming to the close of this game. The opposition is real and is scoring. But we have scored, we are scoring, and we will score in the future. The Lord is our coach and manager. His team will win and we can be a valiant part of it if we so desire" -Ezra Taft Benson

"If you want to give a light to others, you have to glow yourself" -Thomas S. Monson

Mormon 8:35-41 questions to ask yourself to evaluate how you are doing. Are you ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Do you love money and clothes more than the sick and needy?

Mormon 9:28 "Be wise in the days of your probation; strip yourselves of all uncleanness; ask not, that ye may consume it on your lusts, but ask with a firmness unshaken, that ye will yield to no temptation, but hat ye will serve the true and living God"

Mormon 9:29 "See that ye do all things in worthiness"

Ether 2:7-14 "And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop… as they came to the sea they pitched their tents… And for the space of three hours did the Lord chasten him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord"

• The Lord tells us to get somewhere, but sometimes we stop early

Ether 4:11-12 "For because of my Spirit he shall know that these things are true; for it persuadeth men to do good. And whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me; for good cometh of none save it be of me. I am the same that leadeth men to all good"

Ether 6:10 "No monster of the sea could break them… they did have light continually"

"There are times when you simply have to righteously hang on and outlast the devil" -Ezra Taft Benson

Ether 12:6 "Faith is things which are hoped for, and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith"

"We want to see Jesus Christ now, but our certain reunion with Him at the judgment bar will be more pleasing if we first do the things that make Him familiar to us as we are to Him. As we serve Him, we come like Him, and we feel closer to Him as we approach that day when nothing will hide our view" -Henry B. Eyring

Moroni 7:8 "If a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God"

Moroni 7:19 "search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil; and if ye will lay hold upon every good thing, and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ"

"Ordinary people who faithfully, diligently, and consistently do simple things that are right before God will bring forth extraordinary results" -Elder David A. Bednar

Moroni 10:32 "Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God"

"Every Cinderella has her midnight- it's called Judgment Day" -President Monson

Matthew 4:20, 22 "And they straightway left their nets, and followed him… And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him"

“If our lives and our faith are centered on Jesus Christ and his restored gospel, nothing can ever go permanently wrong. On the other hand, if our lives are not centered on the Savior and his teachings, no other success can ever be permanently right" -President Howard W. Hunter

Daniel 3- "We are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve they gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up"

• Nebuchadnezzar wants Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego to worship his golden image, but they refuse
• They were not careful to answer the king, because they had already made decisions on where they stood, what they believed in, and how they felt
• They were confident in their answer and held to their values and commitment, but also to God's will

Matthew 5:14-16 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven"

Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"

Matthew 7:24-27 "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken them unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended , and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell: and great was the fall of it"

Matthew 13- parable of the sower

"The greatest test in life is obedience" -President Thomas S. Monson

Matthew 21:28-32 A man has two sons and asks them to go work in his vineyard. The first says no, but then afterwards repents and goes to work. The second son says yes, but after does not go to help his dad. The first son did the will of his father.