Alma 6-7

1. Alma 6-7

2. “We ought to fall on our knees and thank our Father in heaven that we belong to a church and have grasped a gospel that promises repentance to those who will pay the price. Repentance is not a foreboding word. It is the most encouraging word in the Christian vocabulary. Repentance is simply the scriptural invitation for growth and improvement and progress and renewal. “If there is one lament I cannot abide, it is the poor, pitiful, withered cry, “Well, that’s just the way I am.” I’ve heard it from too many people who want to sin and call it psychology... Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, However Long and Hard the Road, p.6

3. “Another satanic sucker punch is that it takes years and years and eons of eternity to repent. That’s just not true. It takes exactly as long to repent as it takes you to say, “I’ll change”-and mean it. Of course there will be problems to work out and restitutions to make. You may well spend-indeed, you had better spend-the rest of your life proving your repentance by its permanence. But change, growth, renewal, and repentance can come for you as instantaneously as they did for Alma and the sons of Mosiah.” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, However Long and Hard the Road, p.6

4. Alma 6 • Read Alma 6:1–3, 6 and identify two or three phrases that describe the responsibilities of Church members and leaders…

5. Alma 6 “We are not asking everyone to do everything. We are simply asking all members to pray, knowing that if every member, young and old, will reach out to just “one” between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Elder Ballard, October 2013 General Conference

6. Alma 7 Scan Alma 7 (chapter heading) to look at a missionary’s primary message

7. Let’s read Alma 7:7-13

8. Mormon Message: The Atonement Lifts our Burdens

9. Underline the word “that” every time it appears in Alma 7:11-13 (it’s there 6 times). Use the “thats” to figure out why Christ suffered the way he did

10. Underline the word “that” every time it appears in Alma 7:11-13 (it’s there 6 times). Use the “thats” to figure out why Christ suffered the way he did

11. Underline the word “that” every time it appears in Alma 7:11-13 (it’s there 6 times). Use the “thats” to figure out why Christ suffered the way he did

12. Underline the word “that” every time it appears in Alma 7:11-13 (it’s there 6 times). Use the “thats” to figure out why Christ suffered the way he did

13. Underline the word “that” every time it appears in Alma 7:11-13 (it’s there 6 times). Use the “thats” to figure out why Christ suffered the way he did

14. Underline the word “that” every time it appears in Alma 7:11-13 (it’s there 6 times). Use the “thats” to figure out why Christ suffered the way he did

15. Underline the word “that” every time it appears in Alma 7:11-13 (it’s there 6 times). Use the “thats” to figure out why Christ suffered the way he did

16. How have you personally seen these prophecies fulfilled?

17. The Atonement Three statements about the Atonement of Jesus Christ

18. Alma 7:7-13 “No one will experience any suffering that is not swallowed up in the Savior! You can feel no hurt, emotional or physical, that He has not already felt. There is no combination of human emotions or physical illness or suffering that cannot find refuge in the Savior’s sacrifice for us. He knows how to help us. He wants to help us. Let Him” (John H. Groberg, CES fireside for young adults, 1 May 1994 6).

19. Alma 7:7-13 “The Savior’s atonement is…the healing power not only for sin, but also for carelessness, inadequacy, and all mortal bitterness. The Atonement is not just for sinners” (Bruce C. Hafen, “Beauty for Ashes: The Atonement of Jesus Christ”, Ensign, 4/90, 7).

20. Alma 7:7-13 “Are you battling a demon of addiction—tobacco or drugs or gambling, or pornography? Are you confused with gender identity or searching for self-esteem? Do you—or someone you love—face disease or depression or death? Trust in heaven’s promises. (Elder Holland, “Broken Things to Mend,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2006, 70–71).

21. Our part… What does the Lord as in return? (Alma 7:14-16)

22. “I will show unto you that the Tender Mercies of the Lord are all over those who believe on his name” (1 Nephi 1:20).

23.  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands” (1 Nephi 21:13, 15–16).

24. “Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause” (Jacob 3:1).

25. “I will ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, … that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.” (Mosiah 24:14, 15).

26.   “His last recorded words to his disciples were, ‘And, lo, I am with you always…’ (Matthew 28:20). He knows what it felt like when your mother died of cancer--how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows what it felt like to lose the student body election. He knows that moment when the brakes locked and the car started to skid. He experienced the slave ship sailing from Ghana toward Virginia. He experienced the gas chambers at Dachau. He experienced napalm in Vietnam. He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism... Sister Chieko N. Okazaki, Lighten Up; p. 174

27. He understands both the physical pain of giving birth and the immense joy. He understands about rape and infertility and abortion. He understands your mother-pain when your five-year-old leaves for kindergarten, when a bully picks on your fifth-grader, when your daughter calls to say that the new baby has Down syndrome. He knows your mother-rage when a trusted babysitter sexually abuses your two-year-old, when someone gives your thirteen-year-old drugs, when someone seduces your seventeen-year-old. Sister Chieko N. Okazaki, Lighten Up; p. 174

28. He knows the pain you live with when you come home to a quiet apartment where the only children are visitors, when you hear that your former husband and his new wife were sealed in the temple last week, when your fiftieth wedding anniversary rolls around and your husband has been dead for two years. He knows all that. He's been there. He's been lower than all that. Sister Chieko N. Okazaki, Lighten Up; p. 174

29. He's not waiting for us to be perfect. Perfect people don't need a Savior. He came to save his people in their imperfections. He is the Lord of the living, and the living make mistakes. He's not embarrassed by us, angry at us, or shocked. He wants us in our brokenness, in our unhappiness, in our guilt and our grief. We know that this world is a dark place sometimes, but we need not walk in darkness.” Sister Chieko N. Okazaki, Lighten Up; p. 174

30. Mormon Message: He Lives After the video, if there is time, would you share your witness of the Savior?