Acting in week 5

Time really has flown, I cant believe we are staring week 5 already! I hope that you are all getting as much out of this course as I am and are enjoying it as much as I.

In my preparation for tomorrow's lesson I have found some great talks about agency, one of which is by someone you might know :) the links are below, so if you have the interest and time to read one, please do.
To act, or to be acted upon, by Elder David Cook
Elder Robert D. Hales: 'Agency: essential to the plan of life'

Also, below is the video from tomorrow's class. There are loads of other great videos on the Church Youth site relating to principles contained in 'For the Strength of Youth' that you can check out here.

Quotes from last weeks lessons

Hi Class! Here are the quotes that I told you I would put up on the website from last weeks lessons - enjoy! If you wanted to do some more reading around them, then feel free to follow the links to the original sources :) 

Justification
Justification is the placing of a divine seal of approval upon the course of conduct pursued by righteous people. It is the approval of the Holy Spirit of the lives being lived by members of the Church. It is a divine ratification of the way of life of the true saints. It is being sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [1985], 102).

Sanctification
To be sanctified is to be clean; it is a state of purity and spotlessness in which no taint of sin is found. Only those who die as to sin and are born again to righteousness, becoming thus new creatures of the Holy Ghost, are numbered with the sanctified. . .
. . . In the lives of most of us, sanctification is an ongoing process, and we obtain that glorious status by degrees as we overcome the world and become saints in deed as well as in name. (Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, 265–66).

Priorities
When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1988, 3; or Ensign, May 1988, 4 ).

End of Week 2!

Well, that's 2 weeks down already! Doesn't time fly when you're having fun! I hope you have all enjoyed the past 2 weeks as much as I have as your teacher. We have covered some really important doctrines over the past couple of weeks - The Plan of Salvation, the Fall, Pre-Mortal world, The Creation, Purpose of Life, Agency... all these fantastic doctrines!!

Good Sites from Monday's Class

Hi there class!

These are the other websites that I mentioned during the class on Monday for your reference. I highly recommend the LDS Youth site as it has some great resources for the youth of the Church - take a look and explore what is available!

lds.org/youth - official Church Youth site
lds.org/youth/music - site where you can download a lot of good LDS music for free
seminary.lds.org - lots of great seminary related resources
seminary.lds.org/mastery - good place to work on your scripture mastery

I have also added a list of links on the right hand side of this page for easy reference.

Start of a new year!

Welcome to the new students for this year! We will be looking at the Old Testament over the coming 35 weeks and learning together of the atonement and the life of the Saviour as taught in the ancient world, to many of those who went before us. I hope that together we will draw closer to our Heavenly Father by understanding the doctrines and principles that are contained in this wonderful book of scripture.

This blog will be updated with materials from the lessons that I feel you might feel useful or with links to additional activities or talks etc that you might enjoy. It is also a forum for questions that you would like answered but maybe don't want to ask them in class - simply post them on this site as comments and I will do my best to cover them in the lessons.

I look forward to a wonderful year together and for the opportunity that we have to study and learn together.

I want you to know that I know that the Church is true, that the authority to act in God's name is truly upon the earth. I know that God lives, that Jesus Christ is our Saviour and Redeemer and that through Him we can return to live with our Heavenly Father. I know that the Atonement is a means of cleansing us of past misdeeds, but is also a means of great strength to enable us to be better and become the saints that the Lord desires us to become.

May the Lord bless you as you strive to live His Gospel and do what you feel is right.