Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Obedience Brings Blessings 1 Nephi 20:19

1 Nephi 20:19

Obedience Brings Blessings
What
 19 Thy aseed also had been as the sand; the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name [Israel's] should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

You could have had it very good if you had been obedient,

Why
Blessings are predicated upon obedience.

Pattern
seed
Gen. 22:17 (15–19)
15  ¶And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
16  And said, By myself have I 
sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:
17  That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy 
seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sandwhich is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
18  And in thy 
seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
19  So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
Isa. 48:19 (18–22)
18  O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
19  Thy 
seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
20  ¶Go ye forth of 
Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
21  And they thirsted not 
when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
22  
There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.
Hosea 1:10
10  ¶Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

Doctrine and Covenants 130:20

    20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated
    21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated
  • .
Leviticus 26: 3 ¶If ye awalk in my statutes, and bkeep my commandments, and do them;
 4 Then I will agive you brain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
 5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
 6 And I will agive bpeace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.
 7 And ye shall chase your aenemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.

 Luke 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, ablessed are they that hear the word of God, and bkeep it.

Christ
His-[Israel's] name should not have been cut off before me [Jesus Christ speaking]

Conference
APRIL 2013 Obedience Brings Blessings
...“He that keepeth [God’s] commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.”2
What a glorious promise! “He that keepeth [God’s] commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.”
There is no need for you or for me, in this enlightened age when the fulness of the gospel has been restored, to sail uncharted seas or to travel unmarked roads in search of truth. A loving Heavenly Father has plotted our course and provided an unfailing guide—even obedience. A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God.
We learn obedience throughout our lives. Beginning when we are very young, those responsible for our care set forth guidelines and rules to ensure our safety. Life would be simpler for all of us if we would obey such rules completely. Many of us, however, learn through experience the wisdom of being obedient.
In this dispensation, the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith that He requires “the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.”4
All prophets, ancient and modern, have known that obedience is essential to our salvation. Nephi declared, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.”5 Though others faltered in their faith and their obedience, never once did Nephi fail to do that which the Lord asked of him. Untold generations have been blessed as a result.
A soul-stirring account of obedience is that of Abraham and Isaac. How painfully difficult it must have been for Abraham, in obedience to God’s command, to take his beloved Isaac into the land of Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice. Can we imagine the heaviness of Abraham’s heart as he journeyed to the appointed place? Surely anguish must have racked his body and tortured his mind as he bound Isaac, laid him on the altar, and took the knife to slay him. With unwavering faith and implicit trust in the Lord, he responded to the Lord’s command. How glorious was the pronouncement, and with what wondered welcome did it come: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”6
Abraham had been tried and tested, and for his faithfulness and obedience the Lord gave him this glorious promise: “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”7
Although we are not asked to prove our obedience in such a dramatic and heart-wrenching way, obedience is required of us as well.
Declared President Joseph F. Smith in October 1873, “Obedience is the first law of heaven.”8
Said President Gordon B. Hinckley, “The happiness of the Latter-day Saints, the peace of the Latter-day Saints, the progress of the Latter-day Saints, the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, and the eternal salvation and exaltation of this people lie in walking in obedience to the counsels of … God.”9
Obedience is a hallmark of prophets; it has provided strength and knowledge to them throughout the ages. It is essential for us to realize that we, as well, are entitled to this source of strength and knowledge. It is readily available to each of us today as we obey God’s commandments.
My brothers and sisters, the great test of this life is obedience. “We will prove them herewith,” said the Lord, “to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.”10
Declared the Savior, “For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world.”11
No greater example of obedience exists than that of our Savior. Of Him, Paul observed:
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”12
The Savior demonstrated genuine love of God by living the perfect life, by honoring the sacred mission that was His. Never was He haughty. Never was He puffed up with pride. Never was He disloyal. Ever was He humble. Ever was He sincere. Ever was He obedient....
...As the Savior instructed His early Apostles, so He instructs you and me, “Follow thou me.”16 Are we willing to obey?
The knowledge which we seek, the answers for which we yearn, and the strength which we desire today to meet the challenges of a complex and changing world can be ours when we willingly obey the Lord’s commandments. I quote once again the words of the Lord: “He that keepeth [God’s] commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things.”17
Apply
One has only to put the promises for the obedient to test to gain a sure testimony of this promise that God has great blessings in store for all of His children if they will obey His voice.
It is like a mother who has prepared a beautiful, delicious feast for her children but if they refuse to come to the table and to eat then they are not nourished.
We have our agency to be blessed or not. It depends upon our obedience. It is sad that so many do not get that connection because the blessings run so deep and wonderful and to be without them is like living in starvation.


Hymns
239-Choose The Right
237- Do What is Right
270- I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go


children
160- Choose The Right Way
197- Quickly, I'll Obey




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