Sunday School Lesson 42: Continuing Revelation to Latter-day Prophets

D&C 68:1-4 (Ensample means Precedent or Example.)

1. My servant, Orson Hyde, was called by his ordination to proclaim the everlasting gospel, by the spirit of the living God, from people to people, and from land to land...reasoning with and expounding the scriptures unto them.

2. And, behold and lo, this is an ensample unto all those who were ordained unto this priesthood, whose mission is appointed unto them to go forth--

3. And this is the ensample unto them, that they shall speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost.

4. and whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord and the power of God unto salvation.

At this point, Orson Hyde was a recently baptized convert, having been baptized only about one month prior to this calling and revelation. So it is not speaking of Apostles, which he later became, but of run-of-the-mill missionaries.

If whatsoever they speak is scripture, where is it recorded? Or is it somehow scripture only to the audience, and recorded only as a witness against them? Scripture will be one of the yardsticks against which we are measured when we face God at judgment, so perhaps what this means is that when we are judged, we will be faced with every spiritually inspired utterance that was ever spoken in our presence.

Some insights are best kept to yourself

I had the thought about the correlation between matt 11:28 and the 4th
commandment during Sunday school and as soon as I shared it, I
realized it did not help the teacher to make the point he had
prepared. Some insights are best kept to yourself and discussed later,
in a setting without any specific direction; derailing someone's
prepared thoughts might not help others feel the spirit.

Matt 11:28-29 = Exodus 20:8-11

Matt 11:28-29 says,

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you...and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Exodus 20:8-11 says,

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work ...
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth ... and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it

The commandment to come unto me and find rest is interesting because we are also commanded to labor. The Lord is not condemning labor for labor's sake, but is transforming labor into his rest, which we know from D&C 84:24 is the fulness of his glory. He does not call, come all ye lazy, but calls those of us who are laboring. The act of laboring allows the call to join him in his yoke. If we are unwilling to labor in the first place, he doesn't invite us to share his burden.

The first presidency said, back in 1936, with the establishment of the welfare program that, Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership.

Sunday School Lesson 41: Every Member a Missionary

D&C 1:4-5 And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days. And they shall go forth and none shall stay them for I the Lord have commanded them. I have a couple of thoughts on this one, neither related to missionary work. The line, whom I have chosen: does it mean that God has chosen all the people who would be considered his disciples or he has chosen from among the disciples those who will be missionaries? Second, the comment that none shall stay them for I...have commanded them is interesting to me, because of the verse that I can't find about when the Lord gives you a commandment and you are prevented from accomplishing it but you tried as hard as you can, then he treats it as though you had accomplished it. Here he says that none shall stay them but elsewhere, he acknowledges that sometimes evil men are able to prevent others from keeping the commandments.

D&C 65 The heading says that Joseph smith designated this revelation as a prayer. That's very interesting because it makes me wonder about the meaning of the word "prayer." I've typically thought of prayer as communication with God, typically one-way communication. A statement, or series of statements that you believe that God will hear, and a request or series of requests that you hope he will deign to acknowledge or grant. This prayer, however, is clearly directed to both human and Godly ears. 5 of the 6 verses are directed at man, and only the final verse seems to change focus and address God.

I do like the line, Call upon the Lord, that his kingdom may go forth upon the Earth, implying that if we fail to pray, the kingdom will have a tough time going forth. our worthiness allows the kingdom of God to grow.

D&C 123:12-13 Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things . . . Now this is extremely interesting wording. We should waste our lives? Not just spend them, but waste them.