Have ye spiritually been born of God?

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Have ye spiritually been
born of God?

• www.kevinhinckley.com

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Time for Vacation?
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President Kimball

• "This impression weighs upon methat the
  Church is at a point in its growth and
  maturity when we are at last ready to move
  forward in a major way. . . . (1979)
• The basic decisions needed for us to move
  forward, as a people, must be made by the
  individual members of the Church. The major
  strides which must be made by the Church will
  follow upon the major strides to be made by us as
  individuals.
• We have paused on some plateaus long enough. Let
  us resume our journey forward and upward."
• (Conference Report, April 1979, p. 114.)

Why would we, as Saints, pause in our spiritual
growth?
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President Benson

• The Lord works from the inside out. The world
  works from the outside in. The world would take
  people out of the slums.
• Christ takes the slums out of people, and then
  they take themselves out of the slums. The world
  would mold
  men by changing their environment.
• Christ changes men,
  who then change
  their
  environment.
  The world would shape
  human behavior, but
  Christ can
  change
  human nature.
  Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 77.

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Alma in Zarahemla
Captivity
Mercy
Deliverance

• And now behold, I say untoyou that belong to
  this church, have you
• 1) sufficiently retained in remembrance the
  captivity of your fathers?
• 2) sufficiently retained in remembrance his
  mercy and long-suffering towards them?
• 3) And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in
  remembrance that he has delivered their souls
  from hell?
• Behold, he changed their hearts yea, he awakened
  them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God.

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Elder Oaks

• I have spoken about miracles.  I have given
  illustrations of miracles in the Church as a
  whole and in many different circumstances
  involving a few individuals or a crisis of
  weather or war. 
• But the greatest miracle is not in such things as
  restoring sight to the blind, healing an illness,
  or even raising the dead, since all of these
  restorations will happen, in any event, in the
  Resurrection.
• Changing bodies or protecting temples are
  miracles, but an even greater miracle is a mighty
  change of heart by a son or daughter of God. . .
  If of the right kind, this change opens the door
  to the process of repentance that cleanses us to
  dwell in the presence of God. It introduces the
  perspective and priorities that lead us to make
  the choices that qualify us for eternal life,
  the greatest of all the gifts of God (DC
  147).
• Ensign, June 2001, p. 17

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Alma goes on

• And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if
  ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye
  have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I
  would ask, can ye feel so now?
• Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless
  before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to
  die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have
  been sufficiently humble?
• Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you,
  if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God.

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President Benson

• Most of us think of pride as
  self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness,
  arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are
  elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is
  still missing.
• The central feature of pride is ???
• Enmityenmity toward God and enmity toward our
  fellowmen. Enmity means hatred toward, hostility
  to, or a state of opposition.
• It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign
  over us.

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C.S. Lewis

• We are not merely imperfect creatures who
  must be improved we arerebels who must lay
  down our arms.
• The first answer, then, to the question why our
  cure should be painful, is that to render back
  the will which we have so long claimed for our
  own, is in itself, wherever and however it is
  done, a grievous painBut to surrender a self
  will inflamed and swollen with years of
  usurpation is a kind of death.
• We all remember this self-will as it was in
  childhood, the bitter, prolonged rage at every
  thwarting, the burst of passionate tears, the
  black, Satanic wish to kill or die rather than to
  give in.
• The problem of Pain, p. 91

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Even more C.S. Lewis

• The natural life (natural man) in each of
  us is something self-centered, something that
  wants to be petted and admired, to take
  advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole
  universe.
• And especially it wants to be left to itself to
  keep well away from anything better or stronger
  or higher than it, anything that might make it
  feel small.
• It is afraid of the light and air of the
  spiritual world, just as people who have been
  brought up to be dirty are afraid of a bath.
• And in a sense, it is quite right. It knows that
  if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its
  self-centeredness and self-will are going to be
  killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to
  avoid that.
• Mere Christianity, p. 53

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One last thought

• When I am hot and rebellious, bitter and cynical
  and sarcastic when it seems as though evil can
  win in the world and the battle is to the strong
  
• when it seems as though pride possesses all the
  high places, and greatness belongs to those who
  can grab the most
• when it seems as if faith is mocked, love fails
  miserably and humility is trodden in the dust
• when pity seems weakness and sympathy folly when
  a foul egotism rises up within me and would bid
  me assert myself, plan for myself, serve my own
  interests, play for my own hand and "take care
  of number one"
• then, O my Lord, may I hear in imagination
  the gentle splashing of water falling into a
  basin, and see the Son of God washing His
  disciples' feet!
• (Leslie D.
  Weatherhead, The Eternal Voice, New York
  Abingdon Press, 1940, pp. 81-82.)