Ed Week - The Atoning Powers of Christ - Anthony Sweat


 Art by Simon Dewey


Day 1:  How Jesus Offers to Cleanse, Heal, Restore

Day 2:  How Jesus offers to Identify

Day 3  How Jesus Officers to Transform Us


Day 1:  Our Every Hour need for the Savior & the Cleansing POwer of the Atonement

The Dillemma

What every day powers does Jesus offer for someone not heavily involved in sin?  Parent of wayward child?

I need thee ever hour...

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but we are not. Each day, ours is the challenge to access the power of the Atonement so that we can truly change, become more Christlike, and qualify for the gift of exaltation and live eternally with God, Jesus Christ, and our families.33 For these powers, privileges, and gospel gifts, thanks be to God! (Russell M. Nelson - April 2012 | Thanks Be To God!)

For some reason, we think the Atonement of Christ applies only at the end of mortal life to redemption from the Fall, from spiritual death. It is much more than that. It is an ever-present power to call upon in everyday life. When we are racked or harrowed up or tormented by guilt or burdened with grief, He can heal us. While we do not fully understand how the Atonement of Christ was made, we can experience “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.”  (Boyd K. Packer - April 2001 | The Touch of the Master's Hand)

 You can't separate Jesus from the Atonement - It's all wrapped up in who He is - Here are  6 fundamental powers of the Savior's Atonement:

C leansing
H ealing
R estoring
I dentifying
S trengthening
T ransforming

Cleansing is always first.  Think of a wound.  We all have to realize our own need for cleansing.  Alma 5:21, Psalms 51:2, 7

The Lord's Cleansing Character - He want to cleanse us on our first sign of desire
  • The first message of the First Vision is forgiveneness -- it's not the restoration
  • Forgiveness appears more than 20x in the D&C
  • Anyone who comes to Him for forgiveness will be forgived.  Not onece in all scripture where someone approached the Lord for forgiveness was it denied.
  • 70x7 - Matthew 18:22 - Insight into the Savior himself
  • Moses 26:30 as often as they repent I will forgive
  • D&C 3:10  Loss of 116 pages - tender forgiveness
  • Hosea 2:14-23 Not a lesson on marriage, it's a metaphor.  Hosea is Jesus
  • Lord wants to forgive freely, frequently and fully
  • There is no celestial carfax report
  • Psalms 103:12
  • D&C 58:42
  • D&C 82:7 - Dont' take out of context.  Given to members of consecreated law & order.  Given to JS, KKW, SG - given to a select few.  Not a verse speaking to us all.  It was a a specific situation with them, asking them to sell all
  • Matthew 9:6 - Power on earth to forgive
Doctrine of Repentence - scriptures don't teach us steps or a process -- but something that happens inside of you
  • If you ask students - 90% will say repentance is confession.  Only 13% say it is faith in Christ
  • Repentence is internal workings not external effects.  It's a product not a process
  • Matthew 3:8 John the Baptist
  • Luke 7:47, D&C 112:3, D&C 62:3, 31:5, 50:36, 90:1, 108:1, 25:3, 36:1 60:7, Luke 2:5, James 5:15, Enos 1:4-5,
  • Examples of Repentence in the Book of Mormon
  • Alma the Younger
  • Lamoni
  • Enos
  • Repentance is given when hearts are aligned
  • Jacob 6:5
  • Micah 6:6-8 internal not external.  It's not the steps - its a change of heart
  • Psalms 32:1 - forgiven - covered.  jesus doesn't expect perfection buy loyalty and committment
“The sacrament renews the process of forgiveness. Every Sunday when the sacrament is served, that is a ceremony to renew the process of forgiveness. … Every Sunday you cleanse yourself so that, in due time, when you die your spirit will be clean.”  --Boyd K. Packer, Mine Errand from The Lord (2008), 196.


 



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