GD: Lesson 6 Class Notes

At Second Coming, all will recognize and confess He is Christ.  But at His first coming, not all confessed.

Luke 4:16-21
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord

Isaiah 61:1-2
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn

Even though the two passages are not identical, the spirit of the message is what is important.

Luke 4:22-27
The people in this passage were not Jewish.  The prophets did not heal.

Luke 4:28
The people, after Christ declared He is the Messiah, were not happy.  They tried to kill him immediately.

God does not act the way we are preconditioned to believe.

What do we learn from this?  How do we keep from looking beyond the mark?
* Focus on the simple, every-day things.  For example, it would be a great effort to open the doors of nations now closed to missionaries; yet a simple thing as prayer can accomplish this great thing.
* Believing in Christ versus believing Christ.
* Do we listen to Christ's servants?  Do we follow them or discount them?

Calling of the Apostles

Luke 5:4-11
Brother Crockett talked about how this passage is so precious to him.  He is a fisherman.  He is a thorough fisherman and will "fish a hole dry."  One day, his father was talking about a hole and how great it was.  Brother Crockett said that it was dry.  His father cast in his line and caught a fish immediately!

Disciple vs. Apostle
Disciple is a follower; no authority.  An Apostle is "one sent forth" and has authority

Levi was a publican.  Brother Pierson read from some Catholic dictionary about what a publican is.  I found the wikipedia entry to be very similiar.

Publicans "were public contractors, in which role they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the collection of port duties, and oversaw public building projects. In addition, they served as tax collectors for the Republic (and later the Roman Empire), bidding on contracts (from the Senate in Rome) for the collection of various types of taxes. Importantly, this role as tax collectors was not emphasized until late into the history of the Republic (c. 1st century BC). The publicans were usually of the class of equites."

In the eyes of the Jews, publicans were the scum of the earth.

But Levi responded to the call.

How do we respond to calls?

Brother Pierson also pointed out the Bible Dictionary entry for prophet.  The last sentence reads, "in a general sense a prophet is anyone who has a testimony of Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost."

Luke 6:12-13
Christ humbled himself before the Father and sought His direction to call the apostles.

How was the Quorum of the 12 reinstituted?  Twelve apostles were chosen by the Three Witnesses on February 14, 1835.

Matt 10:40-42; D&C 20:26
Those that receive the Lord's servants receive the Lord.

D&C 124:45
And if my people will hearken unto my voice, and unto the voice of my aservants whom I have appointed to lead my people, behold, verily I say unto you, they shall not be moved out of their place.