1. It is a place to come to know the Lord.
3.
It is the place he chooses to carry out His and
His Father’s work “to bring to pass the immortality and
eternal life of man.”1
4.
It is organized in such a way that gospel could
be established simultaneously in multiple nations and among diverse peoples.
5.
It is place where the ordinances of salvation
are administered—in other words, people are brought unto Christ.
6.
It is how the promises of redemption are placed
within reach even of the spirits of the dead who in their mortal lifetime knew
little or nothing of the Savior’s grace.
7.
A major purpose is to create a community of
Saints that will sustain one another in the “strait and narrow path which leads
to eternal life.”7
One cannot fully achieve this in isolation.
8.
“… For the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ.
9.
To teach and edify one another and strive to
approach the full measure of discipleship, “the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ.”
11. In
the Church we not only learn divine doctrine; we also experience its
application.
12. We are all called to serve. We
need these callings, and we need to serve.
13. The
wards and branches of the Church offer a weekly gathering of respite and
renewal, a time and place to leave the world behind—the Sabbath.
14. It
is a place where we can be reproved of sin and error. Repentance is individual, but fellowship on
that sometimes painful path is in the Church.20
15. It
is a place where we become converted to Christ and His gospel, a conversion
that is facilitated by the Church.21“ The Book of Mormon people “were converted unto the
Lord, and were united
unto the church of Christ. ”22
16. Through
gospel teaching and priesthood ordinances administered by the Church, families
may qualify for eternal life.
17. Together
in the Church, the ability to care for the poor and needy is multiplied to meet
the broader need, and hoped-for self-reliance is made a reality for very many.24
18. The
Church, its Relief Societies, and its priesthood quorums have the capacity to
provide relief to many people in many places affected by natural disasters,
war, and persecution.
19. Without
the capabilities of His Church in place, the Savior’s commission to take the
gospel to all the world could not be realized.25 This includes apostolic keys, the structure,
the financial means, and the devotion and sacrifice of thousands upon thousands
of missionaries needed to carry out the work.
20. God’s
objective in gathering His people in any age is “to build unto the Lord a house
whereby He [can] reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house and the
glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation; for there
are certain ordinances and principles that, when they are taught and practiced,
must be done in a place or house built for that purpose.”27
21. The
Church safeguards and publishes God’s revelations—the canon of scripture.
22. Its
destiny is to establish Zion in preparation for the return and millennial rule
of Jesus Christ.
23. It
is the gathering place for scattered Israel, and “a defense, and … a refuge
from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon
the whole earth.”35
24. The
final reason I will mention for the Lord to have established His Church is the
most unique—the Church is, after all, the kingdom of God on the earth.
“Call upon the Lord, that his
kingdom may go forth upon the earth, that the inhabitants thereof may receive
it, and be prepared for the days to come, in the which the Son of Man shall
come down in heaven, clothed in the brightness of his glory, to meet the kingdom
of God which is set up on the earth.
“Wherefore, may the kingdom of God
go forth, that the kingdom of heaven may come, that thou, O God, mayest be
glorified in heaven so on earth, that thine enemies may be subdued; for thine
is the honor, power and glory, forever and ever.”36
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