Lesson 33: Sharing the Gospel with the World – Scriptures
and Quotes
Reading 1 – Matthew 12:38-40
Reading 2 – Jonah 1:1-2
Reading 3 – Nahum 3:1-5
Reading 4 – Jonah 1:3
Reading 4A - Sidney Sperry wrote: "A call on a mission
- and direct from the Lord! But it was no surprise to the prophet to be called,
for he had probably carried out many missions for the Lord in Israel before.
His surprise lay not in the fact of the call but in the kind of call, and
rebellion arose in his heart. It was a call to go to Nineveh, 'the great city'
of Assyria, and preach to its heathen inhabitants, for their wickedness had
come up before the Lord. . . .
"Jonah was torn between his loyalty to God and the whip
of his emotions. The latter were at a fever pitch and in the end determined his
actions. Because he couldn't face the mission call, he determined to flee the
country and get away from the unpleasant responsibility. He did not intend to
lay down his prophetic office; he merely wanted to absent himself without leave
for a time until an unpleasant situation adjusted itself."
Reading 5 – Jonah 1:10-17
Reading 6 – Jonah 2:1-9
Reading 7 – Jonah 3:3-8
Reading 8 - Jonah 4:1-3
Reading 9 – Micah 5:2
Reading 10 – Micah 2:12-13
Reading 11 – Micah 4:1-7
Reading 12 – Micah 5:7-9
President Hinckly said:
Ever since the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated, we have
interpreted that scripture from Isaiah, repeated again in Micah (see Micah
4:1–2), as applying to this sacred house of the Lord. And of this place, since
the day of its dedication, an ever-increasing number from across the world have
said in effect, “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the
house of the God of Jacob, that He might teach us of His ways, that we might
walk in His paths.”
I believe and testify that it is the mission of this Church
to stand as an ensign to the nations and a light to the world. We have had
placed upon us a great, all-encompassing mandate from which we cannot shrink
nor turn aside. We accept that mandate and are determined to fulfill it, and
with the help of God we shall do it.
There are forces all around us that would deter us from that
effort. The world is constantly crowding in on us. From all sides we feel the
pressure to soften our stance, to give in here a little and there a little.
We must never lose sight of our objective. We must ever keep
before us the goal which the Lord has set for us. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “An
Ensign to the Nations, a Light to the World,” Liahona, Nov 2003, 82–85)
In 1842 the Prophet Joseph Smith declared, “No unhallowed
hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may
combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go
forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent,
visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the
purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work
is done” (History of the Church, 4:540).
