Lesson 1: “This Is My Work and My Glory” Scriptures and Quotes

Lesson 1: “This Is My Work and My Glory” – Email Handouts


Bible Dictionary – Joseph Smith Translation – Page 717

Reading 1 – Moses 1:1-7

Reading 2 - Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote of this scripture (Moses 1): "The God here involved was the Lord Jehovah, though his words were those of the Father; he was, of course, speaking by divine investiture of authority." (Promised Messiah, p601)

Reading 3 - “It should be remembered that it was Christ before he was in the flesh who gave the law and the commandments to Moses, and who spoke for the Father, as He explained to the Nephites when he appeared to them after his resurrection. (3 Nephi 15:5) He ‘was in the beginning with God and was God’ according to John 1:1. The Father was represented by Him and He acted and spoke for the Father, in the creation and from that time forward in all the divine dispensations” (The First Presidency: Joseph F. Smith, Anthon H. Lund, and Charles W. Penrose, in James R. Clark, comp. Messages of the First Presidency, 4:271)

Reading 4 – Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: “all revelation since the fall has come through Jesus Christ, who is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. In all of the scriptures, where God is mentioned and where he has appeared, it was Jehovah who talked with Abraham, with Noah, Enoch, Moses and all the prophets…. The Father has never dealt with man directly and personally since the fall, and he has never appeared except to introduce and bear record of the Son” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:27)

Reading 5 - Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught: “Consider the power of the idea taught in our beloved song ‘I Am a Child of God.’ … Here is the answer to one of life’s great questions, ‘Who am I?’ I am a child of God with a spirit lineage to heavenly parents. That parentage defines our eternal potential. That powerful idea is a potent antidepressant. It can strengthen each of us to make righteous choices and to seek the best that is within us. Establish in the mind of a … person the powerful idea that he or she is a child of God, and you have given self-respect and motivation to move against the problems of life” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1995, 31; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 25).

Reading 6 – Moses 1:9-10

Reading 7 – Moses 1:12-23

Moses 1:24-28

Reading 8 – Moses 1:30-33,39

Reading 9 - President James E. Faust said: "There is a distinction between immortality, or eternal existence, and eternal life, which is to have a place in the presence of God. Through the grace of Jesus Christ, immortality comes to all..., just or unjust, righteous or wicked. However, eternal life is 'the greatest of all the gifts of God' (D&C 14:7). We obtain this great gift, according to the Lord, 'if you keep my commandments and endure to the end.' If we so endure, the promise is, 'you shall have eternal life' (D&C 14:7)." (Ensign, May 1995, p71)

Reading 10 - President Gordon B. Hinckley said: “We are here to assist our Father in His work and His glory, ‘to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man’ (Moses 1:39). Your obligation is as serious in your sphere of responsibility as is my obligation in my sphere. No calling in this church is small or of little consequence. All of us in the pursuit of our duty touch the lives of others. To each of us in our respective responsibilities the Lord has said: … ‘In doing these things thou wilt do the greatest good unto thy fellow beings, and wilt promote the glory of him who is your Lord’ (D&C 81:4)” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1995, 94; or Ensign, May 1995, 71; see also D&C 81:5–6).

President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: "Not only was this earth planned as an architect plans his building but its entire destiny and the destiny of its inhabitants was considered and known to the great Architect, before its foundation stones were laid. Our Eternal Father was not experimenting when this world came into existence. It did not come by chance. It is not the first of his creations. Millions upon millions of worlds such as this had rolled into existence before our earth was born. Every step taken was according to the divine plan, and that plan was an eternal one, which had been followed in the construction of other worlds without number unto man. In other worlds the plan of salvation had been given. Here we are enacting familiar scenes; scenes which are new to all mortal men, but which are well known to the Father and also to the Son." (The Way to Perfection, pp35-36)