Lesson 4

Receiving Temple Ordinances

and Covenants

Ordinances

What is an Ordinance?

� An ordinance is a

sacred ceremony that

has spiritual meaning.

Examples: baptism,

confirmation, the

sacrament and sacred

temple ordinances

And this greater priesthood administereth

the gospel and holdeth the key of the

mysteries of the kingdom, even the

key of the knowledge of God. D&C 84:19

And without the ordinances thereof, and the

authority of the priesthood, the power of

godliness is not manifest unto men in the

flesh D&C 84:21

The priesthood directs sacred ordinances

Ordinances & Covenants

What are Covenants?

� A covenant is a sacred agreement

between God and a person or group

of people. God promises a blessing

for obedience to commandments.

Ordinances & Covenants

� The world shakes hands

or signs contracts to

make covenants.

� The Lord uses sacred

ordinances.

The Savior doesn’t have us sign a contract or shake hands, he has us experience an ordinance

The OrdinancePromised Blessings

� The sacrament

� Holy Ghost to be with us

The Covenants

� Take his name

� Always remember

� Keep commandments

Each ordinance has deep symbolic meaning . . .

addressed more in Lesson #5

Rather than use a lengthy contract

The Lord uses a sacred ordinance

� Rich in symbolism

� Routinely renewed

� He asks us to ponder

� Provides understanding

and insight on many levels

Ordinances & Covenants

We make important covenants and promises in the temple:

• to be strictly virtuous and chaste,

• to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure;

• to give all we have to build the Lord’s kingdom;

• to help prepare the earth for the return of Christ

(Summarized from: The House of the Lord, rev. ed. [1976], 84).

Sacred temple covenants are experienced as an ordinance too

Each covenant is experienced as part of an ordinance

Temple Ordinances

� Baptism for the dead

� Endowment

� Sealing families

• Key to the knowledge of God

• Manifesting the Power of GodlinessD&C 84:19,21

Blessings come from Obedience

D&C 130:20-21

When we obtain any blessing from God,

it is by obedience to that law upon which

it is predicated.

We must be faithful to temple covenants

For of him unto whom much is given much is required . . .

I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye

do not what I say, ye have no promise. D&C 82: 3,10

How do you think this verse applies to temple covenants?

Why is it so important

to be faithful to temple

covenants?

And we will prove them herewith,

to see if they will do all things

whatsoever the Lord their God

shall command them; Abr 3:25

Faithfulness to our covenants will bring peace and safety

If we keep our covenants, the covenants will keep us spiritually safe (Neal A. Maxwell, Conference Report, Apr 1987)

How does keeping our covenants help keep us

spiritually safe?

Consistency & Striving

� Elder Boyd K. Packer said: “When you come to the temple and

receive your endowment, and kneel at the altar and be sealed,

you can live an ordinary life and be an ordinary soul—struggling

against temptation, failing and repenting, and failing again and

repenting, but always determined to keep your covenants. …

Then the day will come when the Lord will say: ‘Well done, thou

good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few

things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into

the joy of thy lord’ Matthew 25:21

(Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled [1991], 257).

Enjoy the temple!!

Rexburg Idaho Temple