pgs. 458 and 459...come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost...

17 And it came to pass that the ^adisciples whom Jesus had chosen began ^bfrom that time forth to ^cbaptize and to teach as many as did come unto them; and as many as were baptized in the name of Jesus were filled with the Holy Ghost.

18 And many of them saw and heard unspeakable things, which are ^anot lawful to be written.

19 And they taught, and did ^aminister one to another; and they had ^ball things ^ccommon among them, every man dealing justly, one with another.

20 And it came to pass that they did do all things even as Jesus had commanded them.

21 And they who were baptized in the name of Jesus were called the ^achurch of Christ.

THIRD NEPHI
THE BOOK OF NEPHI
THE SON OF NEPHI, WHO WAS THE SON OF HELAMAN

CHAPTER 27

Jesus commands them to call the Church in his name—His mission and atoning sacrifice constitute his gospel—Men are commanded to repent and be baptized that they may be sanctified by the Holy Ghost—They are to be even as Jesus is. Between A.D. 34 and 35

1 And it came to pass that as the disciples of Jesus were journeying and were preaching the things which they had both heard and seen, and were baptizing in the name of Jesus, it came to pass that the disciples were gathered together and were ^aunited in ^bmighty prayer and ^cfasting.

2 And Jesus again ^ashowed himself unto them, for they were praying unto the Father in his name; and Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, and said unto them: What will ye that I shall give unto you?

3 And they said unto him: Lord, we will that thou wouldst tell us the ^aname whereby we shall call this church; for there are disputations among the people concerning this matter.

4 And the Lord said unto them: Verily, verily, I say unto you, why is it that the people should murmur and dispute because of this thing?

5 Have they not read the scriptures, which say ye must take upon you the ^aname of Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be called at the last day;

6 And whoso taketh upon him my name, and ^aendureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day.

7 Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake.

8 And how be it ^amy ^bchurch save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel.

9 Verily I say unto you, that ye are built upon my gospel; therefore ye shall call whatsoever things ye do call, in my name; therefore if ye call upon the Father, for the church, if it be in my name the Father will hear you;

10 And if it so be that the church is built upon my gospel then will the Father show forth his own works in it.

11 But if it be not built upon my gospel, and is built upon the works of men, or upon the works of the devil, verily I say unto you they have joy in their works for a season, and by and by the end cometh, and they are ^ahewn down and cast into the ^bfire, from whence there is no return.

12 For their works do ^afollow them, for it is because of their works that they are hewn down; therefore remember the things that I have told you.

13 Behold I have given unto you my ^agospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the ^bwill of my Father, because my Father sent me.

14 And my Father sent me that I might be ^alifted up upon the ^bcross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the ^ccross, that I might ^ddraw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be ^ejudged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil—

15 And for this cause have I been ^alifted up; therefore, according to the power of the Father I will draw all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their ^bworks.

16 And it shall come to pass, that whoso ^arepenteth and is baptized in my ^bname shall be filled; and if he ^cendureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world.

17 And he that endureth not unto the end, the same is he that is also hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence they can no more return, because of the ^ajustice of the Father.

18 And this is the word which he hath given unto the children of men. And for this cause he fulfilleth the words which he hath given, and he lieth not, but fulfilleth all his words.

19 And ^ano unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his ^brest save it be those who have ^cwashed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.

20 Now this is the commandment: ^aRepent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be ^bbaptized in my name, that ye may be ^csanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand ^dspotless before me at the last day.

21 Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my ^agospel; and ye know the things that ye must ^bdo in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do;

I would like to apologize for missing two days on this blog. We moved to a new home over the weekend and it turned out to be a lot crazier than I expected. Why is it always like that? We had to transfer our internet service from our old home to our new home but since it was a local move I thought that would be pretty straightforward. It wasn't. Again, my apologies, I have missed it here!!!! I am so happy to be back!

The verse that caught my attention in today's reading is verse 20 where the Savior gives the command to be baptized and points out the blessings that come from following that command. I have been thinking a lot about missionary work the last 24 hours because yesterday in our new ward there were TWO missionary homecomings. The elders just glowed with the fire of missionary work!!! (It really made me miss my missionary days!) These boys were FRESH off the airplane...like 72 hours or so. And they both testified of how wonderful it was to see someone they were teaching decide to get baptized. I'm sure this is because they knew that when their friends decided to get baptized they would "be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost that they may stand spotless at the last day" as taught in verse 20. The opportunity to share that to others is such an amazing blessing. I really want to try to take that opportunity more often!