Latest / Scripture Central / Mosiah 25-28 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited

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Mosiah 25-28 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited · Scripture Central

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One of the central features of today's scripture block is the
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conversion of Alma the Younger and the four sons of Mosiah,
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Ammon, Aaron, Omner and Hymni. To set the stage for that kind
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of. As an an overview for for the
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main element that we're going to cover in this particular Insight
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episode, I want to share with you a a nursery rhyme.
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Now, this isn't a particularly insightful or entertaining
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nursery rhyme. In fact, when I was a kid, I
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used to think it was really dumb.
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So here you go. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
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Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses and all
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the King's men couldn't put Humpty together again.
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There you go, there's the nursery rhyme.
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So all growing up, here's me thinking that's a dumb rhyme
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like most other nursery rhymes are.
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Didn't didn't have a lot of meaning to me until one day when
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I was sitting in a fireside setting listening to Elder Von
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Jay Featherstone and he proposed a little a little tweak to this
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nursery rhyme. And since that day, this has
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become my favorite of all the nursery rhymes.
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Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
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All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put
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Humpty together again, but the king could and the king would,
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and the king will. Brothers and sisters, as we jump
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in, we wanted to begin with this idea that we live in a fallen
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world. We live in mortal, fallen
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tabernacles of clay. We have opposition in all
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things. We have opposition to us as
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well. And life is hard.
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And there are a lot of us and a lot of our loved ones who are
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struggling, who experience Great Falls.
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And the reality is, is none of us can put ourselves back
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together or put our children back together, Our
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grandchildren, our our neighbors, our friends, our ward
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members. But the king can, and the king
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will, and that is to to us. That is kind of the central
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message of the the scripture block this week is even when all
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hope seems lost, there's still hope in Christ, and that's our
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only only chance. Now let's begin, go back with us
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to Mosiah chapter 25, and in here to to make sense and to get
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everybody up to speed and onto the same page.
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Keep in mind, Mormon as the editor here, he's trying to pull
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everything together and make sense of what's happened with
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these different groups of people as we now prepare to move
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forward into the rest of the narrative.
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So just to keep things straight, we brought Limhai's group back
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to Zarah Hemla. And following that we brought
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Alma's group back to Zarah Hemla.
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And he describes in in chapter 25 those first you know, 5-6,
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all the way down to verse 13, the different groups of people.
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In Zarahemla we have the Mulekites.
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These are descendants of Mulich, the people of Zarahemla.
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We have the Nephites with King Mosiah as their leader, and it
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was from this group that these two different groups of people
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had left 80 years in the past and have now rejoined.
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So they're now combined here. And then Mormon gives us some
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demographic information that is kind of helpful as we move
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forward into this book to to make sense of the lay of the
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land and the different populations, he says.
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Look, the Mulekites are bigger in number than the Nephites.
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It's a smaller group. Even when you add Alma and
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Limhi's group in, the Nephites are still outnumbered by the
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Muelekites. But then he says, you have the
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Lamanites that outnumber all of them combined by more than
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double. So the Lamanite population is
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much, much bigger than the combined population in Zarahemla
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even after you Add all these in. Here's the interesting point to
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all of this this random number stuff, the smallest group of all
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these, these Nephites that they have the ruling power, they have
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the record keeping, they seem to be the literate portion of the
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population. It's almost as if he who rules
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the pen rules history and rules the governing of the people in
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in a lot of ways. So you're in chapter 25.
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Look at verse 13. And now all the people of
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Zarahemla were numbered with the Nephites, and this because the
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Kingdom had been conferred upon none but those who were
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descendants of Nephi. So Nephi's children and
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descendants are the kings. Can you see the interesting set
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up from a from a biblical perspective here?
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Because all of these, all these people came out of the lands of
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the Bible in 600 BC and in the Mulukites probably around right
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before the conquest of Babylon. So 580-7586 when the siege is
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taking place. Sometime Muluk, the son of
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Zedekiah, leaves. Here's the irony.
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You ready? Muluk is the son of Zedekiah,
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who was the king of Jerusalem. He's from the tribe of Judah,
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the tribe of Judah. They're the kings for the most
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part in this time period of of ancient Israel, the Nephites.
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They come from the tribe of Manasseh.
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Manasseh is not a kingly tribe. They're not a priestly tribe.
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They're none of that. And now all of a sudden, all the
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priests, the prophets, the kings, the leadership, it's all
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coming from this lesser tribe, so to speak.
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Can you see how later on in the Book of Mormon there could be
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some disputations and dissensions among the people of
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the Nephites because of a natural break that's that
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already exists before we even get underway?
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We don't know this for sure. So this is not doctrine but
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there's at least a chance that the king men later on in the
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Book of Mormon are going to be saying, hey we're of noble birth
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what are you Nephites doing on the throne?
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We we or as the chief judges we want to be the king because we
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have the right to the kingship in in the law of Moses under the
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House of Israel framework. We should be the ones in charge
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what what's going on? And we don't know if that's
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what's going on for sure, but at least that strong possibilities
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happening here. And Mormon is setting up this,
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this dynamic with all these different groups of people
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saying this is hard for these leaders to try to pull these
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people together and get them to become one and unified.
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And anybody who's worked with with disparate groups and trying
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to work on unity can can say Amen to that.
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So what Tyler's pointed out is actually really important for
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us. The Book of Mormon was not
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written as a political text. It wasn't written as a
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demographic or a geographical text.
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Those details are in there. Mormon wrote this to lead us to
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Jesus Christ. We just want to make sure we
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always remind ourselves of that. So it's interesting.
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The mulikites in ancient Hebrew and even Hebrew today, the basic
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word for king is based on these three letters MLK, and depending
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on how the vowels work will change the definition a bit, but
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always has to do with kingship. So the word Mulik means little
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king or a Prince, and Mulik was the little king or the son or
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the Prince of Zedekiah. The word melik itself just means
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king and mamlaka means Kingdom. Notice that in the book of Alma
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you have several groups that are fighting to become kings.
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You have a group called the Amlocites.
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Notice that it seems that the Hebrew word for king is right in
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the middle of their name. The word king men could simply
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be the English translation of the word Amlocites, or even the
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word Amlocites might be a variation of this.
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And then there's an interesting one, one of the worst Nephite
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apostates and defectors who wanted kingship and he didn't
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want anyone to be king but himself.
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He took over the Lamanites and then brought the Lamanites to
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fight the Nephites. And there's like 40 chapters of
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warfare kind of started by this guy and his name is Amalikaya,
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and it seems that he has in the base of his name the word Melek
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or king. So there's been proposals by
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those who study these ancient languages that these names in
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the Book of Mormon are representing what these people
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care about. As Tyler's laid out, this may
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have been baked into the Nephite political order because of the
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descendancy of these people that the people of the Mulekites like
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worship be the king because we're the descendants of
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Zedekiah, who'd be the king and the descendants of Judah.
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Even the Lamanites, Laman and millennial were mad at Nephi
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because he took rulership. So one of the big driving forces
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going on in the narrative of the Book of Mormon is who's to be
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the king? And this is answered in the Book
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of Mormon. Jacob, the brother of Nephi,
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says the Lord God is the king. That is profound for all of us
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to not only see in the Book of Mormon but in our own life that
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regardless of what's going on, wherever you live, whatever the
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the situation you're in, look to Christ as as the ultimate king
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for us. So he's he's setting up other
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details about how Alma now becomes the head of the church
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the first time where we actually establish widespread this
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church. And he tells you that he had
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seven different churches, but they were all one church, kind
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of like stakes or wards, however you want to look at that.
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So for the first time, we're looking at this structure in the
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Book of Mormon of how God is now spreading his gospel through an
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official organization led by Christ, through Alma, his
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prophet. Now if you turn over to Chapter
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26, we're introduced to a very, very powerful concept when it
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comes to parenting and leading in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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So it's been a few years since King Benjamin gave his his
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landmark address on the tower and look at how he describes the
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situation. What we're going to look for in
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chapter 26 at the beginning here is words that precede not and
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watch the watch the progression of of ideas as they unfold here.
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Look at verse one now. It came to pass that there were
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many of the rising generation that could not understand the
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words of King Benjamin. Why?
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Because they were little children at the time that he
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spake them. And so notice they did not
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believe in the tradition of their fathers because they
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couldn't understand King Benjamin's words.
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They didn't believe them. So we don't know the full detail
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here of of how little or how much their parents instilled the
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words of King Benjamin. We just know that there's an
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issue going on. Look at verse two.
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They did not believe what had been said concerning the
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resurrection of the dead. Neither did they believe
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concerning the coming of Christ. Couldn't understand it, didn't
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believe verse 2 repeats, did not believe.
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Now look at verse 3. And now, because of their
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unbelief, they could not understand the word of God.
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Brothers and sisters, there's a difference between that could
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not and that could not. They didn't really have a choice
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when they were little children about being able to focus on and
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understand the words of the the Prophet King upon the tower,
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they they were too young. But because they chose then not
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to engage with those words and understand them now that they're
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of age where they could have understood them and have the
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Holy Ghost verify them, now you'll notice they could not
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understand the word of God and their hearts were hardened.
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It's as if they've allowed their spirits to be filled with
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darkness rather than light, with deception rather than truth.
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So they couldn't understand. Somebody would come and talk to
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them about the gospel, they couldn't understand it.
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Verse four, they would not be baptized, neither would they
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join the church, and they were a separate people as to their
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faith remains so ever after, even in their carnal and sinful
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state. For they would not call upon the
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name of the Lord, their God. So you're noticing what happens
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often. Is this this difficult?
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It's not a progression, it's a digression from circumstances
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that you have no control over. But eventually, once your agency
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kicks in, if you don't use it appropriately, it leads to
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further and further would nots and could nots that will prevent
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you from walking in the light. So it's a powerful principle to
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consider as we move forward as individual individuals and as
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families. Nobody is better equipped to
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teach these principles than parents in a home.
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No Bishop and no leader, no teacher in a church or a a
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religious education setting is going to be better at helping to
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prevent this from happening than mom and dad at home.
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You don't have to have a PhD or a a graduate degree in any kind
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of biblical studies to be able to know what heaven wants done
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with Heaven's child that's been given to you as parents or or as
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grandparents. Now notice the shift here.
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Look at verse 8. King Mosiah had given Alma the
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authority over the church and it came to pass that Alma did not
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know concerning them. The them is these people who are
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doing all these bad things. So here's Alma.
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He's the head of the church and he had no idea what to do
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concerning them. But there were many witnesses
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against them. Now there had not any.
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Such thing happened before in the church.
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Therefore, Alma was troubled in his spirit and he caused that
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they should be brought before the King Alma's troubles.
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He's never seen this situation before in his life.
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Brothers and sisters, there's a There's a phenomenon in our
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church where sometimes we get this idea that when God calls a
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prophet or prophets, that when they're when they're picked as a
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prophet, then he now gives them all knowledge and all ability
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and they're they're going to be perfect.
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I love how President Boyd K Packer worded this.
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He said, we're just normal people who've been called to do
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extraordinary things. And on another occasion, one of
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my favorite stories along these lines is one that was told by
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Elder Neil L Anderson in General Conference.
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He shared one of his first It may have even been his first
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experience as a general authority.
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And the person he was assigned to go with was President Packer.
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And he said, the President Packer stood up in one of these
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settings and said to this congregation, he said, I know
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who I am now. Most of us would sit there and
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think he's going to say I am an apostle of the Lord Jesus
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Christ, but he didn't say that. President Packer said I am a
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nobody. And then Elder Anderson said
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President Packer turned to him and said an Elder Anderson,
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you're a nobody too. And don't you ever forget it.
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To me, it's refreshing when you hear stuff like that.
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And when you see stuff like this, it makes my raising my
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hand to sustain the prophets, Sears and revelators, the
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leaders of the church. It makes it more meaningful to
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realize that this sustaining hand isn't to say yes.
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I expect them to be absolutely perfect and to never get
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anything wrong. Ever, ever, ever.
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It's going to be flawless. But rather to realize there's
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some things that we're going to experience as a group
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collectively, that are troubling, and they don't have
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all the answers just instantaneously.
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Now, there are times when they come for specific needs.
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But the sustaining hand from the from the Saints at large is to
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say we've got your back, We'll support you.
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We're in this together. Let's work through this ongoing
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restoration as God reveals things line upon line.
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Precept upon precept here a little, there a little.
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And if we get revelation that changes something that's been
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done in the Church a certain way for decades, wonderful.
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Let's move forward. And I love that here where you
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see, you see this process unfolding with Alma wrestling
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with God to say, what do we need to do with this problem that
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I've never, never experienced before.
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Let's look closely at verse 13. Now the spirit of Alma was again
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troubled, and he went and inquired of the Lord what he
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should do concerning this matter.
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For he feared that he should do wrong in the sight of God.
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You'll notice there's a beautiful little truth in there.
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Prophets aren't called to be popular among people.
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They're not trying to get the most likes or the most followers
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in in a social media context. They want to be right with God.
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They want to let this be the Church of Jesus Christ.
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Not the Church of men. Not the Church of public
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opinion. Not the Church of the latest
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social media craze to to sweep through the world.
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And so that's their concern. And I hope we can.
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We can sustain better than we ever have before as a collective
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group, a body of Saints, the prophet Sears and revelators as
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we know that they're on their knees pleading to know God's
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will, knowing what he would would have taught to us.
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Let's work through this process of an ongoing restoration
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together. It's beautiful.
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These are these are our days. This is our time to be here and
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experience these things that we're watching now, something
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fun for you to do in your scriptures.
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Here is in chapter 26. You can mark in whatever way
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works for you, and if you don't want to mark it, that's totally
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fine. But from verse 15 through 32,
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Verse 15 through 32 is the first edition of the Church Handbook
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of Instructions in the Book of Mormon.
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Because. Alma for the first time has has
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organized things into these church hierarchical structures
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and he's going to the Lord with these formal problems and God is
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starting to to give that specific guidance and direction.
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So if you look at these verses in chapter 26, you you can pay
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really close attention to the personal pronouns.
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It would be a fascinating exercise for some of you to
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pause, pause the video, and just work your way through all of
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these verses 15 through 32, and mark all of the I, my, me, mine.
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By the time you get done with these verses, there should be no
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question in anybody's mind whose church this is.
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He isn't saying Alma in your church.
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You should do this. He never once does that.
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It's all about Jesus. It's his church and he's saying,
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here's what I want done in my church at this time.
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Now there's there's huge applicability to not just the
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church, but if you can see your life as an individual or your
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family in the same light to say we don't, we don't want, I don't
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want my life to be in isolation of the Savior.
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I actually want to give my life to Him to the greatest degree I
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can so that he can guide it. It can become his, not because
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he's taken it from me, but because I've given it to him.
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It was Elder Neely Maxwell who said that when we surrender our
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will and surrender our soul, our agency, basically it's the only
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total surrender that results in a complete victory That is true
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at whatever level we're able to put our life or our our offering
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on the altar and give it to him. So building off of this, I
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encourage you to look at the early verses here 15161718.
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Actually look throughout these verses for the word blessed or
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blessed or bless. And it turns out if you go back
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to Matthew chapter five, we have what are called the Beatitudes.
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Jesus, as the new Moses, has gotten onto a mountain to
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deliver the higher law that defines for us the covenant path
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of living. And he gives people a whole
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series of blessings. And in Latin, the word beatus
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actually means to be blessed. And so in some ways we have
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Beatitudes here. And so you can circle all the
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ways, all the times you see the word blessed or blessed, and you
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see all the power inherent in God's love of what he wants to
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offer those who take His name upon them.
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And that's the other word I want you to look at as you look
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through these verses. Look at the use of the word
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name. Verse 18 Blessed is this people
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who are willing to bear my name, for in my name shall they be
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called, and they are mine. So this ties right back into the
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baptismal covenant that Alma delivered to the people at the
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Waters of Mormon. And there's actually a lot of
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power in naming. When you have a name, you have
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power and responsibility and authority.
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And it's interesting that what God truly wants is to put his
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name on us. He wants to be responsible for
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us. He wants to have power for us
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and authority on our behalf. Now of course he already has all
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those things, but we can only fully and truly access it if
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we're willing to allow him to name us.
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And I want you to think about in our world today, think about all
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the naming that happens, the branding, the marketing.
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I happen to be wearing some shoes that are brand name, but
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the real name that I should try to be bearing is the name of
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Jesus Christ. But our world today tries to
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insert themselves in the work of God and name us with their
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brand, with their stories, with their purposes.
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No, I'm not saying that it's actually a bad thing that
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businesses are out there doing their work.
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But ultimately, we want to think about the person who ultimately
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defines who we are and gives us power and authority is Jesus.
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And as we join with him in his church, we get His name.
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And as we move on to the next life and we are admitted into
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His presence, it's because we are like Him and we have His
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name. If you look at this, taking his
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name bearing my name upon us, that starts off this section,
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this priesthood handbook of instructions.
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Then he tells you that once you do that, now you you don't just
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sit back and take his name, but you go forth and serve.
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You become more like him. So you look at what missionaries
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do. They literally take his name and
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put it upon them. Outwardly it's sitting right
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here over their heart. Their name combined with the the
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name of Jesus Christ on their heart.
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My son Jacob, who when he was released he shared something
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with us where he said for his full time missionary service he
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was given the opportunity to wear the name of Christ over his
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heart. And now that he's released, the
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invitation is for the name of Christ to be written forever and
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ever and ever in his heart, and for him to go forth and serve in
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in beautiful ways as he emulates the the life of the Savior, so
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to speak, in trying to become more like him.
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In that process, individually as well as collectively as a group,
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we're going to struggle at times.
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We're going to get some things wrong, and it's OK as long as we
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learn from it, and we grow and repent and move forward.
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Look at verse 30. Yeah.
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And as often as my people will repent, will I forgive them
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their trespasses against me. And you shall also forgive one
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another your trespasses. For verily I send you he that
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forgiveth not his neighbor's trespasses, when he says that he
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repents the same hath brought himself under condemnation.
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So there's another invitation for us to become more like
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Jesus. If you if you want to be more
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like the Savior, then exercise the principle of mercy.
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It was Joseph Smith in his journal who once wrote ever keep
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in exercise the principle of mercy, he went on to say.
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Even if we would get to the point where we could forgive our
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brother before he asks for forgiveness, Joseph said, our
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Heavenly Father would be equally as merciful to us.
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If you want to be more like Jesus, be willing to forgive
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others, be willing to forgive yourself, and continually repent
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as OFT as you have struggled and trespassed against him, that's a
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beautiful promise. Let's go into the big chapter
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where you see major change. Chapter 27.
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This is Alma and the four sons of Mosiah.
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Now notice a trend. Here you have Alma.
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We don't call him this, but Alma the Elder, it it never calls him
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that in the scriptures. Then you get Alma's son.
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We call him Alma the Younger. So here you have the father, the
27:48
prophet. He is doing everything he can to
27:52
build up faith and build up the church and spread the gospel.
27:57
And it's his own son who who happens to be one of the biggest
28:01
enemies of that process of what he's trying to do.
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Ironically, in his youth he struggled as a one of the
28:12
priests of King Noah. He had a pretty rough period of
28:15
time in his life that caused him some sore repentance.
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So it's interesting how he looks at the struggles of his son and
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how he pleads with God in behalf of his son.
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His past experience has to shape his parenting experience here,
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and ironically, nearly the same thing.
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The same pattern is going to occur in a future lesson when
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Alma the Younger is going to be dealing with a son during a
28:49
mission who falls into some pretty serious transgression,
28:54
and it's just fascinating to see the kind, gentle repentance for
29:01
them is not this punitive. I'm going to.
29:03
I'm going to make sure that justice comes hammered down onto
29:07
your head, rather. Let me help you see who God is,
29:13
who you are, what you've done here to sever that relationship,
29:17
and how you can restore that. You see a beautiful pattern
29:20
played out here. And I wonder if there's also a
29:24
message in the meaning of the name Alma.
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In Hebrew, Alma means young man. And all these stories are about
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young people who have wandered but eventually found their way
29:39
back. And isn't that the whole plan of
29:42
salvation? We're sent down to this earth.
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We're young and we make a bunch of mistakes, and God loves us
29:48
and has provided A pathway that we can return to him.
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And these stories all indicate that all of us at some point in
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our young lives in our it doesn't mean that we're like age
30:00
young, but this even spiritually young lives we're all
30:03
developing, that like Alma the Elder, Alma the Younger, and
30:06
even Corey Anton, if we've made mistakes, if we've had family
30:09
members have made mistakes, just have faith, keep pursuing that
30:13
path of peace that God has laid out.
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And like these young men, we too can find salvation.
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There is a false notion that is pretty enticing in the world,
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and it's this idea that darn it, Why did I have to be born in the
30:29
church? Why?
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Why couldn't I have lived out in the world and enjoy all of the
30:35
things of the world? And then maybe it, you know, I
30:38
don't know, age 80, find the missionaries, be taught the
30:43
gospel, accept the gospel, get baptized and a year later go to
30:47
the temple, and then maybe a year after that die.
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So then I get the best of both worlds, right?
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I I can enjoy life and then be saved in the end.
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If Elma or Elma the Younger were standing here today, I don't
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think, I don't believe for a moment that either of them would
31:09
say it was awesome. We got to enjoy all of the
31:14
pleasures of the world and of the flesh.
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And it was it was delightful. And then afterwards, Yeah.
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Then. Then we found the gospel and God
31:21
on the covenant path, and now we're going to be saved.
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It's all good. I don't think they would say
31:26
that. It's a lie.
31:29
It's a major deception to think that keeping the commandments or
31:35
being on the covenant path is somehow the slog, the hard, the
31:42
miserable life. And we look at all the the fun
31:46
that's going on out there, thinking, Oh yeah, but we can't
31:48
have any fun because we've got to be covenant keeping members
31:51
of this church, brothers and sisters, this is a plan of
31:55
happiness. The Lord's plan is a plan of
31:58
peace. It's not a a plan of being yoked
32:03
down with the the, the bondage that the world offers us through
32:07
these fleeting pleasures that quickly pass and leave behind a
32:12
wake of sore repentance. It is not the ideal to get to
32:21
the end of a life of sin and raucous living and then find the
32:25
gospel. Now, it's always a wonderful
32:27
thing when anybody finds the gospel.
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Don't get me wrong, that's not what I'm trying to say.
32:31
My wife's grandmother, she got baptized at age 89 and went to
32:40
the temple for the first time at age 90.
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And on one occasion I was talking to her.
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My wife and I were talking to her and she didn't make a big
32:49
deal of it, but we were asking her how she felt about about her
32:53
new found faith. My mother-in-law, being an only
32:57
child, had found the gospel years earlier.
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And now here was her mother, who at age 9091 said very gently,
33:07
very kindly, I wish I wish I would have found this gospel
33:13
earlier. I wish I would have found all of
33:16
these things when I was younger, when I could have enjoyed what
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this, what this church and this gospel offer to me on that
33:25
foundation. Here's Elma the Younger.
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He's going around living it up, so to speak, in a worldly
33:31
context. His parents and many of the
33:34
members of the church are fastening and praying for him.
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When God sends a very, very unique answer to that prayer, he
33:42
sends the Angel to visit these these boys, Alma the son of Alma
33:48
who's the head of the church and Amanaranamnaran Hymni who are
33:51
the four sons of the king King Mosiah.
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So you're you're rising generation of the the biggest
33:57
leaders in the Nephite civilization are our biggest
34:00
problem. So the Angel comes to them and
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you'll notice how the Angel addresses them.
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Pay close attention as you read in chapter 27 the words of the
34:09
Angel and how he's validating the faith and the prayers of the
34:16
righteous Saints at that time, as well as how he is validating
34:20
the agency of Ammon, Aaron, Amner, and Hymni, and especially
34:24
Alma. Notice verse 16.
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Now I say unto thee, go and remember the captivity of thy
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fathers in the land of Helaman, in the land of Nephi.
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And remember how great things he has done for them, for they were
34:38
in bondage and he has delivered them brothers and sisters.
34:43
I don't think he's just saying go and read the history books of
34:46
your family to know everything that happened to them so you can
34:51
have great conversations at family reunions.
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I think what he might be saying here is your family has had
34:58
serious struggles with bondage in the past.
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Take home message, Alma. You have serious struggles with
35:05
bondage right now. God released your family from
35:09
bondage. He'll release you from bondage
35:12
if you're willing. Look at this now.
35:15
I send the Alma. Go thy way and seek to destroy
35:20
the Church. No more that their prayers may
35:22
be answered. And this even if thou wilt of
35:24
thyself be cast off. If you want to choose to be cast
35:28
off, that's fine, but stop fighting against the work of
35:30
God. Then Alma fell to the earth and
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there's this huge change that's taking place.
35:37
And we're going to cover that in depth when we get to Alma,
35:40
chapter 36. When he's recounting the inside
35:43
story of what's occurring during those three days, he gives you a
35:47
little flavour of it here when he wakes up in verse 2425, all
35:52
the way down through verse 31, beautiful, his final statement.
35:57
In verse 29, my soul has been redeemed from the gall of
36:01
bitterness and the bonds of iniquity.
36:03
I was in the darkest abyss, but now I behold the marvelous light
36:07
of God. My soul was wracked with eternal
36:09
torment, but I am snatched and my soul is pained no more, and
36:13
we're going to talk a lot more about this now, bringing this
36:16
home to the latter days. We are aware of the fact that
36:20
there are many, many families today who have parents,
36:26
grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles who pour their heart
36:30
out to God in behalf of loved ones who are struggling, who
36:33
have either left the faith or left the church or have strayed
36:39
from their own families. And it's painful.
36:42
It's painful to watch, knowing that wickedness never was
36:46
happiness and there won't be any any lasting joy for these people
36:50
in that lifestyle. And so we pray for miracles most
36:54
of the time. You're going to find that as we
36:57
look through history that the process of change is just that.
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It's a process. It's not an event.
37:04
Usually in this case it's a glorious exception.
37:08
It's an event. Sometimes God will will work
37:13
with this on this path of once, once a loved one has hit rock
37:18
bottom, then they'll have experiences that will bring them
37:21
out. But occasionally there will be
37:24
these these defining events, these defining moments that that
37:30
bring them back in a much, much quicker, quicker way.
37:35
I want to just share an experience like this, that my my
37:45
dear friend, my mentor, my former Bishop that I served with
37:51
when we lived in Brigham City, Ron Franson shared with me on
37:54
multiple occasions and and with with different congregations.
37:57
I I love this experience. It was somebody that he knew
38:02
whose father named Brother Jennings lived in a small town
38:07
in in central Utah many, many years ago back early 1900s.
38:14
And Brother Jennings was not active in the church.
38:18
He smoked, he drank, he he just spent his time providing for the
38:25
needs of his family in in rural Utah back in that day.
38:29
But at that time he had the calling as the branch financial
38:33
clerk. So his son remembers him every
38:37
Sunday, sitting in the front room with the donations of the
38:43
church laid out in front of him that the Bishop had dropped off
38:46
earlier, and a Ledger. He would be keeping track of it
38:50
with a cup of coffee and A and a cigarette ashtray, smoking right
38:57
there as he's balancing the the records of the church, the
39:01
finances of the church. The day came when that little
39:04
branch was big enough that it was now going to be turned into
39:07
a ward. And the state president called a
39:10
Bishop and then asked that Bishop to perfectly consider who
39:14
his counselor should be. When that Bishop came to the
39:16
state president and gave two names, one of the names was
39:20
Brother Jennings. State president said this
39:26
doesn't work and the Bishop said, I know, but that's the
39:29
name that keeps coming to mind. The state president said, OK,
39:34
I'll extend the call. Let's see what happens.
39:36
I don't know because you're getting this story now.
39:39
Third, fourth hand. I don't know the exact order of
39:43
the wording, but it went something like this as as Bishop
39:47
Fransen told it. But the state president informed
39:51
him that this little branch was going to be turned into a ward.
39:54
Brother Jennings was excited. He told him who the new Bishop
39:57
was going to be. He said, oh wonderful, he's a
39:58
good man. This will be a good blessing for
40:01
these people. And then the state president
40:03
informed him and Bishop so and so has asked that you be his
40:07
counsel, one of his counselors, at which point Brother Jennings
40:10
probably chuckled. Oh, President, you don't
40:14
understand. I I can't be his counselor
40:17
because I smoke, I drink, I don't pay my tithing and I don't
40:22
go to church. At which point a very, very
40:26
inspired state president chuckled back and said, Oh no,
40:31
brother Jennings, it's you who are mistaken.
40:36
You see, you used to smoke, you used to drink, you used to not
40:45
pay your tithing, and you used to not go to church.
40:50
And in a moment of silence, a heart was literally touched and
40:57
changed. And Brother Jennings in that
41:00
moment said, you're right, I don't drink and I don't smoke
41:08
and I am a full tithe payer and I will take that calling.
41:13
And he fulfilled that faithfully and was faithful to the end of
41:17
his life. It doesn't mean he didn't face
41:19
temptations. It doesn't mean that he didn't
41:21
have struggles. It just means that he got on the
41:25
covenant path in a moment. Now, this doesn't happen for
41:28
most people. I get that.
41:30
I understand that. But sometimes, brothers and
41:35
sisters, we stretch out our gospel improvement longer than
41:39
it needs to be because we assume that God can't change our heart
41:45
in in moments of time when in fact he can.
41:48
He can, if we'll have faith, and if we'll pray not just for
41:51
ourselves, but for our loved ones.
41:53
For experiences to occur where these mighty changes of heart
41:57
can can come to pass. To finish off today's lesson in
42:02
chapter 28. As you study this notice, notice
42:07
the contrast that we've come from.
42:10
So 27's mostly about Alma, 28's mostly about the four sons of
42:14
Mosiah. We've seen Alma's huge change of
42:18
heart. Well, the four sons of Mosiah
42:20
had a major change of heart too. These four young men, or however
42:24
old they are, they're heirs to the Nephite throne.
42:28
They could have a life of ease and comfort and power.
42:32
They were born into this. But you'll notice the change of
42:36
heart that they've had where they are, at the point where
42:39
they can't imagine what it would be like to have anyone endure
42:45
torment. Look at chapter 28, verse 3.
42:47
Now they were desires that salvation should be declared to
42:50
every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul
42:53
should perish. Yeah, even the very thought that
42:57
any soul should endure endless torment did 'cause them to quake
43:02
and tremble, and thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon
43:05
them, and they were the very vilest of sinners.
43:08
And the Lord saw fit His in His infinite mercy to spare them
43:12
from heaven's perspective. They go from the very violence
43:15
of sinners to now saying we want to go and serve a mission.
43:19
And they pick the most awful place that a Nephite could pick,
43:22
which is we want to go serve among the Lamanites.
43:24
We want to go serve in a place where they would rather kill us
43:27
than listen to us. Because they can't bear the
43:31
thought of these people suffering eternally what they've
43:36
experienced in a very short period of of torment through
43:40
their repenting that they've experienced.
43:44
And so Mosiah, their father the King is going to have to get
43:50
heaven's direction on this. And the my favorite part of this
43:53
is this this mission that they're going on makes no
43:58
logical sense. But the spirit of the Lord
44:01
inspired it. And then the Spirit of the Lord
44:04
inspires King Mosiah to say absolutely let your boys go.
44:08
I will protect them. And for those of you who have
44:12
had missionary children or grandchildren or relatives or
44:16
close friends in places or in situations where they were in
44:20
harm's way, you know somewhat of that feeling of saying, Lord,
44:26
I'm giving my son into your hands.
44:30
I'll never forget the day we send our first son, Benjamin,
44:33
our oldest, on his mission to Guatemala.
44:35
And he was going to go to the Guatemala MTC.
44:38
So my wife and I took him to the airport at Salt Lake
44:42
International and we watched as he went through the line of TSA
44:46
and finished with all of that and headed out to to go towards
44:52
his gate. And here's our boy that we've
44:55
raised as he clears that process.
45:00
And before he turns to go out of sight, he turned around and
45:05
waved at us and hear my wife and I waving back at him.
45:09
And there was a deep sense of of love for that boy and for our
45:17
Heavenly Father, who entrusted that boy into our care.
45:22
And it literally felt like we were putting him back in the
45:24
hands of the Lord to say he's yours.
45:28
He was yours long before he was ours.
45:31
We know we're not losing him, but we're giving him back to
45:35
you. Keep him safe and use him as an
45:39
instrument in thy hands. Brothers and sisters, we're
45:43
involved in a great work in this latter day.
45:47
It's hard. Life is difficult.
45:50
There are people who are struggling, who are wrestling
45:52
with things, who are messing up. But we have a God in heaven who
45:57
loves us, who didn't send his son into the world to condemn
46:00
us. He sent his son into the world
46:03
to save us. And if we'll just repent, and if
46:06
we'll keep trusting and having faith in him, he will forgive us
46:11
and he will cleanse us and he will cleanse our loved ones who
46:15
are struggling. And it may take years.
46:17
It may take decades. It might not happen until the
46:20
next life. But the Lord loves you and He
46:24
loves us, and he's going to work with us, and he's going to honor
46:27
agency. I get that.
46:29
But he'll put us in situations where we can finally have our
46:33
hearts softened and opened to come back to him.
46:37
I'm Humpty Dumpty and you're Humpty Dumpty.
46:43
We sat on a wall. We've experienced a great fall,
46:47
and all the world's horses and all the world's men can't put us
46:51
together again. But the Lord can, and the Lord
46:56
will. And that's my testimony.
46:59
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen music.