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1 Nephi 16-22 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited · Scripture Central

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So this particular set of chapters contains some of the
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the most exciting stories that we get in the Book of Mormon,
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where Nephi is being guided by the Lord and Lehigh and and the
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family as they go down through the wilderness to work their way
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out towards the seashore where they're going to then build the
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boat. In chapter 16 you'll notice we
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have finished up his conversation in chapter 15 with
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his brothers Layman and Lemuel, and notice verse one of chapter
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16. I came to pass that after I, and
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if I had made an end of speaking to my brethren, behold, they
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said unto me, Thou hast declared unto us hard things more than we
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are able to bear. This is interesting because you
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can look at this idea of you've given us hard things, We can't,
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we can't bear them. The question is, is that a
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reflection of the things that Nephi taught, or is it a
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reflection of our of the condition of our heart?
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If your heart is hard, then it doesn't matter what the prophets
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of God say or speak. It's going to feel difficult.
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It's going to feel harsh. And and he points that out in
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verse two. It came to pass that I said unto
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them, that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the
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wicked according to the truth, and the righteous have I
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justified and testified that they should be lifted up at the
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last day. Wherefore the guilty taketh the
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truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center.
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If you struggle with listening to the words of our Church
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leaders. The the knee jerk response for
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the natural man and the natural woman inside of us is to to
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point fingers at the leaders and say you shouldn't say such harsh
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things. Whereas Nephi is inviting us to
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go and take a look in the mirror and say, let me analyze my
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heart, the condition of the hardness of my heart, regarding
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these teachings, and ask the question first from the New
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Testament. Lord, is it I that needs to make
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some adjustments, because again, the natural man wants other
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people to make the adjustments to soften things up.
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But the Lord wants us to first look at the inner vessel and
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soften the heart, and then move forward on the the covenant
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path. Now notice verse four.
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It came to pass that I, Nephi, did exhort my brethren with all
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diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord.
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And it came to pass that they did humble themselves before the
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Lord. So here's Nephi thinking, hey,
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we're we're good. They've they've humbled
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themselves. We can now progress.
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Have you noticed as we go through these stories that there
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is this interesting phenomenon? What's the difference between a
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thermometer and a thermostat? With some buttons here to
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control temperature. What's the difference?
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Thermostat. You'll notice that a thermometer
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is an object that can only be acted upon by the environment
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around it. If it's hot, then the
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thermometer raises, and if it's cold then the thermometer goes
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down. But the thermometer doesn't
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control the environment, it is controlled by the environment.
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A thermostat registers what the temperature is and then acts.
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It makes adjustments, so it's the difference between an agent
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and an object waiting to be acted upon.
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Elder David A Bednar has spoken at length about the contrast
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between agents and objects to be acted upon.
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You'll notice with Lehmann and Lemuel, the approach that they
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seem to be taking to life is more like a thermometer.
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If they're well fed, if everything's happy, if
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everybody's if plans are going forward as they had hoped, then
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they're happy, we're good. But when it gets rough, then
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they get upset. And you're seeing that happen
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here yet again. So in this case, they've now
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humbled themselves. We're good, we move forward, but
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that's all going to change very shortly.
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It's it's only going to take them till about verse 22 before
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they're going to harden their hearts again.
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So this humility from verse 5 isn't going to last very long.
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Look at verse seven. It came to pass that I Nephi
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took one of the daughters of Ishmael to wife and also my
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brother and took of the daughters of Ishmael to wife and
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also Zoram took the eldest daughter of Ishmael to wife.
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So this long list of people who got married in verse 7, look at
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verse 8. What's the very next thing that
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he he mentions? Thus my father had fulfilled all
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the commandments of the Lord which had been given unto him
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and also I, Nephi had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly.
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I don't think it's chance that Nephi mentions entering into the
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marriage covenant, and then the very next thing he mentions is
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being blessed of the Lord. Exceedingly, there's a
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connection there. It is a beautiful thing when
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people are given that opportunity to enter into that
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new and everlasting covenant of the priesthood which binds us
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together as families. Now we're ready to continue our
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journey into the wilderness. Verse 10 came to pass as my
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father arose. In the morning.
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He went forth to the tent door. To his greatest astonishment, he
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beheld upon the ground a round ball of curious workmanship.
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It was a fine brass. Within the ball were two
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spindles, the one pointed the way.
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Whether we should go into the wilderness, you'll notice that
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the word Liahona or the name for this ball, It doesn't appear
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anywhere in first or second Nephi, nor Jacob for that
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matter. You don't get the name until
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clear down the road in Alma 37, one time in the Book of Mormon
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where where it's given its name Liahona.
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Here in first Nephi it's always called the the director or the
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compass, the ball of curious workmanship.
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And he describes that it would have new writing that would
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appear from time to time on on the Liahona and it verse 16, it
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would lead them in the more fertile parts of the wilderness.
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So think about this, you have a ball, it's got 2 spindles and he
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just tells you that the one spindle points the direction we
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should go in the wilderness. He doesn't tell you about the
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other one. And there are a lot of theories
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out there about what that other spindle does.
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Some would say, well it's a compass because they call it a
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compass in in many places here. So it's probably just pointing N
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to Orient and then the other pointing the direction.
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And there are lots of other ideas out there.
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If it were important for understanding, I think Nephi
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would have clarified. The key is there's one that
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points where we should go, and there are these new writings
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that will appear from time to time on the ball.
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I wonder what we have today that could be considered Liahona.
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Like the something that points the way we should go to stay in
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the more fertile parts of the the wilderness, wandering that
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we're going through and mortality and a writing that can
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change from time to time to give us specific instructions.
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I wonder if the scriptures I wonder if the words of living
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prophets. I wonder if the words of of
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loved ones trusted people in our life.
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I wonder if your patriarchal blessing could fit into this
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category of being a Liahona like guide giving direction to your
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life as you move forward through the uncertain parts of your
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wilderness. So they now travel in the South
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SE direction, verse 13, and they're they're slaying food
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along the way. And then we get to the famous
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story, verse 18. It came to pass the design.
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If I went forth to slay food, behold, I did break my bow.
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I need to point something out that I learned from a student in
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a in a class that I was teaching who also happens to be a dear
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family friend. Sean Morgan pointed this little
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insight out to me. Look at the wording.
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I did break my bow. Brothers and sisters.
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If I were writing a story and I wanted to look good to the
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world, I would not have used what we call in English grammar,
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the active voice. I would have used the passive
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voice, which would come out something like it came to pass.
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That is, we did go forth to slay food.
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Behold, my bow did break. I would put it in the passive.
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My bow got broken. Or something like that.
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But you'll notice what Nifai did.
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I did break my bow. He's taking ownership for it.
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He's not a victim of the circumstance.
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He's not an object waiting to be acted upon.
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He's an agent who has power to act, and he's saying that he did
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something that caused his bow to break.
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We don't know exactly what that is, but he's taking ownership.
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He's taking responsibility for the problem.
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I love this. Notice that his brethren in the
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second-half of verse 18 were angry with him because the loss
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of his bow. For we did obtain no food, and
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down in verse 21 it tells us that the brethren or his
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brother's bows had lost their springs.
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I I'm not an expert in bows and arrows, but I've heard a lot of
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people who are talk about this, that the way you lose the spring
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is if you leave it strung too long, you don't unstring the bow
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and let it go back straight. Then it becomes weak and you
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can't you can't fire arrows, or if it's just old, it can also
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lose its spring. Don't you find anything ironic
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here? That Nephi is the 4th younger or
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the 4th oldest son? So you've got Lehmann, Lemuel,
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Sam. Then Nephi.
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Nephi broke his fine, exceedingly fine steel bow.
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The older brother's bows have all lost their spring, and
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they're mad at him and they're murmuring at him because now
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they did obtain no food. Huh.
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If you put that in a real world setting, that means that for the
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last little while we don't know how long that is.
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Days, Weeks. Months.
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A year? We don't know.
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They've been relying exclusively on Nephi and his exceedingly
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fine steel bow to provide for the needs of the whole family.
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And now that his bow has lost, or now that his bow is is
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broken, they're all hungry and they can't do anything about
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getting food because their bows have lost their spring.
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And So what is the solution? Verse 20.
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It came to pass that laymen and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael
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did begin to murmur exceedingly because of their sufferings and
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afflictions in the wilderness. And also my father began to
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murmur against the Lord his God. Yeah, and they were all
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exceedingly sorrowful, even that they did murmur against the
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Lord. Can you picture this sitting
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around camp? They're all hungry.
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It's it's worse than the the longest fast Sunday when you
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were growing up as a kid, if you can remember what that felt
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like. And they're sitting around and
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now they start into murmuring and according to this Father
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Lehigh murmurs against the Lord his God.
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You brought us out here into the wilderness to perish, to die.
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We've got the plates, we've got the people.
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We, my sons, are all married now.
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And now we're going to perish because we can't get food.
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And you'll notice how much of a meal murmuring provides.
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It doesn't change anything. It's just a reaction.
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It's not an action. It's that, like a thermometer.
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It's sitting down and complaining about what the
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environment is like right now. And right now we're hungry
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because we don't have food. So notice the solution Nephi
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went and he made a bow. A new bow in verse 23 and a
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straight stick provided an arrow for him.
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And people who are into archery will explain that you can't use
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steel or metal arrows with a a new stick bow.
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I'm not an expert in this, but it's kind of cool that he makes
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the new wooden bow and a stick with one as one arrow and then
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he gets a sling and some stones and then he goes to his father.
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Whither shall I go to obtain food?
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Do you notice how easy it would have been for Nephi to just
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quietly sneak out of camp and go and pray and then go find food?
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But he didn't do that. He went to his struggling father
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and he asked him, dad, where? Where should I go to obtain
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food? It's not much.
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My stones and my sling and my my new wooden bow and wooden arrow.
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It's nothing compared to what I used to have, but it's
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something. It's all I've got now.
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Ask the Lord to to guide me. Isn't that amazing, To go to
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loved ones and invite and encourage them to turn to God in
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order to to help the whole group in the process?
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Lehi asks the Lord and the voice the Lord came to him, and verse
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27 He feared and trembled exceedingly, and also my brother
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and the sons of Ishmael and our wives.
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Verse 28 describes. It came to pass that I, Nephi,
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beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work
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according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did
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give unto them. You can have the best
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scriptures, the most inspired seers and revelators, speaking
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to you and giving you all kinds of direction.
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But if we as people don't have faith in God, and give diligent
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heed to those things that are coming, then it it does no good
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there it's wasted. And he describes the new writing
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in verse 29. Once again, you have to have
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faith and diligence brothers and sisters, as you go through your
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life, rather than looking for the big fantastical heavenly
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visions and angelic ministrations and heavenly
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choirs singing to you. What difference would it make if
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we collectively and individually treated the the scriptures and
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general conference and your patriarchal blessing and other
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inspired blessings and and ministering efforts that that
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come our way? What if we put more faith,
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diligence and heed in those things?
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Notice the second-half of verse 29.
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It was written and changed from time to time according to the
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faith and diligence which we gave unto it.
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And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about
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great things. I love that.
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That gives me hope that it's the small things that can lead to to
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great changes. And by the way, Alma the Younger
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is going to pick up on that theme of small leading to great
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when he's talking to his son Helman in Alma 37, when he's
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recounting this story and giving the name of the Liahona.
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And it's also in that chapter where he tells his son, you
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know, what the distance that that Lehigh's family had to
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travel and Ishmael's group, it was so short, they should have
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been able to do it very quickly. But it took them eight years.
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And Alma's going to tell his son the reason it took them eight
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years is because they went in a circuitous route.
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They they took a lot of sidetracks.
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They went directions they shouldn't have gone because they
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didn't give sufficient faith, diligence, and heed to what God
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had given them and was willing to give them on the Leahona.
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I think that applies to us sometimes.
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Is it possible that some of the struggles and the trials and the
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tribulations that come into our life aren't because God's up in
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heaven saying, I want this to be as long and drawn out and
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painful as possible for you? But because we don't give the
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kind of diligent heed and faith in God through His prophets and
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his leaders and the scriptures as would otherwise have
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protected us from some of these circuitous parts of a wilderness
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wandering that we're going to see happen here with this
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family, with these families. You'll notice he went in verse
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30 to the top of the mountain and he slew some wild beasts,
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came back into the camp, and what happens in a thermometer
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perspective? We were starving, hungry.
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But now there's food, so we rejoice.
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You see this pattern over and over again.
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We're all happy, right? Well, just wait, Watch, read on
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verse 34. It came to pass that Ishmael
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died and was buried, which in a place which was called Nahom.
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So we were, we were happy, we're fed, we move on.
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But now our father-in-law Ishmael dies and we bury him.
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Very interesting to look at the name of the place where they
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bury him. Nahom.
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So names in the Book of Mormon are often very significant.
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They teach us lessons that, when we understand the meanings of
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the words, can help push along the narrative and the purposes
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of the Book of Mormon. So let's write this out here.
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The word Nahom. In Semitic languages, what
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matters is actually the consonance of the word, and
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depending on the vowels you put in there can change the meaning
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of the word. I'll give you an example.
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The Hebrew word for king is melek, and so the core root
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words MLK. If you put it like this, Mulich,
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it might mean something like a Prince or a little king.
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Or if you say Mamlaka, I may have misspelled that it actually
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means like a Kingdom. But there's different ways you
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take the core root word and provide new meaning.
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So the word Nahom, if we look in Semitic languages like Hebrew or
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Arabic or South Arabian, Nahom actually means something like
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sorrow or consolation, which is very interesting because this is
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how they felt. They felt sorrowful that Ishmael
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had died. But let's look closely and
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notice that it says he was buried.
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This is verse 34, buried in the place which was called Nahom.
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Now it doesn't appear that Lehigh's party named the place
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Nahom. Let's go back and look at verse
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13 in the same chapter. Near the end of the verse says
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they did pinch, We did pitch our tents again and we did call the
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name of the place Shazer, which by the way, shazer probably
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means something like gazelle, which is exactly what you'd be
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looking for to eat. And you find out that they
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actually got hunting in verse 14 and are very prosperous in
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finding gazelles. Well, doesn't say gazelles.
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They find food to eat and it may have been gazelles which live in
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the area where they were they were hunting.
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But notice again it says the name of the place.
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We did call the name of the place Shazir.
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The difference here is in the Book of Mormon, Nahom apparently
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was already named when Lehigh's party arrived.
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It was not given by Lehigh's party that name.
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And sure enough, turns out at the time of Lehigh, there was a
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location in the Saudi Arabian peninsula named Nahom or Nehem,
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and actually was also in that location there was a a tribe of
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people called the Nahamites. And the largest ancient burial
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ground in Saudi, in ancient Saudi Arabia, the ancient
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Arabian Peninsula is right there in that location in Naham or
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Naham. So it's fascinating.
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If we want to take the Book of Mormon seriously, we now have
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strong encouragement that Nahom was a real location that had
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already been named by other people when Lehigh Party
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arrived, and we can now put it on a map, as you can see here in
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the depictions. But whatever it may be, what's
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important here to note is that Nephi is telling this story to
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show God's power and goodness even in the face of death.
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Remember back to first Nephi chapter one, verse 20, That God
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will Deliver the faithful. And these stories here are all
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evidence for how God does deliver the faithful even in
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their sorrow, even in a place of not home, where you feel the
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loss of someone that you care deeply about.
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So you'll notice what Taylor's talking about.
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Often when you get introduced to a brand new word in the Book of
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Mormon, either right before or right after, they'll give you
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some part of the definition. Look at verse 35.
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And it came to pass that the daughters of Ishmael did mourn
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exceedingly because of the loss of their father and because of
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their afflictions in the wilderness.
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And they did murmur against my father because he had brought
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them out of the land of Jerusalem, saying, our father is
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dead. Yeah, And we have wandered much
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in the wilderness. We've suffered much affliction,
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hunger, thirst and fatigue. And after all these sufferings,
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we must perish in the wilderness with hunger.
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So they want to return again to Jerusalem.
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They want to go back, they want to go home.
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They're done. They don't want to keep moving
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forward. Sounds like some trials in
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mortality that that certain people pass through where it
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just gets hard to the point where they say I don't want I I
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I can't keep going forward. Now you'll notice Layman and
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Lemuel's response. Verse 37 Layman set unto Lemuel
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and also unto the sons of Ishmael.
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Behold, let us slay our father, and also our brother Nephi, who
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has taken it upon him to be our ruler and our teacher, who are
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his elder brethren. And they they accuse him of of
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deceiving their eyes by his, by his powerful arts, with the
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Leahona and other things, all with the intent to try to take
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the ruling of the people. Now are you noticing what's
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happening here? We lost our father-in-law.
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If you're Laman and Lemuel and we feel so bad in this object
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waiting to be acted upon mentality, we feel so down that
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the the, the solution we've come up with to feel better about
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life is let's kill our own dad and our brother so that we don't
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have to worry about having to listen to them anymore and
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somehow that's going to make us feel better.
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This is a this is an interesting, interesting
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solution to the problem of mourning and grief and sorrow.
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Oh, and by the way, don't forget the fact that Nephi's wife also
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lost her father that day. It's not just the rest of the
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family who's in mourning. And so now verse 39.
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It came to pass that the Lord was with us, yet even the voice
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of the Lord came and did speak many words unto them and to
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chasten them exceedingly. And after they were chasing by
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the voice of the Lord, they did turn away their anger and did
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repent of their sins up and down, up and down.
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You're seeing this, this approach to life that quite
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frankly feels like a roller coaster when when you choose to
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to take the thermometer approach to life.
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Now go to chapter 17, verse 4 that they did sojourn for the
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space of many years, even eight years in the wilderness.
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We mentioned it already. You could cross reference that
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with Alma chapter 37 verse 41 through 47, where Alma the
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Younger is going to explain that it didn't need to take that long
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it it didn't have to be that hard, but it was.
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Let's also connect this to the ancient Israelites, the
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ancestors of Lehigh's party that we are also part of, the House
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of Israel. God took them out of Egyptian
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bondage and they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness.
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Now it turns out you could actually hike from Egypt up into
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the Holy Land in probably the course of, I don't know, maybe a
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couple of weeks or a month, 40 years, and you have to be going
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really slow and think about when you're ever on a family trip and
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your kids are saying, are we there yet?
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That's how the Israelites work with God and God's like, listen,
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there's a plan going on here. If you just would be a little
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bit humble and patient, you could learn some important
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things. So when you read this part of
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the Book of Mormon, Nephi is recounting his story with echoes
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and remembrances to the wandering of the Israelites,
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including murmurings and chastenings.
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We've seen all that going on, and what Nephi wants us to
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understand is that God is true and faithful, and for the people
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who are humble and put their faith totally and fully in God,
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they will be delivered. Now all of us may be wandering
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for some time in our own personal wildernesses, and there
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is definitely a lot to learn on the journey.
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But we might ask ourselves, do we enjoy being sidelined on the
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journey just because we would rather be acted upon and get
28:50
angry about stuff instead of acting for ourselves as God has
28:54
instructed us to do? So?
28:55
Again, as you read these parts, look for the commonalities, both
28:59
with the story of the Israelites as well as your own life, and
29:02
say, what could I do today to be more faithful and trusting in
29:06
God so my sojourn doesn't take eight years.
29:10
OK, now we get 2 new words. Verse five, we did come to the
29:15
land which we called bountiful. Why did they name it bountiful?
29:20
Because of it's much fruit and also wild honey second-half of
29:24
the verse and we beheld the sea which we called Ariantum which
29:28
being interpreted is many waters.
29:31
So he gives you these new names and then tells you what they
29:33
mean, Bountiful and Ariantum. Then verse 7, something very
29:39
peculiar happens. For the first time in our story,
29:43
in these first 17 chapters, the voice of the Lord came to Nephi
29:49
saying, arise, get the end of the mountain.
29:51
And it came to pass that I rose and went up into the mountain
29:54
and cried unto the Lord. And it's here where God commands
29:58
Nephi to build a ship. Now why is this unique?
30:04
Because every previous revelation that gives direction
30:09
for the group, the next set of instructions for what they need
30:13
to do every time. Previous to chapter 17, those
30:18
directions have been given through Father Lehi.
30:22
Now for the first time it comes to Nephi.
30:25
I don't know if this is the case or not, but back in chapter 16,
30:31
when Father Lehi was murmuring against the Lord, it told us
30:36
that when he read the writing on the lehana, he did tremble and
30:40
fear exceedingly God was rebuking him.
30:44
It makes me wonder if similar to Moses and the children of Israel
30:49
out in the wilderness, when Moses kind of complained against
30:53
the Lord, God had to teach even his great prophet Moses some
30:59
lessons of of submission and trusting in him.
31:03
Even when things seem to be all falling apart.
31:09
I wonder, I wonder what effect it had when Nephi comes down off
31:15
of the mountain, comes into the the camp and says to his father,
31:20
Dad, I got a revelation from the Lord up on the mountain, he
31:24
wants us to build a ship. I wonder if that's God now
31:29
working with Father Lehigh even further through this process,
31:33
this refining process of mortality, that even the
31:36
prophets aren't above the need to receive that, that refining
31:42
influence from God. The reason I like this is
31:47
because the next revelation is going to come, which is get all
31:51
of the people and get on the ship.
31:53
Now who is it that receives that revelation in in a few chapters?
31:58
That's Lehigh again. Lehigh starts getting those
32:03
directions again. So it gives me hope that what
32:09
the Lord teaches in the Doctrine and Covenant section 121 about
32:14
reproving be times with sharpness but then showing an
32:17
increase of love thereafter, that I think God does, that He
32:22
models that perfectly with us when dealing with us.
32:26
And sometimes there is some discipline that needs to be
32:31
applied appropriately with with sharpness and then afterwards
32:35
show an increase of love. So that's a possible way to to
32:38
see what's going on here. So Nephi comes down off the
32:42
mountain and verse 15. Wherefore I, Nephi did strive to
32:47
keep the commandments of the Lord, and I did exhort my
32:50
brethren to faithfulness and diligence.
32:52
Can you picture Lehman and Lemuel watching Nephi start to
32:55
to build tools and get things ready to build a ship?
33:00
This is not Nephi the shipbuilder.
33:03
He's never done anything like this before.
33:06
And you can picture the mocking verse 17.
33:10
When my brethren saw that I was about to build a ship, they
33:15
began to murmur against me, saying our brother's a fool, for
33:18
he thinketh he can build a ship, and he also thinketh that he can
33:21
cross these great waters. Once again, thermometer you.
33:27
You look at the environment, you look at the things around you,
33:29
and then you you react. You don't act, you just react.
33:34
And that, to them is silly. Are you kidding?
33:37
You think you can build a ship and cross these waters?
33:41
Well, it's going to be another chapter and a half, and we're
33:44
going to have a finished, completed ship ready to launch.
33:48
And yet that isn't going to change their heart.
33:52
It's not going to build their discipleship brothers and
33:56
sisters. Signs and proofs don't build
34:01
lasting discipleship. And we see this over and over.
34:06
They've seen an Angel. They've heard the voice of God.
34:08
They've been shocked. They've had miracle after
34:12
miracle after miracle, and yet, the farther into the journey we
34:16
get, it seems that the harder and more more difficult to to
34:23
work with they become. Look at verse 18.
34:26
Nephi gives you his reason for why he thinks they're doing
34:29
this. Thus, my brother did complain
34:31
against me and were desirous that they might not labor.
34:35
He basically just said that they're lazy.
34:38
They would rather just live in bountiful because of because of
34:41
it's much much fruit and honey and all of these these wonderful
34:46
things to live on. They've got oceanfront property.
34:49
Let's just stay here. Let's not try to build a ship.
34:54
So Nephi spends all this time working with them.
34:58
Look at verse 21. Here's their response.
35:01
Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness,
35:05
which time we might have enjoyed our possessions in the land of
35:09
our inheritance. Yeah, and we might have been
35:12
happy. Brothers and sisters, this is a
35:15
this is a really powerful concept that they're saying we
35:23
might have been happy. As if happiness is this thing
35:29
that's out here in the environment around me and if I'm
35:32
in the right place at the right time then I couldn't be.
35:37
I might be happy because now I can absorb it.
35:40
It's this external thing that comes to me.
35:44
I love the gospel of Jesus Christ this, this shift of
35:48
thinking from a reactionary thermometer to an action
35:53
oriented or an agent oriented thermostat.
35:57
This idea that that you act, you don't wait for happiness to hit
36:04
you, you don't wait to be happy. You find and you create
36:10
happiness, you spread happiness. This same concept can be used
36:19
for every good attribute of God or or aspect of the gospel.
36:25
For instance, love. You can wait to feel love.
36:32
You can wait for the environment around you filled with people
36:36
and things to love you and to accept you.
36:40
Or you can take the action oriented perspective and say I'm
36:47
not going to wait to be loved, I'm going to love.
36:53
It's the difference between a noun and a verb.
36:58
I'm going to act in faith. I'm going to love others,
37:02
whether or not they love me, and in the process, you're going to
37:07
feel love in your soul. Faith.
37:13
Same thing. As Elder Neil L Anderson once
37:17
said, faith is not by chance but by choice.
37:23
So we can sit around and wait for happiness or faith or love
37:29
or hope or meekness, or fill in the blank with whatever
37:33
attribute you would like. You can wait for those things to
37:37
come to us from our environment. You can wait to to be immersed
37:43
in them. Or you can make a choice to act
37:48
in those areas, in those attributes, to exercise those
37:53
attributes. Especially when it it is a
37:59
wilderness time, because that's where you have the greatest
38:03
potential for growth moving forward.
38:06
So if you were to take laymen and Lemuel and put them back in
38:11
Jerusalem, in the lands of their possessions with all of the the
38:15
inheritance, they might have been happy.
38:19
That is a true statement, but it wouldn't have lasted.
38:23
It would be a matter of time before something would go wrong
38:26
and they would become upset and begin to murmur.
38:30
So notice they they then bear their testimony to Nephi verse
38:35
22. We know that the people who are
38:37
in the land of Jerusalem were righteous people, for they kept
38:39
the statutes and judgments of the Lord and all these
38:42
commandments according to the law of Moses.
38:44
So their interpretation of the law of Moses says, hey, the
38:48
people in Jerusalem, Father Lehi was preaching against them and
38:52
so is Jeremiah. And we've got other Old
38:54
Testament prophets that are contemporary here, Ezekiel and
38:58
Daniel to mention a few. And we think that the people in
39:03
Jerusalem are actually keeping the law of Moses.
39:07
Nephi then bears testimony for them, which is interesting.
39:11
Verse 25 through 29 ye know. Just just notice in verse 25
39:16
through 29 how many times he says ye know, ye know, ye also
39:21
know. And then he spends the rest of
39:24
the chapter trying to shore up their faith, the assurance level
39:30
of their faith. Elder David A Bednar gave an
39:32
incredible talk years ago called Seek Learning by Faith where he
39:36
talked about 3 aspects of faith. You have the assurance level of
39:43
faith, which is where you look to the past, where you believe
39:49
that that God is going to do what he says He's going to do,
39:52
which then leads to the action level of faith, which to me is
39:56
the present, which then leads to the evidence level of faith,
40:03
which is in the future. After you act, you'll notice
40:07
Lehman and Lemuel, they're not helping to build the ship
40:10
because they don't believe that Nephi can do it.
40:13
They don't believe that God commanded him.
40:15
They think he's crazy. So he spends the rest of chapter
40:18
17 trying to shore up the assurance level of their faith
40:26
so that they will then work and help him build the ship.
40:33
If you or a loved one is struggling to keep the
40:36
commandments or struggling to move forward in faith, a nice
40:42
pattern is to pause for a minute, look to the past and
40:48
look for God's hand. Look for God's power.
40:52
Look for God's knowledge and his wisdom and his his tender
40:56
mercies. And once the assurance level of
41:00
faith gets to that certain point, then it makes it so that
41:05
we can move forward and act in faith.
41:08
So it's really powerful that Nephi uses the evidence of the
41:12
Israelite past to provide assurance to his brothers that
41:16
God can once again, as they act, deliver them.
41:21
Now notice a couple of really important things here.
41:22
If we take a look at verse 40 in chapter 17 and he talking about
41:28
Jehovah, God loveth those who will have him to be their God.
41:32
This is covenantal language. The word love, among many
41:35
meanings in covenantal language means loyalty.
41:38
So God is covenantly bound. He loveth those who will have
41:42
him to be their God. Imagine a marriage relationship.
41:45
Behold, he loved our fathers. He was in covenant with them,
41:49
even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he remembered the covenants
41:54
which he had made. Wherefore he did bring them out
41:57
of the land of Egypt. Pause there for a moment.
42:00
The Israelites did not on their own, deserve to be saved from
42:04
Egyptian bondage. God was covenantly obligated to
42:09
save them out of Egyptian bondage.
42:11
And so all the mighty acts of salvation we have in the Book of
42:13
Exodus, which are the evidences that Nephi is talking about,
42:18
we're done because of God's covenant of commitment to
42:22
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants.
42:25
Therefore the undercurrent of what Nephi is saying is we're
42:29
all children of Abraham. God has coveted to our fathers
42:33
and that covenant is live and well with us.
42:35
That God is covenantly and duty bound to provide salvation for
42:40
us and we just have to believe and act on that.
42:44
We have to choose and he will give us evidence.
42:46
There's plenty of evidence already.
42:49
And what we encourage you to look for as you read the
42:52
scriptures is that the Book of Mormon is evidence for us today
42:58
that God can assure us in our faith that we can act and also
43:02
experience the salvation that he promised to Abraham, Isaac and
43:06
Jacob and all their descendants, which includes all of us.
43:09
And God will never break that covenant.
43:13
Let me just share one other interesting insight that we have
43:15
going on here. This is a fact about Nephi that
43:18
most of us never talk about. And it's the fact that Nephi is
43:23
literate. He knows how to write.
43:26
In the ancient world, very few people know knew how to write.
43:29
Estimates are anywhere from maybe 5 or 10%.
43:33
Most people were farmers. You didn't even know how to
43:35
write to go plant. But Nephi knows how to write,
43:39
and how would have even been trained to write.
43:41
Well, probably growing up in a wealthy family and being the
43:43
fourth son who's not going to inherit the family business.
43:47
Apparently Lehigh sent him to scribal school.
43:51
And it's interesting. In scribal school, the students
43:54
were trained, likely in what's called the wisdom tradition.
43:57
So they were trained in the difference between being a wise
44:01
person and a fool. And if you're interested in
44:06
understanding some of the core principles that may have
44:09
animated Nephi's life, look up in the Wisdom tradition in the
44:13
Bible, in Proverbs chapters one through 9, you can actually read
44:19
all Proverbs. But if you just did a quick read
44:21
of Proverbs one through 9 and kind of look for like main ideas
44:25
and go back and read Nephi and what you will discover is that
44:28
Nephi seems to have been trained in the Wisdom tradition and been
44:32
trained to be a wise person. And the main ideas is a wise
44:36
person listens to God, listens to parents and records the
44:41
truth, preserves them and teaches them to others.
44:44
Now notice what Lehman and Lemuel say about their brother.
44:47
They call him a fool and it's very interesting when they try
44:50
to kill him. What happens?
44:53
Verse 48. Touch me not I am filled with
44:57
the power of God, and he uses this interesting phrase.
45:01
Whoso shall lay his hands upon me, shall wither, even as a
45:05
dried Reed. It turns out in the ancient
45:09
wisdom tradition in that literature, one of the core
45:13
poetic concepts of death was a dried Reed.
45:17
In fact, think about Nephi. If he's trained as a writer, he
45:21
may have been trained to use dry reeds to inscribe on tablets,
45:25
clay tablets before we move to metal.
45:28
So it's just fascinating to hear that all these interesting
45:30
connections that we have about Nephi and his training, his
45:33
ability to write, his ability to be a wise person.
45:36
But why does this matter to us? We all want to be wise people,
45:40
and the wisest people trust God. The wisest people look at the
45:45
evidences God has already provided and therefore have
45:48
assurance that they too can act and have personal evidence.
45:52
So in your own life, return to the scriptures, return to the
45:55
story of the Exodus, return to the Book of Mormon and see these
45:59
as evidences that God will fulfill his covenant to Abraham,
46:03
Isaac and Jacob. And therefore you can be assured
46:07
that your faith is founded on a strong foundation, and you will
46:12
become wise and avoid being a fool.
46:15
Now we begin the work. So he's shored up their
46:21
assurance. Now they're willing to act, and
46:24
they are acting in faith in this regard.
46:26
They're they're going to to help him.
46:29
Verse one, chapter 18. It came to pass that they did
46:32
worship the Lord and did go forth with me.
46:36
And we did work Timbers of curious workmanship.
46:40
And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I
46:44
should work the Timbers of the ship.
46:47
Something that I learned from a friend and colleague, Benjamin
46:52
White, is this idea that God is asking them to build a ship,
46:59
something they've never done before.
47:02
They've never lived on the the seashore and been a part of the
47:07
shipbuilding Guild of their day. But now God's asking them to do
47:12
it. The question is, what are some
47:16
ships that God is asking you and us collectively to build today?
47:23
Perhaps things that we've never built before.
47:27
This is a fascinating word in English because there are so
47:31
many words that end with ship. Let me just give you some
47:36
examples. Some of you are being asked to
47:43
build a relationship that you've never built before, and it's
47:48
hard and you don't know what you're doing and you feel like
47:51
it's it takes a lot of work. Some of you are being asked to
47:55
build membership. Some are working on fellowship
48:06
or scholarship, or friendship, or hardship or leadership or
48:15
companionship or sportsmanship. At the end of the day, all of
48:21
these ships that need to be built for me come down to 2
48:28
words. The most important ships involve
48:36
worship of the Lord and discipleship of Christ.
48:46
So what do we do? Where do we turn in in all of
48:50
these ships that were being asked to build?
48:53
He gives you some ideas in verse 2.
48:56
Now I, Nephi, did not work the Timbers after the manner which
49:00
was learned by men. Neither did I build the ship
49:04
after the manner of men, But I did build it after the manner
49:07
which the Lord had shown unto me.
49:10
Wherefore it was not after the manner of men.
49:13
You can look at all the ships that you're being asked to
49:17
build, and there is the learning of of mankind, the manner of
49:24
men. Or you can turn to the Lord to
49:27
ask him how to build these particular ships.
49:32
Verse three I Nephi did go into the mount OFT circle it.
49:39
It's OFT. He didn't just go up at the
49:41
beginning. And God give him a big stack of
49:43
blueprints and say good luck, go go put this together.
49:48
He went up OFT and I did pray OFT unto the Lord.
49:51
Wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things.
49:56
This implies a long drawn out process, not a short or simple
50:01
event. Kind of like discipleship, Kind
50:08
of like worship. A long, drawn out process of
50:13
life rather than a quick event, a thrill, a rush, some carnal
50:20
enjoyment, which is all summarized in what Satan offers
50:25
us. That's what all these
50:27
temptations are for a fleeting moment, an event after they
50:33
finished the ship. It was exceedingly fine.
50:37
Verse 4. Wherefore they did humble
50:40
themselves again before the Lord.
50:44
They're in awe about what they've they've been able to be
50:47
a part of building, and it's amazing.
50:50
So verse 5. The word of the Lord came unto
50:54
my father. I like that they didn't come to
50:58
Nephi. In this case, it came back to
51:00
father. Lehi, take the family.
51:03
Go down, get in the ship. So they prepared everything they
51:06
went into the ship, and along the way we get out into the to
51:13
the ocean, verse 9 says, After we had been driven forth before
51:18
the wind for the space of many days, behold my brethren and the
51:20
sons of Ishmael and also their wives began to make themselves
51:23
merry, and so much they began to dance and to sing and to speak
51:28
with much rudeness. Yet even that they did forget by
51:31
what power they had been brought thither, they were lifted up
51:35
into exceeding rudeness. So Nephi speaks to them with
51:42
soberness. They don't like being told what
51:45
to do by Nephi. They've made that very clear.
51:48
They will not have him be a ruler over them.
51:51
They're they're very interested in who's in charge.
51:54
And they, the older brothers, are going to be in charge, and
51:57
they're making that very known. So they tie up Nephi and the
52:02
compass. Verse 12 ceased to work, so they
52:08
have no idea where to steer the ship.
52:10
And then the storm comes, and it lasts for three days.
52:14
They're driven back, and on the 4th day The Tempest began to be
52:18
exceedingly sore. They realized we're about to
52:21
sink, so they finally come and loose.
52:26
The bands in verse 15 and his wrists and his ankles are
52:30
exceedingly swollen, and after describing his his soreness,
52:36
look at the very next word, verse 16.
52:39
Nevertheless, minimize what just came before, and put always the
52:44
greater or nevertheless emphasis on what's about to come next.
52:48
I did look unto my God, brothers and sisters, this is such a
52:53
simple thing. But if we're not careful, it's
52:57
easy to look at the soreness and the swollen wrists and ankles of
53:02
life and murmur and complain about the injustices and the the
53:08
struggles and the tribulations and trials that were asked to to
53:11
pass through and how. Why is God making this so much
53:16
harder than it needs to be? Or we can simply recognize and
53:22
acknowledge the fact that there is soreness but follow this
53:27
example of nevertheless I did look unto my God, isn't that
53:32
fascinating? Instead of looking to Lehman and
53:36
Lemuel after they've united him and saying now let's fight,
53:40
let's let's I'm going to I'm going to beat you up for what
53:44
you did to me. Instead of looking at our
53:47
problem, look up look at the solution.
53:52
Wasn't it Elder Karl Cook and President Monson in the elevator
53:58
who said look up, look up. It's it's a much better
54:02
direction to to look. And I did praise him all the day
54:07
long and I did not murmur against the Lord because of mine
54:11
afflictions. So then it works.
54:15
We get to the promised land as their hearts are softened in
54:21
verse 20 and we arrive in the promised land in verse 23 and
54:24
verse 24 says it came to pass that we did begin to till the
54:27
earth and we began to plant seeds.
54:30
Yeah, we did put all our seeds into the earth which we had
54:34
brought from the land of Jerusalem.
54:36
I want to point out one word. We did put all our seeds.
54:46
What does that imply? What's the lesson here?
54:52
Most of us would be tempted to hold back some of the seeds in
54:56
case this was a bad growing year.
54:58
This is a new land, new soil, perhaps slightly modified
55:04
climate from what you're used to.
55:05
So perhaps hold back. I love the fact that this group
55:09
put all of their seeds into the ground.
55:13
That to me is is a huge leap of faith to to trust in God that he
55:22
brought them to this promised land and that he's going to keep
55:25
providing for them. So the first thing they do is
55:28
they plant seeds. Now, some of you have moved
55:32
around a lot in your life and you'll notice when you move from
55:38
place to place how easy it is to hold back and to not put the
55:42
roots in deep or to plant all the seeds.
55:45
I love this, this approach to life that he's teaching here,
55:50
which is put all of our efforts into growing relationships and
55:58
friendships wherever we may be. Put all of the seeds in and
56:02
grow, and we're going to learn great things and gain great
56:07
relationships in the process. And God caused that they should
56:10
grow exceedingly and we were blessed in abundance.
56:14
And then he describes all of the things in the Land of Promise.
56:18
Now as you shift over to chapter 19, this is where Nephi pauses
56:22
and tells us that he's making plates out of ore once he gets
56:26
to the to the promised land. Now let's be clear.
56:29
When they first come is when he first seems to start making
56:34
these plates in the Americas. It's not until second Nephi 5
56:40
where we're going to find out that it's 30 years after they
56:44
left Jerusalem that he's given the command to make the small
56:48
plates, which means for the 1st 30 years he's been working on
56:53
this large collection of plates giving all kinds of detail, and
56:56
then from year 30 to approximately year 40, so
57:02
probably about a 10 year period. He's now working on draft #2,
57:08
which is what we get the 1st and 2nd Nifi accounts here.
57:14
It's the second telling of the story.
57:16
It's not his first draft, which means he's had time to organize
57:21
thoughts and make connections that maybe he hadn't made the
57:24
first time through. So we get the better version in
57:27
my opinion with the small plates.
57:31
Now why is he making the small plates?
57:34
Look at the bottom of verse 3. The things which were written
57:38
should be kept for the instruction of my people who
57:40
should possess the land, and also for otherwise purposes
57:45
which purposes are known unto the Lord.
57:49
He He doesn't know why, but he's going to going to trust in the
57:53
Lord. Then he shifts focus to talk
57:58
about Jesus and the infinite atonement.
58:01
Look at verse 8. Behold, he cometh according to
58:05
the words of the Angel in 600 years from the time my father
58:09
left Jerusalem. Now keep in mind we we are very
58:14
comfortable using the name Jesus.
58:16
We learn in second Nephi 10 where Jacob's teaching the
58:20
people the name is revealed to him that the name of the Messiah
58:25
is Jesus and it comes right after he had read to them a
58:30
block of Isaiah chapters and then gave his interpretation.
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And then it's later on in Second Nephi 25, when it's revealed to
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Nephi after a long Isaiah block, that his full name and title
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would be Jesus Christ. Now keep in mind this is his
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second copy, and so he had used the name in the 1830 edition of
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the Book of Mormon. He used the name Jesus one time
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before this, but it seems to have been a name that was
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revealed for the Messiah, because previous to this he's
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just known as the Messiah, the Anointed One in the Hebrew, and
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the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be
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a thing of not. Wherefore they scourge him and
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he suffereth it. They smite him and he suffereth
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it. Yeah, they spit upon him, and he
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suffereth it because of his loving kindness and his
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long-suffering towards the children of men.
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I love that that he, He has all of this power, and yet he
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suffereth it. Why?
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Because of his his loving kindness and long-suffering
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towards all of us. Then in verse 10 he describes
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how the God of Abraham and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob
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yieldeth himself according to the words of the Angel, as a man
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into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up according to the
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words of Zenoch, and to be crucified according to the words
1:00:03
of Nium, and to be buried in a sepulchre according to the words
1:00:06
of Zenith. So you get Zenik, Naum, and
1:00:09
Zenith. 3 Old Testament prophets that aren't in the Old
1:00:12
Testament, but they're on the brass plates.
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Nephi has access to them, but we just don't get their stories.
1:00:17
But they get these prophecies of what would happen to him, What
1:00:21
would happen to the Holy Messiah.
1:00:23
Now towards the end you'll notice it says in verse 22.
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It came to pass that I, Nephi, did teach my brethren these
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things, and it came to pass that I did read many things to them
1:00:37
which were engraving upon the plates of brass that they might
1:00:39
know concerning the doings of the Lord in other lands among
1:00:42
the people of old. Have you noticed how in the Book
1:00:46
of Mormon, Nephi is doing all of the reading off the plates of
1:00:50
brass and all of the teaching he's teaching his brothers?
1:00:54
He's reading to his brothers. It never says they were reading
1:00:58
and asked me what this meant. Now, there are a variety of
1:01:02
options here. Either they did read and Nephi
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just didn't mention that they were reading scripture and
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asking questions. That's a possibility.
1:01:11
Or they were able to read reformed Egyptian or Egyptian
1:01:16
script and understand it, but they just didn't want to read
1:01:19
the brass plates. That's an option.
1:01:22
Another option is they just never took the time to learn to
1:01:27
read and write in Egyptian. That's also a possibility.
1:01:32
What we know from Nephi's record is that he's the one who's
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always doing the reading and teaching.
1:01:38
So as we talked about before, Nephi probably was trained in a
1:01:42
scribal school. He was literate.
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And the scribal school, the main principle, was learned to be a
1:01:47
wise person. And the opposite is a fool.
1:01:49
If you look at the scriptures, if you look at how Nephi
1:01:52
narrates who's the wise, Well it's God himself.
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Nephi aspires to be like him as his Lehigh.
1:01:59
And then who are the counter examples?
1:02:01
Liam and Lemuel are the ultimate fools.
1:02:05
And it's also interesting that they probably are illiterate.
1:02:10
They probably never took the time to learn how to read the
1:02:15
word of God and act in doctrine. So to jump way ahead to Jesus's
1:02:21
sermon at the temple or his sermon on the mount, he gives us
1:02:25
his qualifier between the wise man and the foolish man, an
1:02:32
insight that I learned from my state president and dear friend
1:02:36
Clint Mortenson. He pointed this out that the
1:02:41
foolish man hears the word of God, but he doesn't act on it.
1:02:47
He doesn't do anything about it. It's the wise man who hears and
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then does the things that he hears from God.
1:02:58
So this whole story of of Nephi trying to follow the wisdom
1:03:04
literature seems to match up beautifully.
1:03:07
Because he's not just wanting to hear the word of Lord, he's
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wanting to go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.
1:03:14
That's what a true wise person does, his famous statement to
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his father. I will go and do the things
1:03:20
which the Lord has commanded. That is the essence of wisdom in
1:03:24
in his day. Now notice verse 23.
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I did read many things unto them which were written in the books
1:03:30
of Moses, but that I might more fully persuade them to believe
1:03:33
in the Lord the Redeemer. I did read unto them that which
1:03:36
was written by the prophet Isaiah.
1:03:38
For I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for
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our prophet. And learning once again that
1:03:45
word all I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it
1:03:51
might be for our prophet. And learning.
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I love that principle. But did you notice what he did
1:03:56
right before that he was reading the books of Moses.
1:04:00
We've been talking about that. Taylor's mentioned lots of
1:04:02
things from the Exodus. They aren't getting it.
1:04:07
So he cross references Moses. He says but that I might more
1:04:12
fully persuade them to believe in the Lord the Redeemer.
1:04:15
I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet
1:04:17
Isaiah. Can you picture him reading off
1:04:21
the brass plates and then looking at them saying, you're
1:04:26
not getting the connection here, are you?
1:04:29
And can you see in your mind's eye Lehman and Lemnal sitting
1:04:31
there, you getting this one? No, I'm not getting it.
1:04:35
No, no, we don't get this. And if I saying, OK, let me make
1:04:39
it more obvious, let me make it even clearer, let's turn the
1:04:43
breast plates over to the writings of Isaiah.
1:04:47
Then it will be more clear what we're talking about.
1:04:51
I love that that Nephi is using Isaiah to help them more fully
1:04:57
believe in the Lord the Redeemer.
1:04:58
And now he launches into chapter 48 and 49 of Isaiah, which does
1:05:05
is our chapter 20 and 21 Chapter 48.
1:05:09
You could label chapter 48 Nephi's or rather Isaiah's
1:05:15
review of the Abrahamic Covenant.
1:05:19
This is this is so beautiful where God is extending all of
1:05:24
these incredible promises. Look at verse one hearken and
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hear this O House of Jacob who are called by the name of Israel
1:05:31
and are come forth out of the waters of Judah or out of the
1:05:35
waters of baptism. I need to just point out here
1:05:38
very quickly, you can put a parenthesis around or out of the
1:05:41
waters of baptism because that little parenthetical phrase was
1:05:46
not in the original manuscript or in the 1830 edition.
1:05:51
Joseph Smith added that parenthetical statement to the
1:05:54
1840 edition reprinting of the book, and he had parentheses
1:05:59
around it. And then in the 1921 edition,
1:06:01
the scripture committee took the parentheses off.
1:06:04
What does that mean? It means if you read Genesis or
1:06:08
sorry, if you read Isaiah chapter 48, you're not going to
1:06:11
see the phrase or out of the waters of baptism.
1:06:13
It's added. Why?
1:06:16
Because Joseph is a prophet, Syrian revelator, and he has the
1:06:19
authority, he has keys from heaven to clarify, expound and
1:06:25
teach doctrine and make it clear.
1:06:28
So people were confused about what it meant to come out of the
1:06:31
waters of Judah. So he added or out of the waters
1:06:34
of baptism. So even though it isn't unique
1:06:38
to Isaiah and and original to Isaiah, it's Joseph the prophet
1:06:44
and seer of our Lord saying this is what he meant.
1:06:47
So it it adds clarity. Now notice he goes on to say who
1:06:51
swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of
1:06:53
Israel, yet they swear not in truth nor in righteousness.
1:06:57
He's describing people who have come into the gospel, so to
1:07:01
speak by name only. They've been baptized, but they
1:07:07
aren't converted and they aren't.
1:07:09
They don't seem to be working towards conversion.
1:07:12
Look at verse two. They call themselves of the holy
1:07:14
city, but they do not stay themselves upon the God of
1:07:17
Israel, who is the Lord of hosts.
1:07:19
So he goes on to explain verse four.
1:07:22
I did it. I did some things to them
1:07:27
because I knew that thou art obstinate and thy neck is an
1:07:31
iron sinew and thy brow brass. So he's using these symbols to
1:07:35
teach principles. An iron neck, a brass brow where
1:07:42
all of the emotion is shown, It's brass.
1:07:45
Doesn't that kind of describe an idol?
1:07:50
A brass brow, an iron neck. It can't move, it can't show
1:07:54
emotion. It can't communicate in any way,
1:07:56
shape or form. As people become idol
1:07:59
worshippers over time, they slowly become like that which
1:08:04
they are worshipping. Israel has slowly become more
1:08:09
and more and more like idols. So then he goes on and he
1:08:15
describes his mercy. Look at verse 9.
1:08:18
Nevertheless, for my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for
1:08:23
my praise will I refrain from thee that I cut thee not off.
1:08:26
You deserve to be totally abolished.
1:08:29
But because of this covenant that I've made with Abraham, I'm
1:08:32
not going to cut you off completely.
1:08:34
I'm going to remember that covenant.
1:08:35
I'm going to deliver you. And he goes on to to plead with
1:08:39
them to hearken And verse 14. Assemble yourselves and hear
1:08:45
fulfill the words. Verse 16 Come ye near unto me.
1:08:48
I haven't spoken in secret from the beginning.
1:08:50
From the time that it was declared have I spoken.
1:08:53
And the Lord God and His Spirit hath sent me.
1:08:56
And he's pleading with Israel to return.
1:08:59
Now turn the page over. Chapter 21.
1:09:03
Is Nephi taking this Abrahamic covenant set up as the Lord
1:09:08
saying, Look, I'm I'm doing this for you because of the covenant
1:09:11
that I've made. And then he's going to apply it
1:09:15
to his people. In chapter 21, which is the
1:09:18
equivalent of Isaiah 49, he he describes all the things that
1:09:25
God is going to do with this group.
1:09:29
Look at Let's jump down for the sake of time to verse 13.
1:09:32
Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth.
1:09:37
For the feet of those who are in the east shall be established
1:09:39
and break forth into singing, O mountains, for they shall be
1:09:42
smitten no more. For the Lord hath comforted His
1:09:45
people and will have mercy upon His His afflicted.
1:09:49
Do you see it? He's going to have mercy on
1:09:53
these people who have been cut off temporarily.
1:09:57
He's going to to remember them. Look at verse 15.
1:10:01
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have
1:10:04
compassion on the sun of her womb?
1:10:06
Can you see Isaiah using the most dependent relationship he
1:10:10
can think of, which is a newborn baby and its mother, and he's
1:10:14
using that to compare with our relationship with God.
1:10:18
Can a woman forget that sucking child?
1:10:20
And he says, yay, they may forget.
1:10:22
There have been women in the history of the world who have
1:10:24
done that. But I will not forget thee, oh
1:10:28
House of Israel. Why?
1:10:30
Verse 16. Behold, I have graven thee upon
1:10:33
the palms of my hands. My walls are continually before
1:10:36
me. And then he describes this
1:10:39
glorious gathering event where Jerusalem or Zion or the House
1:10:47
of Israel will be on the ground and sad, and all of a sudden
1:10:50
she'll look up and there are all these children coming to her,
1:10:54
returning from this exile. They've been carried away
1:10:57
captive, and she's been left desolate.
1:11:00
And she's going to have this question in verse 21.
1:11:03
Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me
1:11:05
these? Seeing I have lost my children,
1:11:08
and am desolate A captive and removing to and fro, Who hath
1:11:12
brought up these? Behold, I was left alone.
1:11:15
These, Where have they been? Thus saith the Lord God.
1:11:19
Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my
1:11:22
standard to the people, And they shall bring thy sons in their
1:11:25
arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
1:11:29
Brothers and sisters, this is the great work of the latter day
1:11:33
gathering of Israel where Gentiles and scattered Israel
1:11:39
and Jews are being invited into this covenant relationship with
1:11:43
God to be adopted into the House of Israel to become sons and
1:11:48
daughters of Abraham and Sarah. If they aren't literally then
1:11:52
adopted in to become a part of this family where God is going
1:11:57
to remember that covenant and reach out and restore.
1:12:01
And so he brings all of these people in and Israel says, I I
1:12:07
have no idea where these all came from.
1:12:10
This is the story of what our missionaries, our church
1:12:14
leaders, our mommies, our daddies, everybody's trying to
1:12:17
do today is to invite people on both sides of the veil to come
1:12:23
unto Christ to get on that covenant path and press forward.
1:12:27
Chapter 22 is Nephi's conclusion where he just read you two
1:12:32
Isaiah chapters. Now he gives you his commentary
1:12:36
as to what he feels like that means for him and his people and
1:12:41
looking down the corridor of time, hoping that in the future
1:12:43
somebody will also be benefited by the words that he's writing
1:12:47
for his own people in his day. In closing, brothers and
1:12:51
sisters, we're all collectively and individually on this
1:12:55
wilderness journey. God has provided means for us.
1:13:00
We may not have a round ball of curious workmanship, but we have
1:13:04
books and we have teachings of curious workmanship.
1:13:08
And they're not built after the manner of men.
1:13:10
They're built after the manner of the Lord.
1:13:12
And as we give faith, diligence, and heed unto these beautiful
1:13:18
instruments and messengers that God has provided, we will move
1:13:24
forward in faith. We will accomplish things.
1:13:27
That assurance level of our faith will allow us to act in
1:13:31
greater faith than ever before and will lead to greater
1:13:33
evidence than ever before. As we move forward in this great
1:13:38
gathering effort of the House of Israel in the latter days, know
1:13:43
that He lives, know that He loves you, and we leave that
1:13:46
with you. In the name of Jesus Christ,
1:13:47
Amen. At Scripture Central, we are
1:13:51
committed to building enduring faith in Jesus Christ by
1:13:54
illuminating the Book of Mormon and other Restoration scripture,
1:13:58
making them more accessible, defensible, and comprehensible
1:14:01
to people everywhere. One way we do this is by
1:14:04
offering all of our world class resources for free.
1:14:07
We hope that by using these resources, you can take your
1:14:10
study to the next level and unlock levels of understanding
1:14:13
for your life. One of these tools is the Gospel
1:14:16
Learning App, which takes you on a curated study path into the
1:14:20
specific topics relating to this week's Come Follow Me content.
1:14:24
This week in The Gospel Explorer, you can take the Left
1:14:26
Path to learn more about godly sorrow and repentance.
1:14:30
The Middle Pathway dives deep into a study of agency and
1:14:33
responsibility. Lastly, you can take the path
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upon the right to study how you can better fulfil a difficult or
1:14:40
challenging calling. These paths and resources are
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here to help you come closer to your Saviour, Jesus Christ.
1:14:47
As always, it is our hope that you deepen your conversion to
1:14:50
Him as you study His words and immerse yourself in the
1:14:53
scriptures.