Latest / Scripture Central / Mosiah 18-24 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited

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Mosiah 18-24 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited · Scripture Central

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What exactly did you promise to do when you enter the waters of
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baptism? What does that covenant entail,
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and how are we doing with that? Let's look at chapter 18, and
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we're going to pick up our story at the Waters of Mormon with
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ELMA teaching this group of people who, by the time we get
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to the end of the chapter, is going to end up with 450 people.
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So this is a significant size. Look at chapter 18.
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We're going to start in verse 8. And it came to pass that he
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that's Alma. He said unto them, Behold, here
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are the waters of Mormon, for thus were they called.
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And now as ye are, let's list these Here are the steps.
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So the precursor to entering into this covenant.
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A. You are desirous to enter into
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this folds, to come into the fold of God, and your desires to
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so enter the fold, your desires to be called the children of
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God. You're willing now to bear one
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another's burdens that they may be like you're willing to mourn
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with those that mourn and to comfort those that stand in need
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of comfort. So far, so good, right?
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It's we have these desires to come in the full of God, be
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called, called his people, these three things.
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It's kind of hard. We're not perfect at that, but
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it's doable. We we can keep working with
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this. And then he throws this in here
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and to stand as a witness or to stand as witnesses of God.
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So we're going to be a witness of God at all times, in all
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things and in all places that we may be.
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How long, even until death? That's kind of a significant
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thing because the word all implies what This is 100%
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commitment. You'll notice he didn't say
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you're going to try your hardest to do all of these things, he
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said. You're willing to do all these
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things and and you're you're desiring.
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This is, this is a bar that he just set for us.
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Up at the level of perfection. You're promising, basically, to
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be perfect. That's what, standing as a
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witness of God at all times and in or in all things, in all
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places that you may be in, even until death.
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That's what that means. Quick question for you.
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Why would a perfect all knowing, all loving, compassionate God
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ask imperfect people like me and you to make promises that he and
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you both know you can't keep? It feels on.
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On the surface, when you look at it at that level, it feels like
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we're being set up for failure. It's like promise that you're
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going to do all of this and you're like, OK, at age 8.
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For many of us, yeah, I'll do that.
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And now we get older and we say that's not going very well for
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me. There are times where I have
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seasons where I'm doing some of these things really well.
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Not perfectly, but I'm doing really well.
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Other times where my desire is really high and others where
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it's waning, it's low and I struggle and I wrestle and so
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why didn't God have the covenant wording be just just try your
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hardest, do your best to do these things.
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Why did he take that off the table and say, Nope, your
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covenant responsibility here is that's the target.
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I don't know the real answer to that question, but I have a
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hunch that a part of that answer is if the covenant in implies
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just simply trying to be to be good, to be the very best I can,
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well, all of a sudden I don't need Jesus anymore.
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I don't need Christ for me to just try to do my very best.
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My very best may not be very good, but I can do my very best
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brothers and sisters. The whole point of this covenant
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is to establish a connection with Christ.
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That's the whole point. This is the expectation.
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It is 100%. It is perfection.
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That's the point. You.
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I mean, I'm this. This won't be a shocker.
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You. And let me point to myself too.
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You cannot keep that covenant. You can't do it.
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Hate to break it to you. Here's the key.
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You can keep that covenant. That's you with a capital Y.
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If you haven't noticed, that's you.
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You and the Saviour combined can keep this covenant.
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Take Jesus out of the mix. And I'm hopeless.
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I can do this sometimes in some things, in some places that I'm
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in down to death. I can sometimes do this without
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Jesus. I'm I'm never going to be able
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to do this with Jesus. In a covenant relationship with
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Christ, I'm combining his perfection with my imperfection.
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All of a sudden we can keep this covenant because I'm no longer
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alone. That's the whole point of a
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baptismal covenant is to bring people into the fold of God,
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into the arms of mercy that the Savior is inviting them into to
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say it's OK, I know you're not perfect, but I am.
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My love for you is perfect. And if you keep doing everything
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you can in your part of the covenant, Jesus makes up the
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difference. Let's think about the covenant
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we make at baptism and the words that are used.
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When you were baptized, your name is used.
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But notice that the covenant is actually made in the name of the
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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
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It's actually the Covenant's, not made in your name.
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So the power of the covenant is wrapped up in the identity of
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the Godhead. What Tyler was talking about is
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in some ways we're being invited into a covenant that is actually
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underwritten by the God of the universe.
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He's actually, in some ways, making the covenant with us.
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It's his name that makes possible all that we can do.
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And what's interesting here is God is a witness for himself at
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all times, all things, all places, and he will never die.
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And he's invited us to join in his identity in His name.
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Notice that when we are baptized, we are taking upon
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ourselves a new name. After we learned about that in
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King Benjamin's speech, we see it here.
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And with Alice people, they've taken upon themselves the name
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of Jesus Christ. And for all of us who've taken
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upon ourselves that name when we get to the Pearly Gates, it is
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because we have the name of Christ written upon us that we
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will be allowed in. Because really only Jesus is
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able to be allowed in. He's the only one that actually
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is fully qualified. But if we take His name upon us
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and we have joined with him, then the fullness of his
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perfection, the fullness of his love, the fullness of his
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righteousness, all of that allows us to be entered in.
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In fact, it's interesting. The word atonement in the
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ancient Hebrew actually means to cover over and we all have these
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sins that kind of spot our garments and make us not clean.
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The Atonement cleans us, covers us, and with Jesus we are now
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able to enter into His presence, clean and like Him because we
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have been with Him and we have His name.
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So to reiterate one thing here, if this is a list of perfection,
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I wonder if we could look at the list as descriptors or
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characteristics or attributes of Jesus Christ.
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Maybe he's the only one who perfectly bore burdens.
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Maybe he's the only one who perfectly knows what it looks
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like and feels like and and is to mourn with those that mourn
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and comfort those that stand in need of comfort.
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He is clearly the only person whoever did that.
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So the covenant is underwritten by God.
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It's God from heaven who holds words without number in his
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hand, looking down at this planet saying, I care about each
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one of those individual people. As imperfect, as flawed, as weak
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as you and I may be we it's not like we've got a whole bunch to
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offer the Lord. It doesn't.
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Even if we offered everything, Benjamin says, we're still going
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to be unprofitable servants. But it's God who comes and
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offers the terms of this agreement.
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We're not going to him saying, hey, if I promise you that I'm
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going to do all these things, then you have to give me your
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spirit. It's not us who's making up this
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covenant. The covenant comes from a loving
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God who is also our parent, who's saying, I'm giving you, my
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son as the model. And as you combine with Christ,
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then you can grow to become more like Him over time until you
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attain unto that level perfection through Him, not
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because of you. Now, there's one other situation
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going on here that we have to look at.
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Notice He says that we're willing to stand as a witness of
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God in those situations. Where do we normally use the
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word witness? Where do we come in contact with
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that context of a witness? For most, you would think of a
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courtroom. Well, if I'm being called to be
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a witness of God, I'm sitting on a witness stand.
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What is the implication? What's going on?
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What? What am I witnessing for if I'm
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a witness of God? There are a variety of ways you
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could take this. I'm just going to take One
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Direction here. It's not the only one, but one
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of the implications, possibly is that God is being put on trial.
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What is God being accused of in our world today?
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I think that there are many who would say, well, he doesn't
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exist. Or, yeah, he exists, but he's
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not powerful, or he doesn't know everything, or he doesn't love,
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or he doesn't care, or he doesn't answer my prayers, or he
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can't stop pain, He can't prevent abuse.
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He can't, he doesn't, he isn't. All of these accusations are
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being pointed at God and hears the Lord saying, Are you willing
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to take the witness stand for God?
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Not just when it's convenient, but especially when it's hard to
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be able to stand and say, I know God lives.
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I know that he is a God of power and love and mercy and justice
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and judgement and creation and all these attributes that God
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has. And I know that he hears and
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answers every prayer even though the world is accusing him of
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not. The problem isn't God.
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The problem is our perspective of what a God should do and how
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a God should answer prayers or or handle a world like ours.
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And so it's our opportunity to sit on the witness stand now in
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the face of great adversity and say from my own experience with
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so many years of of seeing His hand in my life and learning
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about how a true God works with me through this process of
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striving to become more like the Savior, here's the the beautiful
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conclusion. If I and you are willing to sit
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on the witness stand for God right now, the promise is pretty
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sure that Jesus will take that same witness stand for us when
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it really matters. If you read DNC Section 45,
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verse 3, he makes it very clear that he sits in that witness
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stand for us, defending us in front of God with eternally
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significant outcomes on the line.
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Now look at the conclusion here, verse 10, back to Alma.
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Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what
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have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord as a
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witness before him? There's that word again that you
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have entered into a covenant with him, that you will serve
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him and keep His commandments. Now we add this other element
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down here, serve Him and keep His commandments.
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And then you get this incredible promise at the very end that we
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will have his spirit more abundantly upon us.
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Now, brothers and sisters, it's one thing to enter into the
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covenant with God as a witness that you're you're willing to do
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all these things. It's another to stay in that
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covenant with God. And what do you do when you mess
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up? I'll just speak for myself.
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There has never, and I mean never 0% ever been a time on
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Sunday when I've gone to church and sat in the Chapel there and
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thought to myself as we're singing the sacrament hymn.
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Huh. Now that's kind of weird.
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I I think I can pass on the sacrament today.
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I I don't need the sacrament because I I've done it.
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I'm good. I I don't need Jesus this week,
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I'm good. There's never been a time where
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that thought has even remotely tried to enter my mind, because
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every single week I come to that table and I think, please
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forgive me again. How many times am I going to
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have to mess up in some of these realms and in my my character
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flaws, Lord, I feel it. My heart is prone to wander it
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it it's struggling and and it doesn't seem to be going away.
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Now it that process gets refined over time.
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But the fact is I have to keep going back.
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And when I partake of that sacrament, I'm establishing a
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new covenant every week with Christ.
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Every week I'm saying I can't do it.
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I failed. We can do this.
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We've got this. And brothers and sisters, that's
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the beauty of our message to the world is not to say everybody
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out there get perfect and then come unto Christ.
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The message of our missionaries, and of our mommies, and our
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daddies and our leaders is come unto Christ and be perfected in
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Him. We partake of His goodness as we
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enter into that covenant with Him.
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So as we conclude our conversation about the covenant
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the people made at the waters of Mormon, it's all about love.
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We have in verse 21, Mosiah 18, their hearts knit together in
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unity and in love 1 towards another.
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Love is the essence of the baptismal covenant and really of
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all covenants that we make with God and with others in the
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covenantal community. Now, there's this really
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amazing, beautiful part in the Book of Mormon.
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The tightest concentration of the name Mormon shows up in this
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chapter, verse 30. And I just imagine Mormon, when
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he's writing this portion, getting to use his name six
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times. And I'm going to read the verse,
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and then I'll talk about what some LDS scholars propose as the
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meaning of the name Mormon. That came to pass, that all this
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was done in Mormon. Yeah, by the waters of Mormon.
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In the forest that was near the waters of Mormon.
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Yeah, the place of Mormon. The waters of Mormon.
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The forest of Mormon. How beautiful are they to the
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eyes of them who are come to the knowledge of the Redeemer?
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Yeah, even how blessed are they? For they shall sing to his
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praise forever. So there's been a proposal that
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the word Mormon actually comes from 2 Egyptian words.
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The Egyptian word for love. Actually, the word Mary, the
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Egyptian word Mary, means love and moan, which means enduring
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or everlasting. And if this proposal is correct,
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it would mean that Mormon's name would read as love endures
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forever. And of course, whose love are we
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talking about? It's the love of God.
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It would then mean that the Book of Mormon really would be
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translated as the Book of the love of God endures forever.
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And that is the entire point of the Book of Mormon.
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And you can just see, I think, Mormon just delighting in
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summarizing this covenantal community and what they did.
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And he uses his name six times. Love endures forever.
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Beautiful name. Elma baptized Helum, and then
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there are 450 people out there. So he baptizes all these people,
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and then they're warned of the Lord there at the very end of
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chapter 18 that they need to depart.
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So if we look at the map, he's just outside of the city of
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Nephi and Shilom at the waters of Mormon.
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When King Noah sends the men to come and destroy them, he leaves
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there and they travelled many days journey into the wilderness
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and they go to a place and they call it Helum.
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In the original manuscript they call it Helaman.
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So what happens next is King Noah had sent out this army of
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men to go and destroy these people.
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Michael Wilcox shared the example once of of Noah blinders
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of putting on these blinding glasses for people and he had
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gotten all of his society to put these blinders on.
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And through the course of these chapters you get people taking
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off those blinding glasses so they can see the light.
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So 450 people have already taken off their Noah blinders.
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Now in chapter 19 you get a group of men that come out to
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kill these people and and we wonder if Gideon was in that
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exact group and in that moment realizes taking off his blinder
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saying wait a minute, what was I about to do?
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I was about to kill innocent men, women and children because
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of they disagree with Noah at this point and all of a sudden
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their best friend becomes their worst enemy, Noah.
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And they see it. They see it clearly.
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And Gideon, this mighty man, large and mighty man draws his
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sword and swears I am going to kill King Noah.
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So he runs. He gets up onto his tower and
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here comes Gideon. And now the moment.
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Look at verse 6. The king cast his eyes
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roundabout towards the land of Shimlan.
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And behold the army. The Lamanites were within the
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borders of land. So now the king cries to Gideon.
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Oh, please, look at the wording. Gideon, spare me, for the
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Lamanites are upon us. They will destroy us.
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Yeah, they will destroy my people.
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Now can you picture Mormon the Abridger at that point he's put
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these words down on the plates. I can picture him pausing.
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I don't, I don't know what he actually did, but I can picture
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him pausing, saying, oh, you deceptive devil you.
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He's saying. Noah is making it sound like he
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really has concern and care for his people, having just sent an
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army to destroy 450 of them, right?
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And so look at what Mormon does. He jumps in verse 8.
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Now the king was not so much concerned about his people as he
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was about his own life. Nevertheless, Gideon did spare
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his life. So we see that Noah keeps
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filling this role as a type or a shadow of the devil himself.
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The guy who is only interested in one person and one person
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alone. The guy who in the beginning up
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in the the Council of Heaven said Father, here am I.
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Send me. I'll save all of them.
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But the glory be mine. So Noah's filling this role.
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So here we go. We come down off of the tower.
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Here's the group of Nephites fleeing this direction.
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Here comes this group of Lamanites chasing them.
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Where is the perfect place for a devilish type or shadow or
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symbol to place himself? Well, look at verse 9.
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The king commanded the people that they should flee before the
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Lamanites, and he himself did go before them.
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Here's Noah right here. Why is that the perfect place
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for a guy symbolizing devilish attributes to be?
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Who's the last person that's going to get killed?
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If this were Captain Moroni's story, where would Captain
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Moroni have been? We always use Captain Moroni as
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a as a symbol and a type in many ways for Christ.
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Where would he have put himself? This isn't hard to figure out.
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Describe this, this portion of your population.
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Well, you're going to have the old, the feeble, the sick, the
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afflicted, the really young, the pregnant.
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You're going to have your most defenseless part of your
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population in harm's way. The first ones to die are going
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to be the ones who are least likely capable of defending
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themselves, and Noah doesn't care because they're just a
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human shield for him. So what happens in this next
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verse is the Lanelite army has now advanced to the point where
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it now looks like this and they are killing people and it's it's
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ugly. Noah knows that.
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So then he gives what has become one of my least favorite verses
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of scripture anywhere. I hate this thing.
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Verse 11. Now it came to pass that the
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king commanded them that all did leave their wives and their
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children and flee before the Lamanites gratefully.
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At that moment, verse 12, there were many that would not leave
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them but would rather stay in perish with them and the rest
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left their wives and children and fled.
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So in that moment many take off their Noah blinders and and see
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clarity and it's like what? No, I'm not leaving my family,
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brothers and sisters. The question here to consider
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is, are there some things that are actually way worse than
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dying or way worse than death? I would suggest to you from my
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context that leaving behind a family would be way worse than
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dying myself. So you can picture what what
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these men that did choose to follow Noah had to do.
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They're going to be putting children down.
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They're going to be pushing their wife away and running
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after King Noah to safety, right?
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Let me be honest, I really don't care personally about King Noah
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because he died like over 2000 years ago and he's not part of
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my life. But the reason this story is so
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relevant is because we live in a world where the voice of King
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Noah is simply giving volume to a message from the devil, and
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that message hasn't changed. The devil is still to this day,
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crying out. Men leave.
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Your women and children follow me out into the wilderness, and
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there are lots of ways to describe what that wilderness
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is. And unfortunately, the devil's
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not just yelling to the men in our day.
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He's yelling to the women and he's yelling to the teenagers
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and the young single adults and the new marrieds.
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Leave everything that you valued, everything that you've
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built, and follow me out into the wilderness.
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Verse 11 is unfortunately alive and well today because the call
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is the same. It's to forsake covenant
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connection. It's to forsake things that are
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actually worth dying for, to go out in personal pursuits, self
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fulfillment, as opposed to covenantal obligations and
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connections. Can you picture this moment when
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these men with Noah run out here and they get out into the
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wilderness and they're quote UN quote safe?
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Can you picture this moment them catching their breath and wow,
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we did it. We're safe.
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Good job guys. And giving each other high
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fives. And then can you picture as the
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the fight or flight adrenaline rush starts to leave and they
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settle in and and reality starts to hit them.
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And for them it's not a moment of taking off the glasses but
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this slow realization of wait a minute, what have I done?
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What what do I have to live for anymore?
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Is this called safety? What I now have compared to what
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I left behind? And they have this moment at
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some point in the near future where they're talking to King
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Noah saying, we're going back, we're we're going to go back.
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And he's like, no, no, no, no. And finally they get to that
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moment where every eye turns to Noah and says, wait a minute,
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you're my enemy. You're not my friend.
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You convinced me that you had my best interest in mind.
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Now it's very clear you didn't. You had your best interest in
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mind. They come in on him and they
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kill him, they burn him, which was prophesied by Benedict.
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And then that long walk back, that long journey back to this
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place where they had forsaken their families, thinking they're
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going to find a a slaughtered group of people.
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These men have a long walk home from that point of discovery.
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And have you ever pictured that moment, however it looked?
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I don't know. As they come to their door that
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night. Honey, it's me.
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I'm back. Knowing what they had done
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earlier. Knowing the treachery, the the
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betrayal, the worst kind that you could you could commit.
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And now they're coming home. Here's my point.
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Who needs the Infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ more that night?
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These men or their wives who had been betrayed?
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I I don't know that we can fully quantify this.
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All I know is that both groups desperately need the Infinite
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Atonement of Jesus Christ for completely different reasons.
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But neither one of them is going to be able to do what they need
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to do on their own. Both of them need the help of
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the Lord Jesus Christ to be able to start re establishing some
27:47
level of trust in that family relationship.
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Here's what we're going to end up with two separate people that
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previously were joined under King Noah.
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Now they're going to be separated.
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Two different civilizations, Limhis and Almas.
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So when those men return, King Noah's son Limhai, who
28:11
recognized that his dad was not exactly doing the things that he
28:16
needed to do, he now takes over. But he takes over in a period
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from the get go of being in bondage because the Nephites had
28:25
sent their fair daughters to stop that Lamanite army from
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slaughtering everybody. But they've enslaved this entire
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group, so they're now in bondage.
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The thing that is hard to keep straight sometimes as you read
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chapters 21 and 22, and then you read 23 and 24 and it makes it
28:47
sound almost like, OK, this is happening at the beginning of
28:50
the year and then this happens at the end of the year or
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something like that. The reality is, is chapters 21
28:55
and 22 specifically. Chapter 21 is covering 24 years.
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This is a long time to be in absolute bondage and slavery to
29:08
the to the Lamanites. Now watch what happens as we as
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we progress into this story and then contrast it with this
29:19
story. These are, these are stories of
29:23
bondage because these guys are going to be brought into bondage
29:25
as well. It's almost like Mormon saw our
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day and said I see a lot of bondage situations.
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Slavery's to all kinds of different things.
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Spiritual, political, physical, mental, emotional addictions,
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all kinds of bondages in the latter days.
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And so we get 2 contrasting stories side by side about
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getting into bondage and how to get back out of bondage.
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So watch Limhi's group in chapter 21.
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Look what they say in verse 5. Now the afflictions of the
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Nephites were great and there was mark it no way that they
30:08
could deliver themselves out of their hands.
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For the Lamanites that have surrounded them on every side,
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Brothers and sisters, there is no way that we can deliver
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ourselves out of certain bondages because we're
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surrounded on every side. OK, that's their conclusion.
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They're looking around. And we don't know at what point
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in the 24 years that this actually occurs, the order of
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these events. We just know it's covering 24
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years total. In this chapter, look of verse
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six came to pass. The people began to murmur with
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the king. Because of their afflictions,
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they began to be desirous to go against the Lamanites to battle.
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And they did afflict the king sorely with their complaints.
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Therefore he granted unto them that they should do according to
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their desires. Did you notice there was no way
30:57
to deliver ourselves? But it gets so awful, so bad, we
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plead with the king. He's like, OK, fine, go fight
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the Lamanites. So they did, they get their
31:06
their armies together and they went fourth in verse seven
31:09
against the Lamanites. But verse 8, the Lamanites did
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beat them and drove them back and slew many of them.
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And now there was a great morning and lamentation among
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the people of Lemhi, the widow mourning for her husband, the
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son and the daughter mourning for their father, and the
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brothers for their brethren. Did you notice what just
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happened? What happened with their
31:28
bondage? It now got worse.
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They now have fewer men to take care of the needs, the physical
31:35
needs of that society and that people.
31:37
We have wives and children and parents and and relatives who
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are now mourning the loss of those who have died in this
31:44
effort to try to free themselves.
31:47
And it's worse. So what should we do?
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Well, I've got an idea. Verse 11.
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It came to pass that their continual cries did stir up the
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remainder of the people of Lemhi to anger against the Lamanites.
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That's never a good motivator, to go to war in anger.
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And they went again to battle and they were driven back,
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suffering much loss. What just happened to their
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bondage? They tried to fix it again.
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Now they've just made it worse. We've lost more people.
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The Lamanites are going to be even more vigilant and more more
32:21
vengeful against us as as as slave taskmasters.
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So what should we do? Verse 12.
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Yeah, they went again, even the third time and suffered in the
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like manner. And those that were not slain
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returned again to the city of Nephi.
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I think you see the point. There really is no way to
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deliver themselves out of bondage.
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And every time they tried to deliver themselves back to our
32:49
covenant connection. When I try to do it all alone,
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When I say God, I got this one today.
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No need for your help. I'll.
32:56
I'll let you know when I need you again.
32:58
But I'm good. I got it.
32:59
Today all we do is make our existing problem not go away,
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but introduce more problems. We make our bondage worse in our
33:11
in our best efforts in our and our zeal for making it better,
33:15
we make it worse. Now you'll remember back in
33:18
Mosiah chapter 12, when a Benedict came to them after two
33:21
years, all of Noah's people were in worse iniquity.
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He told them You will be brought into bondage.
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And if after being driven and smitten, you still choose not to
33:33
repent and be humble, then God will utterly destroy you from
33:36
off the face of the earth. Limb High's People is working
33:40
their way towards fulfilling that prophecy.
33:43
Gratefully. They didn't get there.
33:46
For many of the people they they end up getting killed in these
33:49
efforts. But the remainder you'll notice
33:52
in verse 13 they finally humbled themselves and submitted to the
33:55
Lamanite saying, OK, well we're not going to try that ever
33:58
again. We've had three fails in these
34:02
attempts. And then look closely at verse
34:04
14. There comes a time when
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hopefully these people hit rock bottom bottom of the barrel, and
34:11
they realize verse 14 They did humble themselves even in the
34:16
depths of humility, and they did cry mightily to God.
34:20
Yet even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he
34:24
would deliver them out of their afflictions.
34:28
That verse right there, 14, is worth studying over and over and
34:35
over again in the latter days, for individuals and for families
34:39
and for leaders. How do we turn our hearts to
34:43
God, and how do we completely swallow up our will in His and
34:48
cry mightily to him that he would deliver us from bondage?
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I find it interesting that it's at that point where Mormon
34:57
throws in verse 15. Now the Lord was slow to hear
35:00
their cry because of their iniquities.
35:03
Nevertheless, the Lord did hear their cries and began to soften
35:09
the hearts of the Lamanites that they began to ease their
35:12
burdens. Yet the Lord did not see fit to
35:15
deliver them out of bondage. Many of you have loved ones.
35:21
Maybe it's you yourself who've struggled with past addictions
35:25
or or layers of bondage to to certain behaviours or substances
35:30
or struggles of any kind, where these people may have to wrestle
35:35
with some of these things for a long time, but the Lord did hear
35:40
their cry. That's the key is now they're no
35:44
longer going to be wrestling with these struggles alone.
35:46
Doesn't mean they're going to be perfect, doesn't mean they're
35:48
never going to mess up again. It means they're not struggling
35:51
alone. They have the Lord with them.
35:54
So it's at that point that God inspires a group in Zarahemla to
36:01
start inquiring. So up in Zarahemla on our map,
36:05
we have King Mosiah, who is King Benjamin's son, who has a man
36:10
named Ammon come to him and say, hey, what about those people,
36:14
our relatives, they left like 80 years ago and went back to the
36:18
land of Nephi, and nobody's heard anything from them.
36:20
Can we go and check on them? And so Ammon, along with fifteen
36:24
other strong men, leave Zarahemla here in the north on
36:28
the map. They go South to a place that is
36:32
clearly not friendly for Nephites to help release this
36:36
group of Nephites from bondage to bring them back to the safety
36:40
of Zarahemla looks like a a symbolic overlay, potentially of
36:45
the plan of salvation of of Jesus's whole mission.
36:49
With Ammon being a type or shadow of Christ with 15 strong
36:52
men who come down so to speak. And their whole mission is to
36:57
try to help people get out of bondage and to bring them safely
36:59
home. I wonder if there's anything
37:01
there that we could apply in in the latter days, Right now,
37:05
Limhai's group with the help of the Lord alone, because they
37:11
couldn't do it themselves. God sends the help that they
37:15
didn't have themselves. They're inspired to get the
37:18
Lamanite guards drunk. They then flee.
37:21
The Lamanite guards wake up the next morning, start chasing
37:24
them, and they get a day into this chase.
37:27
And they get lost. Like, so lost that they not only
37:31
don't know where the people of Lemhi went, but they don't even
37:34
know where they came from. They can't figure out how to
37:36
even get back home to the city of Nephi or or Shimlan or
37:42
wherever they've come from. There they are, totally lost.
37:46
And so Lemhi's group is being led on this map all the way back
37:51
to Zarahemla, and this Lamanite army is wandering for days in
37:56
the wilderness. And lo and behold, they come
37:58
across this group that they didn't know was out there,
38:01
Amylon, that we didn't even talk about in this lesson back in
38:04
chapter 20. Then they wander and on the map
38:08
they find this city, Helum. Now we enter this contrast with
38:14
Alma's group. Look at chapter 23, verse 20.
38:18
And it came to pass that they the people of Alma and Helum,
38:22
they did multiply and prosper exceedingly in the land of
38:25
Helum, and they built a city which they called the city of
38:29
Helum, or Helum in this case. So 24 years of prospering, of
38:37
peace, of growing. They established a Covenant
38:41
connection with God 24 years ago.
38:43
By the time this army comes out of the wilderness, they've been
38:46
having a wonderful time compared to their neighbors who didn't
38:53
come and make that covenant 24 years ago, who have been in this
38:55
bondage that's been getting worse and worse and worse for 24
38:58
years before they finally got released.
39:00
So you'll see the contrast in Alma's group here.
39:04
Look at verse 21. Nevertheless, the Lord sees fit
39:08
to chasten his people. Yeah, He trieth their patience
39:12
and their faith. This is one of the reasons why
39:15
God is being put on trial by the world is because life is hard
39:20
and a God who happens to also be our loving parent.
39:25
His whole goal isn't to try to make our life as easy as
39:27
possible. His goal is to try to help us to
39:31
grow into a level of perfection that can only come through
39:36
certain experiences. And so he trieth their patience
39:39
and their faith. Look at verse 22.
39:42
Nevertheless, so put greater emphasis on what comes next, not
39:46
the trials of my faith. So much as whosoever putteth his
39:50
trust in him, the same shall be lifted up at last day.
39:53
Yeah, And thus it was with his people.
39:56
So let's look at a couple of interesting phrases here about
39:59
the covenant path. We have the Abrahamic covenant,
40:02
which is God's promises to give us prosperity, priesthood,
40:07
posterity, if we keep the commandments, which is the
40:10
Mosaic covenant. So what we want to look at here
40:12
is God has offered all of us the Abrahamic promise, all of us, as
40:17
children of Abraham or adopted in now that's his obligations to
40:21
us, right? To offer us salvation.
40:24
To make it available. Mosaic covenant which was
40:28
revealed initially to Moses Mount Sinai.
40:30
It's been updated by modern day revelation, other prophets.
40:34
The basic phrase is if you keep my commandments you shall
40:36
prosper in the land. What happens here?
40:39
Well, they did not keep the commandments.
40:41
The people of Noah did not keep the commandments.
40:43
They did not prosper and as they tried to force themselves into
40:46
prosperity got worse and worse and worse.
40:49
Whereas the people of Alma they had actually had kept the
40:52
commandments they prospered in the land.
40:54
Now we learned as Tyler was talking about God's going to
40:57
give us trials. We cannot grow and develop
40:59
without trials. And believe me, I would rather
41:01
teach lessons about trials than actually having to do them.
41:05
But it is a reality. The key phrase of the Abrahamic
41:09
covenant is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
41:11
And here's one of the places in the Book of Mormon that shows up
41:14
right here in Mosiah, chapter 23, verse 23, and actually the
41:18
verse before we read the word trust, we put our trust in God
41:23
and Abrahamic covenant. And this phrase is all about we
41:25
can trust God and if so, we'll be able to prosper.
41:29
Again, it says, and this is Mormon speaking, I will show
41:32
unto you that they were brought into bondage and none could
41:35
deliver them. There's no way out.
41:38
None could deliver them. But the Lord, their God, Yeah,
41:41
even the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
41:44
Meaning this is the God of deliverance.
41:47
This is the God you can trust. This is the same God that took
41:50
the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage.
41:53
So wherever you are in your life, if you feel like you're
41:57
stuck, just know you can trust God.
42:00
He will be faithful to His covenant to deliver you.
42:04
As you continue to pursue keeping the commandments, you do
42:08
have the promise that you will be able to prosper in the land.
42:11
So now let's watch this unfold with these people.
42:15
It's fascinating to compare and contrast what happened in
42:20
chapters 21 and 22 with what's happening with this group.
42:24
So 23 is setting up this whole foundation for them being
42:28
brought into bondage. And some of you might be
42:31
wondering, why is this happening?
42:32
Well remember back in chapter 12 a Bennett, I promised all of
42:36
King Noah's people and these guys were in that category as
42:39
well. You're all going to be brought
42:41
into bondage, and for some reason God doesn't let his
42:46
prophet's words go unfulfilled. And so even though they've made
42:51
a covenant 24 years ago for for some reason known to God, and I
42:54
think it's tied in here with verse 21, they will be brought
42:58
into bondage. But it doesn't mean the bondage
43:01
has to be miserable and lengthy and drawn out.
43:06
So let's look at this chapter 23.
43:09
They haven't even been brought into bondage yet.
43:12
The Lamanites and and Amylon and his group haven't even made it
43:16
into the city of Hilum yet. The people saw them coming, fled
43:20
out of the fields, came into the city, came to their prophet Alma
43:26
and said Alma, what do we do? It took these people 24 years to
43:31
finally get humble. These people started humble.
43:35
They go to the to to their prophet and say what would the
43:39
Lord have us do? And notice chapter 23, verse 27.
43:44
Alma went forth and stood among them and exhorted them that they
43:48
should not be frightened, but that they should remember the
43:50
Lord their God and he would deliver them.
43:52
I see this repeated over and over and over again with
43:56
President Nelson today. That's what he does with us
43:58
today. That's what the Prophet Sears
44:00
and revelators and other leaders of our church are doing.
44:03
They're hushing our fears, not to say, oh nothing bad's
44:06
happening. They're acknowledging the bad
44:08
things that are happening, but they're pointing us to God.
44:12
That's the power of what a prophet does.
44:14
Look at verse 28. Therefore they hushed their
44:18
fears and began to cry unto the Lord that he would soften the
44:22
hearts of the Lamanites and that they would spare them and their
44:24
wives and their children. They're turning to the God of
44:27
Deliverance even before they're in bondage.
44:29
They know it's coming. They know troubling times and
44:33
and chaotic issues are going to arise in the very near future.
44:37
And they're already turning to God.
44:39
There's a lot to like about this pattern here.
44:41
Amulon and this army come in, and they now have Alma's people
44:46
in bondage. Look at chapter 24.
44:48
Look at verse 10. It came to pass that so great
44:50
were their afflictions that they began to cry mightily to God.
44:54
This isn't fun. They don't like what's going on,
44:57
and there are things happening in the world today that people
44:59
don't like. It's not fun.
45:01
It feels oppressive and and difficult, and they're crying
45:06
mightily to God. So then Amylon commands them not
45:10
to pray out loud, so they just cry in their hearts.
45:13
Now look at verse 1314 and 15. If you want an incredible
45:21
experience, sit down with your family or loved ones, or with
45:26
yourself and the Holy Ghost with a journal in front of you.
45:29
And study slowly and repeatedly and carefully.
45:33
Verse 1314 and 15 and see if Mormon didn't encapsulate the
45:40
goodness of God in your life. I could share so many stories
45:46
about things that have happened in my life where I've
45:50
experienced this, this incredible phenomenon of having
45:56
burdens placed upon my shoulders that should have crushed me.
46:00
But somehow I'm able to stand up under the weight.
46:03
And not just stand up under the weight, but stand up under the
46:06
weight with with joy and realizing this should be
46:09
painful. This should be heavy and hard,
46:12
but it's OK because I've got the Lord on my side and he's the one
46:17
who's strengthening me. It's in his strength that I can
46:20
do all things. It's not on my own power alone.
46:24
So we would just encourage you to go really, really deep into
46:28
1314 and 15 and then verse 16. It came to pass that so great
46:32
was their faith and their patience that the voice of the
46:36
Lord came unto them again, saying, Be of good comfort, for
46:40
on the Morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.
46:44
You'll notice he didn't have to send anyone in from the outside
46:48
to to save them, because they relied on God from the inside to
46:54
save them from bondage. And so this whole group of
46:58
people ends up getting safely back to Zarahemla, just like
47:03
Limhai's group safely got back to Zarahemla at the end of these
47:08
stories, brothers and sisters, the point is, I can't do it
47:13
alone. I need to turn to God.
47:16
I can choose to suffer long and hard before I turn to God, or I
47:22
can choose to turn to God right away, or something in between.
47:25
But when I turn to God, he doesn't just take away my
47:28
problems, but he strengthens me in order to be brought to to
47:34
safety and wrapped in the arms of his love.
47:37
Some of you are familiar with the words of a of a song that
47:42
encapsulates how I feel as I study these chapters on on
47:46
bondage and and release from bondage.
47:49
Prone to wander Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.
47:57
Here's my heart, oh take and seal it.
48:01
Seal it for thy courts above. I want you to know that I know
48:05
that God is in his heavens. Yes, there are difficult things
48:09
going on in the world. But there is a prophet in Israel
48:13
today, and God is speaking to us through Him and through all of
48:17
His other chosen and appointed servants.
48:19
And if we turn to God in humility and rely on the words
48:24
that we're getting in the direction we're getting through
48:26
His chosen servants, I testify that we will be released from
48:31
bondage of all varieties, some of them soon, some of them late,
48:36
but we're going to become perfected through Christ in the
48:39
process either way. We love you guys.
48:41
Thank you for making time, to love the Lord, to spend time
48:45
learning, studying the gospel. We appreciate you watching this
48:49
video and we just encourage you during this time of your life.
48:54
Remember, the Lord loves you. He will deliver you.
48:56
And the things we've talked about that have been preserved
48:58
in the scriptures. They're for our day and they're
49:01
true. Spread light and goodness.
49:03
Know that you're loved.