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1 Nephi 6-10 | Scripture Study Insights with Tyler Griffin · Scripture Central

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Hello there. I'm Tyler Griffin and this is
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Scripture Study Insights by Scripture Central.
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Today, first in ephi. Chapters 6.
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Through 10, I hope that as we we now are a couple of weeks into
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this. New Year of.
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Studying the book Mormon, my sincere hope is that this.
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Year will be your best year ever.
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Of studying this incredible. Book.
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That you will increasingly find answers to your questions.
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You'll increasingly find better questions to ask and then to
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seek those answers, as well as to feel more connected with the.
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Lord through your. Personal and family and ward or
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branch. Scripture study together.
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I wanted to begin today. This is a.
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Powerful set of verses or set of chapters rather.
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I want to begin with a quote from President Russell M Nelson.
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It's a famous saying that. That you've probably.
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Heard many times before, but it's extremely.
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Applicable to what? We're going to talk about today,
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he said. The.
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Joy, we feel, has little to do with the.
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Circumstances of our. Lives.
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And everything to do with the. Focus of our lives.
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So the thing I want. To to 0.
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In on today in our. Scripture study is.
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To find ways. To better focus our.
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Attention on the. Lord Jesus Christ.
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Not. Just to see.
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Him as a being that exists up in heaven, or that existed in
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antiquity, but. To be able to.
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Focus on him in a way that we can see and recognize and sense.
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His characteristic traits, his attributes, his perfected
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capacities, that we're all. Striving to become more like so
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as we dive into our scriptures, let's begin in.
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Chapter 6. In verse four, what you'll see
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is Nephi gives us a reason. For why he's.
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Going to this Great. Effort to record.
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His words on metal. Plates verse four for the.
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Fullness of mining intent is that I may persuade men to come
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unto the God of Abraham and the God.
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Of Isaac. And the God.
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Of Jacob. And be saved, There's no
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question where Nephi's focus. Is he's focused?
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On Jehovah or. For us, the Christ.
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And then in verse. Five, he says.
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Wherefore the things which are pleasing unto the.
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World I. Do not write but the things
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which are pleasing unto God, and unto those who are not.
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Of the world. I love that.
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Because here's Nephi saying. His focus the.
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Fullness of his intent is to point us.
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To Christ, to God. So that we can come unto him to
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be saved. And then he says, I'm not going
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to give you the things of the. World.
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He's not focused horizontally trying to get the the accolades.
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Or the the praise of the world. He's focused 100% on.
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What does God? Want.
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Which now brings us to chapter seven, another example of
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looking at focal points. What are people?
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Looking at what are they desiring, what what drives then
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their behaviors and their actions and their beliefs.
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They're sent back to Jerusalem again, the boys this time.
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To speak with. Ishmael and his family to come
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and join them. Look at verse 4.
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It came to pass that we went up unto the House of Ishmael, and
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we did gain favor in the sight of Ishmael, insomuch that we did
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speak unto him. The words of the Lord.
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You'll notice they're focusing on.
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What does Christ? Want what?
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What? Is what is the Lord's desire
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for. Ishmael's family not giving them
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all of the worldly reasons why it's a good idea for them to
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walk away from their house and there any precious things that
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they have and come out on this journey out in the wilderness,
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they're not focused on any of that.
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They're. Focused on the Lord and the.
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Result verse 5. It came to pass that the.
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Lord. Did soften the heart of Ishmael
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and also. His household.
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Insomuch that they took their journey with us down into the
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wilderness to the tent of our Father.
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So it's the. Lord, who does?
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The softening of the heart along the way.
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You get the brothers. In verse seven it came to pass.
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That they rebelled. And they were.
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Desirous to. Return unto the land of
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Jerusalem. So at this point, Lehmann and
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Lemuel and some of the family of Ishmael, they're not focused on
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What does God want for my? Life.
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They're focused. On what do I want?
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What will feel the best? For me, what is the most
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convenient for me and that is the.
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Full focal. Point for them.
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It's not on the Lord. Consequently, they want to go
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back to Jerusalem. So the rest.
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Of Chapter 7 is Nephi talking with them, reminding them of
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what God has done and what they ought to be focusing on.
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And by the time you get to the end, they're giving thanks to
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the Lord their God, and offering sacrifices and burnt offerings
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unto him. So they're repenting.
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Which now brings us to Chapter 8, that great vision that comes
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in the dream of Lehigh. So there are a million ways that
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you can study this dream and because it's so symbolically.
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Layered. You can find great meaning
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approaching this chapter. From a.
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Variety of angles and they're all going to benefit you to 1°
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or another. The one thing I wanted to
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mention as you. Prepare to study or if you.
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Ponder. This chapter further.
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Is to look. At each object.
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In this dream of Lehigh and analyze.
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What does it? Teach you about.
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Who Christ is because every good object.
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In this dream, if you let, it can become a lens through which
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you can better focus on and recognize the Lord.
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Jesus. Christ and not just recognize
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His existence again, but better recognize what kind of a being
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He is and how. He how he.
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Acts and we want to become more like him, so it gives.
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Us a better. Target to aim for.
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As his disciples. Moving forward to be able to
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implement more of those. Christ like attributes.
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And attitudes and behaviors into our own life so that they can
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become increasingly more a part of our own character as we
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become more fully converted unto him.
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Through the process. Of time.
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So realize. That in the in the dream it's
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not. Just great symbolic objects.
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They're also. Some detracting symbolic.
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Objects. Things that would.
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Seek to pull your focus away from Jesus Christ.
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Things that would. Try to thwart your progress
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towards. Becoming more like God and so.
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You get this. Beautiful contrast on the page.
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And if you're teaching, either in the home or in church, it
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would be interesting to have your children or your students
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to be able to identify whether an object is good and point you
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to Christ. Or whether it's.
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A. A negative object that would.
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Be a type. Or a shadow, even, of what the
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devil is trying to do to us. And some of these.
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Objects. That might be in the middle that
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it depends on how people interact with them, whether or
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not. They're a Christ like object for
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you or. A detracting.
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Object for you. Because some things aren't
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inherently. Good or evil it?
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Depends entirely on how you respond to them.
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So let's begin in verse. Four, he says.
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The thought I saw in my dream a dark and.
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Dreary wilderness, So. As we consider is it a?
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Good or a Christ like object? Or is it a bad object that is?
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Thwarting our progress or getting in the way of us.
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Coming unto Christ, some of you might read that verse four and
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say, well, the dark and dreary wilderness.
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Has to be bad because dark. And Dreary would keep us from
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coming. To Christ.
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For me, again, everybody can interpret.
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This however they like. But for me, I like putting the
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dark and dreary wilderness right in the middle of the tube.
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Because. It depends on how you interact
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with it. Sometimes a dark and dreary
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wilderness of going. Through a trial or a struggle or
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a. Long drawn out.
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Series of questions that you have that that you're.
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Living in the dark, but you're having to move forward in faith
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anyway. Some of those dark and dreary
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wildernesses of my own life have been the most productive and the
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most. Fruitful periods.
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Of my life when I haven't been living on a mountain.
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Peak of Revelation, but rather walking.
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Or rather. Slogging at times.
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Through the valley of the shadow of Death.
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Trying to figure things out and to hold on with the fingernails
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of faith. As as I trust the Lord.
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In that darkness, which is what I see going on here in Lehigh's.
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Case because the. Very Next thing that it mentions
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is verse five came to pass that I saw a man and he was dressed
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in a white robe. Now that man could represent
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many things for different people at different times in different
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situations, but for me, the overarching view of this man
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symbolically would be yet another example of a symbol
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pointing me. To Jesus Christ.
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This idea? That when I'm in a dark and
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dreary wilderness, Heavenly Father wants to make sure that
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those who have entered into a covenant with him.
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Are. Experiencing this special kind
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of love that President Nelson has talked about has said that
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we would have even a traveling companion.
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And in my mind, this man in the white robe is yet another
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symbol. Of Jesus Christ.
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Himself saying? I'll walk with you because you
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have to walk this path. To get from point A to point Z.
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But I'm going to make sure you don't walk it alone and then you
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get to the. Large and spacious.
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Field and then you get to verse 10, The tree.
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The fruit. And it's desirable to make one
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happy. All of these things, the tree.
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The fruit. They're all symbols.
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Of Jesus. Christ and different.
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Attributes of the. Kind of being that he is showing
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us this perfect example of how we can live and you'll notice.
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As Lehigh partakes of that fruit.
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His description in verse 12 it filled.
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My soul, with exceedingly great joy, he recognizes it for what
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it is. It's not just a fruit tree.
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It represents Jesus Christ. And when we partake of the.
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Fruits of Jesus Christ. 'S infinite atonement and in
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our. Life today that.
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Can even happen. Very literally every.
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Sunday, when we partake of the sacrament, is it filling us with
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exceedingly? Great joy.
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Or are we just eating a piece of?
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Bread and drinking a cup. Of water.
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Are we missing the point because we're looking at the symbol
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rather than what the symbol represents?
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The Lord Jesus Christ. Now in contrast to that.
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Look at verse. 13 As I cast my eyes round about the perhaps I
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might discover my family also. I beheld a river of water.
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And he doesn't recognize that this.
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River of water is filthy water. It's Nephi's vision later on.
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Where he describes. The the filthiness of that water
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and how it represents the depths and the bitterness.
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Of. Sin and of hell so.
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There's this river. That would be in opposition to
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the path. Notice in verse 19 he describes
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a little more about that. I beheld a rod of iron and it
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extended along the bank. Of the river.
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And LED to the. Tree by which I stood.
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Now let's pause and think about what we know and what we don't
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know. We know that the iron rod, this
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rod of iron extends along the bank.
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Of the river. But you also know that those who
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are on the straight and narrow path, verse 20 I.
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Also beheld a. Straight and narrow path which
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came along by the rod of iron even to the tree by.
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Which I stood. So what you have is you have
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this river of water. You have an iron rod that
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extends along the Bank of the river, and then you have a path
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on the other side of this flowing.
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River of water so you have. Something that represents the
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bitterness in the depths. Of hell, right?
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Next to something that represents the straightener,
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the. Straightener path that.
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Represents our covenant path, our our ability to connect with
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God and to return to to heaven, to to the presence of God, and
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to come unto Christ more fully. And they're side by side.
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And you've got the rod of iron on the Bank of.
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That river. Now you can.
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You can have all kinds of fun individually or.
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With a group of people. With your family exploring
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principles of the gospel in this vision.
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But one one question I would just throw out for consideration
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would be why would? God have put his.
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Path and the rod of iron right next to even that rod of iron on
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the bank. Of this river.
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That leads to the bitterness in the depths of hell.
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Why didn't he put it? If we've got such a large and.
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Spacious filled. Why not spread things out a
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little bit and and make it a little?
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Easier for disciples of Jesus. Christ on that covenant path to
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be able to move forward without the bitterness in the depths of
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hell being. Quite so close.
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To us on our journey forward, and by asking that question,
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what I'm assuming is, is that you and I have never spent any
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time in the river that you and I are.
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Are perfect if that river. Represents sin and the reality.
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Is is. I see it as a.
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Merciful grace filled act that God would.
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Put his. Rod of iron, right on the bank.
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Of that river because God. Knew that you and I would spend
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more time than we really ought to in that river and that we
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would need help getting out of. That river.
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And what's more, it's it's much better.
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Than just a rod of iron, if you look at what?
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This symbol of that iron rod could represent in John. 14
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verse 6. When he's speaking to his.
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Apostles at the Last Supper, Jesus tells.
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Them I am the way. The truth.
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And the life No man cometh unto the Father, but by me I love
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when you when you superimpose. Those 3 words.
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Into Lehigh's dream I am the way.
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That's a lot. Like the path?
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I am the truth. That's a lot like the Iron rod.
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The Word of God, the truth. That I can hold on to.
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It's firm, steadfast, immovable. And I am the life.
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I'm the Tree of Life, brothers and sisters.
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Jesus Christ is. Symbolically represented by the
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path. The rod.
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And the. Tree all of.
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It so that if I'm in sin, I'm not reaching out for.
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Some cold hard. Iron to grab onto.
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That's just a placeholding symbol.
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I'm actually reaching out for the almighty hand of the Son of
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God, who's mighty to save and willing to forgive and to help
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me get back on the covenant path.
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Regardless of how deep in that sin I've become.
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He'll work with me, He'll help me and in the rest of this.
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Chapter you. Get all of these different
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groups of. People.
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Engaging in various. Ways.
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With this path and the rod, and then you get more opposition in
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verse 23 you get mists of darkness.
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You get in verse 26 a great and spacious building with a whole
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bunch of people pointing fingers of scorn in a spirit or an
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attitude of mocking. And I love how.
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Lehigh tells us. That we heeded them, not we
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didn't pay attention. To the detractors.
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To the people who were mocking and pointing fingers of scorn at
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him, he simply moved. Forward.
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In faith focused on Christ, which is interesting, people
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generally adopt. And adapt that which they.
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Surround themselves with the most.
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How much of our time is spent in social media listening to the?
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Voices of the world. And the experts quote UN quote.
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Of the world. Versus listening.
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To the words of the Lord through the scriptures.
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And the living prophets. We shouldn't be surprised.
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If we spend too much time focusing on the great and
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spacious building, however well-intentioned, those people
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in the building may be making fun of or trying to tell us.
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How to live our life? It shouldn't shock.
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Us if over. Time we start adopting.
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Their philosophies, Their. Attitudes and even their
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behaviors. And it shouldn't surprise us
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that if we instead choose to fill our lives.
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Our ears. Our our eyes.
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Our hearts. With divine sources.
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With our focus. Being more centered on the Lord
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Jesus Christ that over time we're going to move.
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Closer and closer to Jesus Christ.
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And making better sense of our life through the the lenses of
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His gospel and His. Attributes and characteristics
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as they slowly. Become more a part.
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Of us. So you'll you'll also see in
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here. That you have.
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Forbidden paths. You have strange roads.
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So these mists of darkness, all these things that would.
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Seek to take our focus off of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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There is an opposition in all things.
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That shouldn't surprise. US The Test of mortality.
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Is how we. Respond to those oppositions as
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well as how we respond to that Clarion call.
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That the Savior gives us. To come unto him to finish the
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dream. I love.
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The group in verse 30. Because it tells.
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Us that they came forth, caught hold of the end of the rod of
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iron. They did press their way
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forward. Continually holding fast to the
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rod of iron that covenant connection with.
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Christ, it's a. Continual process.
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They're moving forward in faith. They're not driven by fear.
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They're not driven by other selfish motivations.
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They're continually holding fast to that rod as they come forth
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and then notice at the end it says they came.
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Forth they fell. Down and they partook of the.
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Fruit of the tree. This would have.
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To be a really low hanging. Tree if it's just a fruit tree,
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but if the tree is. Simply a symbolic.
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Placeholder for the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Then it would make a lot more sense that they would come
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forth, then fall down, and then. Partake of the fruit.
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That he as the. Tree of Life has to offer.
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Them. It's there at his feet, that
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they will partake of the fruit of his love.
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Of his mercy. And of his grace very.
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Similar to me sitting in a sacred meeting, or you sitting
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in a sacred meeting and having the emblems of his infinite
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atonement come by, we can either once again see them as a simple
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piece of bread and a cup. Of water or.
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Symbolically with our. Focus.
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Fixed on Jesus. Christ, look.
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Beyond the symbol of the bread and the water and actually see.
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God's love shed forth to us. In our life.
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Today. And to finish, let's jump over.
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To the very, very last. Chapter Chapter 10.
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Verse 17 here's. Nephi.
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He sat in that family home evening setting, if you will.
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He listened to Father. Lehi.
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Share the elements of his dream. Something happened inside of
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Nephi. It wasn't enough for Nephi to.
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Just take his his father's word. For it, let's see what we can
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learn from Nephi in verse 17. It came to pass that I Nephi.
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Having heard all. The words of my Father
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concerning the things which he saw in a vision, and also the
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things which he spake. By the power of the Holy Ghost.
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Which power he? Received by faith.
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On the Son of God and the Son of God was the Messiah who should
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come. Now here's what he does.
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I Nephi. Was desirous that.
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I might see and hear and know of these things by the power of the
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Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God, unto all those who
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diligently seek him as well in times of old, as in the times
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that he should manifest himself unto the children of men.
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That's my scripture study invitation to all of us that we
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don't. Just take Lehigh's word for.
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It that we sincerely seek. The Lord.
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'S inspiration and guidance in our own life to help us.
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See our. Place in these.
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Scripture stories. In these scripture symbols to
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help. Us focus our.
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Lives on the Lord. Jesus Christ.
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As we move forward and seek to emulate.
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Those attributes that we. Find and feel.
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Through our our. Deeper more.
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Devoted scripture study, especially this year.
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As we're studying the Book of Mormon in closing.
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I love the Lord. With all my.
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Heart every. Time I open these.
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Scriptures every single. Page.
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I'm looking for him and I'm looking for what he wants me to
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try to accomplish and learn and to become on.
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Every single page. So that I don't just read my
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scriptures. I use scriptures.
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As an opportunity to try to connect.
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With Christ more fully. And I leave that with you in the
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name. Of Jesus Christ.
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Amen. Know that you're loved.
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In this week of Gospel Explorer, we gain deeper insights into
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coming to Christ and partaking of the fruit of the Tree of
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Life. Our path on the left side takes
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us into a deeper study of the family, A Proclamation to the
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World. You can really dig into this
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topic with numerous videos and resources highlighting the words
24:43
of our modern prophets. On this important theme, The
24:46
Middle Path takes you on a journey of studying the power
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that God gives to us to overcome adversity by holding fasts to
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the Rod of Iron. You'll want to watch these
24:55
videos to gain strength as you go through your trials in
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opposition, especially if you feel that you are alone in your
25:01
desire to follow Christ. The Last Path will take you into
25:04
a study of faith and actively following the Lord.
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One branch will focus on how revelation helps us in making
25:11
faith filled decisions, while the other branch focuses on
25:14
developing the faith to act on that revelation.
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We hope that this resource continues to deepen your desire
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to come unto Christ and develop a closer relationship with Him.