Latest / Scripture Central / 3 Nephi 27 - 4 Nephi | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited

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3 Nephi 27 - 4 Nephi | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited · Scripture Central

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Let's pretend like you're sitting in a fastened testimony
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meeting and somebody comes up to the the pulpit to bear their
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testimony. And at the end of their
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testimony they say, I know that the church is true.
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And then they finish and sit down.
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And then the next person comes up to the very same pulpit and
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they bear their testimony. At the very end they say,
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brothers and sisters, I know that the gospel is true.
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And then they sit down. So here's the question, is there
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a functional or a major difference between those two
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testimonies? If somebody says I know the
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church is true or I know the gospel is true, often the way we
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as common, common speech goes in the church, we sometimes
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interchange those two words and, and think that we're saying the
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same thing. When you open up the scriptures
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to 3rd Nephi 27, you're going to see this incredible chapter
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where the first half of the chapter is all about the Church
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of Jesus Christ and the second-half of the chapter is
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all about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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And he very, very clearly shows their, their uniquely
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complementary differences, how they work together for him to
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fulfill all of his promises and to keep all the covenants which
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have been made with with us on the earth.
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So you'll notice when it begins, the disciples of Jesus in the
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new world, they have this question, they have this
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problem. What do we name the church?
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Jesus established this church among us, but we we don't have a
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name for it. So they're praying.
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All of a sudden the Lord appears, He came and stood in
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verse 2 in the midst of them, and he says, What will ye that I
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shall give unto you. By the way, just as a side note
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here, isn't it interesting how often God asks questions of
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people the answer to which God already knows?
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But there's something beautiful about him getting people to act,
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use their agency, and to ask before He just comes and gives
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them things that He already knows better than they do what
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they need. So here it is again.
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He's asking them this question and their answer is, well, we
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want to know the name whereby we shall call thy church because
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there are disputations among the people concerning the matter.
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So there have actually been arguments and maybe contentious
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debates back and forth. So notice what he says in verse
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5. Have they not read the
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Scriptures which say that you must take upon you the name of
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Christ, which is my name? For by this name shall ye be
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called at the last day. So when establishing his church,
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he's making a really big deal about the name being his own,
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that you've got to take upon you the name of Christ.
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Because name in Scripture, especially in in antiquity, is
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associated directly with power. This is the name or the power by
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which we do what we need to do moving forward.
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Now we need to be careful here because He doesn't end at this
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point. It's not just Oh well, anybody
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can set up any church they want and just as long as you call it
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the Church of Jesus Christ, then you're totally fine because he
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gives another clarification. Look in verse 8, what are the
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requirements for it to really truly be his, for him to own it?
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Look at verse 8. How be it my church?
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Save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in
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Moses's name, then it be Moses's church.
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Or if it be called in the name of a man, then it be the Church
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of a man. But if it be called in my name,
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then it is my church. If it's so, be that they are
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built upon my gospel. So we're going to talk about
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that in a in a few minutes. So he's saying it has to be
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called by my name and built on my gospel.
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So there's this foundation of the gospel.
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We have a church today that has kind of a long name.
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When I was younger and, and when I was a missionary down in
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Brazil, I, I used to think it a bit odd that we would go around
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and tell people the name of our church, the Church of Jesus
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Christ of Latter Day Saints and everybody else's church, it
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seemed was only, you know, a one word name or title.
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Very simple and ours took a whole breath to be able to say
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it. Next to verse 8, you may want to
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write a cross reference in your scriptures if you if you like
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annotating your scriptures right.
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DNC 115, verse four in the margin because this is where
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Jesus Christ affects officially named our church in the latter
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days. And you'll notice President
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Russell M Nelson has made a beautiful impact on the way that
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we refer to the church. That we no longer just call it
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by its nicknames of the LDS church or the Mormon church or
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the Mormons because it kind of flies in the face of everything
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Jesus is teaching his disciples here.
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If you go to section 115, this is the verse that President
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Nelson has quoted referring to this correction in how we refer
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to the church. It's here where the Lord says,
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and thus shall my church be called, and then He gives it its
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name. Let me just ask a really simple
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question. You ready?
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Whose church is it? Now, if I were a betting man, I
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would bet a lot of money that the vast majority of you said in
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your mind, well, Tyler, that's a dumb question.
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Everybody knows it's it's the Savior's church.
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And you would be right, but only partially.
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So look at the name. Let's dissect this for a second.
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You've got the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
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Let's look at it word for word. First word.
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Notice he didn't just call it a church, He called it the church
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using the direct article. the IT signifies a a singularity of to
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to 1° or another. And we'll talk more about that
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in a minute. So hold that thought, but this
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is the church. And then you'll notice of Jesus
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Christ in English. What form, what, what
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grammatical function does the word of perform in a sentence
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like this? One way to look at this would be
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it's showing ownership or possession.
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This is the Church of Jesus Christ.
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It belongs to Jesus Christ. So when I asked you, whose
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church is this, most people just instantaneously think, well,
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it's Jesus Christ's church. And you're right.
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The funny thing is, is look at the name.
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How many ofs are there in the name of the church?
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This is the one that a lot of people miss.
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The reality is it is the Church of Jesus Christ, but it's also
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the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
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He who is perfect opens up the ownership and makes it joint
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ownership. It's our church.
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It's not just his church. We're not outsiders coming in as
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as non residents in this church. It's joint ownership.
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Now, brothers and sisters, this, this is one of the most
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beautiful principles for me when I look at the organization, the
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global religion called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
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Day Saints. Because we live in a world, we
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live in a culture where organized religion and
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organizations in general are being looked at with very, very
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negative eyes, lots of scrutiny, finding all the fault, all the
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wrong, pointing out everything that's bad about them.
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And the interesting thing to me is, is this particular world
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organization, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
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Saints, is not your typical worldwide organization.
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There's some major differences going on here with this
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particular church. Let me show you what I mean.
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What you have is Jesus Christ with all of His perfection, with
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all of His power, with all of His capacity, with everything
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that you could ever want or need.
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He has it in abundance, in infinite proportions, and he who
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could do everything without any flaw.
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What does he do? He opens the door and invites in
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a whole bunch of people. We call them Saints, not because
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they're perfect, not because they're holy, but because of
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what they're striving to become, but because of a covenant that
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they've made with Him and they've combined with Him.
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So watch what happens. You open the doors in this
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organization to a whole bunch of people who struggle with some
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imperfections. We've got I, I should make this
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plural. We've got problems.
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Now let's just be really honest. Don't you think that the Lord
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Jesus Christ as a glorified, perfected God resurrected in
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heaven, couldn't he do a far better job of being the Bishop
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of our wards or the stake president, or for that matter,
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the prophet or the missionary or the ministering brother?
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Couldn't he give every lesson infinitely better than we give
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them? Couldn't he deliver the perfect
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sacrament talks every Sunday? And people would just keep
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coming in, The numbers would grow, and the Spirit would be
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enveloping. He could do everything
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perfectly, but what does he do? He turns it over to us.
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Because in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,
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it's not about a perfect, flawless performance.
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It's about growth. It's about covenant progression
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along the path that leads to becoming like Him.
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And you can't take little children and expect that if you
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don't let them stumble and fall and learn and grow and develop
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from their own experience and making mistakes, lots of trial
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and error, they'll never grow up to become what they were
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intended to become. So God gives us this
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organization, this safe space where we can be imperfect in
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certain ways. We can get things wrong even
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when in counsel with others, and we're doing the best we can and
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we get it wrong somehow. It's OK because we're learning
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from those. And the church is this living,
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breathing, growing entity of people, and we have Jesus Christ
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at the head who makes it OK for us to do our best and to
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struggle. The church then becomes this
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symbolic lens through which you can look in the mirror for
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yourself. God created the church, but just
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because he created the church and he gave it its agency and
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its ability to learn and develop, develop and figure out
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how to how to run its practices and and procedures, doesn't mean
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that God created you and then expected you instantaneously to
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be perfect. Just because he created you.
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He puts you in situations where you have to adapt, you have to
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learn, you have to develop over time, and that's what's
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happening with the Church of Jesus Christ.
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And brothers and sisters, in our day and age, it's beautiful to
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see how quickly things are coming that are helping us adapt
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collectively because he is at the head of this work.
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This is not the Church of our prophet.
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It's not the Church of Joseph Smith.
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It's not the Church of your Bishop or your stake president.
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It's the Church of Jesus Christ of then all of the collective
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group Latter Day Saints with prophets, seers and revelators
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at the head getting that direction for all of us.
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And then we do our best to move forward in spite of our
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imperfections. So it's the easiest thing in the
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world to look at an organization or to look at a group of people
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and and find faults, point out the flaws, say, well, that's
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really bad versus saying what is the overall goal?
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What are these people trying to do?
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What is their mission as a as an organization?
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So instead of pointing out the flaws, recognize, yeah, they're
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going to be some imperfections along the way, but the overall
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trajectory is there under the direction of Jesus Christ moving
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forward. And I love what Joseph Smith
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said about this. No unhallowed hand and stop the
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work from progressing. Why?
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Because he's at the head and he can change things in in an
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instant. He can change certain things to
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accelerate the work or turn it in a different direction.
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And that's wonderful. You'll notice that because of
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the skepticism of our age, of our culture and our society,
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it's so easy to point fingers of finding fault and negativity.
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Because of that, it's really easy for people to fall into
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this pattern of simply putting the burden of proof and the
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burden of, of moving forward on everybody else but themself.
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So it's this true false test. So you'll, you'll see this all
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the time, people saying, was Joseph Smith a true or a false
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prophet? Is the church true or is it
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false? Is the Book of Mormon true or
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false? Is President Nelson a true or a
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false prophet? Is my Bishop true or false?
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You get the idea. On and on and on and on it goes
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with these true, false tests that we put everything to.
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I'm just going to say it. The best true false test you can
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run is in the mirror. Because quite frankly, it
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doesn't matter if all 7.5 billion people on the planet get
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together and decide, yeah, the Book of Mormon's faults, or if
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all 7.5 billion say Joseph Smith is a false prophet because he
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did this and he said this and he acted in this way, and he didn't
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give credit to so and so on and on and on.
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That list goes of finding faults or the church's faults because
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they aren't doing enough of this and they're doing too much of
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this and they've totally left this out.
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They're imperfect, so they're faults.
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If all 7.5 billion people all get together and agree that all
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those things are false, what changes about the book or Joseph
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or our prophet or the Church? Those things don't change.
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The only thing that changes is us because of our belief and
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what we then do to act on that belief or unbelief.
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The best true false test, like I said, happens when you look in
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the mirror and say, are you true or are you false?
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Are you true to the truth that's been given to you, to the light
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and knowledge? Or you're going to spend your
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life pointing out the falseness or the errors that you perceive
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from your perspective? Are you going to spend that time
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tearing down other other people's claims?
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True happiness comes from being true to the truth that God has
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given us. And so I love the statement from
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Jesus. Know the truth and the truth
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will set you free. It's that idea of then be true
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to that moving forward, recognizing you're going to find
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some imperfections along the way, even within something that
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is established by God and created by God.
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Just like I can find imperfections in something that
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was created and established by God and somehow he's OK with
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that. He's OK with with progression
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and with development over time. So to summarize, when I go to
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church, I don't feel like the church is going to save me
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because I can't. I've only got 1 savior and he
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has a name, it's Jesus Christ. I go to the church for a an
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opportunity to connect not only with God, but with others who
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are striving to move forward on this covenant path, who are
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striving to learn and live the gospel of Jesus Christ more
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fully. So then the question comes, do I
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really need the church or can I just take the elements of the
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gospel and move forward on my own or with my family?
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So we finished talking about the church segment.
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He then shifts in verse 13 to speaking about his gospel.
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Behold, I have given unto you my gospel.
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Notice it's not just another gospel of many.
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This is my gospel. So we would translate that to
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say the gospel of, of there's that word again, Jesus Christ.
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And this is the gospel which I have given unto you.
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If you're marking your scriptures, you can take verse
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13 where he says, this is the gospel which I have given unto
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you, and you could circle it. Then if you go down to verse 21,
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notice he says, verily I say unto you, this is my gospel.
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If you circle, this is my gospel, this is the gospel.
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Connect those. You now have bookends, you have
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a beginning and an ending point, and between those you have Jesus
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himself giving you a definition saying this is it on a silver
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platter. This is my gospel.
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It's this ancient literary technique that modern biblical
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scholars have called inclusio, just means inclusion, basically,
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where they're making sure that it's very clear this is where it
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begins, this is where it ends, This is my gospel.
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This is my gospel so that you don't have to wonder what is or
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isn't contained in his definition.
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And this is the Savior Himself giving you the definition.
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This is worth taking some serious time on to analyze what
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is the gospel? Because if we understand what it
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is, then we'll better understand also what it isn't.
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Look closely. second-half of verse 13.
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This is the gospel which I have given unto you, that number one,
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I came into the world to do the will of the Father.
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So step one in the gospel is Jesus came to the world.
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He condescended to come down into the world to do God's will.
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He didn't come down to to have a vacation.
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The creative world's without number didn't come down to a
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resort. In fact, he wasn't even born in
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even remotely pleasant circumstances.
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So he came. Into the world to do the will of
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my father, because my father sent me.
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This is an important part of the gospel, that Jesus isn't doing
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things on his own or in isolation.
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He's fulfilling the purposes of God.
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Look at verse 14. And my father sent me that I
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might be lifted up upon the cross.
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That's interesting because sometimes in the church we have
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an aversion to talking about crucifixion in the cross
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experience. And yet in the Book of Mormon
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with Nephi back in, in second Nephi and here with Jesus
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himself, they're not afraid to talk about the cross and the
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crucifixion event as part of the atonement.
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And Jesus says God sent me, the Father sent me that I might be
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lifted up upon the cross. Notice that I might draw all men
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unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men, Even so should
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men be lifted up by my father. So he's got to be on the cross,
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lifted up by men to be slain, so that he could then lift all up
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in the last day the Father through the power of the Son, to
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be judged. Look at this, lifted up by the
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Father to stand before me to be judged of their works, whether
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they be good or whether they be evil.
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You ready for the irony so that you're not sitting there
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watching this thinking, Oh no, I should get really nervous and I
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should be really afraid and fearful and trembling because
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someday I'm going to be standing in front of the Savior to be
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judged of my works. The irony is this.
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Jesus was already judged of your works and he was found guilty
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and he was punished to the full extent of justice, to the full
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extent of law. He was already judged of your
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works and because of his love and his compassion and his
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kindness, he now has the capacity to turn to you in a
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judgement context and extend mercy.
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If you'll meet some terms of a new upgraded covenantal
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agreement that he's that he's made with you, that you couldn't
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pay this price to the Father that he did.
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He's already paid for it. It's all paid in full.
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He didn't leave anything hanging.
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It's all good. Now he turns to you and says, I
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did this for you. Now will you do a few things
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that I asked you to do in exchange?
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Look up verse 15 for this cause. Have I been lifted up?
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Therefore, according to the power of the Father, I will draw
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all men unto me, that they may be judged according to their
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works. There it is again.
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If you notice, we're talking about Christ's own definition of
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His gospel. What is His gospel He's telling
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you? And the first half, from verse
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13 through 15, you'll notice a pattern here.
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There's nothing that you and I did to help him with this.
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This is all him. And then he shifts the focus in
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16. And it shall come to pass that
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whoso repenteth, now he's talking to us.
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Now He brings us into his definition of the gospel in
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verse 16 through 21. So notice this transition 16 to
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21. We would be sorely tempted to
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say, oh, I get it. I, I understand.
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So all of this is Jesus's role and then all of this is my role.
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He does this, I do this, we come together, we're all good.
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That looks a little bit familiar, by the way.
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Christ's perfection and my imperfection coming together
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into one hole and his is infinite in proportion.
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My my imperfection is an infinite.
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Therefore Infinity swallows up my imperfection and we're we're
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good. It's perfect that looks good.
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There's only one, one major flaw with this mindset.
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Here's the flaw. I can't repent alone.
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I can't be baptized in my own name or on my own power or of my
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own accord. I can't endure to the end by
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myself. Brothers and sisters, Jesus did
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all of this without any help from you and me.
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I can't hope to do anything here without major help from Him.
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I can't do one step in in what is quote UN quote my part
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without without His enabling grace, without His power and
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calling upon his abilities to to get me through my parts of his
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gospel and my parts of the gospel are the old familiar
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Sunday school answers. Whoso repents and is baptized in
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my name shall be filled. Implication is Holy Ghost, gift
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of the Holy Ghost. And if he endureth to the end,
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behold him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day
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when I shall stand to judge the world?
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It's those people who he then turns to the Father.
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And as he says in Doctrine and Covenant, section 45, Father,
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behold the sufferings and the death of he who did no wrong.
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And then he advocates for us before the Father because we're
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willing to to do these things that He has asked us to do as
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our part of this gospel that he is trying to spread across the
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world. Verse 17 He that endureth not
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unto the end, the same as he that is also hewn down and cast
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in the fire from once they can no more return because of the
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justice of the Father. I need to pause here because
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some of you may be struggling with your own faith.
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Some of you may have children who are struggling with the
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faith or with addictions or with major, major issues of all types
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of varieties. This is not our role to be the
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judge and to determine when somebody is or is not enduring
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unto the end. We don't know all the factors.
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The only person who does know all of those issues and factors
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that each individual is facing, thankfully, he's the one who
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gets to do the judging, not us, when it comes to this.
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So look at verse 19. No unclean thing can enter into
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His Kingdom, therefore nothing enters into His rest, save it be
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those who have washed their garments in My blood, because of
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their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their
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faithfulness unto the end. And then He finishes it with the
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commandment. Repent all the ends of the earth
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and come unto Me and be baptized in my name, that you may be
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sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that you may
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stand spotless before Me at the last day.
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If you're struggling or a loved one struggling, brothers and
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sisters, the way to help is not to instill fear or or coercion.
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We keep loving, we keep hoping, we keep praying because for some
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there, there may be factors, there may be situations that
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people are born with that we don't know.
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We don't, we don't have all of that, and we don't know what God
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is going to continue to do with them in the Spirit worlds even
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after this life. I guess what I'm saying is I
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love this definition of the gospel because it leaves all of
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the responsibility for judgment in the hands of the Lord, but it
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gives us some things that we can actually do.
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And by the way, we're not going to do them perfectly.
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We're not going to repent perfectly.
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We're not going to have faith perfectly.
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We're not going to endure perfectly, but we combine our
29:02
imperfection with his perfection.
29:03
That's what the entire gospel of Jesus Christ is about.
29:08
It's bringing everything that I have, everything that I am,
29:12
everything that I ever hoped to be and placing it on the altar
29:16
and saying, Lord, thou knowest my strengths and my struggles
29:20
better than I do, but I give them all to thee.
29:23
I have a lot of questions, and I'm not going to let those
29:28
questions about the church or about the Book of Mormon or the
29:32
gospel get in the way of what I do know.
29:36
As I move forward in this process of trying to combine my
29:42
life with my Savior, where I take all of my imperfections and
29:48
I say, Lord, will you have me? Will will you own me?
29:52
Will you take me under your wing, so to speak, and claim me
29:56
as your own, because I want to be thy people and I want thee to
30:01
be my God as I move forward? That, brothers and sisters, is
30:05
what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the
30:09
Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about.
30:12
It's not about a flawless performance.
30:15
It's not about never messing up or never falling short or never
30:19
offending or always getting it right.
30:23
It's about learning to love the Lord and recognize His love for
30:30
us and respond appropriately as we continue to try to strengthen
30:35
that relationship. And when we've messed up, figure
30:37
out how to turn our heart and our mind more fully to Him.
30:42
I just hope you feel the love of the gospel, the love that we
30:45
have for the scriptures, and just how amazing God's plan is.
30:49
Let's talk for just a few more minutes about these two words
30:51
that Tyler has focused us on in 3rd Knee 527, that this chapter
30:56
really is focused on 2 core things, the Church of Jesus
31:00
Christ and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
31:03
And let's just talk briefly about what these words mean in
31:06
our language. It turns out the word church,
31:10
really beautiful word actually comes from an old phrase in
31:14
Greek that is the Lord's home. So our English word church
31:22
derives from an old Greek phrase.
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The Lord's home, the gospel comes also from old words.
31:29
That means the good story or the good message.
31:33
And what is that message? What is that story?
31:36
It is the story of salvation. What's the message that Jesus
31:39
provides? That he has done all things for
31:43
us to save us, if we'll choose to repent, be baptized, receive
31:47
the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end.
31:49
And by the way, isn't that phenomenally simple?
31:53
I look at the world we live in and there are systems everywhere
31:56
and many of them very complex. I've worked in business before
31:59
where we had like charts and graphs and actually entire
32:02
documentation for how to do things in the business,
32:04
sometimes into thousands of pages of instructions for how to
32:08
do things well. And what does God say?
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My message is this, trust me, Show your trust in me by having
32:16
faith, repenting of your sins and get them all washed clean
32:20
through the baptism, receive the Holy Ghost and just endure the
32:23
end and I will take you into my Kingdom and you'll be spotless.
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I mean, I have never known of any system, any organization,
32:32
anything anywhere that is that simple.
32:36
And the God of the universe wants to save every child that
32:39
he can. And actually he can save
32:42
everybody if we are willing. It all ultimately is our choice.
32:45
So that's the gospel. Let's think here again to the
32:49
word church, the Lord's home. He's inviting us into his home.
32:54
The home itself isn't salvation, but you might go to his home to
32:59
hear his stories, to hear about his life.
33:02
So again, the church itself isn't salvation, that is Jesus,
33:08
but it is where we can go to learn about salvation.
33:12
It's a place of safety. There is structure here.
33:15
You might find rules and policies, but they might change
33:18
from time to time. Any of us who've ever lived in a
33:20
home find that from time to time we update how we do things in
33:24
the home to better facilitate particular goals, to accomplish
33:28
some good story. And we should expect God's home
33:33
to have updates from time to time.
33:35
Maybe the furniture changes, or the walls, the painting on the
33:38
walls, or whatever it might be. We shouldn't lose our cool if
33:42
the church changes from time to time.
33:44
It's the Lord's home. But the message hasn't changed
33:48
throughout the history of God's work with people.
33:51
It is all about how He loves us and if we trust Him, He will
33:55
envelope us into His arms. As we conclude chapter 27, you
34:02
could you could almost look at this like an analogy.
34:05
It's almost as if the Church of Jesus Christ, the Latter Day
34:09
Saints, is a vehicle and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the
34:14
engine that drives that vehicle. It could also be seen as this is
34:20
like the university, but this is what gets taught at the
34:25
university and they're not in competition.
34:30
This is the means whereby God takes and spreads the gospel
34:36
with its teachings and its ordinances into the whole world
34:42
to be able to bless all of God's children because we are all we
34:46
all desperately need to to learn this good news, this good story,
34:50
this good message. How great the importance to make
34:53
these things known unto all the inhabitants of the earth.
34:57
That's what the church is there for, is to be the means, the
35:02
vehicle whereby we can share this glorious message and and
35:07
establish these opportunities for people to receive the saving
35:12
ordinances that the Lord has prepared for us to connect us
35:15
with him. Towards the end of chapter 27 in
35:19
verse 27, notice what he tells to his 12 apostles.
35:24
Know ye that ye shall be judges of this people according to the
35:27
judgement which I shall give unto you.
35:30
You'll notice he doesn't say you're going to be judges.
35:32
Good luck with that. He says, You're going to be
35:35
judges according to judgement, which I give unto you.
35:38
Our bishops, our state presidents, and our prophets,
35:41
seers and revelators. They are common judges in
35:43
Israel, but they don't just judge according to their own
35:47
whims. They seek God's direction.
35:51
According to the judgement which I shall give unto you, which
35:54
shall be just. Therefore what manner of men
35:57
ought you to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I
36:02
am. Brothers and sisters, that right
36:05
there is the overall message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and
36:11
it's the overall goal of the Church of Jesus Christ is to
36:14
help people to become like the Lord Jesus Christ.
36:19
It's not to learn gospel facts. It's not to win some Trivial
36:24
Pursuit about the Scripture game.
36:27
It's not so that you can get the praise and the glory of the
36:31
world. It's a very real mission to help
36:36
people learn about their Savior, have desires to come unto Him,
36:41
and to be perfected in Him so that we can be even as He is and
36:46
in a more gender inclusive way. We wouldn't say what manner of
36:50
men ought you to be because here He's talking to 12 men, 12
36:53
apostles. We would say what manner of
36:56
people or what manner of sons and daughters of God would the
37:01
Lord have us be even as He is. This perfect pattern for us now
37:07
you jump into chapter 28, which is where Jesus is going to
37:12
finally say farewell to the apostles.
37:16
And before he leaves, he basically gives them the
37:19
opportunity to say what what do you want?
37:22
Nine of them in verse two said, Well, when we've reached the age
37:26
of a man, we want to speedily come into thy Kingdom unto thee.
37:31
And you'll notice he says in verse three, Well, when you're
37:34
70 and two years old, then you shall come unto me in my
37:37
Kingdom, and with me ye shall find rest.
37:42
This is interesting. You'll come unto me in my
37:45
Kingdom and find rest you. 9 And then he turns to the three.
37:49
What do you want? Once again, Harry knows what
37:51
they want, but he's asking them, letting them ask, and they're a
37:55
bit nervous, a bit unsure of themselves, and none of them
37:58
really wants to be voiced for the group of three.
38:01
So he says, well, I know what you want.
38:03
I know your thoughts. Verse 6, You want the same thing
38:06
that John, my beloved apostle, wanted.
38:08
You want to stay here, You want to keep working on the earth.
38:12
Notice verse 8. You shall never endure the pains
38:15
of death, but when I shall come in my glory, you shall be
38:18
changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to
38:21
immortality, and then shall you be blessed in the Kingdom of my
38:25
father. The rest of 28 is stories about
38:28
those three knee fights and how people tried to destroy them and
38:31
kill them and that nothing works.
38:33
You can't destroy them. To me, brothers and sisters,
38:39
that part of the chapter is a lot more than just about three
38:43
men who can't be killed. It's about things that God has
38:48
ordained and empowered and infused with his mission, his
38:54
ability that you can't destroy them.
38:58
People try to tear down the Book Mormon.
39:01
They try to tear down different historical characters in the
39:04
church because of perceived imperfections based on a 21st
39:09
century cultural sensitivity, or they try to tear down all kinds
39:14
of things that God has set up. And the fact is, as you read
39:18
through 28, looking at these examples of the three Nephites,
39:21
I hope the words will echo in your mind.
39:23
No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing, just like
39:29
no unhallowed hand could destroy these these three disciples.
39:34
What God has ordained to move forward is going to move
39:37
forward, and we can't stop it. So chapter 29, and notice he
39:45
talks about when you see these sayings, when you see this book
39:50
coming forth, he's reiterating here the fact that Jesus pointed
39:56
out back in in 3rd Nephi chapter 20 and 21.
40:00
When you see the book coming forth, you can know the end is
40:06
going to be coming. We're in the latter days.
40:08
God is doing his work. He's fulfilling his covenant,
40:11
which he made to Abraham. Isaac and Jacob.
40:16
Let's return to the Old Testament to get a beautiful and
40:19
very empowering perspective on God's work, his covenants.
40:24
So 3529 is crucial to understand.
40:28
The modern day God is declaring that the Book of Mormon is a
40:33
witness. It's a sign that His covenant is
40:36
being fulfilled, that He remembers what He has
40:39
covenanted, as Tyler said to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, go
40:44
with me to Exodus chapter 2, verse 24.
40:47
The Israelites have now been an Egyptian bondage, terrible
40:52
groaning bondage. And here's what happens.
40:56
Exodus chapter 2, verse 24. And God heard their groaning of
41:01
the Israelites, and God remembered his covenant with
41:05
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
41:09
This is where we begin to see incredible and mighty acts of
41:14
God's miraculous saving power. So if you return back to the Old
41:19
Testament and look at the five books of Moses, which are called
41:22
the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
41:27
Deuteronomy. Those five books contain the
41:30
great deeds that God has done because of His covenant to save
41:36
His people. Those stories are preserved as
41:40
evidence to us of what God's character is.
41:44
So as we hear in 3rd Nephi 29 that God will remember his
41:47
covenant. And we wonder, well, what does
41:49
that even mean? Well, the Book of Mormon reveals
41:52
it and explains it. But if you want additional
41:55
evidence for God's character and what it means for Him to be a
41:57
covenant making and a covenant keeping God, you can just go
42:01
back to the Torah, the five books of Moses and the word
42:05
Torah means instruction, covenantal instruction, and be
42:08
reminded of all the mighty deeds of wonder and miracle that God
42:12
did to save His people in the difficulties that they found
42:17
themselves in. And as they turned to Him, they
42:20
found peace and prosperity. That is the covenant, and God
42:25
will remember it, and nobody can stop it.
42:28
Just like the mighty Pharaoh and the mighty Egyptian civilization
42:32
could not stand against God in all His power in our day, there
42:36
is nothing on this earth that can stand against God
42:39
remembering and fulfilling His covenants.
42:42
And those covenants are for you, you know.
42:44
What all of this discussion brings to my mind, to the to the
42:48
forefront of my mind, is God's attribute of love.
42:54
I don't know of any other situation where a person can be
43:00
so good, so perfect, so complete in in keeping their sight of a
43:06
bargain, looking from God's perspective.
43:10
And then there's me. I'll just speak for myself.
43:14
I am so flawed. I have so many struggles.
43:18
I'm so unfaithful to him in, in certain settings when I I do
43:22
things I know I shouldn't do, but I still do them.
43:25
But God loves me anyway. And he keeps coming back to a
43:30
covenant connection with me. He keeps extending mercy and
43:34
forgiveness. Brothers and sisters, I hope
43:37
you're not seeing in your mind's eye a God who is in heaven, who
43:42
is angry at you with folded arms across his chest and a furrowed
43:46
brow because you messed up again.
43:48
I hope you're hearing the voice of a Good Shepherd who's calling
43:52
after you saying I love you, I want to help you.
43:56
I know you have struggles. There are people who have
43:59
addictions. There are people who have
44:01
mental, physical, emotional issues going on.
44:05
And I hope as we've gone through these particular chapters that
44:09
you haven't felt beat up, but rather built up.
44:13
That you feel hope in this covenant that was made so long
44:17
ago by a God who is more powerful than all the world's
44:20
combined. That he, the God who holds
44:23
worlds without number in his hand, actually holds you in his
44:27
heart. He loves you, and he is your
44:30
Good Shepherd. He's your savior, and he's going
44:33
to keep working with you. And so my hope, our hope is that
44:38
we won't give up on this covenant path journey that
44:41
sometimes seems long, sometimes it seems impossibly hard that
44:46
we'll turn to him and move forward.
44:49
Now, chapter 30, the shortest chapter in the entire Book of
44:52
Mormon, 2 verses long. It's Mormon's inspired
44:57
invitation to the Gentiles of the latter day.
45:00
Notice he starts with Hearken. Oh, you Gentiles, which is more
45:04
than just here. It's to hear and to heed, to
45:08
obey, to follow, Hearken and hear the words of Jesus Christ,
45:12
the Son of the living God, which he has commanded me that I
45:15
should speak concerning you. For behold, he commandeth me
45:19
that I should write saying so in other words, this is Mormon
45:22
saying I'm writing by what you might call divine investiture of
45:25
authority. I'm I'm writing as if I were the
45:29
Savior himself. Here are his words.
45:31
Verse 2 turn. The Hebrew context of the word
45:35
repent is to turn. So you could replace that word
45:38
there with repent all you Gentiles, turn you Gentiles from
45:43
your wicked ways, and repent of your evil doings.
45:47
It's saying the same thing two different ways, which is a
45:52
beautiful Hebrew literary technique.
45:55
Repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and
45:59
of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your
46:02
idolatries, and of your murders and your priest crafts, and your
46:05
envyings and your stripes, and from all your wickedness and
46:07
abominations, and come unto me and be baptized in my name.
46:14
You notice the beautiful pattern here.
46:16
Based on what we've talked about with the Church and the Gospel.
46:19
We bring all of our imperfection and let that be swallowed up in
46:24
His perfection. How do we do that?
46:26
By entering that covenant with Him, beginning with our baptism,
46:31
that you may receive a remission of your sins and be filled with
46:35
the Holy Ghost, that you may be numbered with my people who are
46:39
of the House of Israel. There is room in this house for
46:44
all of the beloved children of our heavenly parents.
46:49
They want all of their children who are willing to come into the
46:53
Lord's house and to partake of His goodness and feast at His
46:59
table. Now we finish with 4th Nephi,
47:04
Brothers and sisters, we've spent the entire Book of Mormon
47:07
up to this point trying to get the people to a point where they
47:12
can become even as Jesus is. And now finally, we get there in
47:17
Fourth Nephi. We get the perfect society.
47:20
So we've had the UPS and the downs, the high points and the
47:23
low points, but now we built this perfect society and it's
47:30
going to last for 200 years of of perfection.
47:36
You'll notice that in verse one of Fourth Nephi, he tells you in
47:41
the 30 and 4th year that it passed away in the 30 and 5th
47:43
disciples of Jesus had formed a Church of Christ in all the
47:47
lands roundabout and as many as did come unto them and did truly
47:50
repent of their sins were baptized in the name of Jesus,
47:52
and they did also receive the Holy Ghost.
47:55
There's that second-half of the gospel of Jesus Christ
47:57
definition, right? Notice what happens in verse 230
48:03
and 60 are the people were all converted unto the Lord upon all
48:07
the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and
48:09
there was notice the very first thing he mentions after them.
48:13
Keeping these first principles and ordinances of the gospel.
48:16
There were no contentions and disputations among them and
48:21
every man did deal justly one with another.
48:23
There's a pattern in Fourth Nephi, because you're going to
48:27
find that more than any other attribute of this society,
48:33
Mormon mentions no contention. More than anything, four times
48:38
you're going to get the no contention issue in this perfect
48:41
society living in in our worlds today filled with various fights
48:48
and contentions over politics or sports or religion or beliefs or
48:54
practices or different organizations contending one
48:58
with another and fighting. It's interesting to watch the
49:01
pattern here with these Nephites and Lamanites who God has worked
49:07
with and now they become one. They become Zion for 200 years.
49:14
And the number one thing that's mentioned more than any other is
49:17
they stop fighting. They no longer contended with
49:20
each other. Notice verse 3 gives you more
49:22
characteristics. They had all things common.
49:24
There were no rich, no poor. There was number, bond, no free.
49:28
They were all made free and partakers of the heavenly gift.
49:32
And it talks about the great marvelous works that were
49:34
performed in verse 5. And then notice what happens
49:37
here we are in the latter day, surrounded with struggles and we
49:40
finally get to Zion and we think, OK, Mormon.
49:44
Now we've we've slogged our way through all these wars and
49:49
contentions and secret combinations and wickedness and
49:53
whoredoms and iniquities and all this bad stuff.
49:55
We finally have a perfect society.
49:58
Now we can relax. Just pour it on us.
50:02
Now watch what he does. Verse 6.
50:04
Thus did the 30 and 8th year pass away, and also the 30 and
50:07
9th and 40 and 1st and 40 and 2nd and yeah, even until 40 and
50:11
9 years had passed away. And also the 50 and 1st and the
50:13
50 and second. Yeah, even until the 50 and 9
50:15
years had passed away. Excuse me, brothers and sisters,
50:19
we just covered 21 years. And he didn't tell you anything
50:24
new he said? Yeah.
50:25
Everything that you saw in verse 3-4 and five.
50:28
Yeah, it continued 21 years, 21 years.
50:32
We just covered the same rough period of time as the war
50:37
chapters. That covered 22 years from Alma
50:40
43 through 63. Wait a minute.
50:44
He spent all of that space in our Book of Mormon covering just
50:48
one year more than what you got in verse 6.
50:52
Oh, and by the way, you think verse 6 is good?
50:54
Turn the page. Overlook at verse 14.
50:56
It came to pass through the 70 and 1st year passed away, and
50:58
also the 70 and 2nd year, and then fine until the 70 and 9th
51:01
year passed away. Yeah, even until 100 years had
51:03
passed away. You just covered 29 years and he
51:07
didn't tell you anything. Isn't it fascinating that we
51:11
finally get to the perfect part of our society and Mormon gives
51:15
you 1234 pages. That's it.
51:21
And the pages aren't devoted to what it's like to be a disciple
51:26
in a perfect society. He spends most of the time
51:30
talking about the rise of Zion, what it what they did to get
51:36
here. And then the second-half of 4th
51:39
Nephi is the steps that they followed to lose Zion.
51:45
But he doesn't give you much here.
51:47
So as you study through all of this beautiful book, 4th Nephi,
51:52
this one chapter book, mark the steps that it took them to get
51:59
to Zion and then pay attention to and maybe mark the things
52:03
that cause them to lose Zion. And here's the cool thing.
52:07
We don't have to wait for the Millennium.
52:10
We don't have to wait for the collective group to build Zion.
52:14
We can take the steps required as an individual, as a couple,
52:21
as a family, as a ward, as a stake, as a church, as a
52:25
community. We can take these same steps to
52:29
seek for that oneness. It's not sameness.
52:32
You're not going to be the same, but you can be unified with
52:37
people around you and to avoid these steps that cause more
52:41
contention and disunity. Satan is all about separating
52:45
us. Christ is all about bringing us
52:47
together. To be one at one meant it's
52:50
everything he's trying to do is to bring us together.
52:53
We love you, we love your love for the Lord, your love for the
52:56
gospel. It's inspiring to us.
52:59
And we hope you feel deep encouragement as you read the
53:01
scriptures and hear these messages, that this is for all
53:06
of us, that we can find ourselves at one with God and
53:11
experience Zion. Not that you're loved.