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1 Nephi 1-5 | Scripture Study Insights with Tyler Griffin · Scripture Central

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Hello there, I'm Tyler Griffin and this is Scripture Study
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Insights by Scripture Central Today, first Nephi chapters one
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through 5. And the lens that we're going to
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use today as we explore these chapters and dive in is the
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perspective of questions and answers.
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You'll notice as you dive into the scriptures that there are a
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lot of questions and there are a lot of major assertions and
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everything in between. So some of the questions that
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can be asked are who, what, when, where, why, and how.
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So as we dive into these chapters, it's beautiful to
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watch the various characters in these stories, as they unfold,
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interact with these major questions.
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Who, what, when, where, why, and how.
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And you watch these shifts occur as questions arise, as they work
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through the process of faith and discipleship moving forward and
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get some of those questions answered.
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And you're going to see that they shift from one side to the
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other on a on a moving scale, a sliding scale.
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Each one. The other thing you'll notice is
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that rarely in scriptures do people start with all of their
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questions firmly over in the absolute knowledge category.
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It isn't a question they know the answer to all of those over
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here. That's very, very rare.
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Most of the time you'll know a few things and have a lot of
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questions. So one scripture study technique
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you can use as you immerse yourself in first Nephi one
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through 5 is to just read it a little slower and a little care
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more carefully and ponder the question what is clear to this
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person and what isn't clear to this person?
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And then watch what they do and we can learn lessons of
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discipleship from Nephi, from Lehi, from Soraya.
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We can learn lessons of how maybe not to respond in certain
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situations from Lehmann and Lemuel and others in the story
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like Laban. So for starters, look at the
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very very first verse I Nephi. Having been born of goodly
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parents, he knows a lot about who he is, about his parents and
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what his, his blessing of parentage is in this life.
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And because of that he was taught somewhat in all the
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learning of his father. So you notice now that by
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understanding The Who, what then gets answered.
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What should a good parent do? Teach children somewhat in all
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their learning. And then he says, having seen
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many afflictions in the course of my days, telling us that life
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hasn't been easy, Nevertheless, having been highly favored of
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the Lord, so he recognizes God's hand in his life, in spite of
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some of the struggles and the difficulties that he's faced.
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Yeah, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and
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the mysteries of God, therefore, I make a record of my proceeding
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in my days. For a more complete discussion
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of that first verse, you can refer back to our Come Follow Me
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Insights video from four years ago, where we dive a lot deeper
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into that verse for our purposes here.
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Turn the page over and you'll notice that Nephi begins telling
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his father's story about encountering God and having this
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vision. And it's beautiful to note that
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God makes very clear what Lehigh is supposed to do.
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He's supposed to go in and teach the people in Jerusalem that if
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they don't repent, they're going to be destroyed.
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What God doesn't give him is a long explanation of or a
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handbook of how to do it. So he goes in and he starts
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preaching to the people. They first mock him, and then he
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preaches of the coming of the Messiah, and now they want to
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kill him for blasphemy. And so now you can imagine all
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these questions in Lehigh's mind, in Soraya's mind, Why?
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Why would God have asked us to do that?
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Now his life is on the line. And I love how God answers some
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of those questions very quickly in chapter 2 by saying, Lehigh,
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I want you to take your family and leave, go, go out into the
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wilderness. And so we end up out in the
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wilderness in chapter 2. And it's a beautiful principle
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that you notice why he left. If you go to verse three of
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chapter 2, it says, And it came to pass, that he Speaking of
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Lehigh was obedient unto the word the Lord.
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Wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him.
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I think it's fascinating to note that Lehigh didn't have all of
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the answers. He didn't know all of the where.
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He didn't know all of the when. How long was this going to last?
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He didn't even know all of the why.
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He just knew what God asked him to do, and he focused on what he
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knew rather than putting his focus on what he didn't know.
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And being paralyzed by the ambiguity of the situation of I
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I need to to leave. They're trying to kill me, but
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why should I go there? How long is this going to take?
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Where we actually headed he went because he was obedient.
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Now contrast that for a moment to Laman and Lemuel.
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When you come over to verse 14 in chapter 2 it says It came to
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pass that my father did speak unto them in the valley of
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Lemuel with power, being filled with the the Spirit, until their
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frames did shake before him, and he did confound them that they
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durst not utter against him therefore or wherefore they did
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as he commanded them. You'll notice, brothers and
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sisters, that verse 14 ends with Laman and Lemuel doing what they
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were commanded to do, which is exactly how verse three ended.
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Lehigh did exactly what he was commanded to do, but the
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difference is what motivated that obedience.
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Lehigh obeyed because he was obedient to the to the word of
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the Lord. He was filled with an obedient
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spirit. Lehman and Lemuel obey because
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their frames are shaking and they're scared and their father
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has confounded them and they they basically have no other
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choice. So something to keep in mind as
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you read and study and dive deeper into each of these
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verses, many of which that we're skipping, is to look for what is
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the motivation behind the action?
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Why is this scripture character acting the way they're acting?
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Is it because they're focused on God or is it for worldly
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reasons? They have no choice or they're
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they're confounded. So something to consider.
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There is analyze not just scripture characters motivation
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for obedience or for why they're doing what they're doing, but to
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then translate that into our own life and say why am I doing what
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I'm doing? Why am I going to church?
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Am I doing it because I feel confounded to or out of duty or
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to be seen of people? Is it a socially acceptable
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thing to do? Is that the only reason I'm
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going or am I going out of a love for God is one of the
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reasons? One of the answers for my
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obedience is I know who God wants me to become, and I'm
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striving to build a connection and a relationship with Him.
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So I'm doing these things whether it's going to the temple
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or doing my ministering or serving in my calling or loving
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my neighbors serving my family out of a sense of love and
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obedience to God rather than earthly reasons.
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Now you get into chapter 3 and this whole concept of questions
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gets really, really fun because what happens is, is Father
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Lehigh brings his boys to his tent and says I've I've dreamed
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a dream and I've got a revelation and it's been made
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known to me that you 4 need to go back to Jerusalem.
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It's about 250 miles away through a really terrible desert
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area and you need to go and get the brass plates.
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So they knew pretty clearly what they needed to do.
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So on our scale over here of questions compared to what we
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know very firmly, you would put this question very clearly on
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that side of the board. What God didn't give them in
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chapter three was a fullness of the reasons why we got a few
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reasons. So we would maybe put that
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closer to the the knowledge side than the question side, but not
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fully over there yet. Maybe maybe put a period after
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the the question why rather than an exclamation mark.
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And here's the big one. What they didn't get was the
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how. So this one, if we were to move
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this scale, it would be clear over on this side.
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Again, the what is clear over on this side.
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We'll match it up here. And the why is probably closer
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to the middle ground somewhere. So here we are.
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We're headed to Jerusalem. We know what we're supposed to
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do, we somewhat know why, but we really don't know how.
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And as you study chapters 3 and four, notice what happens to
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their efforts to discover the how.
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And remember that God could have very easily given a handbook of
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instructions to Lehi to hand off to Nephi and Sam and Lehmann and
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Lemuel on exactly how to get the plates.
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But he didn't do that. There's something about the
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journey of discovery, the the struggle, the wrestle of going
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through life when you don't have all the answers.
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That's where growth comes. So you'll notice in chapter
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three they try two different ways to get the plates, 2
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techniques on the how and with each failure, the 1st and the
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2nd, it pushes this how Further and further to the left They're
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left with fewer and fewer resources.
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They sent layman in to ask. That didn't work.
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They've tried to trade for the plates with their gold, silver,
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and precious things. That didn't work, and now
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they're left with very little as far as bargaining power to get
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these plates. And I love something that Sister
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Patricia Holland shared on a couple of occasions, something
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along the lines of it's not faith if you have anything else
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but God that you can rely on. And I love chapter four of First
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Nephi because as Sister Holland shared, they have to rely on God
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and God alone in order to get these plates and figure out the
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final how. So the the critical trigger
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point here is in chapter 4, verse six.
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Notice after he leaves Lehmann and Lemuel and and Sam in The
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Cave. It's night.
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It's dark. He's going into the city.
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Here's what it says. And I was led by the Spirit not
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knowing beforehand the things which I should do.
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I love that faith from Nephi. That's when scripture study can
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become more real to us today, as we look at our own life and
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realize, wait, God changes not. He's treating us very similarly
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to the way that he treats people in antiquity in these ancient
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scriptures that he doesn't give us all the answers.
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He often gives you an impression of what he wants you to
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accomplish and then he lets you work through the process of
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discovering what the the outcome should be and how you're going
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to accomplish that thing which the Lord has commanded you.
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So look at verse seven starts with the word.
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Nevertheless, it basically means it's a cause counter effect.
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So what comes before is the cause, and what came before.
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That was he had no idea what to do, but he was led by the
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spirit. Nevertheless, then puts greater
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emphasis on what's coming after. Nevertheless, I went forth.
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I love that that Nephi didn't become paralyzed by what he
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didn't know or by by his questions.
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He moved forward, focused on what he did know, and he knew
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that God was going to provide a way.
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He just didn't know what it was going to look like or how that
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was going to happen, but he went forth.
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So in your own family, in your own life, in your own covenant,
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path, discipleship, what an amazing thing for all of us,
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individually and collectively to be able to copy and paste that
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phrase. Nevertheless, I went forth in
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the face of all this ambiguity. I went forth so that today, not
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tomorrow, not next week, not next year.
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Today we can move forward on the covenant path in greater faith
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in God, trusting the words that He's given us through the
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scriptures and through His living prophets, and to be more
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faithful disciples to Jesus Christ.
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And as He came forth, He comes near the House of Laban, and he
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sees Laban passed out on the ground and through the course of
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the next set of verses. What you find is that this
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question of how gets moved here when he gets the first
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instruction from the Spirit. And before you know it, the Lord
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brings the question how firmly over in the this is how you're
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going to do it, Which all of a sudden creates a whole new
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series of questions where we take the question of why now,
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and the why becomes this huge question for him on this side.
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Why do I need to kill Laban in order to get the plates?
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God, why can't you make this easier?
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I love watching as these questions keep moving, sliding
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across the the, the board of our of our minds, so to speak, as
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these stories unfold. And the amazing thing to me is
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that there doesn't ever seem to be a point in Nephi's life where
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all of a sudden, all of the questions, The Who, what, when,
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where, why and how all end up on this side of the board under the
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exclamation mark. Where all of a sudden all of his
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questions are answered, everything's very clear, and
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there's no more Challenger opposition.
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But rather every answer that he gets seems to be a conclusion to
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one phase of his journey on the covenant path of discipleship
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that then opens up another step at an even higher level of his
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discipleship, involving more questions.
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Often different questions, but questions nonetheless.
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Now if you turn over to chapter 5, you get the story of Soraya
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and Lehigh, both of which are going through some issues here,
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struggling with some questions. Soraya, for instance, talks to
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Lehigh and says, Behold, thou hast LED us forth from the land
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of our inheritance, and my sons are no more, and we perish in
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the wilderness. Her mother's heart is breaking
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out there because those boys have not come home in the time
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frame that they should have have been able to return.
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And she now has some questions regarding the safety of her
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sons. And I love how Lehigh doesn't
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make her feel bad for what she's feeling.
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He reassures her questions with his assurances.
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He He tells her what he knows, rather than telling her what she
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should know or making her feel bad for what she's feeling.
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I love this, this principle here.
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Verse four, it came to pass that my father spake unto her,
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saying, I know that I'm a visionary man.
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For if I had not seen the things of God in a vision, I should not
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have known the goodness of God, but had tarried at Jerusalem and
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had perished with my brethren. So he's basically reassuring
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her. And then it says that in verse
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7, when we had returned to the tent of my father, behold, their
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joy was full and my mother was comforted.
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You'll notice all those questions of why are we here?
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And what what are we doing? Lehigh.
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All of those things that were firmly rooted in a in a serious
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question category for Soraya have now moved solidly over into
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the absolute knowledge. And look at how she describes
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that in verse 8. And she spake saying, Now I know
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of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee
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into the wilderness. And I also know of a surety that
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the Lord has protected my sons, and delivered them out of the
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hands of Laban, and given them power whereby they could
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accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them.
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And after this manner of language did she speak.
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I love that, because what that tells us, This is an insight
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that I learned from Camille, from Uncolson years ago.
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Her point was that up to this point, Soraya didn't know for
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herself why they were out here in the wilderness.
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She didn't know where they were going.
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She hadn't received any witness from God.
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She was moving forward on the word of her husband alone.
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And through this experience, God now makes it known to her and
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gives her her own witness, her own independent testimony that
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they are on God's errand and that they are doing what the
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Lord wants them to do. And that is going to bless this
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entire group. For the next 8 years and beyond,
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especially these eight years traveling through the
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wilderness, once we get Ishmael and his wife and his daughters
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and children out into the wilderness, they're going to be
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many opportunities for Soraya to share her witness of what she
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knows. Because she's been through this
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process of struggling with what she didn't know and moving
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forward in faith anyway. And so she will be able to
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comfort others as they work through that similar process at
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their own level, with their own questions and their own answers
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and the Lord's own timing. But she'll at least be able to
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comfort them and help them to move forward on that eight-year
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journey out to the sea when life is going to get really hard for
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them. In closing, brothers and
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sisters, the scriptures aren't just books of answers.
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They're books of the best questions ever asked as well.
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And if we spend time in our scripture study looking not just
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for answers, but looking for relevant questions and how both
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of those are interacting, and it's not always just A1 or the
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other. Sometimes it's a sliding scale,
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sometimes it's a degree of certainty, a degree of
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uncertainty and learning to grow in our knowledge, which as we
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see it, the hand of the Lord and the guidance of the Lord in in
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ancient scriptures. It makes it easier for us to see
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the hand of the Lord in our life today, guiding us in this
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journey of discovery as we move forward in faith.
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I love the words from the hymn. Lead kindly light.
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Lead kindly light amid the encircling gloom.
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Lead thou me on the night is dark and I am far from home.
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Lead thou me on. Keep thou my feet.
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I do not ask to see the distant scene.
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One step enough for me. It's my prayer for all of us
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that our scripture study will be exactly that, Illuminate even
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just one step. Occasionally you'll you'll have
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a view of the distant scene. But for most of us, most of the
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time, it's one step enough. That motivation to move forward
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with greater faith in the Savior Jesus Christ, and to trust him
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and to love him enough to be obedient and to go forth even
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when we don't have all the answers.
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And I leave that with you. In the sacred name of Jesus
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Christ, Amen, now that you're loved.
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This week in the Gospel Explorer you will find 3 pathways.
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The one on the left is a pathway about how we can increase our
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trust in God. Special emphasis is made within
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the pathway of trusting God in times of trials.
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The middle branch is a deeper study of agency and if you watch
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this pathway you will get a master course on agency.
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The right branch is a doctrinal pathway on how to be led by the
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Spirit, including several amazing talks by prophets and
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apostles on how to receive personal revelation from this
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branch. There are also some amazing
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insights and evidences about the slaying of Laban steal and
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sacrifices away from the temple. While some critics in the past
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have tried to use these inclusions in the Book of Mormon
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as evidence of fraudulent work, recent discoveries and
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scholarship have proven things to the contrary.
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So if you are interested, these supplemental videos and
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information may be of interest to you.
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Thank you again for using the Gospel Explorer, and we hope you
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become closer to your savior through a deeper study of Come
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Follow Me.