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Helaman 1-6 | Scripture Study Insights with Tyler Griffin | A Come Follow Me Resource · Scripture Central

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Hello there, my name is Tyler Griffin.
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And I'm Cambria Griffin. And I'm Jenna Griffin.
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And this is Scripture study insights by Scripture Central
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today, Heelman chapters one through 6.
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And it's my exciting privilege and blessing to have two of my
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daughter's join me today in Heelman, and I am just thrilled
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to learn with them and from them as we go through these chapters.
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And just as a little disclaimer, I'm not sure what they're going
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to share. They have prepared some things
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together and I'm excited to learn with you and with them as
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we dive into these chapters now, is there anything before we
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start that sticks out in either of your minds as far as an
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overview of what these chapters taught you as you prepared for
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this? I mean, the first thing that
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comes to mind is just our family theme scripture, the Helaman
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512. I just love that one.
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I'm excited to read that. One, we'll, we'll spend a lot of
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time in chapter 5, I guess. So let's dive in.
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So Helaman chapter one opens up. Remember, we finished last week
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with the ending of the war chapters and, and we finally
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pushed out the Lamanites and, and we finalized everything
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there. And then there was a whole group
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of people that left in in Helma chapter 63.
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And now we open up Heelman chapter one with a bit of a
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problem and it starts in verse one with it.
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Behold, it came to pass in the commencement of the 40th year of
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the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.
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There began to be a serious difficulty among the people of
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the Nephites. So this chapter is kind of
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unique because previously we were putting our focus on
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troubles that kept coming to the Nephites by the Lamanites, and
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in this case, the problems in the house.
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It's among the Nephites because Pahoran, the chief judge, died
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and now there's a serious contention regarding who should
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fill the judgement seat. And we have the the three sons
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here. I think it's really interesting
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that in verse three and four, it's talking about Bohorn's
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three sons and how they're there's this contention and this
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division among the people now because they're all fighting for
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the position. And it's just interesting that
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they're ruining their relationships to have just the
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judgement. See, how many times in our lives
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are we? We want something so bad that
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we're willing to fight people for it.
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And it's like in my life with my siblings, sometimes I want
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control and I want to, I want it my way.
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And I found that those are the times when my relationship
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struggle with my siblings. That's interesting.
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When when an outcome becomes more important than a person,
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then then this connection that's a that's a a good caution.
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And the interesting thing is, relationships are eternal.
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Like you'll have those forever. Whereas a position in a
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judgement seat that only that's only lasts your life.
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God doesn't care too much about that.
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Nope. Yeah, he doesn't pay attention
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to our titles as much as we do on the earth.
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And yet if we follow President Nelson's advice, we'll think
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celestial. And it would change How many of
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these interactions would have taken place if these people had
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been thinking with that longer view.
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So the next thing that happens is that they they hold a vote
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and the vote comes in and the voice of the people, the
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majority select Pahoran, the son of Pahoran to be the next chief
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judge, which for Pakumeni, his brother, he says, OK, well I
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lost the vote. But Pyankai, the third brother
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mentioned he's not OK with losing the vote.
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So we get this variation on a pre mortal theme where the the
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devil, when he lost the voice of the people in heaven, what did
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he do? He started a war.
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And these these followers of Peyankai, they, they want him so
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badly to be the governor that they become exceedingly wroth.
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Those are words used to describe Lucifer with his countenance
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falling, getting angry and fighting.
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And so verse 8 says that he was rising up in rebellion, and so
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the voice of the people came, and he was condemned to death,
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for he had raised up in rebellion and sought to destroy
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the liberty of the people, which once again is exactly what
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Lucifer was trying to do in heaven, is destroy our agency,
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destroy our liberty, which is so sad.
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And so then we get our first introduction to the Gadiant and
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robbers, and Kishkuman comes to the judgement seat and secretly
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gets in and kills Pahoran while he's sitting on that judgement
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seat. Very very sad part of this
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story. Indeed, a verse I like in here,
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it says in verse 12, therefore Kishkuman was not known among
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the people of Nephi, for he was in disguise at the time that he
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murdered Pahoran. And I was just thinking about
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how that is applicable to our lives and thinking that often
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the devil will come to us in disguises, in ways that we don't
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expect. And I think sometimes for a lot
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of people, that will come in the form of social media or often to
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other people and just being sure that we're ready to see him as
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he is. Because I think often we expect
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to see the devil just as he is, Like, oh, that is a bad thing,
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and that's the devil. But he is very secret and comes
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in disguises. And we need to make sure that we
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are ready for him and so that we can.
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Yeah. So we can combat those once we
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recognize those devilish techniques and teachings and
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those ideas that get planted in our mind, that we can recognize
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them for what they are seeking to destroy us and and get rid of
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them, even though they're very cleverly disguised.
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That's a beautiful. Insight add on to that,
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sometimes it's really hard to recognize those disguises
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because like his purpose is to get to us.
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So he'll do very unexpected things.
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But just if we're close to Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ,
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then we can just have that like peace, knowing that the Jesus
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will not let us be tricked by the devil.
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Which I, I have a sense, Jenna, that we're going to bring this
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up again and again and again that if our, that, that if we're
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rooted in Christ, we can be surrounded by all of these bad
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things in our world today and be OK.
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We don't need to be afraid. We don't need to live our life
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in anxiety because of the Savior, the rock upon which
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we're built that we're going to spend some time on later on.
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So now you get this second part of the story, the second-half of
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chapter one. You'll notice the first half was
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all about this secret society and the secret band among the
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Nephites that comes in disguise and, and does this terrible deed
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of murdering the chief judge. At the same time, the devil is
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working with the Lamanites, the the, the traditional enemy
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across the border from these Nephites, and they do something
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that we've never seen in the Book of Mormon before.
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So you notice that internally we have this adjustment.
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The devil becomes more sneaky, more subtle, more secretive,
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more in disguise, right? And at the same time, he's
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working to get the Lamanites to become more bold, more brazen,
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more direct than ever before. So Tubeloth, the son of Ameron,
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who's now the king of the Lamanites, he has sent
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Choriantimer to the Nephite lands.
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And instead of fighting along the borders like they've done
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every other time in the Book of Mormon, he goes somehow through
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all of the outer cities and go straight to the capital city,
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right to the heart of the Nephites.
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And he attacks with his army and they they capture the city of
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Zerahemlah. And he kills Pecumeni, the next
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chief judge, who took the place of his brother Pahorn, who was
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slain by Kishkuman. We lose 2 chief judges in
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Chapter 11 internally, 1 externally, as you see the devil
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changing up how he's doing things.
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So you and I now live in the dispensation of the fullness of
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times. So we're getting more
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revelation, more temples, more missionaries, more success than
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ever before. But the fullness of times also
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seems to mean that the tares are growing side by side with the
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wheat, both internally and externally.
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And what we're seeing a repeat of this in our day today.
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I read in verse 18 it says, and it came to pass that because of
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so much contention and so much difficulty in the government,
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that they had not kept sufficient guards in the land of
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Zarahemla. For they had supposed that the
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Lamanites do not come into the heart of their lands to attack
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that great city, Zarahemla. And this first made me think
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that often in our lives, we're not prepared for the devil's
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attacks, kind of like I was talking about back in verse 12.
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And often we just don't expect him to come.
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And, and so we need to make sure that we are ready and have our
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armies lined up so that when the devil comes that we can fight
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him back. And ultimately that comes with
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having the Savior with us because we can do all things
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through Christ, which strengtheneth us.
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And I think that's important to remember.
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See, this is a this is a really important point.
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When is the best time for the Nephites to to prepare the
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defenses in Zarahemwa? Is it when they see Corantemer's
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army coming over the horizon? Or is it years before and, and
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sometimes we we wait for troubles to arise before we then
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turn heavenward. Probably many of you are
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familiar with with Elder Dieter F Uchtdorf's talk of when's the
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best time to plant a tree. Well, it's 20 years ago, and if
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that wasn't available then today.
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In other words, if you haven't already started to build the
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defense in the past, then right now is the best time to build
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those defenses, even if we don't see any immediate need.
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If you consider the Prophet sirs and revelators giving us the
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proclamation to the world back in 95 or the Living Christ
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document in 2000, when people weren't really attacking the
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character of Christ or the reality of Christ.
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It was given at a time where it can get established so that
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those prophets who see the future when there would be times
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when certain things would come under attack, we have our
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defenses built. It's it's a beautiful principle.
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To add on to that, when we build our defenses, we can't just
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build them and then leave them be.
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Like, OK, now we're defended because the devil is going to
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wait for that moment when we're not paying attention and we're
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focused on other things, and that's the time that he's going
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to attack in full force. So we need to constantly be
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building our fortress. What are some ways you wield
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your fortress? Gemma just by doing like all the
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the little primary answers like prayers, scripture study, going
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to the temple is a huge one. I found reading my patriarchal
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blessing kind of seeing who I am eternally really helps fight off
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the devil when he comes. That is so interesting.
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It gives you a sense of identity, and that is a huge
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defense against those temptations that that when they
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do come, you recognize them better for what they are and
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what they're trying to do. That's powerful.
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What about you? For me, going to the temple is
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honestly one of the main things, just the piece that I find
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there. And I think going to the temple
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helps me see myself as God sees me, gives me a little picture
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into who He sees that I can become, and helps me to remember
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that with Him I can do everything.
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I can fight off Satan. I can survive those hard days.
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Yeah, President Nelson and the the prophets, seers and
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revelators have given a few promises surrounding temple
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worship, haven't they? And, and you've experienced
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those. So now you have the capital city
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has fallen to Lamanites in the center of the land, first time
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ever in the history of the Bookworman, where we lose the
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city of Zahrahemlah to the Lamanites.
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Now we've lost them to King men, We've lost them to internal
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dissenters of the Nephites before and maybe the Mulakites,
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but never to the Lamanites. This is the first time.
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And so Mourinha, the son of Captain Moroni, is in charge of
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the the armies and he comes and gathers his forces and he he is
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able to repel those Lamanites. They're surrounded on all side
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because they chose to come to the center of the land.
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And now they're surrounded and a terrible battle is fought.
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So here in verse 28 it says, But when Moore and I ha had
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discovered this, he immediately sent forth Lehigh with an army
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round to head to them before they should come to the land
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bountiful. So when he saw the danger,
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instead of just waiting for it to come and being afraid, he
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immediately he sent his guards to start fortifying the land,
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which is something that can apply to our lives.
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When we see the devil's attacks and he's coming, we can't just
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sit back and be afraid and wait for him to come.
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We need to immediately call on God to come help us fight that
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battle. That's beautiful.
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We don't, we don't need to be afraid.
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If you have on the whole armour of God, you can stand, stand
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with confidence and with faith in the Lord that He will deliver
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you. So now there's a great battle
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fought, verse 32. Do you want to read that
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Cambria? Sure.
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And thus had Cory Antimore plunged the Lamanites into the
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midst of the Nephites, and so much that they were in the power
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of the Nephites, and he himself was slain, and the Lamanites did
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yield themselves into the hand of the Nephites.
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And so now the the victory is won and and many of you are
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thinking, OK, finally we beat the Lamanites.
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We never have to deal with that ever again, right?
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Just because you overcome 1 temptation from the devil today
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doesn't mean that he stops tempting you.
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Doesn't mean he doesn't try a different Ave. or a different
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angle. There is an opposition in all
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things. And so chapter 2 opens up with
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an empty judgement seat yet again.
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And look at the wording here in verse one.
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It came to pass in the 40 and second year of the reign of the
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judges, after Moore and I had established again peace between
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the Nephites and the Lamanites. Behold, there was no one to fill
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the judgement seat. Therefore, there began to be a
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contention again among the people concerning who should
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fill the judgement seat. It's an interesting thing,
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Jenny, you mentioned it earlier, this idea of sometimes we get so
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focused on, on power or ruling or a, a goal in this case, who,
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who's going to be the government leader that it becomes
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contentious. What an amazing thing it is in
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the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, when a
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prophet passes on, there's there's no contention among the
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members of the First Presidency. In the Quorum of the 12, there's
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no contention among the church members.
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The Lord has this beautiful established pattern.
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It's just neat to see that contrast between the way these
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people do it and often in our societies today in the world
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compared to the Lord's way of doing this.
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So now we see the exact same thing happening again as
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happened back in chapter one, Chapter 2.
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This sneaky group, this this subtle secret combination group,
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the Gadiant and robbers. They send Kishkuman once again
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to the judgement seat to destroy, in this case Heelman
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the next the next Chief Judge. So it's interesting how here in
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verse four, it introduces Gadiant and and it's showing
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exactly the same pattern, what he's doing here as what the
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devil did in heaven. For there was one Gadiantin, For
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he was exceedingly expert in many words and also in his craft
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to carry on the secret work of murder and of robbery.
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Therefore, he became the leader of the band of Kishkuman.
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It's interesting in the first right after that it says
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therefore he did flatter them. So all his followers are
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probably only following him because he's flattered them.
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But you think about it, when you get to the throne of God, God's
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not going to care about how many people you flattered into liking
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you. He knows the desires of our
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hearts and that's what like truly matters.
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You can't hide. You can't hide your desire from
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God. He knows exactly what what
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they're working towards. Which is such a contrast because
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the devil's whole goal was to get people to to follow him.
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He he wanted the most likes, He wanted control, He wanted all
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the glory, all the power, all of the recognition for himself,
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which is such a contrast from the Savior Jesus Christ who
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wanted to serve us, sacrifice himself for our benefit, in
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contrast to the devil sacrificing us for his benefit.
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And the Savior's bottom line was that the glory be the Father's
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forever, as He then raises us up to be joint heirs with Him
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eternally with the Father. The contrast could not be more
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astronomically different. And we see it playing out over
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and over and over again in scriptures.
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These variations on pre mortal themes of what the devil did and
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what the Savior did. And you and I were there.
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But this is our story playing out.
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And now here we are in a different, a changed
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battleground. We're not in heaven, we're on
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the earth. But it's the same battle.
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It's the same war between what the Lord's trying to do for us
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and what the devil's doing against us.
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And we get to cast the deciding vote.
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It's kind of kind of significant to to recognize that it's still
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going on, but we're still living in this war.
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So for these next verses, let's use the let's use the internal
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map for a moment. So you can see here that there
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are a great many people who Nephites living in the land of
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Zarahemla says in verse three, who departed out of the land of
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Zarahemla and went forth unto the land northward to inherit
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the land in so much that they came to large bodies of water
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and many rivers. And then it goes on verse five,
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it says, yeah, and even they did spread forth into all parts of
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the land, into whatever parts it had not been rendered desolate
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and without timber because of the many inhabitants who had
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before inherited the land. So they go exceedingly far
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northward and then they spread out in all parts.
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And we don't we don't follow their story because we keep the
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record here in Zarahemlah and a little bit into the the lower
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parts of the land northward. But these people are spreading
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throughout all the land. Something that stuck out to me
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is in verse seven it says and there being but little timber
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upon the face of the land. Nevertheless the people who went
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forth became exceedingly expert in the workings of cement.
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Therefore they did build houses of cement in which they did
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dwell. And I was thinking about this.
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I thought, what are the things that God has given us to work
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with in our life that we need to become expert in, whether that
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be like personality and character traits or whether that
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be just talents and skills that. He wants us to develop, develop.
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Cambria, that's a really insightful comment because how
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often do you and I today will get frustrated because we'll try
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to, to build something or to accomplish something or to do
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something that somebody else might be really gifted at doing.
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And we feel we, we, we end up comparing ourselves to them.
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What? What's the famous phrase
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comparison? Is the thief of joy.
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Yeah. And so we may not have a lot of
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expertise with working cement, but we might be really good
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worth working with timber. And I love this because these
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people show that they no longer have timber.
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So they had to learn to develop this new ability working with
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cement that they didn't have to do before.
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And so it's this adaptability of the human spirit to say, OK,
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what do I have available to me? I'm going to, I'm going to work
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with that and and build the best I can with whatever it is that
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the Lord has provided with me right now.
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My thought goes right along with that.
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So it says there was little timber, but they did have the
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cement. And this is an analogy that mom
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used a lot, and it really helps me.
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It's kind of like a cute little analogy, but it has really
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blessed my life. If we're going on a vacation and
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Cambria is going to the North Pole and I'm going to South
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America, I'm going to want like sunscreen and a sun hat in my
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suitcase where Cambria is going to want a winter coat.
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And so instead of looking at Cambridge suitcase, something
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like, oh, I wish I had the coat. Just be grateful that you have
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the things that you're going to need because a winter coat
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really wouldn't do me much good down in South America.
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You know, just being grateful that God has given us what we
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need to complete our journey and we're all headed back to heaven,
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but we're all going to be taking slightly different ways to get
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there. So just being grateful that
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knows this enough to give us the tools that we're going to need
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to succeed in the journey he sent us on.
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And then also in 10, it says. And it came to pass as timber
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was exceedingly scarce in the land northward.
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They did send forth much by the way of shipping.
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So instead of just thing like, Oh well, we don't have the
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timbre, they went to effort to get timbre so that they could
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like start honing skills in that direction as well.
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So in our lives, there are going to be things that we're going to
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need to really work on to develop and just having the
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patience to realize that God's given us each our strong suits,
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but he's going to help us develop all the other this ties.
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Into gifts of the Spirit, doesn't it?
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By way of shipping in this context would be things that we
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ask the Lord to send to us and to give to us and heaven.
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Heaven has the best shipping program when you when you seek
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for those gifts, those talents, those abilities, those
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blessings. God knows how to deliver good
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gifts for for those things that we need in our in our journeys.
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Beautiful insight. So this next part is where
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Mormon jumps in and he says in verse 14.
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But behold 100th part of the proceedings of this people.
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Yay, the account of the Lamanites and the Nephites and
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their wars and their and contentions and dissensions and
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their preaching. By the way, I'm going to pause
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here to point out the verse 14 is one sentence.
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It's, it would be considered really bad English.
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If you were to turn in this verse as one sentence to an
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English teacher today, they would, they would probably not
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give you a good grade. But if you look at it in a in a
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Hebrew and in an Egyptian context, which these people are
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living in and these plates are being written in Reformed
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Egyptian on the plates, they don't have punctuation.
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And this flows beautifully in those Semitic trains of thought.
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So as you look through there, look at all of the and there's
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and the Ands and all and and keeping in mind there was no
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punctuation on the plates. So they have to separate items
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in a list with with a comma. Knowing that isn't going to get
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you into heaven. And most of you didn't wake up
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this morning wondering about those Hebrewisms in the Book of
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Mormon. But it is kind of nice every
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once in a while to be able to point some of them out and
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recognize that this book was written by real people living
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thousands of years ago who lived in a real culture with real
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language. And gratefully, a lot of those
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language artifacts come through even in our English translation,
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as this book had been translated by the gift and power of God.
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Many of those are retained. And, and we get to see them.
24:28
It's it's the fingerprints of the authenticity of this book
24:34
all over these pages and, and it's beautiful something.
24:37
I liked in verse 20 is it said Helaman did fill the judgment
24:41
seat with justice and equity. Yeah, he did observe to keep the
24:45
statutes and the judgments and the commandments of God and he
24:48
did do that which was right in the sight of God continually.
24:51
And he did walk after the way ways of his Father in so much
24:55
that he did prosper in the land. The word specifically that I
24:58
like in here is it says. And he did do that which was
25:01
right in the sight of God continually.
25:04
And just remembering that our own lives when we're looking
25:06
around the things of the world's and what they would consider
25:11
doing right are not in line with what God often sees as right.
25:16
And so just making sure that we're doing things in the sight
25:19
of him and what he sees. And adding on to that, sometimes
25:23
by doing that, we're not going to fit in.
25:25
It's going to, as Cambria were saying, it's going to be, it's
25:27
going to be hard because we're going to be very different from
25:29
everybody around us. But just knowing, like, whose
25:32
approval do you want? Do you want the world's approval
25:34
or do you want Heavenly Father's approval?
25:36
Because what he thinks of us is far more important than what the
25:38
world thinks of us. Amen.
25:40
Amen to that, both of you. If if, by the way, if you were
25:45
to take verse 20 and remove the name Helaman and you just heard
25:50
the attributes, there's this person.
25:53
If, if you were to play Guess Who or who am I?
25:58
And you were to give these little descriptors, who is the
26:01
best person to fulfill all of those attributes that are listed
26:06
there in verse 20? Is it Helman Jesus Christ?
26:09
It's. Jesus Christ, The reason we like
26:11
Helaman so much is because Helaman reflects the Christ
26:16
like. That's that's what I want for my
26:19
life. I want to, I want to keep
26:22
getting closer and closer to the Savior so that every day, my
26:28
words, my hands, my actions, my character reflects more and more
26:35
of those Christ like attributes, just like Heelman did here.
26:38
So that Heelman became a lens whereby we could better
26:43
understand this Redeemer, the the rock of the Redeemer on
26:47
which we're going to try to build our faith because he we
26:51
can see signs of him all around us in in these people who have
26:56
devoted their life to him. That's that's a beautiful goal
26:59
for all of us, which now brings us down to verse 24.
27:03
It says, and it came to pass that in the same year there was
27:06
there was exceedingly great prosperity in the church and so
27:09
much that there were thousands who did join themselves unto the
27:13
church and were baptized unto repentance.
27:17
What a beautiful reminder in the midst of all the struggles that
27:22
God's work is still moving on. Just because the tares are
27:26
growing doesn't mean the wheats don't grow in this in this time
27:29
period. They're they're growing side by
27:31
side and you see 10s of thousands in verse 26 joining
27:37
the faith a little farther. Down in verse 27, it says thus
27:41
we see that the Lord God is merciful unto all who will in
27:44
the sincerity of their hearts call upon his holy name.
27:46
I love this verse because merciful is one of my favorite
27:50
attributes of of God. And just that He is merciful
27:53
unto all. You don't have to be perfect for
27:55
him to extend His mercy to you. And if we are sincere, the Lord
27:58
is going to bless us for that effort that we're putting forth.
28:01
That's beautiful. You know, I like the verse 28
28:04
right after that it says, yeah. Thus we see that the gate of
28:08
heaven is open unto all, even to those who will believe on the
28:12
name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.
28:15
I like the specific wording, all it's like an indication that
28:19
heaven is open to all of us who will come unto Jesus Christ and
28:22
be perfected in him. He's giving all of us the
28:25
opportunity to return to Him, to the gates of heaven.
28:27
But he's given us also our agency.
28:30
So we need to use our agency in a way that will allow us to
28:32
return to him. But he wants us.
28:34
He wants all of us to come back and in verse. 30 It says, and
28:38
land their souls, yeah, their immortal souls at the right hand
28:41
of God in the Kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham and
28:45
Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers to go, no
28:49
more out to go. No more out with if you think
28:54
celestial, if you think eternally, that is such a
28:58
powerful reminder that the decisions you and I make in this
29:02
life actually have this ability to bring us to the Lord where we
29:08
can then sit down with him and with all of these incredible
29:11
people who have gone before us. Not just to enjoy a moment in
29:15
the presence of God, but to dwell with God in in heaven,
29:20
that heavenly home where we will go no more out because we left
29:26
heaven once to come down here. And what an amazing thing to be
29:30
able to come home into His presence with that eternal
29:34
promise that we never need to leave it again.
29:37
And it came to pass. That there was peace and
29:39
exceedingly great joy in the remainder of the 40 and 9th
29:41
year. Yeah, and also there was
29:43
continual peace and great joy in the fifty 50th year of the reign
29:47
of the judges. Here he goes.
29:48
Again, continual peace, and he skipped a year there and then 33
29:53
and in the 50 and 1st year there was peace.
29:55
Also save it, were the pride which began to enter into the
29:58
church, not into the Church of God, but into the hearts of the
30:02
people who professed to belong to the Church of God.
30:06
That's an important clarifier that Mormon gave there, I think.
30:10
It's so important to separate the people who claim to be
30:15
members of the church but are actually tearing it down and the
30:18
Church of God like not to get frustrated with God's church
30:21
because of people so that now. Brings us to this this
30:25
discussion very quickly about the pride cycle that is going to
30:30
show up all over the place in the book of healmen and and the
30:33
beginning of third Nephite and especially culminate in the book
30:36
called Mormon and again in ether.
30:39
You've seen many lessons in your life probably that showcase the
30:45
pride cycle, and there are a lot of versions of it, and one isn't
30:49
better than the other. So we're just going to use one
30:51
here that starts at the top with peace and prosperity.
30:58
What is human nature? When you're prospering, it leads
31:01
you to feel prideful, to feel proud.
31:07
And pride always leads a person to sin.
31:12
Sin always leads to destruction and and being overthrown,
31:23
destruction leads you to the bottom here of sorrow.
31:28
Well, sorrow has the capacity to then lead you to be humble, to
31:36
say I want to get better. And humility becomes this
31:41
gateway to true repentance where we turn to God and repentance
31:48
leads to God forgiving us and giving us blessings, and those
31:53
blessings mount up, and then we have prosperity.
31:56
There you go, you're noticing this.
31:58
And again, there, there are dozens of ways that you can
32:02
choose to diagram the pride cycle.
32:04
But here we've already seen it in chapter in throughout the
32:08
book of Alma. And now it starts to ramp up and
32:11
go faster and faster and faster through the cycle in Helaman.
32:17
And if we're not careful, people today will start to feel like
32:22
there's not a thing I can do. It's fascinating if you think of
32:27
your own life. What is our response?
32:30
What is our human nature response when we're prospering,
32:33
when when everything's going well?
32:35
How humble are we when we're prospering?
32:39
Usually human nature is it stirs us up.
32:44
And so if we're not careful, we just keep going through the
32:47
cycle over and over and over again.
32:50
And you'll notice this side is bad and this side is good.
32:53
The reality is you don't need to be a victim of this.
32:57
This cycle right here is in essence a terrestrial cycle.
33:05
It's neither good nor bad. It's kind of this neutral.
33:07
It goes back and forth and back and forth.
33:10
Later on in the Book of Mormon you will find that at the time
33:13
of Mormon the people are in destruction and their sorrowing
33:17
and the sorrowing is going to lead them to further pride,
33:21
deeper sins, more destruction, more sorrowing, more pride, more
33:26
sin, more destruction, more sorrowing and it becomes a
33:29
downward slide. So this telestial cycle, these
33:34
these bad behaviors that just keep getting worse and worse and
33:38
deeper and deeper is what you see playing out in the latter
33:42
parts of the book Hormone and in the Book of Ether.
33:45
Well, we don't need to be a victim of the terrestrial or
33:48
telestral cycle because when we're prospering, we can choose
33:52
to become more humble, to thank God more fully, to repent more
33:57
and ask him what to do with this prosperity he's given us, which
34:00
leads to more blessings and more prosperity and more humility and
34:05
more repentance and more blessings.
34:09
And it becomes a spiral staircase, helping us to become
34:14
more like God. If we want to think celestial,
34:20
then we don't have to deal with this part of the pride cycle
34:24
because our prosperity causes us to become more humble than ever
34:29
before. We turn to God and say, what
34:31
would that have me do next? Powerful reminder to us and to.
34:35
Tie into that verse 34, where it says, And they were lifted up in
34:39
pride, even to the persecution of many of their brethren.
34:42
Now this was a great evil, which did 'cause the more humble parts
34:46
of the people to suffer great persecution, and to weigh too
34:49
much reflection. And the next verse says.
34:51
Nevertheless, they did fast and pray OFT and did wax stronger
34:54
and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in the
34:57
faith of Christ unto the filling of their souls and joy and
35:00
constant consolation, yeah, even to the purifying and the
35:03
sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh
35:06
because of their yielding their hearts unto God.
35:09
These two verses go beautifully together.
35:11
So these people are struggling. They because of their humility
35:14
and because of their following Jesus Christ.
35:16
They are wading through this affliction because the people
35:20
caught up in the pride cycle are beating them down and are
35:23
persecuting them. But I love this first word in
35:26
35. It says nevertheless, even
35:29
though that they're going wading through affliction, they're not
35:31
just, it's not just a little bit of affliction, they're wading
35:34
through it. But nevertheless, they did fast,
35:36
they did pray and they walked. And because of that, they waxed
35:39
stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer
35:42
in their faith. That's wonderful.
35:44
Look at the look at the root problem of that leads to this
35:48
pride for for these people in verse 36 and it came to pass
35:52
that the 50 and 2nd year ended in peace.
35:54
Also, save it, were the exceedingly great pride which
35:59
had gotten into the hearts of the people, and it was because
36:05
of the their exceedingly great riches and their prosperity in
36:08
the land, and it did grow upon them from day-to-day.
36:14
Isn't that interesting? The more possessions and the
36:18
more riches they owned, the more those riches and possessions
36:23
began to own them. And their heart, their treasure
36:27
was on their riches, not on their God.
36:30
Now, that's not to say that people today can't be very
36:33
prosperous and well on their way on the celestial cycle.
36:38
The point is to figure out where you are and which cycle you want
36:42
to be a part of, and to figure out what do you do when you are
36:47
prospering. Are you going to choose pride or
36:51
are you going to choose humility when you're in sorrow or you're
36:54
going to choose pride or humility?
36:57
That determines the trajectory over time.
37:01
And you know, notice that this was a process, not an event to
37:04
add on to. That I think about in my own
37:07
life when I'm waiting through reflection, I think, do I do
37:10
these little things that it mentions in here like fasting
37:13
and praying and waxing stronger and stronger in their humility
37:16
and firmer and firmer in their faith of Jesus Christ.
37:19
And then to add on to that, like things like going to the temple
37:23
and taking the sacrament every Sunday at church and reading our
37:26
patriarchal blessings and all the little things, the primary
37:29
answers that often are skipped over.
37:31
But just remembering that when we're in those darkest and
37:36
hardest moments of our lives, are we turning to the Savior in
37:39
those primary answers? That's.
37:42
Such a simple and yet profound way to look at this.
37:49
Love it Now Chapter 4 is is a powerful opportunity to use
37:58
whatever version of the pride cycle you that works best for
38:02
you and to read through. There are nine years covered in
38:07
Chapter 4. So you can, you can map through
38:12
all of those nine years and just kind of assess where are the
38:15
people in the pride cycle? And consequently, you can do the
38:19
same thing with chapter 6. And you're going to see the
38:23
people go through this pride cycle twice in chapter six in a
38:28
very short period of time. It's, it's painful.
38:32
And yet if we're not careful, we end up pointing a finger of
38:36
judgement and a finger of scorn at these people 2000 plus years
38:41
ago without stopping to realize, oh, wait a minute.
38:46
It's so easy for me to identify their pride.
38:49
It's so easy for me to identify their sins and their problems
38:52
and their struggles. What about me using that as an
38:57
invitation to look in the mirror and say what lack I yet and
39:02
start pleading with the Lord to help me accelerate my celestial
39:08
cycle. Think celestial on this.
39:11
So Chapter 4 will will help you see some a lot of negative
39:17
examples, but hopefully those are actually becoming
39:20
inspirational for us to seek our own positive examples.
39:25
What is there in Chapter 4 that stood out to either of you too?
39:29
I love verse 13 in chapter 4. This is honestly, this one is
39:34
not exactly the happiest first, but it reminds me of Alma 26
39:38
verse 12. Are we 13 first, though it says,
39:41
and because of their great wickedness and their boasting in
39:43
their own strength, they were left in their own strength,
39:46
therefore they did not prosper. And that reminds me a lot of
39:52
Alma 26 verse 12, which is kind of the opposite of that.
39:55
And it says yay, I know that I am nothing.
39:57
As to my strength, I am weak, therefore I will not boast of
40:00
myself. But I will boast of my God for
40:03
in his strength, I can do all things.
40:05
I love this verse because this is Amin talking, I think, right?
40:10
And he's recognizing that we all have weaknesses and we all need
40:15
to have the humility to recognize those to the Lord like
40:19
go to the Lord with your weaknesses and realize that
40:22
everything good that we do is not because of our own strength.
40:25
That is, that all comes because Heavenly Father is helping us
40:28
like everything we do good, even if it's not like spiritually
40:31
related, it's all because of Jesus Christ.
40:34
An experience I've had in my life that where I really had to
40:37
learn to rely on the Lord and his saving grace was when I had
40:42
anxiety for a few years and I was the first person in my
40:45
family to really deal with anything like that.
40:47
Nobody else in the family has ever had to deal with that
40:49
before. So it was hard.
40:51
And I thought, if I just have enough strength, if I, if I just
40:54
work hard enough, I'll get rid of it.
40:56
Like I, I've got this, you know, how'd that work for you?
40:58
And so I tried so hard. I thought I could do it.
41:01
So every time the stress and anxiety would come, I'd just be
41:03
like, no, I'm not stressed. I've got this.
41:05
I'm I, I don't, I'm not stressed at all.
41:07
But after a while it got so bad, it got way worse.
41:11
And this one evening I was just crying to my mom and I was, so I
41:17
was so done. I was like, I can't do it, mom.
41:21
And. She said, Jenna, you need to
41:24
relax into the grace of your Savior.
41:26
And that was a moment when I realized that I couldn't do it
41:30
by myself to my own strength. I was weak.
41:33
And then I tried my hardest. I started whenever the stress
41:38
would come instead of trying to fight it off by myself, I'd pray
41:40
in the Heavenly Father, I can't do it.
41:42
Please help me. And the anxiety didn't go away,
41:45
but every time the stress would come, there was this just
41:50
underlying feeling of peace, like you can do this.
41:53
And I, I literally felt like I was being carried through that
41:55
trial, the moment that I turned to the Savior.
41:58
And it wasn't this stress. Like every time that the anxiety
42:01
came, it wasn't this panic like it used to be.
42:03
But I just felt this peace knowing that the Savior was
42:06
going to help me through it. And all I had to do was turn to
42:08
Him. He was waiting there the entire
42:10
time, just waiting for me to reach out.
42:12
And that is a moment in my life when I really realized that I
42:15
need to relax into the grace of the Savior.
42:17
Just let Him carry me through everything I'm going through
42:19
because I can't do it on my own. To our own strength, all of us,
42:22
none of us can do it on our own. We all need to rely on the
42:24
Savior. Thank you.
42:25
Jenna that's beautiful. Camber, is there anything in
42:29
chapter 4 that stuck out to you as you studied?
42:33
I, like verse 24, said. And they saw that they had
42:36
become weak like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and
42:39
that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them, yet had
42:42
withdrawn from them. Because the Spirit of the Lord
42:44
does not dwell in unholy temples.
42:46
And I thought of ourselves like we are temples.
42:49
And something that came to mind is the young woman's theme, and
42:53
it talks about standing in holy places at all times and in all
42:57
things and in all places, and remembering that we need to
43:01
constantly surround ourselves with people and be in places
43:05
that are holy so that we can feel that spirit and he won't
43:07
withdraw from us. That's powerful.
43:09
It ties in beautifully with verse 25, when it says,
43:12
Therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by His miraculous
43:16
and matchless power. Why?
43:18
For they had fallen into a state of unbelief and awful
43:21
wickedness. They're they've, they've allowed
43:24
themselves to become unholy temples, so to speak.
43:27
And so they can no longer access that power from the Lord.
43:30
Which now brings us to our, our families, one of our favorite
43:36
chapters of all scripture anywhere, Helaman chapter 5.
43:39
It's where our, our family theme scripture is.
43:42
So we begin in chapter 5, verse one.
43:46
It came to pass in the same year.
43:47
Behold, Nephi delivered up the judgment seat to a man whose
43:50
name was C Zoram. So he gives up the judgment so
43:54
that Nephi can now go and devote all of his energies, all of his
43:58
attention, all of his efforts on teaching the people and on being
44:03
the the head of the church. It's a beautiful sacrifice to
44:07
give up, which we see among our prophetess and religious today.
44:11
They give up positions, they give up power, they give up
44:13
careers, they give up many, many things in order to devote 100%
44:18
of their focus as a minister and witness of the name of the Lord
44:23
Jesus Christ in all the world. Such a beautiful pattern that's
44:26
repeated here. So look at the description in
44:29
verse 4 of what Nephi is experiencing.
44:31
It says, and it came to pass that Nephi had become weary
44:34
because of their iniquity. Isn't that interesting?
44:38
Nephi, the prophet has become weary because of the iniquity of
44:43
the people. I'm sure he's got his own
44:45
weakness that he's dealing with personally, but the weariness
44:48
comes in what he sees the people struggling with not applying the
44:54
teachings that he's been been giving them.
44:56
And it says, and he yielded up the judgment seat and took it
44:58
upon him to preach the word of God all the remainder of his
45:01
days, and his brother Lehi also all the remainder of his days.
45:05
And then you get this famous intro to this section that is
45:10
focused on remembering and they that's Nephi and Lehi, his
45:15
brother remembered the words which their father Helaman spake
45:19
unto them. And these are the words which he
45:21
spake. So they remembered what his,
45:25
what their dad had taught them. And it's all focused on
45:29
remembering. Now, if, if you look carefully
45:32
at the word, remember, it's a powerful word that the, the
45:39
opposite of to, to be membered, the opposite is to be
45:44
dismembered, cut off. So to be membered means you come
45:50
and you, you become a part, a member of the family, a member
45:53
of the church, a member of a organization.
45:56
It's to come into it. So if you're remembering, you're
46:01
coming into something again and again and again, think about the
46:06
significance of the word remember.
46:07
When it comes to the sacrament, when it comes to our covenants
46:11
that we've made, when it comes to the Savior's sacrifice,
46:15
remember, remember. And so it comes up 15 times in
46:19
these verses here, with Helaman having taught his two sons this
46:24
important lesson on remembering. I liked in.
46:27
Verse nine, it says, Oh, remember, remember, my sons, the
46:30
words which King Benjamin spake unto his people.
46:33
Yeah, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man
46:37
can be saved only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ,
46:40
who shall come? Yeah, remember that He cometh to
46:43
redeem the world. This verse I love because it
46:47
talks about the atonement of Jesus Christ and and in
46:50
remembering that there is literally no other way that we
46:54
can make it back to heaven without that atonement that
46:57
Jesus performed to add on to that.
46:59
It's again, the Lord knows the desire of our hearts.
47:02
So if we're just being nice to people and serving and doing all
47:05
these good things because we want to earn our way into
47:07
heaven, and we were like, oh, we're so good.
47:09
Look at us. We're going to totally make it
47:10
to the celestial Kingdom instead of having that mentality when
47:13
you're serving people and being Christ like you want to truly
47:17
have a desire to help and lift God's children.
47:20
And that's where the true part comes in honestly, is when you
47:23
know that some, like when somebody reaches out to me, I
47:25
can tell when there, it's just like the flattery thing where
47:28
they're just reaching out so they can say they reached out,
47:31
you know, but you can feel it when somebody's reaching out
47:33
because they actually care. And so we need to be so careful
47:36
that in all our interactions with everybody that we're
47:38
reaching out because we actually care and we want to help lift
47:41
and strengthen the people around us.
47:43
And if. We use the Savior Jesus Christ
47:45
as the ultimate example. He never once did anything nice
47:49
for anybody in order for Him to get the credit or for Him to get
47:53
the glory. He, He always gives the glory to
47:56
the Father. Such a perfect example for our
47:58
efforts to become more like Him. So now if we turn the page over
48:01
and look at verse 10, it says and remember also the words
48:04
which Amulex spake unto Ziezram in the city of Amaniah.
48:08
Let me pause here for a minute. Notice this father Heelman
48:13
teaching his two sons, Nephi and Lehi.
48:16
You'll notice what this father is doing.
48:19
He quoted in verse 9, King Benjamin.
48:22
In verse 10, he's quoting Amulek from his experience in the
48:28
beginning chapters of of Alma when they're in Amaniah.
48:33
He's using scripture. He's using words of prophets to
48:38
teach his sons. He in the beginning, he pointed
48:41
them back to the original Lehi and Nephi using scriptures there
48:47
he's pointing his children to the Lord through the prophets.
48:52
There's a, there's a beautiful pattern there.
48:55
And then it goes on to say what Amulek taught Zeazrim, that
48:59
Christ should come to redeem his people, but that He should not
49:03
come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from
49:08
their sins. If we're not careful, we'll tell
49:11
people, hey, God loves you, do whatever you want.
49:13
That isn't the message of the Scriptures.
49:16
The message of the Scriptures is there is salvation in Christ
49:20
from our sins, not in Christ in our sins.
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He's going to change us if we turn to Him.
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Which now brings us to verse 11. And he has power given unto Him
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from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of
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repentance. So he's waiting for us to show
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our faith and repent, and he will forgive us.
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And therefore he has sent his angels to declare the tidings of
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the conditions of repentance which bringeth under the power
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of the Redeemer, under the salvation of their souls.
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That's pretty powerful. Those concepts that he's, he's
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sharing with them there 12 is our.
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Family theme scripture. So I, we've all had this one
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memorized from a very young age, because it's been so much a part
50:05
of the home, it says. And now, my sons, remember,
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remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is
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Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation.
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That when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yeah,
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his shafts in the whirlwind, yeah, when all of his hail and
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his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over
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you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless woe,
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because of the rock upon which you are built, which is a sure
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foundation. Foundation whereon if man build
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they cannot fall. I love this scripture.
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There's so much in here. One thing is it says when the
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devil shall send forth his mighty ones.
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It's not an if you know the devil is going to do everything
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he can to pull us away. But if we're taking the time to
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fortify our testimonies as we were talking about earlier on
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the rock of Jesus Christ, just do everything we can to rely on
50:50
him, then he is not going to let us fall.
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They cannot fall like we. There's no way the devil can
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pull us away if we are doing our best to stay with Jesus Christ.
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It's beautiful. Kind of add on to that, this
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entire section of chapter five kind of lays out a little bit
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the character of Christ just in every verse just hints at little
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things that point to who he is. And then to then plant this
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verse 12 here and to say now build upon that rock after
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explaining a lot about his character, if she's beautiful,
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that it gives us that example to build upon that rock of Jesus
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Christ. So, so look at the different
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titles in the way it describes him in these first, you know,
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four or five lines of verse 12. Now my sons, remember, remember
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that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer.
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So he's the one who redeems who is Christ, the Son of God that
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you must build your foundation. All three of those creates this
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this powerful foundation for us. And that title is the the rock
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of our Redeemer. And I, I love what you said,
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Jenna, too, that it's not if the devil sends forth these
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temptations and struggles. It's when, because it's going to
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happen. And it also says and when all
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his hail and mighty storm shall beat upon you.
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The there, there's no if until you get to the very last line, a
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foundation whereon if men build, they cannot fall.
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So if you contrast the whens above with the if below, it
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shows that God isn't going to come down and say Cambria, you
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will build on this rock. Jenna, you have no choice.
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You have to do it. No, it's an if.
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And everybody has to make that decision for themselves.
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No parent can make it for their child, and no sibling can make
52:47
it for a brother or sister. Everybody has to make that
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decision for themself. And I, I love the finality of
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that verse. Jenna, you pointed this out that
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if you're built on the rock of the Redeemer, you cannot fall.
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It's not you might not fall or most likely you won't fall.
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It's no, you cannot fall something else.
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Interesting that I found is it says which is a sure foundation.
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Like when we are built on Jesus Christ, we don't have to be
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afraid. Like the devil will still be
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sending his mighty winds and shafts in the whirlwind.
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But we don't have to. We don't have to be frightened
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of it because we know that Jesus Christ is with us.
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I like verse 18 where it says, And it came to pass that Nephi
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and Lehi did preach unto the late Knights with such great
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power and authority. For they had power and authority
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given unto them that they might speak, and they also had what
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they should speak given unto them.
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So Cambria. Would would even being willing
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to come on to this setting with your dad?
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Does that relate to what you just read here?
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Yes. Words sometimes don't come to me
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easily, and it's trustful and scary for me sometimes, but just
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to remember that as we rely on the Lord and His grace and His
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mercy and His power, that as we need to say things, that He will
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put those words into our mouths and our mouths will be filled,
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you know? Along those lines, Cambria, it's
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it's interesting how if we're not careful when you're teaching
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or when you're leading or when you're parenting or when you're
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working with siblings or loved ones, if we're not careful,
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we'll get this perception or this, this false idea that we
54:27
have to have a perfectly polished presentation.
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We have to have all the right words, all the right
54:34
presentation in in it's perfect order or it's not good enough.
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We're putting the focus on the end result rather than the
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process of discovery, the process of becoming.
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And so it's an amazing thing when when you can have the faith
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to say, no, I don't know everything I'm going to say.
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I don't know everything I'm going to present or to do or to
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to strive to accomplish on that mission or in that calling or in
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this relationship. But when we go forward with
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faith, putting our trust in the Lord, building our our
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foundation on the rock of our Redeemer, he'll see us through.
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We're we're going to be OK. It may not be perfect.
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It may not be polished. There are a lot of things we may
55:19
have wished we had done differently, but that's OK.
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It's OK because it's who we're becoming, not just what we're
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doing. It's like the quote.
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It doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful.
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So now. Nephi and Lehi go on this
55:34
mission among the Nephites, and then they go on the mission down
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among the Lamanites. And as they, as they now serve
55:42
among the Lamanites, they're taken by the Lamanites, thrown
55:47
into prison, and the people are going to come in and take away
55:51
their life. Here they are having devoted
55:54
everything to God and seemingly on the verge of losing
55:58
everything, including their life, when this is.
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This is one of the sweet stories of deliverance and redemption in
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the Book of Mormon. So as the people come in with
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this malintent, Nephi and Lehi are encircled about by fire.
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And yet you'll notice there are other times when other good
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prophets or or faithful disciples aren't miraculously
56:26
circled by fire and delivered from death.
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Sometimes there there have been those who have been martyred for
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the cause. And so it this is a beautiful
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example of putting our trust in the Lord that he knows who and
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when and how he's going to deliver some and others he's
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going to allow to become martyrs for the cause.
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In this case, it is not Nephi and Lehigh's time to go.
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So they're encircled about by fire and the the people who came
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in to to destroy them are taken aback, obviously.
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And the hearts of Nephi and Lehi did take courage in the bottom
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there. Verse 24 and then 20.
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Six it says, and it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi did stand
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forth. I love the stand forth.
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They they took that as an opportunity to testify of Christ
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because and then they say, fear not fo behold, it is God that
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has shown unto you this marvelous thing.
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Again, they're not taking the they're not being like, look at
57:26
how cool we are. We're not getting burned.
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You know, they're using it as an opportunity to teach these
57:30
people of the miracles of God and giving him the glory of it.
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It's powerful. And in verse. 28 It says.
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And it came to pass that they were overshadowed with a cloud
57:40
of darkness, and an awful solemn fear came over them, came upon
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them. And it came to pass that there
57:46
came a voice as if it were above the cloud of darkness, saying,
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Repent ye, repent ye, and seek no more to destroy My servants
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whom I have sent unto you to declare good tidings.
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I like these verses because especially moving from 28, it
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talks about the cloud of darkness and the awful solemn
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fear which came over them. And then moving from that to 29
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where it declares good tidings and just thinking that the Lord,
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any time we're in our darkest times, especially when we're in
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those darkest times in our lives when everything feels so heavy
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and dark, those are the times when the Lord offers those glad
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tidings of repentance, of joy, of coming back to him and into
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those open arms of grace and mercy and love.
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That's. That's so insightful, especially
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when you you look at how that voice is described that delivers
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this hope to them so they don't have to stay in darkness in, in
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awful fear and trembling. Look at verse 30.
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It says and it came to pass it when they heard this voice and
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beheld that it was not a voice of Thunder, neither was it a
58:56
voice of a great tumultuous noise.
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But behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness as if it had
59:04
been a whisper and it had pierced even to the very soul.
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You look at the contrast there, this perfect mildness compared
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to what these men would have come into the prison with, with
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the intent to slay and the the kinds of voices they would have
59:21
been using to contrast what that gets replaced with hearing the
59:25
voice of God the Father. This is one of the few places in
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Scripture where we hear the voice of the Father speaking and
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it comes and causes the earth to shake exceedingly.
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And then it says in verse 32, the voice came again.
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So this is the second time, first time we back in verse 29.
59:43
Here's the second one in 32. And what does it say?
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Repent ye, repent ye. But again, it's not an angry
59:52
voice. It's a perfectly mild voice,
59:55
almost a whisper, but it pierces them to the very soul.
59:58
Repent ye, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, and seek no
1:00:02
more to destroy my servants. And it came to pass.
1:00:04
The earth shook again, and the walls trembled.
1:00:06
And then 33, it came the third time.
1:00:10
So three times you get this this voice.
1:00:13
And the Lamanites can't flee. The ground's shaking.
1:00:16
They're fearing and trembling. So there was one guy among all
1:00:20
the Lamanites who wasn't confused.
1:00:23
All the Lamanites are thinking what is going on.
1:00:26
But verse 35 says there was one among them who was a Nephite by
1:00:29
birth who had once belonged to the Church of God, but had
1:00:34
dissented from them. And this guy is having a totally
1:00:38
different experience than the other Lamanites there because
1:00:41
he's remembering on a totally different level.
1:00:44
And I. Love in 36 when it says, And it
1:00:47
came to pass that he turned about him and beheld, behold, he
1:00:51
saw to the cloud of darkness the faces of Nephi and Lehi, and
1:00:55
behold, they did shine exceedingly, even as the faces
1:00:58
of angels. And he behelds that they did
1:01:00
lift their eyes to heaven. And they were in the attitude as
1:01:04
if talking or lifting their voices to some being whom they
1:01:07
beheld. And I like specifically in here
1:01:10
as it talks about angels and and as Daddy mentioned earlier, I
1:01:14
think about my Angel mother and everything she is to me.
1:01:21
I think about back here it says they did shine exceedingly.
1:01:25
And I think about every single day my mother's and shining
1:01:29
light for countenance and her pointing me to Jesus Christ and
1:01:32
then ultimately wanting to have that for someday my future
1:01:36
children, to then bless those around me and not only with my
1:01:41
children, but anyone I interact with.
1:01:44
Thank you for sharing that. Never let us underestimate the
1:01:47
incalculable power of the mothers of God in raising up the
1:01:53
the rising generations and and grandmothers and aunts and
1:01:58
sisters. Such a powerful, powerful
1:02:02
reminder, angels. So now this man whose name is
1:02:09
Aminidab told the people around them, around him, they do
1:02:13
converse with the angels of God. And then the Lamanites ask one
1:02:17
of the most profound questions in the entire Book of Mormon as
1:02:20
it came to pass that the Lamanites said unto him, what
1:02:23
shall we do? There's a difference between
1:02:28
that question and what shall we believe?
1:02:30
What should we hear? What should we focus on?
1:02:33
What should we say when we invoke that question?
1:02:36
What shall I do? That's not a curiosity question.
1:02:42
That's an agency based question. And it's a turning point in the
1:02:45
story because a minute, a minute adapt gives him an answer,
1:02:49
doesn't he? I think it's.
1:02:50
So cool that in in this verse 40 that they have a desire to
1:02:54
change. I feel like in our lives that's
1:02:57
all it takes honestly, just to have that desire and then to be
1:03:00
willing to take our weaknesses again to God and to let him
1:03:03
purify us, but without the desire to change.
1:03:06
If we, if we're prideful and feel like we don't, we don't
1:03:09
need to change, we're fine how we are, then that's where we'll
1:03:11
get stuck in the pride cycle. But if we just have the desire
1:03:14
and act upon it, then God will help remove the cloud of
1:03:17
darkness. And it might not be right away,
1:03:19
but in time He will always help us move that.
1:03:23
So isn't it amazing that these people didn't understand what
1:03:26
the voice of God had said to them?
1:03:28
They didn't. They didn't completely get it.
1:03:29
They're confused. So Aminidab helps them point
1:03:34
them to God and then we get the solution.
1:03:37
In verse 41, Aminidab said unto them, You must repent and cry
1:03:41
unto the voice, even unto you shall have faith in Christ, who
1:03:45
was taught unto you by Alma and Amulek and Zezrum.
1:03:48
When you shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be
1:03:50
removed from overshadowing you. That answer is the same for you
1:03:56
today as it was for those Lamanites in that prison over
1:03:59
2000 years ago. When we're surrounded by clouds
1:04:03
of darkness, the answer is the same.
1:04:06
What shall I do? The answer is going to be
1:04:09
repent, cry into the voice even until we have faith in Christ.
1:04:14
That's the solution. And there's no other name nor
1:04:17
means that that verse that was quoted earlier, it comes back
1:04:21
into play here as well. I love verse 45 that says and
1:04:26
behold, the Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven and
1:04:29
did enter into their hearts and they were filled as if with fire
1:04:32
and they could speak forth marvelous words.
1:04:35
When we open our hearts to God and let Him into our lives, we
1:04:38
do things that are far beyond our ability, things that we
1:04:40
would never be able to do on our own.
1:04:42
Which is. Interesting because the reality
1:04:45
is here we are and as we turn heavenward, heaven turns to us.
1:04:55
So we're able to then turn outward and reflect that love.
1:05:00
But notice even in the moment of them, it says the the Holy
1:05:08
Spirit came down and entered into their hearts and they were
1:05:11
filled. Then they could speak forth
1:05:14
these marvelous words. The order there is the spirit
1:05:18
came, which now opened their ability to talk and it says they
1:05:25
heard a pleasant voice as if it were a whisper saying so, so
1:05:29
there's going to be more coming. And this is where we identify it
1:05:34
as the voice of Heavenly Father because of what it says here.
1:05:37
Camberry, do you want to read that says.
1:05:39
Peace, peace be unto you because of your faith in my well beloved
1:05:44
who was from the foundation of the world.
1:05:46
I love how it repeats the word peace twice.
1:05:49
It's a beautiful, beautiful word that I have found to help me so
1:05:53
much on hard days. And a verse that I constantly
1:05:56
like to turn to is in John 14 verse 27.
1:06:02
And it says peace, I leave with you my peace.
1:06:05
I give unto you not as the world's giveth I unto you.
1:06:08
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
1:06:11
And a while ago I was having a really hard time and my sister
1:06:16
Alicia shared that verse with me and it has become one of my
1:06:19
favorites. And just the peace that Jesus
1:06:22
Christ offers as we come unto him, not peace will encircle us
1:06:26
as we willingly come unto the Savior and let Him take all
1:06:30
those things in our lives that we're afraid of.
1:06:33
I think often, for me at least, it's easy to be afraid of all
1:06:37
the things happening around us, but to remember that as we come
1:06:40
unto Jesus Christ Christ, that is where the true peace comes
1:06:44
in. Not from the world, but from
1:06:46
Jesus Christ, and his peace is everlasting.
1:06:51
And it doesn't. Just because we have his peace
1:06:52
doesn't mean that all the stuff going on around us and all the
1:06:55
chaos, it doesn't mean it's all going to go away.
1:06:57
But when we have that peace with us, it's just this calm
1:07:00
confidence that we know that Jesus Christ will be there for
1:07:03
us. So.
1:07:04
Notice the outcome of hearing the voice of Heavenly Father
1:07:09
delivering that peace. Verse 48 says, And now when they
1:07:13
had heard this, they cast up their eyes as if to behold from
1:07:16
whence the voice came. And behold, they saw the heavens
1:07:20
open, and angels came down out of heaven and ministered unto
1:07:24
them. Very, very reminiscent of what
1:07:27
we're going to see in 3rd Nephi Chapter 11, when they also hear
1:07:31
the voice of the Father, cast their eyes up and see the Lord
1:07:35
himself come down. And then later on, angels coming
1:07:38
down in chapter 17. So there's this pattern of when
1:07:44
you look heavenward, you're more likely to be able to draw on
1:07:49
that power that heaven offers to bring into your life and into
1:07:53
your relationships and allow you to to have more opportunities to
1:07:59
reflect God's goodness. Thank you, you 2, for being
1:08:03
willing to come in and spend this time with your dad as we
1:08:07
cover some of these incredible chapters.
1:08:10
Is there anything that you would like to share in?
1:08:13
In conclusion, overarching all these different concepts and
1:08:17
principles of the gospel, I. Have such a strong testimony
1:08:21
that Jesus Christ knows us individually, He knows the
1:08:24
things we struggle with, and He knows that are strong suits.
1:08:27
And He's going to give us opportunities to use what He has
1:08:29
given us to bless the lives of others if we're only willing to
1:08:32
be an instrument in His hands. And I know that if we rely on
1:08:36
His strength and not in our own, that we will do miraculous
1:08:39
things that we would not expect possible.
1:08:42
I'd like to burn. My testimony that I know that
1:08:45
Jesus Christ loves us perfectly. He died for each of us
1:08:49
individually so that we can live with Him again someday.
1:08:53
I know that He knows us individually and perfectly.
1:08:58
The every desire of our hearts and he wants us there with him.
1:09:02
And on those hard days when I have felt trodden down and
1:09:06
beaten and felt like I can't do this by myself, I.
1:09:11
Have. Felt Jesus Christ right there
1:09:13
beside me with His hand reaching out and His arms and circling me
1:09:19
in His grace and love for me. And I know that He loves us.
1:09:25
Thank you too, for coming. We want you to know how much
1:09:30
you're loved by God the Father, by his Son Jesus Christ, and by
1:09:35
so many people around you as we work together to build up His
1:09:40
Kingdom in these the latter days, the dispensation of the
1:09:43
fullness of times. And we leave that with you in
1:09:46
the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
1:09:50
Know that you're loved.