Latest / Scripture Central / 2 Nephi 31-33 | Mar 18-24 | Book of Mormon Matters with John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson

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2 Nephi 31-33 | Mar 18-24 | Book of Mormon Matters with John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson · Scripture Central

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Hello, welcome back to Scripture Central.
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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson and this is John W Welch.
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We are so excited to finish up the book of second Nephi.
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These are some of the most beautiful chapters in all
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scriptures. Second Nephi chapter 31 to 33.
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They describe the plan of salvation like no other chapters
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do. They describe the Atonement of
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Jesus Christ. They describe the doctrine of
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Christ, and Jack and I are thrilled to be able to talk
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about him together. It is so good.
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And what we get here, of course, is Nephi's farewell.
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It's his final last word. And they are so power.
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And you see little tidbits of the rest of all of his writings
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here, now synthesized together. That's right.
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He's brought it all together, helped us to see what he sees,
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his mission, his life having amounted to.
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And it's such a powerful conclusion that many of the Book
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of Mormon writers will pick up on this as a kind of pattern all
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the way till the end with Moroni.
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So let's start chapter 31. He begins in verse 2, giving the
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prophecy of what the doctrine of Christ is.
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And five times in these three little chapters, he repeats the
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idea that we have to follow, repent, be baptized, and receive
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the Spirit. And it's beautiful consistency
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that he does. And I think because of the
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Hebraic nature of ancient writing, this repetition is done
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very carefully for a purpose. That's right.
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And he wants us to recognize that this is the doctrine, the
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teaching of Christ. There's the plan of salvation,
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but this doctrine focuses on some particular points and it's
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interesting that Nephi will describe this and Jacob will
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speak of it as the doctrine of Christ coming when Jesus is
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actually there. In 3rd Nephi Chapter 11, he will
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say 9 times. This is my doctrine.
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Oh, I love. It so we have the first person
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fulfillment of those teachings and I'm.
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So glad you mentioned that. And the teachings like you say
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are basic for what Jesus says in 3rd Nephi 11.
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It's faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and
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enduring to the end. But what Jesus does in 3rd Nephi
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is synthesize and give us a very straightforward, simple,
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understandable explanation which brings together what Nephi gives
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a greater elaboration on. Here, yeah, in these chapters.
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Now, later, Jesus will also talk about my gospel when he's
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speaking to the disciples, and I think when he's talking about
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the gospel, this is my gospel. It's more what we would call the
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plan of salvation. It's a broader explanation of
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more how things were revealed and what was happening and what
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how we interact with and what we do as a result of these things.
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So Jesus gives the gospel a word of blessing and a word of
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promise. So there's a minor distinction.
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Some people wonder what's the difference between the doctrine
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of Christ and the gospel of Christ.
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Not much. They both.
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Are basically the same thing, but a little more focused here
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with the doctrine, and it's the word that Nephi chooses to use.
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As we see this repetition of these five points over and over
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again, sometimes it gets obnoxious.
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Sort of repetitive and hurry up, let's get to a new point.
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But I just hope that we can distill these messages slowly.
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I like reading scripture slowly and think, why is he doing this
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and how can I see a deeper level?
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Because as he refers to in verse three, my soul delighteth in
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plainness. I'm fascinated with the fact
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that let's not cut short this idea that because it there is
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simplicity, there is not also depth, and it's difficult and
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it's and it's very. Important.
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I think that's right. And I wonder if you think back
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to what Nephi has given us so far in second Nephi.
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It's pretty deep, heavy stuff. He's given us Lehi's words and
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then he gives us a lot of Isaiah and you get to the end of
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Nephi's chapters that we've talked about last week in his
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explanations of what he makes of those Isaiah materials.
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And I'll bet somebody said to him, you know, Nephi, that's
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pretty complicated stuff. And it's true.
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What what he's given in second Nephi so far has has been
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daunting. But this is very clear.
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And he makes a point of it. I really do like plainness.
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So here he's plain. Yes, and I love the earlier
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thought that Nephi refers to plain and precious.
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And where does he use that phrase first?
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I. Don't know.
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Well, it's in first Nephi 13, when he's talking about the
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plain and precious things that will be taken away.
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And he sees that vision of things being taken out of the
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Bible. That's right.
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And so is the doctrine of Christ, perhaps removed from the
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Old Testament. And to some extent also from the
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New Testament. But what he is saying is, if you
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now have the plain and precious simplicity of these five points,
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then all the rest will make sense.
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And he rejoices in that to bring that back to us, because in a
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lot of ways things get taken away from the gospel when we try
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to complicate it, and things get murky and muddy.
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And he says, I want it to be plain and precious.
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And if you value each one of these plain points and not
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dismiss them as being maybe elementary, but realize that
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they are actually foundational. I also feel like these chapters
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are for committed members of the Church who have already gone
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through these steps because he says in verse 5 the Lamb of God
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was holy and he didn't need to be baptized for repentance.
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He did it to fulfill all righteousness.
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And so as we go through these steps, looking at it from that
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perspective, we have to be humble.
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He says in verse 7 and receive the Holy Ghost in verse 8.
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But in verse nine, he says it's going to be straight path and
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difficult. Not straight line, but the
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Straits of Gibraltar, difficult, challenging, narrow.
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You know, the way of the Lord is not an easy home run.
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It is a challenge and you're going to need to have the spirit
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to get through it. You know, that's an excellent
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point. We don't want to, to
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oversimplify in the fourth article of faith, Of course we
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have faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.
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But what we get here, as you're pointing out, is Nephi's
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explanation to faithful members of the Church.
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What each of these different principles, these foundational
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doctrines of the gospel, what they mean to us and apply in
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every part of our lives. So it's an enriching explanation
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of of those basic principles, but without getting bogged down
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in complicated speculation or theological wandering, it's very
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clear and authoritative. Now we might want to also take a
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a a little more time on verse 10.
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He wants us all to realize the straightness of the path, and
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it's a path. It's a way.
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I think that the narrowness of the way means that you can't go
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with a mob, you can't go with the big group.
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Maybe you can go with a family or a small group.
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Maybe you have to go sometimes on a mountain trail Single file.
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And it is a narrow opening. It's one individual before God.
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Exactly. We go one at a time.
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Is there any place you can think of where we do that?
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Yeah, you know, I think this is not only the ancient temples
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where on the day of atonement the High priest would go before
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the Lord one person at a time. He is going to the veil to speak
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to God one-on-one. The ancient temple text is is
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seen here in Nephi's writings. Even though we're there as a
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group, as a ward, or as a whole company in the temple, we're
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also there one at a time. How can we be both one and many?
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I don't know. Well, it's kind of a miracle we
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think in temporal kind of divisions like that, but we can
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be both. In the gospel it's we don't have
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to choose between a group and individual because we have to be
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both. We have to be both and the
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other. The other thing that it talks
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about is that the gate is narrow.
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Now we're talking about going through a gate.
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You remember what Jesus said about a gate?
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How about a camel getting through a gate?
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Remember that little saying? What's that all about?
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Yeah. Yeah, you can't go through with
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all your baggage. That's right.
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So when he's talking about the narrowness of the gate, I think
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he's saying you have to offload whatever you have that may be
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too worldly transgressions that are going to be interfering, and
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you offload these things through repentance or and faith.
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That's right. Following him, and you go
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through the steps, and then the Spirit can be the cleansing
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agent, and Jesus's words are actually given.
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The Lord speaks to him in verse 12.
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The voice of the Son came unto me saying, He that is baptized
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in my name to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost.
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This is so significant to me. They're not only working as a
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team, but Jack. This was the whole question that
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separated the Eastern Orthodox Church Christian Church from the
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Western Roman Christian Church. Who sent the Spirit?
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Was it the Father or the Son? This is the point that they
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separated over and right here in verse 12 the Father sent the
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Spirit. Then it continues on in verse
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12. Wherefore follow me.
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Do the things which you have seen me do, and that's the end
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of the Son's words. And then as we turn the page,
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there's the Father's words. And the Father says, listen to
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the Son. That's in verse 15 I heard the
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voice of the Father saying, yeah, the words of my beloved
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are true and faithful, and he that endureth to the end, the
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same shall be saved. So now we have another point to
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the follow with faith and repentance and baptism.
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It's now endure. Endure to the end, and Jesus
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will include that in 3511 as well.
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Oh, that's. Great.
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So it's very consistent and when it says these are the words that
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the father and the son give, it would, I think, be hard to get
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it that precise. As you think of Joseph Smith
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translating the Book of Mormon, you would think that on a
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different day it might be given in a a different formula or
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different wording that's used. But the precision of this, and I
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think that contributes Lynn to this idea of it being plain,
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it's not confusing. But also, I think the word
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precious. What?
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What does Precious mean to you? Valuable.
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Beloved. And then what do you do with
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precious things? I honor them.
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I take care of them. I I try to keep them.
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Do you go trying to modify them? Or Oh no, no, no.
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These things are kind of they're so valuable and you love them
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because of what they mean. And that's why we put things in
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museums. That's why you put things in a
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safe deposit box to protect them.
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And of course you have to take them out to use them and wear
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them. But the truths are that precious
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and need our protection and valuing.
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In Second Nephi, starting in verse 13 and 14, there's a
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really beautiful parallel. It's a direct parallelism, and I
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got it in Brother Perry's book. I don't know how many of you are
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familiar with Donald Perry's poetic parallelisms in the Book
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of Mormon, but he writes out these beautiful text of the
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scripture, showing where some of these parallels lie, where a
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chiasmus fits in, where the repetition comes.
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And one of the direct parallels that I can tell, Nephi has
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carefully crafted his text to be exactly how he wants.
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So look at verse 13 in that pattern and paralleling it with
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parts of 14. No deception before God, but
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with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the
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Father that you are willing to take upon the name of Christ.
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Look how carefully Nephi has paralleled them.
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He then goes into baptism, baptism by fire in the Holy
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Ghost, and then he introduces this beautiful phrase, speaking
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with a tongue of angels, and you can shout praises to the Holy
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One. And then Nephi has a little
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statement in the middle. But behold, my beloved brethren,
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Thus came the voice of the Son unto me, saying, And then he
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repeats him again. After you've repented of your
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sins, you've witnessed to the Father you're willing to be
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baptized, You're baptized by fire, and you can speak with a
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new tongue and with the tongue of angels.
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Then he gives the warning that Christ gave him.
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After this, should you deny me, it would have been better for
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you that you had not known me. So that's pretty serious.
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This is very serious. So why do you think Nephi has to
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tell us this twice? Does he think we aren't reading
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carefully? It's a second witness, Jack.
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It's a second witness. You're right.
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And why is having two witnesses important?
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Because at the end he's going to say you're now accountable.
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Oh, that's right, he says. I'm.
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I'm shaking the your sins off me, OK?
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And you have and it's not just my witness, but the son and the
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father. So we have 3 witnesses
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establishing this, which emphasizes its seriousness.
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And I think that's really important that we we have unity
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in plurality and that's a really important model for we want
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unity in our family. We do.
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We want to all be the same or do we want to be different.
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It's both. We want to.
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But in the you becoming united, we become stronger.
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And if we can be united under Christ, the other differences
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add flavor and beauty and and enjoyment.
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But that that core center being founded on Christ is exactly
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what Nephi talks about next in verse 19.
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For he have not come thus far save it by the word of Christ
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with unshaken faith. Now Nephi says here his faith is
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unshakable, and then his brother Jacob says my faith is
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unshakable, and then E Nos says my faith became unshakable.
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And I think this is the goal of discipleship.
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We want to have enough experiences with the Spirit of
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the Lord that we can clearly stay as He did.
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That I believe, And he the way we do it, He gives us in the
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very next line. We have to rely wholly on the
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merits of Him who is mighty to save.
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And then verse 20 says, And the way that this can happen is if
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you press forward with a steadfastness in Christ.
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And if you do that, then the blessings are you will have a
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perfect brightness of hope, a love of God toward all men.
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And if you press forward, feasting upon the words of
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Christ, and endure to the end, behold, let's say the Father,
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you will have eternal life. So for all of us who have been
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baptized have tried to repent every day.
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This is a message for us. If we can rely wholly on the
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merits of the Lord, then we can press forward and receive these
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gifts of charity and faith and hope and enduring.
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Now, we're not all going to get it right the first time.
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Oh, or the 2nd or the 100th. That's right.
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And and repentance of course is always possible, but there's an
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important word in here in these verses Nephi that where he
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emphasizes the willingness. Yes.
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And that the thing that can be unshakable in our lives is our
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willingness that we want. Yeah, our willingness plays a
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big part. It's in verse 14 if you are
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willing and then back again earlier in verse 10, you should
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have to be willing to keep the commandments.
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So I I appreciate that if our heart is desiring it, we can
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make mistakes, but we still go back and say I want to do
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better. That's right.
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And as long as we want want means we lack.
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When you're wanting something, you're lacking something.
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But when you're willing, that means that you are giving your
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will that you are are now. I want to do it your way.
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That's right. Thy will be done.
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Oh, that's beautiful, Jack. Now, do we ever use this word
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today in? In the sacrament, Oh.
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And who put those words in the sacrament prayer?
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The Savior. Yeah.
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When did that happen? In 3rd Nephi.
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That's right when he's visiting there.
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So just at the same time he's talking about this is my gospel
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more this is my doctrine. Then Christ inserts that willing
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to take upon my name, and willing to keep my commandments,
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and willing Oh. And so when we partake of the
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sacrament, we can do what Nephi is exhorting us to do, being
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steadfast. These are good verses to read
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during the sacrament, I think. They are good.
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I can't think of a better chapter.
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There are many that are good, but this one is outstanding.
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And what Nephi, remember what he's giving us Here is his
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farewell. This is his farewell speech,
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these last three chapters. When you think about it, you
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know most of us, I think, are glad that we don't get to speak
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at our funeral. But Nephi gets to have his words
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heard. But he does, and I think the
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prophets want to do this. They want to give us their last
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will and testament, and we can translate that as their last
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desire and testimony. And that's what Nephi is giving
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us here. And then in chapter 32 he
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answers the question what do you do after baptism?
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And he refers more to the gifts of the Spirit.
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But I love this phrase, the tongue of angels.
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So I'm in verse two. Do ye not remember that I said
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unto you that after you'd received the Holy Ghost ye could
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speak with a tongue of angels? Jack, this is amazing.
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And then he says in verse 3, angels speak by the power of the
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Holy Ghost. So when we are speaking by the
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power of the Holy Ghost, I think he's saying we're speaking with
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a tongue of angels. So when we're nurturing and.
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Helping others. We're speaking with a tongue of
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angels. If it's the spirits driving us,
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it's powerful. How else can you describe that?
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Haven't you felt times when you have said things and you say
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where did that come? From Oh, yes.
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Oh, yes. Or you've said things and
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someone walks up to you afterwards and says that was
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exactly what I needed to hear today.
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But it's not us. It's the Spirit that's right,
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and that's why I think he speaks so much in these last three
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chapters on the need to follow the Spirit.
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And that's what takes you to the tongue of angels, verse 8.
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For if you would hearken unto the Spirit which teaches a man
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to pray, you would know that you must pray, And then is
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paralleled exactly the opposite, because the evil spirit teaches
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not a man to pray. But if we continue in prayer all
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day long, just keep your conversation with the Lord
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going, seeking to do His will, then I think verse 9 is even
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more powerful. Our actions will be consecrated
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by the Spirit. You you do know that the evil
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spirit is the one that teaches us that we don't need to pray.
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So if you ever feel like you don't need to pray, you ask,
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well, who is agitating in that direction?
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Recognize it immediately. Yeah, yeah.
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But in verse nine I say unto you that you must pray always and
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not faint. So faint.
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What does faint mean? You're tired.
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You're not there. Really there?
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When we faint, it's kind of like we we pass out, right?
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We lose consciousness, and I think sometimes when we pray,
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yes, we do often say the same things over and over again.
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But don't ever lose consciousness about what it what
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you're asking. Ask with real intent.
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And then it says that ye must not perform anything unto the
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Lord, save it. In the 1st place you shall pray
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unto the Father in the name of Christ, and that he will
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consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may
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be for the welfare of thy soul. So if we are everything we do
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during the day, if it's done through the name of our Savior,
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if it's done through prayer, it will be consecrated for our
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good. This is such a wonderful verse.
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Yes, it is. And what does it mean to
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consecrate something? We give it to God, isn't it?
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Well, yes, to dedicate it and to say, if you Lord will help me
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with this, thine be the glory. I don't want this to be done so
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people will think that. I trust you, not me.
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Yes, I am wonderful or whatever. No, I'm doing it in in your
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name. But if I'm doing it in your
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name, then he can help us more because the glory will come to
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him. We may be the only ones who know
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that the glory has come. That that wasn't me that did
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that, but that was will then be a bonding between US and the
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Lord. Now when you say we should pray
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in everything we do, that we should do nothing, you shall not
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perform anything unto the Lord save you first pray.
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What might that kind of thing be?
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I. Think it's more than just
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preparing our talks or our lessons or our missionary work?
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Or I think my day-to-day actions are also unto the Lord.
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When I had my little cherubs at home and I was a full time mom,
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I tried to pray to know how to best raise my children.
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I prayed to know how to best meet their needs, how to best
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teach them the gospel. I feel like my husband prayed
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over his work. My uncle even prayed for
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solutions as a doctor to find resolution for some of his
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patience. I feel like we can do this in
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whatever sphere we're in, so that all of our actions can be
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consecrated for the good of humanity and the good of God.
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And we we dedicate and hope that anything we do will be to the
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glory of God and the testimony building of the people we are
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associating with now. When I taught at BYU, although I
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was in the law school, I often was asked to teach religion
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classes, sometimes in the honors program, but especially Book of
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Mormon classes. And as I left my office, every
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time as I was going off to teach IA Book of Mormon class, I would
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stop at the door and I would offer a prayer.
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Sometimes it was short because I was out of time.
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But you would offer a prayer before you taught, so that not
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only would the Spirit of the Lord be there, but so that this
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could be consecrated. That's right.
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And that I wanted the help. And I've done that now.
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I learned that lesson as I went to teach religion classes.
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But I remembered that as a missionary, we did that too.
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And so it wasn't long before every time I walked out of my
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office, even if I was teaching a class on corporate tax.
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You pray. I will pray.
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Good for you. Jack and it it made a huge
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difference. Yeah, this is a this verse has
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made a huge impact in my life. It gave me peace.
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It gave me memory, because the promises that he will bring to
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your memory, the things that you need in the moment when you need
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them. And right now, I hadn't thought
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about that until we just started talking about it.
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And I think. Because.
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We prayed before we did this. That kind of thing comes to our
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attention. And I know this happens a lot.
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Oh, it can, and I think it can happen more.
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You know, the Prophet, as soon as he was called in 2018, said I
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need you to pay more attention to the Spirit.
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And Nephi is saying I need you to pay more attention to the
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Spirit, especially in these last days when the Adversary is so
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powerful. But let's jump into the last
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chapter 33, this beautiful section where it talks about
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Nephi's tears as he's crying for these three people that he
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loves. This is verse one for when a man
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speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost.
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The power of the Holy Ghost carries it to the hearts of men,
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and he just wants, he said. I'm, I'm a terrible writer.
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They described many times how hard it is to engraven on these
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plates, and he said I wish I didn't have to write.
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I wish I could just teach. But why does he say he's a
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terrible writer? He's an incredible writer.
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He is do. You think he's a perfectionist?
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I don't know, but he has a lot of Isaiah to look at.
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You know, if you're comparing yourself to Shakespeare, what
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are you going to say? You know?
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There you go. We all know our deficiencies,
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yeah. But we also know where we can
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turn for help. And he recognizes also Doesn't
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he lend the limitations of the medium that he's working with
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what he's writing? It's not only is it hard to
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write on metal plates. And he's using it in a foreign
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language. This isn't a reformed Egyptian,
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It's not even his Hebrew, he said.
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If I could write in Hebrew, would be better.
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He has to do that to save space on the plates.
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But Nephi must be asking himself why am I going to all this
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effort? This is so hard.
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I'm so tired. And and so limited, Surely there
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must be a better way to get the message out.
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And he must be rejoicing in the way his words have now gone out
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to the whole world. But it's you can put yourself in
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his position, and he certainly has to say, at least when I'm
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speaking, I can speak to everyone in town and they can
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understand more clearly and I can see in their face what
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they're understanding and they they can be influenced more and
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be receptive of the spirit when I'm speaking.
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But when I'm writing, you know, this is a very discouraging
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verse for those of us who spend a lot of time writing.
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It's good to write, but there are limitations.
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And then he synthesizes. I'm trying to talk about 5
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things. That's verse four.
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He asked the Lord again. He uses the word consecrate in
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my prayers for the gain of my people, and the words which I
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have written in weakness, which will made strong for them.
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And then he goes to the five points, for it persuaded them to
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do good #2. It maketh known unto them of
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their fathers, and it speaketh of Jesus. 3 And it's persuaded
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them to believe in him, and to endure to the end.
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That's four which is eternal life, And then five, And it
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speaketh harshly against sin, according to the plainness of
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the truth. So how do you know of something
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sinful? Because it does not fit into
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God's truths. That's a good definition of the
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the nature of of sin, whatever it is.
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Our generation, at least in my sphere, in California, the word
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sin is not really a politically correct.
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And yet, in our sphere of disciples of Jesus Christ, we
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need to say sin is things that take you away from Christ,
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things that take you away from his truths.
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I think that's absolutely right and the word for sin in the
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ancient languages doesn't carry some of this condemning baggage
30:24
that we don't like to say. I'm a Sinner because that seems
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to be so self deprecating or demeaning.
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The word for sin means more to miss the mark that when I've
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tried to do something and I've missed the mark, well, I I might
30:44
say that's that's a mistake or that's a problem, but that's
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what the scriptures are usually saying when we sin because we
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normally think that people do try to do good.
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They're doing the best they can, at least, yeah.
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But sometimes, even doing the best we can, we miss the mark.
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Yes, most of the time, for me at least.
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And Christ can fix that. And that's when the love and the
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hope comes in is because no matter where we are on the
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spectrum of sin, Christ can fix it.
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Now there may be times, and King Benjamin will talk about coming
31:22
out in open rebellion against God when you define sin in that
31:27
way. And that's of course an extreme
31:30
matter, especially when you were acting against your sacred
31:35
knowledge. And that's what Nephi is
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referring to when he says it would be better that you had not
31:43
known these things if you turn against them consciously.
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Yes, that's what Nephi described back in chapter 31.
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It's better that you hadn't even known if you're going to rebel
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against him. Yeah, and and why is that the
31:57
case? Because we're going to be held
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accountable for what we know. Oh, does Nephi use that word
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accountable? I don't know Jack, does he?
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I don't think so. OK, but does he know the
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principle? Yeah.
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OK. Yeah.
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It's pretty clear that he has learned accountability because
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of, you know, he was invited, he was asked to go and do things
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and he says I must go and do the things that the Lord has
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commanded. And then that's how he ends.
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He comes through here with So he's asked us to do these things
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there in verse 4. But he continues on talking
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about I love verse six, I glory in Plainness.
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I see this as his grand finale and it's these beautiful
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parallels. I glory in truth, my glory in my
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Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell. 3 glories,
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right? Plainness, truth and Jesus.
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I glory in my Jesus. And then he goes on and talks
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about I have charity. I have charity not just for my
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people, but I have charity for my enemies.
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I have charity for my father's enemies back in Jerusalem, the
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Jews. And gentiles, he actually uses
33:07
three times. I have charity.
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The three glories can be related to the three charities.
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See glories in these things and when you glory in something is
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that. I don't think it's prideful at
33:19
all. No, no, no.
33:20
Because in my thought, the gifts of the Spirit are what allow you
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to have these feelings, and charity is a gift to the Spirit.
33:27
We have to be patient and long-suffering.
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We have to not step on other people and not be.
33:32
You know all the details that Moroni and Paul describe on what
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we have to do to develop charity, but it's a gift of the
33:38
Spirit. And when you receive that
33:40
spirit, you're glorying in Jesus.
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You're you're know you're glorying in Jesus, not in
33:44
anything you did. You know it's from God.
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That's right. And that's, I think, what he's
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also saying when he talks about the tongue of angels.
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That's an interesting idea, that we as mortals can speak with the
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tongues of angels. When do we do that?
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I think he describes it as the Spirit when the Spirit is there.
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OK, any other times do we speak with the tongue of angels?
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I don't know. Well, Nephi goes on to talk
34:18
about We speak when we shout Hallelujah.
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That's speaking with the tongue of angels.
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What does Hallelujah mean? Hallelujahs.
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Praise the Lord. Yeah.
34:29
And so when we praise God and with the Spirit, we are speaking
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with the tongue of angels. And so, as we thank God and
34:39
praise God, we are speaking with the tongue.
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Oh, nice. That's a beautiful bridge.
34:44
And when we do that, when we praise God, we are thinking
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outside of ourselves, and we're praising him for His goodness,
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for the plan of salvation, for the blessings of this world and
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of this life. And so I think when Nephi is now
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glorying in, he's praising. When he says I glory in, he's
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glorifying. Nephi next goes to the idea that
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he is going to seal these words. This is verse 14.
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I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these words shall
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condemn you at the last day. That doesn't sound like a very
35:25
good farewell. I'm condemning you.
35:27
Well then he says, For what I seal on earth shall be brought
35:31
against you at the judgment bar. And thus hath the Lord commanded
35:36
me, and I must obey. Amen.
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OK, now there's a lot packed into there there.
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Sure is. Now is he doing this for our
35:44
condemnation? No, He wants us to learn the
35:48
doctrine of Christ, but he is saying there will be
35:51
consequences. And accountability, yeah.
35:53
Yeah. He doesn't use that word, but
35:56
it's very clear that he has charity for everyone.
36:00
And because he has charity and the love of Christ, he wants to
36:05
be sure that everyone can accept this.
36:09
And he's going to make a strong point.
36:11
That's why why he is. Remember, he's speaking about
36:15
speaking harshly against sin. We think that doesn't sound very
36:19
kind. Oh, no.
36:21
Because what he's he's warning us.
36:23
It's a it's a gift of love to speak against sin.
36:25
Notice that he's speaking harshly against sin, not against
36:29
sinners. Of course, yes, yes, yes, of
36:31
course it is. And so when he at the end can
36:35
say as my I will seal this. What does that mean?
36:39
I seal this. Well, we talked earlier about
36:42
seals as permanent things as making them valid.
36:47
The person who writes it is the only one who can seal it, and
36:50
then a judge is the only one who can read it.
36:53
We've talked about that before. That's right.
36:55
So you kind of think that Nephi has at the end of this record,
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this is his last entry. He has impressed on the metal
37:06
some kind of seal that says this is my word, you know, they
37:13
didn't have copyright and they didn't have signatures and but
37:18
when they put a seal, their personal seal on it.
37:22
So there's the authentication and then the permanence of it.
37:27
But Nephi, he's the the leader. And so with his full plenary
37:35
authority, we would say he has complete authority over all
37:39
aspects of of his rule and responsibility.
37:45
And we don't see this word seal used by other people.
37:50
But the king would have a seal, and he is saying these promises
37:57
I seal upon you, of course, according to your faithfulness.
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I think one of the most telling moments in second Nephi are the
38:17
last couple words that Nephi gives us where he says, I have
38:22
written this, and I have sealed this.
38:26
For thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey.
38:32
Amen. His understanding of the law of
38:35
obedience, I think, shines really brightly.
38:40
He is authentically an obedient person, and his last word to us
38:48
is God has commanded this, and so I must obey.
38:53
And look what his first Test when he was, as a young man,
38:56
converting to his message. I will go and do the things
39:00
which the Lord has commanded that becomes Nephi's watch cry.
39:06
And here it is at the beginning and the end of his two books.
39:10
Yeah, that's a great bookend, isn't it?
39:13
When you study literature and study great writers, often they
39:20
realize at the end of a book that the final punctuation, the
39:24
final words that are being said, need to envelope and develop and
39:32
articulate what it's all really been about.
39:37
Some of the classics that are very dramatic are even deathbed
39:43
statements coming out of just ordinary good literature.
39:48
How does Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, end with Sydney
39:53
Carton's last Words? It is a far, far better thing
39:58
that I do than I have ever done, optimistically saying the world
40:05
will be better from this chaos that is now.
40:10
Emerging. How about the final words of
40:14
rabble? A I am going to seek a greater,
40:19
perhaps looking for perhaps things may be different than I
40:27
had previously assumed. I'm open to more, he says.
40:33
Lord Nelson, Admiral of the British Navy.
40:37
What does he say in his final word?
40:40
Thank God I have done my duty. Duty, of course.
40:45
That's 19th century British epitome of virtue, Goethe great
40:52
German poet and thinker and writer and humanist.
41:00
His final words? More light.
41:06
There's more light. And I think Nephi would agree
41:09
there's more yet to come, and he knew that the Christ would come.
41:13
He's recognizing we haven't had it all.
41:16
What we do know is there's more and more light.
41:21
Finally, Pancho Villa, don't let it end like this.
41:28
Tell them I said something. Well, we can get a good chuckle
41:35
out of that. Obviously.
41:37
It's a serious matter, but we don't want to let things end
41:43
like this. I think Nephi could share that.
41:45
It's not over. Don't let it end like this.
41:49
This is just mortal. There's much more to come.
41:54
Well, these are just examples of last words when we talk about
41:59
the Book of Mormon as of course being the word of God and Joseph
42:04
said the most correct book of any book on earth.
42:08
It is a a piece of classic world literature.
42:11
It is a great book and these concluding statements are in the
42:17
mode of and are on par with the greatest writings that the world
42:23
has seen. And I'm so glad for that.
42:27
Oh, Jack, that is beautiful. What a way to end your book.
42:31
Well, I hope that you have felt the spur of the Lord as you have
42:34
read the Book of Mormon. I have never enjoyed second
42:38
Nephi more than I have this year, and I have received
42:41
witness after witness that these are God's words, and that if we
42:45
will follow them, we can come unto Christ and be saved by him.
42:50
And I am a second witness for that, and I'm very grateful then
42:55
to be able to share these things with you and through you.
42:59
You're great coming up with wonderful ideas.
43:03
And I hope that everyone will rejoice in what they learned
43:08
from, especially from you. Thank you.
43:12
Thank you.