Latest / Scripture Central / Alma 36-38 | Scripture Study Insights with Tyler Griffin | A Come Follow Me Resource

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Alma 36-38 | 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 Shane Reese. And this is Scripture study
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insights. Today we're going to be covering
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Alma chapters 36 through 38. Well, this is a real treat to
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have Shane Reese join today because he is the president of
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Brighamian University and has been for the last What is it?
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It's been a year. Yeah, it's been a year.
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Ago. Absolutely.
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It's been a year. And in that year, I just have to
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share personally my my reflections on what I've
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observed from President Reese. He has emphasized an alignment
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with prophetic direction and a focus on the Savior Jesus Christ
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and helping BYU to your big phrase is becoming the BYU of
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prophecy. Absolutely, yeah.
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When we talk about becoming BYU, I, I, I view that as a little
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bit of shorthand for what it means to become the Christ
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centered, prophetically directed university of prophecy, much
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like what you said. And, and, and it's a, it's, it's
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a pretty heavy charge for us as a university who's who, who we
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care a lot about the education of our students, but we care not
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just about the, the, the, the academic education of our
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students, but we care as much about the spiritual development
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of our students. And so that that's really the,
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the shortened version of what I think of, of becoming BYU.
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That is so powerful. Now with that idea becoming,
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that is actually the lifelong learning overlay that that I
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wanted to use as we cover these chapters, Chapter 3637 are Alma
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the younger, this prophet who's also their, their mission
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president, their their leader. And he's sitting down with
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Heeloman, who's going to be the next prophet.
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And then Shiblon, and he's giving them these instructions,
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which you could basically say he's teaching them how to become
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who they were born to become. So there's, there's some
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beautiful crossover in these, in these chapters with what you're
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doing at BYU currently with what Elmo was doing with his two sons
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over 2000 years ago. So it's kind of a fun
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combination. Yeah, and, and, and I love this,
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this idea, this concept of becoming, part of what I love
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about the idea of becoming. We read in the scriptures about
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becoming new creatures. And I think this is exactly what
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we see happening here in these chapters.
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But but when I think of becoming, I, I, I think that we,
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we, we want to make sure that we acknowledge the past just so
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much of what happens. And, and I think about this in
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my role as the president of BYU, I, I served as a student under
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several presidents, President Rex Lee and, and then I was
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hired under President Bateman. And then I was blessed by
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President Samuelson. I actually interviewed twice for
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a faculty position at BYU and both times my general authority
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interview was with President Samuelson.
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There you go. So, and then and then there is
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this remarkable story of Kevin Worthen and his influence on me
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as a young student who was struggling at the time really
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with with a whole lot of homesickness and trying to
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adjust to being at a university sponsored by the Church of Jesus
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Christ of Latter Day Saints. I hadn't grown up in a in a
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predominantly a community with full of members of the church
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and, and, and Kevin Worthen is, is that figure who made a huge
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difference. And and he understands what it
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means, as do all of my predecessors as presidents of
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Brigham Young University understand what we need to
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become and it and it's building on all of their work.
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So it's not, it's not ignoring or throwing away all of the work
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of all the people who have been before us, but it's really
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building on what they have done, the foundation that they've
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laid, but with a distinct focus on becoming on what, what's
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ahead. What work do we have left to do?
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I, I, I often tell people on campus, we're not done.
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We, we have, we have so much work left to do to become Christ
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centered, prophetically directed and then trying to fulfill
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President Kimball's vision for the university for the 2nd
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century of BYU. We're we're, we're about halfway
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through. So when I, I just love this
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concept of becoming. It's for us as an institution.
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But I think what we learn in these chapters is, is what it
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means for us as as individuals is, is how we can become.
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I I love this concept. If you look at the light of
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presidents who have preceded you back, including President
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Holland and President Oakes, I think all of them would say,
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please don't keep things status quo.
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Don't, don't take your foot off the accelerator.
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Figure out how to better align with prophets and better focus
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on Jesus Christ and get BYU to where it needs to be.
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Well, that same principle applies as we go through here.
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I, I want to for sure get to the scriptures because this is I, I
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think I, I love that about what you do here is the focus on the
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scriptures and the content in the scriptures.
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I, I, I read, I read something just this week from Arthur
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Brooks where he talked about that, that you're not perfect
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and that's OK. And he said, sometimes we, we,
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we, we don't embrace the divine discontent as you called it.
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And instead what we focus on is we focus on maybe self
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affirmation in the interest of, of not being willing to
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acknowledge our, our shortcomings.
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It's, it's OK if we're not perfect, but we're striving.
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And that's this idea of becoming I I just love it so.
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It's, it's powerful that that element of meekness.
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And by the way, as we now dive into Alma Chapter 36, let's not,
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let's not lose focus on the reality of who it is that's
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teaching these two boys here. We're talking about Alma the
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younger, who if you look at the the first half of his life, or I
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don't know if it was exact half, but the first part of his life,
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he, he wasn't trying to be Christ focused or prophetically
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directed, but he's going to make some adjustments.
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And this chapter, this first chapter here 36 is such a
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beautiful message of the hope that the gospel of Jesus Christ
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brings now to to introduce this chapter.
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You've many of you have probably heard of this concept that was
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discovered in the book Mormon by Jack Welch, one of the founders
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here at Scripture Central called chiasmus.
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It's this ancient literary structure.
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I'm not going to bore you to death and go into all the
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details here. We're just going to do a quick
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overview, but it's where an ancient prophet or an ancient
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teacher would teach concept A and then B and then C, all the
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way down to whatever it is. We'll just label it concept Z,
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and then they repeat the concepts in reverse until they
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get down to a prime. And so it's this beautiful
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reflective teaching pattern where everything gets repeated.
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Now, sometimes it's a one to one repeat and sometimes it's a
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mirrored opposite repeat, which is what we get here in Alma 36.
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So for those of you who want to, to have a fun experience, this
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works better in a, in a companion scripture study or if
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you're teaching a class at church and you, you want to just
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have some fun with this, You can pair up the students in, in twos
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and you have somebody start with verse one and somebody start
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with verse 30. Have the student read verse one
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aloud to his or her partner while they're following along in
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verse 30. And to mark all of the words or
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concepts that are repeated. And it's amazing because the
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first part is a mirror image. And then this middle part, this
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part is all bad and this part is all good.
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And it's so fun for students and for children in a family
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scripture study setting. That's a, that's a, a low
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hanging activity to make scriptures a little more
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exciting where they say, Oh my heavens, I found the same word
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here. And it's not verse by verse, but
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it's, it's close. So you can just pair them up
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with the whole point being to have your, your children or your
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students discover what's the turning point?
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What's the pivot point here in this process of becoming for
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Alma the younger? And it's it's beautiful as we
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get into that. Part.
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Love that, Love that. Which which also gives us this
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idea that Alma didn't just walk up to his son and say, hey,
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let's have a chat. Let me tell you my story there.
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There seems to have been a spirit of preparation here on
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Alma's part. He he's thought this through.
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How can I best help my son Heelman become this next
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prophet, become this leader? How can I, how can I share my
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story in a way that will be most impactful for him?
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So he he's done his homework, he he's organized his story in such
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a way that it's going to resonate.
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And and and and I and I get this is one of those particular
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sections where I get the sense that he also had a vision of of
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us, the the latter day readers. Do you know it was it it felt
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like something that was intended for you and it was intended for
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me. He he knew that he needed to
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teach his son. That's where his immediate
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attention was. But I think prophetically, he
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had a vision of us today and and how we might experience this
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beautiful literary construct and the idea of becoming in in in
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anyway. I just think that this was this
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is a moment that resonates with me as a moment where a prophet
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saw our day. It's to me.
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So it's both Alma doing that as well as Mormon doing that
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because he's, he's giving us less than 100th part of
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everything that's written and he chose to give this word for and
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he doesn't abridge this. These are, these are in first
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person terms. He's, he's doing a copy paste
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text activity at this point where he's letting Alma speak
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directly to us today. So it really does become this
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what I say into one, I say into all.
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And so we, we become the beneficiaries of that.
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So look at the opening by the way, the 1st 2 words my son, I
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love this because it creates this familial relationship, this
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connection. There's something that a father
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fills for a child that is different than than even a
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president feels for students at a university or or a Bishop
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might fill or a Relief Society president might feel for, for
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people in their in their fold. My son is the best way to start
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this this discussion. Prophets do this all the time.
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They don't just teach principals to say well thought you might
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want to know they they want to help you become something.
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And that means you and I are going to have to use our agency
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to act. So he opens with an invitation.
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Give ear to my words, for I swear unto you that as much as
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you shall keep the commandments of God, you shall prosper in the
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land. Invitation with an accompanying
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promise. It's, it's, it's a familiar
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pattern. And, and we see, I think if
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we've seen this in any way, shape or form, we see this in
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President Nelson. This is, is not this his pattern
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that he's used throughout his ministry invitation with a
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promise. And, and it, it is if, if you go
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back and trace through President Nelson's teachings, it is
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invitation and promise. He's invited us all to embrace
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our primary identity as children of God and the, the promises we
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will understand our divine worth through that.
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It's, it's, it's, it's an incredible pattern.
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And and we see it with him and his Son, but but I think it's a
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familiar pattern that prophets have used throughout the ages.
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I totally agree. In fact, if you want a fun
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exercise, just pick any talk that President Nelson has given
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since April of 2018, since he became a prophet, and do exactly
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what President Reese mentioned go through and just highlight
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either on your phone or in the print version, whatever you
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prefer. Highlight every invitation he
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gives, using words like I urge, I plead with you, I invite you
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this. When a prophet uses those words,
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it's different than when a teacher or a president uses
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those. Words I I urge all of our
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students to show up to class, but that's more of like a
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suggestion or guideline. Yeah, exactly.
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So then he goes on with this next part where he says I would
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that you should do as I have done in remembering the
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captivity of our fathers, for they were in bondage.
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What he doesn't mention yet is his own bondage.
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So he starts with the captivity of the father.
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So Amy Younger's father was in bondage in the land of an Ephai
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with King Noah's people and that whole experience with Abinadi,
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and they were in complete bondage.
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And there was no way, he tells them there was no deliverance
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for them except it was the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac
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and the God of Jacob. And he surely did deliver them
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in their afflictions. Brothers and sisters, this is
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not just a nice story for Heelman 2000 years ago.
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This is reality for you and me and all of us today is.
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It doesn't matter what the bondage is, it doesn't matter
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what the captivity is. It doesn't matter what the
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challenge is if we will turn our focus to God, put our trust in
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Him, follow his His prophets, align our will with God's, he
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will deliver us now. He doesn't tell us how long it
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it took 24 years to deliver Limheis people out of bondage.
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It's for some it will take years or decades and some it will be
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in the next life, but some it will be fairly quick.
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But the promise is sure he does deliver.
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He is a God of deliverance and Alma.
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It is probably the best profit in the entire Book of Mormon to
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be teaching that doctrine because of his own story.
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Yeah, I love it. I love it.
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And, and, and I think those, those stories of being able to,
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to, to recognize when, when you have your opportunity to turn
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your life over to Christ. I think it happens on a daily
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basis. And it's not just this singular
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event. I think we, we get to make those
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choices on a regular basis within our lives.
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I, I, I see this sometimes with our faculty at BYU.
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They come to us from all walks of life.
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Some of them come after spending time in Graduate School and join
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us. Some of them go to other
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institutions and they form an entire career.
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I think of 1 faculty member in particular had had had an
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amazingly successful career. This faculty member had been
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wildly successful at another institution of higher education,
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and she spent her whole career doing this particular piece of
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research on criminals and how criminals matriculated
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throughout the, the, their time in the, in the, in the prison
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system. And, and then she realized that
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one of the, the distinguishing characteristics of criminals was
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how religion affected them. And so she started asking them
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about their faith in Christ and, and how that affected those who,
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who went on to further criminal activity versus actually turning
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their life over. And, and what she found exactly
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and found remarkable evidence in criminal systems of people who
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turned their lives, their lives over to Christ.
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These are these are some of the people who resemble very much
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our our our topic. Today they couldn't deliver
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themselves. Exactly.
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They needed Christ in their lives.
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And, and, and, and sometimes I think we, we, we have this view
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that, that we're too far, that, that we've, we've sinned too
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much. We've found ourselves just too
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imperfect to warrant the Savior's love.
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And one of the things I love about what we learned in the
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becoming of this section is that we aren't, we're, we're never
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too far. We're never irredeemable.
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It it, it to me is one of the most powerful lessons, not just
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in this chapter, but in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ,
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that Jesus is mighty to save in that that that ability is
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infinite. That's beautiful.
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So as as we get now further, we're going to skip down to
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where he begins talking about his own personal experience
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beginning in verse 12. And he's using, he's using very
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charged words here. These are not neutral or or semi
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negative words. These are these are forceful
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concepts when he says, but I was racked with eternal torment.
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Nobody wants to spend any time on the rack.
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No, he didn't just have a bad day.
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No, my soul was harrowed up. In a non agrarian society, many
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don't even know what a Harrow is, but once a field has been
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plowed, then they take a grid with spikes that drag over that
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ground to break up those dirt clods and smooth everything out
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ready for the planting. Harrowing one's soul is not
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something you want to experience.
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And then he says he was wracked with all his sins.
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And then he says, yeah, I did remember all my sins and
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iniquities for which I was tormented with the pains of
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hell. And jumping down a little
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further, he basically says, I wish that I could be banished.
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I wish I could just not exist anymore.
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It's so painful, this realization of who I have
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allowed myself to become. And so here he is after three
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days of experience as he describes it, the pains of a
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damned soul. Now you get to the turning point
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in verse 17. He says, And it came to pass
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that as I was thus wracked with torment while I was harrowed up
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by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered.
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Did you notice that before He remembered?
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And he thought and he thought, and his mind is focused on who
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he was and where he fell short and where he was bad.
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And now this little pivot point I remembered also to have heard
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my father prophecy. So Alma, his father prophesied
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under the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a
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Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
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That's a profound moment of weight.
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There's there's. Maybe hope.
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Yeah. And and and and boy, I think we,
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we can all relate to this. We, we, we, we can look back and
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think of the define, I call them sometimes defining moments,
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this, this little moment of recollection.
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And they're not always these big remarkable events that are the
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defining moments. It, it was this spark of a
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memory of, of, of what he'd heard his, his father say.
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And, and what a, what a powerful thing this happens for all of
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us. The, the question is, are we,
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are we prepared to listen? And, and, and I think that that
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becomes our challenge is to figure out, are we, are we
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putting ourselves in a place preparing our hearts so that
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when our hearts are pricked, that we're prepared to listen
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and, and and receive what, what are those defining moments?
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It's a, it's a, it's an amazing thing.
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And it's an I just love this story because the becoming it,
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it wasn't just like. An event, but it was a it was,
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it was something that was a process and he had to go through
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the harrowing and the and and all of the pain.
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And by the way, when I hear, I want to go back just a minute
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when we get to the harrowing in RACT, the the worst part about
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that is that that a word he doesn't use there, but it's
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clearly implicit is hopelessness.
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What a what a tragic thing for people to have that sense of
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hopelessness. And whether you've felt it or,
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you know, family members who have felt it, it's, it's, it's
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it's racked and harrowing are probably the only words that he
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could find to describe this sense of hopelessness.
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But but then what it's replaced with as he becomes is is
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amazing. Love this.
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Now there's another side to this coin.
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So up to this point, we've been talking from Alma the Younger's
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perspective. What about looking at it from
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Elma the Elder's perspective, his father's perspective,
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watching his son basically self destruct and and try to destroy
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the church and undo the work that he.
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Has done. He he's building up the church
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and his son's going around with the four sons of Mosiah, tearing
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it down. His parents and many of the
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righteous Saints of the time have been pleading with God for
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these these wayward children. Many of you watching have loved
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ones who maybe are in this kind of faith.
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Maybe they're not going around trying to tear down the church,
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but maybe you're watching them self destruct with drugs or with
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relationships or with decisions that they're making that you
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know are not going to lead them closer to the Savior.
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And it can be very discouraging because you can't live their
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life for them. You can't take away their agency
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and make them love God. This, this section of the
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Scripture should give us hope as parents or as loved ones to say,
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no, I can't do this for him or for her, but I can keep loving
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them and I can keep pleading with God to bring something to
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their remembrance. A friend of ours who's passed on
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now, Rex Reeve, used to live in our ward.
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He shared with me on many occasions this was one of his
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favorite sections because he would break down this this
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critical moment. And he says at that point, there
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had to be some questions that crossed Alma the younger's mind.
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Number one, is there really a savior out there somewhere?
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Did he really do what my dad said he was going to do?
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And if so, is there any possible way that I could possibly have
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access to that? And the answer is resounding
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yes. Well, and, and that I, I love
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that hope provided to parents. I, I think today, when you look
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at, at, at parents and, and, and watching a child experience
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something very similar to what we've seen here, it's, it's,
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it's a horribly painful thing for a parent.
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Parents in my office talk about their children and, and how
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they've seen them suffer and struggle.
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And, and when you have adult children, that that means that
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their agency is, is, is their agency.
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And, and it's hard to to, to honor that agency, but you know,
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you know that our Father in heaven honors our agency.
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And we have to. But that continual love and
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praying for them to have brought to their remembrance.
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Yeah. And, and it's not, it's not as
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if you have to say, oh, I've got a struggling child.
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I need to teach them more of the gospel because quite frankly, at
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some of those times, that's when they're the least receptive.
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Your prayer is that you can truly love them and that the
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Lord will bring to their remembrance something that you
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have, that you have taught them in the past.
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And following the Holy Ghost, maybe there are times when you
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can teach them principles of gospel in different ways where
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they will accept it. And it's it's this beautiful
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turning point where he then says verse 18 now is my mind.
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Notice, notice the two parts of Alma's soul here now as my mind
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hold upon this thought all focused on Jesus Christ and his
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his atoning redemption. I cried within my heart.
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So you've got mind and heart now the thoughts sunk deep enough
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into the mind. It's going into the heart and he
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now cries out, oh Jesus, thou son of God, have mercy on me,
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whom in the gall of bitterness and am encircled about by the
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everlasting chains of death. It's.
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It's a, it's a beautiful, beautiful affirmation that he
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knows that Jesus is the Christ. He, he has that realization at
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that moment. It's, it's a, it's a, it's a
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stunning moment of testimony. I've loved that.
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Just his pure witness and his heart at that point has changed.
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Now he has work to do. He's not there yet, but.
25:30
He's got a lot to do. He's.
25:31
Got a lot to become but he knows and it's firm.
25:36
Then I think he's locked in at that point.
25:40
And, and, and I think that's sort of similar to what we, we
25:43
think about both at BYU or, and for us as individuals, is that
25:47
we have to have those, those moments of introspection enough
25:51
to where we can acknowledge that we know Jesus is the Christ.
25:56
We know that we need his help to get where we know we need to go.
26:01
And it's, it's, it's, it's a beautiful part of becoming.
26:04
It's it's so profound, in fact, so as as as we introduced
26:09
earlier, if you're teaching a class or helping your children
26:13
in a in a family setting or loved ones grandchildren in a
26:16
family setting, you can have some fun with this chapter
26:19
because of the chiastic structure.
26:21
But in all of the fun in all of the literary Hebrewisms that you
26:26
can find, those are just those are means to the end.
26:31
Don't miss the end. Don't miss the point.
26:36
Everything in this chapter, all of the bad experiences brought
26:40
Alma the younger to think of Jesus Christ, called on Jesus
26:45
Christ. And now instead of words like
26:48
Harrow and pain and damned soul and racked, look at these words.
26:54
Now when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more.
27:00
Did you notice that he didn't say I could remember my sins no
27:04
more. I could remember my poor
27:05
decisions and my my poor use of agency no more.
27:10
He still remembers that, but it's not painful because that
27:15
poor use of agency is swallowed up in Jesus Christ.
27:18
He left that at the feet of the Savior.
27:22
The grace of Christ took that from him.
27:25
So now he can remember his pains no more.
27:29
And he goes on to say, yeah, I was harrowed up by the memory of
27:33
my sins. No more.
27:36
I'm still remembering my sins, but they don't hurt.
27:38
They don't hurt me, they don't they they they're not, they're
27:41
not all consuming and and I think the adversary would have
27:45
us would have us be consumed by our sins, harrowed up by feel
27:53
constant pain and and and and and we know that that that's the
27:58
beauty of the atonement of Jesus Christ is, is he will make all
28:03
things that are unfair in this life, including our pains and
28:08
and some of which we brought on ourselves that he'll make it
28:12
right. And, and some of those pains
28:14
that are brought upon us aren't because of your agency, that's
28:18
because of somebody else's agency.
28:20
But it doesn't mean that you don't need the Savior any less.
28:24
Whether you've brought it on yourself, whether mortality has
28:27
just caused it, or whether you've been the victim of
28:31
somebody else's poor use of agency, the point is the same.
28:36
I still need the Savior Jesus Christ to help me because I
28:40
can't deliver myself. When we call him the Master
28:44
Healer, I love this image of the Savior.
28:47
Regardless of the source of our wounds self-inflicted, others
28:52
inflicted, He is the master healer and and that that, that
28:56
that's why this is is such a powerful example for me.
29:00
Then he goes on in verse 21. He says, Yeah, I say unto you,
29:02
my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so
29:08
bitter as were my pains. Yeah.
29:10
And again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand,
29:13
there could be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my
29:17
joy. It's this concept that now he's
29:20
in a different place right there where now when he's talking
29:24
about these pains and the bitterness, he's not talking
29:28
about them from this perspective of a trembling soul worried
29:31
about suffering hell. He's saying as exquisite and as
29:37
painful as that was, there can be nothing so sweet and and soul
29:43
refreshing as this redemption that Jesus Christ offered.
29:47
And honestly, some of you are probably listening at this point
29:52
thinking, yeah, that's all fine and good for Alma, but not for
29:57
me. Because maybe we have struggled
30:01
with what you said, President, that maybe we are allowing these
30:06
kinds of experiences, whatever they look like in our life, in
30:09
our context, to define us. I loved when you said the devil
30:14
wants you to be defined by those wrongs versus letting Jesus
30:20
Christ swallow those up and define you not by your sinful or
30:25
painful past, but by a glorious future centered in Him.
30:30
Yeah, that's the becoming. I mean, that's, that's the the
30:33
notion of becoming is that you'd look forward with all of the
30:37
promise and, and for us as a university prophecy for us as
30:41
individuals, the exaltation which which is is guaranteed us
30:46
if we if we but allow Jesus Christ and his grace and mercy
30:52
to be effective in our lives. So.
30:56
I love it. My family just returned from 2
30:58
weeks and a family vacation up in Yellowstone.
31:01
I know it's crazy. Camped for two weeks in
31:04
Yellowstone and during that time with that many people in close
31:09
proximity and I'm pretty pretty driven, kind of a guy and, and
31:15
pretty want things to kind of work out the way I've planned
31:19
them and thought the most efficient way to do them.
31:22
To make a long story really short, I I made myself pretty
31:27
miserable, a pretty miserable traveling companion on some of
31:32
those days that I would not have, would have been on
31:34
vacation with me. Let's just say it that way.
31:36
Gratefully, the Lord never holds you hostage to your past.
31:42
So in this situation, it happened to fall on a a time
31:45
when I'm then coming home and getting ready to do this
31:47
particular block of Scripture and I'm reading Alma 36 and
31:53
there was a turning point for me today.
31:55
It doesn't. It doesn't have to be huge sins.
31:59
It can be anything that we've struggled with where the Lord
32:03
can swallow up the bitterness. Gratefully, my sweet wife
32:09
extended that the Lord's mercy through through the the power of
32:15
the Holy Ghost that carries that sweet forgiveness to the point
32:19
where I don't remember that pain anymore.
32:21
I remember, I remember the situations and I don't ever want
32:24
to repeat them. It's a powerful learning.
32:27
Experience. It is a powerful learning
32:29
experience. I I wouldn't know about making
32:31
those mistakes with my kids. I of course joking.
32:35
It's it it absolutely is one of the powerful things and, and and
32:40
and this is when we also one of the things I love about these
32:43
these chapters is, is we we also find the role of the Lord's
32:47
instruments in in in in in helping us to sometimes be that
32:52
reminder. You talked about your wife, but,
32:56
but I think we all have people and, and if we can find
32:59
ourselves in a humble enough state to receive that, those are
33:02
the reminders that that we sometimes, sometimes need.
33:05
So I, I, I love that story. And like I said it, it hits a
33:10
little too close to home is what, what I really meant to
33:12
say. It's a process.
33:13
It is absolutely a process. Now, just a couple of other
33:17
verses here and then we're going to go over to chapter 37.
33:20
Look at the wording here in verse 23 when he says be
33:23
beholden. My limbs did receive their
33:25
strength again. Keep in mind he's been passed
33:28
out. No, no strength to move for
33:31
three days now His limbs receive strength again.
33:35
That's a physical thing. But for you and me, it doesn't
33:39
have to be a physical thing. It can be a spiritual thing
33:41
where you get those spiritual legs to walk, to move forward.
33:45
I've heard you tell the story on multiple occasions about that
33:48
experience with President Worthen when you were a young
33:51
freshman, arrived at BYU ready to give up.
33:56
Lost your, lost your drive. Yeah, yeah.
34:00
It was an amazing experience because I'd sort of always grown
34:05
up feeling like I was pretty resilient and I could pretty
34:08
much handle any situation that was thrown my way.
34:11
I'd never really been homesick in my entire life.
34:16
And I was, I did all right in school growing up.
34:20
And I thought, I'm headed up to college and this is going to be
34:24
a piece of cake. And I got there and I was not
34:28
happy. I felt out of place.
34:31
I felt like I was my Social Security number, which is what
34:35
we used to call each other by when you weren't you were sort
34:38
of you took your name away from you in a lot of ways.
34:41
And because it was a big school and and I felt lost and
34:44
candidly, it was so much so that I that I wanted to quit.
34:48
I, I, I, I was done with, with a university experience, certainly
34:52
at BYU. And were it not for that, that,
34:57
that mentor, Kevin Worthen, who who happened to be my Bishop
35:01
where I grew up, it was his brother and my, when I said I
35:05
was going to go home, my mom said, go talk to your Bishop's
35:09
brother, who happens to be a young law professor at BYU.
35:13
And, and, and, and, and he just, it, it was so like what we've
35:19
just read because he just said something small that brought to
35:24
my recollection that if I'd give it a chance, that, that I would
35:28
find that it was a place that, that I would love.
35:31
And, and, and I have, I've loved it since then.
35:33
And I needed that powerful, that encouragement.
35:35
I needed an instrument. And I really, I view President
35:38
worthen as, as, as an instrument in God's hands that day.
35:42
He helped me have the courage to, to, to give it a chance.
35:45
And, and it took literally almost no time at all.
35:48
Once I was able to get over that, debilitating for me, it
35:53
wasn't physical at all. It was also, it was emotional
35:57
and spiritual and mental and that was, I think, a remarkable
36:02
moment that I continue to look back on as one of those defining
36:05
moments. So your limbs did receive their
36:08
strength. Again, you stood upon your feet.
36:10
And in this case, he says I did manifest under the people that I
36:15
had been born of God. That phrase right there, born of
36:19
God is such a profound concept. He Alma the younger here, he
36:25
used that same phrase clear back in Alma five with the people in
36:28
Zarahemla. Have you spiritually been born
36:31
of God? There's something amazing about
36:37
a new life, about becoming a new creature, a new opportunity.
36:41
I've born, I've become born of God.
36:45
In your case, you, you were born again, so to speak, in this, in
36:49
this realm of I can do this, it's going to be hard, but I can
36:54
do this. Yeah.
36:56
And I this, this idea of becoming new creatures is to me
36:59
one, one of the most. It's, it's, it's the process of
37:04
becoming and we've got to figure out how to do this on a regular
37:08
basis. It's not a one time occurrence.
37:10
It's got to be something that we regularly renew our commitment
37:15
to and see, see ourselves becoming new creatures through
37:19
Christ. It's it's, it's just a powerful
37:22
concept. Which by the way, is is a
37:24
perfect segue into chapter 37. I'm going to jump into verse six
37:30
to begin because he says, Now you may suppose that this is
37:34
foolishness in me, but behold, I say unto you that by small and
37:39
simple things are great things brought to pass.
37:43
In fact there there's no one right way to read Scripture.
37:47
There's no one right way to interpret these verses.
37:51
The power of Scripture is the ability for the Holy Ghost to
37:55
bring words off of the page into your life, to help you answer
38:01
your questions, help you resolve your problems, meet your
38:05
challenges. And that can happen millions of
38:09
ways. But one way, just one of the
38:12
millions of lenses you could choose for Alma 37 could be look
38:16
at the entire chapter through the lens of small, simple things
38:22
that the Lord uses in order to bring about huge purposes that
38:27
at the time people would probably look at it and think,
38:30
really, this is God wants us to really pay a lot of attention to
38:35
that. It's so seemingly insignificant.
38:40
I would guess that President Worthen when he had that
38:42
conversation with a young freshman, he probably wasn't
38:44
thinking, wow, I better make this really, really epic.
38:49
I I better make this discussion with this young Shane freshman
38:54
student so powerful because he might be a president of BYU
38:59
someday. I don't think he thought.
39:01
That no, no, In fact, I, I, I tell people often that I bet
39:06
and, and I haven't really had the courage to ask him because I
39:09
don't know if my ego could handle, but I bet he didn't
39:11
remember having the discussion. It just wasn't something for him
39:15
that was big. And but yet for me and, and I
39:18
don't know what the, whether it's big or, or anything grand,
39:22
but for me as an individual, being able to stick it out and
39:27
to have what, what I can only describe as a remarkable college
39:31
experience, which by the way, led me to serving a mission for
39:35
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Taiwan.
39:38
And that was maybe the most transformative experience of my
39:43
entire life. And then that led me to marrying
39:47
my wife, who had for her entire childhood prayed that she would
39:51
one day meet someone who could take her to the temple and be
39:54
married. The cascading effects is just in
39:59
my life is a remarkable series of events and it was a very
40:05
small and simple thing for Kevin Worth and I'm sure I'm pretty
40:09
sure he doesn't even remember this discussion.
40:11
So it was small and simple and yet for the course of my life.
40:16
I am so grateful because I I really credit that experience
40:20
and the willingness to stick it out for my decision to serve a
40:23
mission, for my decision to marry my wife.
40:25
But but I just love that that that that happened from this
40:29
small and simple mean it's. Beautiful.
40:32
It's beautiful. So if you, if you look at the
40:36
entirety of chapter 37, he, he began actually in verse two,
40:42
discussing the plates of Nephi. This this small stack of plates
40:49
and the huge collection of the plates of Nephi.
40:51
You've got the small plates that are buried in there and then
40:53
this big plate collection. And some would look at this, the
40:58
record of the Nephites up to this point in about 73 BC.
41:02
And you're thinking, what difference is it going to make?
41:04
It's a bunch of history, history books.
41:07
Well, their history because of the these small and simple
41:12
things that are going to be brought out here, the plates of
41:16
brass mentioned in verse 3, all of that, it doesn't stay stuck
41:21
in the past. It becomes this incredibly big
41:27
blessing and privilege for the future, which happens to be us
41:31
for our present and the future as well.
41:33
To the point where he finishes verse 6 by saying and small
41:36
means in many instances does confound the wise.
41:40
When Joseph Smith opens that that repository in the hill
41:46
kimura in New York and pulls out that small and fairly simple
41:51
stack of plates, you want to talk about confounding the wise.
41:56
You want to talk about building up the Kingdom of God, that
42:01
small and simple seed, if you will, planted in the ground,
42:05
grows and continues to grow and expand and multiply across the
42:10
earth, performing miracles like never before.
42:14
What was it President Nelson said in 2022.
42:17
In the coming days, the Lord is going to perform.
42:20
That the mightiest miracles? Yep.
42:23
And so many of them are rooted in not just things that are
42:27
happening here, but things that are caused because more people
42:30
are interacting with the Word of God and have access to the
42:33
prophet's words than ever before in the history of the earth.
42:37
I love it. And such an amazing promise from
42:42
a prophet of God, from President Nelson.
42:43
It's such a powerful thing. He then goes on to talk about
42:46
seeking and expecting those miracles, that that's something
42:52
we should seek. And we don't like to talk about
42:55
entitlement, but I think he's talking about the expectation
42:58
that we will see those miracles happen in our lives.
43:01
And if we're we have eyes to see, I mean, again, it goes back
43:05
to eyes to see. But I love that.
43:07
And isn't this what we do when we follow Nephi's advice about
43:13
likening the scriptures unto ourselves?
43:15
I mean, for me, that's BYU. And part of that's because of my
43:19
role as the president of the university.
43:20
But there's so many ways that what we've been reading about
43:24
together here today, that likening principle, I, I think
43:28
far too often I find myself this, this is my, my, my, my
43:32
guilty admission. I find myself sometimes reading
43:35
the scriptures without taking the likening step.
43:40
But but men, the scriptures come to life in, in so many important
43:45
ways. When I do take that extra step
43:48
and liken them unto myself, it's it's it's the the that that
43:52
beautiful moment when they come to life for me.
43:55
So as you take chapter 37 in verse 13, he says, oh, remember,
44:00
remember my son Helman, how strict are the commandments of
44:03
God? And he said, if you will keep my
44:06
commandments, you shall prosper in the land.
44:07
How many times have you heard that promise and invitation in
44:11
the Book of Mormon before? But if you keep not his
44:14
commandments, you shall be cut off from his presence.
44:17
And he, he goes on to say, now my now remember, my son, that
44:20
God has entrusted you with these things which are sacred, which
44:23
he has kept sacred, and also which he will keep and preserve
44:26
for a wise purpose in him. These plates that contain these
44:29
commandments. Commandments are quite frankly
44:32
small and simple from a, from a world's perspective.
44:35
And yet great blessings are brought to pass when we keep
44:40
these small and simple commandments, when we when we
44:43
keep that focus on Jesus Christ. I want to be a covenant
44:48
connected to him, member of his of his church.
44:52
As I move forward in my faith, great things are brought to
44:56
pass, not because of me, but because of Him and because I've
45:01
tapped into that, that power that He offers.
45:05
Yeah. How often are we, are we
45:07
distracted by the simpleness of the way?
45:09
Now that doesn't mean that that everyday implementation there
45:13
aren't, it's not a challenge. We don't have struggles and
45:16
trials, but but the the simplest of the way is that we we keep
45:20
our covenants, we anchor our feet securely on the covenant
45:24
path. In practice it it's sometimes
45:28
hard and sometimes we mess up and sometimes we have to turn to
45:32
him and plead for forgiveness and turn to our loved ones or to
45:35
others and plead for forgiveness and that's OK.
45:38
The other thing I wanted to point out in this chapter is
45:41
some of you may get this sense of, but this is Alma the
45:45
Younger. He was a prophet.
45:46
He was amazing. He off the charts amazing,
45:49
massive calling. You may not be called to be the
45:54
president of BYU. You probably won't be called to
45:57
be the prophet you, you probably won't be called to build a ship
46:02
and to take a group of people across an ocean.
46:06
But God's called you to build different kinds of ships,
46:09
relationships, discipleship, companionship, scholarship.
46:16
And we've got to figure out ways to do those after the manner of
46:20
the Lord, not always after the manner of the world.
46:23
If we follow Nephi's example back in in first Nephi 18.
46:27
So these small and simple things apply to every one of us,
46:32
regardless of what your position or your your calling in the
46:36
church or in or in a in an organization.
46:39
Maybe that's secondary to that connection.
46:44
And I'd be very curious to hear your perception on that.
46:47
If somebody were to say, what's your identity, would you leave
46:50
out with I am the president of BYU?
46:53
Well, I mean, we, this is one of the, one of the most remarkable
46:56
talks that we've heard in our generation was President
46:59
Nelson's talk to the young adults.
47:01
We're just coming out of COVID. I, I think there may have been
47:05
no more prominent time in the history of the Earth where
47:11
people were asking the question, who am I?
47:15
Because their worlds have been rocked by COVID all abounded.
47:21
But but President Nelson taught and I just continue to think
47:24
that for for me personally, there was nothing more ennobling
47:30
or empowering than to have him say that he put all of those
47:34
other identities that he does talk about that those are
47:38
important secondary identities. They're a big deal.
47:40
They're a big deal. They're important.
47:42
And, and we don't, we don't box those up and file them away for
47:47
to never be referred to again, but we start with a child of
47:51
God, a child of the covenant and a disciple of Jesus Christ,
47:56
which by the way, when, when that was first described by
48:00
President Nelson, I, I wasn't shocked to hear child of God and
48:03
I wasn't shocked to hear a disciple of Jesus Christ.
48:06
But Child of the Covenant was a little new for me and and I
48:10
thought, wow, that that one was we.
48:11
Haven't used that for. We haven't exactly, we haven't
48:14
talked about that, but but it reinforced this idea of the
48:18
covenants we make and, and, and especially starting with, and
48:22
maybe most prominently, that covenant we make at baptism that
48:26
we turn our lives over to the Savior Jesus Christ.
48:29
That, that once those become your primary identities, So many
48:34
of those secondary identities are in fact secondary.
48:38
And, and you don't focus on some of the things that that
48:43
honestly, I've led to a tremendous amount of, of, of
48:47
discord in the world in which we live.
48:50
But but those other identities we all share in common.
48:54
And so whether it's whether it's my scholarship or whether it's
48:58
the fact that, that I currently serve as the president of the
49:00
university, which, which that that's going to come to an end.
49:05
But these identities I share with all of my brothers and
49:08
sisters and these identities are are so ennobling that that they
49:13
they change the nature of the conversation.
49:15
That's so powerful because what what you, what you just saw
49:19
modeled here is that discipleship then drives the
49:25
leadership, it drives the scholarship, it drives the
49:27
career and all these other labels that the world is going
49:30
to give you and the other responsibilities that come.
49:32
But it's discipleship at the core, disciple scholarship.
49:39
So whatever you're calling, whatever your career, whatever
49:43
your relationships, put your discipleship to Jesus Christ at
49:48
the front and center. At the core, I am a disciple of
49:51
Christ. I'm a son of God or a daughter
49:53
of God, whatever the case may be, a child of the covenant.
49:56
If that's at the core, it doesn't matter what you're
49:59
called to do because you'll do it his way instead of your own.
50:05
Now, as we jump down to verse 38, he he mentions this, this
50:09
compass, this director. And this is the only place,
50:14
little, little trivia here. Many of you probably already
50:16
knew this, but the only place in the entire Book of Mormon where
50:19
you get this name, the Leahona, is right here.
50:23
And now, my son, I have somewhat to say concerning this.
50:26
The thing which our fathers call a ball or director or our
50:30
fathers called it Leahona, which is being interpreted a compass,
50:36
a small, a simple thing that brought an entire family out of
50:43
danger across a wilderness, guided them for eight years
50:48
through that wilderness and then guided them across the sea and
50:52
brought them to the American to the promised land.
50:55
Now once again, many of you are probably thinking, man, I'd give
50:58
anything to have a Leahona. There are so many examples in in
51:06
a likening sense of the Leahona that God has provided for us
51:09
today. Things to point the way that we
51:12
should go in the wilderness on our journey to the ultimate
51:17
promised land that that eternal life and exaltation that He
51:21
promises us. We can't.
51:23
We can't know where to go on our own without some divine
51:28
guidance. And isn't it amazing that when
51:30
President Nelson gets called to be the prophet, his very first
51:33
talk, April 2018, is Revelation for the Church, Revelation for
51:38
our lives. Read that entire talk through
51:40
the lens of what the Leah Hona did for Lehi and his family, and
51:45
what the Lord's doing for us today.
51:47
You know, I've, I've also thought at times if, if, if, if
51:51
they had a gospel library, would they have said I would have, I
51:55
would love to have the gospel library.
51:58
Great point. I mean, we talk about what we
52:01
have sitting in the palm of our hands and it is, it is a
52:05
remarkable in, in a relatively short period of time.
52:08
I I I just think that what, what a what a what a guidance, what a
52:14
compass that is for our lives. Director.
52:17
Yeah, beautiful. It's amazing how quickly the
52:20
Lord has accelerated this part of his work.
52:22
I remember just speaking kind of personally, anecdotally here, I
52:27
would, I was right at the very end of my mission down in Brazil
52:31
when my mission president got up in his own conference and said,
52:33
hey, elders and sisters, I need to tell you about this cool new
52:39
invention. In the mission office on our
52:42
computer. We can actually pull up on the
52:45
computer screen a message written by people in Salt Lake
52:49
on their computer and they send it through the telephone wires.
52:52
It's this new invention. It's called e-mail.
52:55
And we were all sitting in the audience going, wow, amazing.
53:00
And now we have much more than what you describe as a Leahona
53:06
as far as giving direction and guidance.
53:08
And the words change from time to time, and it leads us in the
53:11
more fertile parts of the wilderness.
53:13
It's it's a great comparison. It's amazing.
53:16
So as he finishes up his discussion with with Heelman,
53:20
who he's preparing to, to take the baton to, to carry the
53:25
banner moving forward as the next prophet after, after he
53:29
leaves, he needs to make sure to pass all of this prophetic
53:34
direction on to this next leader so that Helman can help the
53:41
people become even better. Alma isn't teaching his son to
53:46
say, Helman, don't you dare take these people higher and further
53:51
than I took them. He's not doing that.
53:55
It's a becoming concept. Yeah, yeah.
53:57
And, and, and that one of the things I love about that is, is
53:59
he's not saying don't mess up what I've already done.
54:05
He recognizes that this progression is an infinite kind
54:08
of effort on our part. And, and, and, and build upon
54:12
and it, it's built in there. I, I love that because it is, I
54:15
think we're prone to sort of look at the, our own handiwork
54:18
sometimes and say, it's so great.
54:21
Don't, don't, don't. Our pride takes over and we
54:23
think, don't mess with what I've done.
54:27
We always hand the reins over with the intent that it's a,
54:31
it's a progression, progression that's becoming is this process.
54:34
And if we're not always seeking to be better, this is where we
54:37
started earlier. If we're not always seeking to
54:40
be better, recognizing what we've been built on, but but ask
54:44
what's next, then we're going to regress.
54:49
We have to be working towards that continual improvement.
54:53
And I sometimes I've seen it represented as a, as a bit of a,
54:59
a saw tooth function that our progression, our this, this
55:03
becoming, we, we will have moments where it's like this,
55:06
but the, the overall trajectory is, is a +1.
55:10
And I think that that that's that's the idea for us as we as
55:15
we engage in progression. I, I love that concept because
55:19
sometimes you can get really discouraged because you think to
55:21
yourself, after four or five of these seeming failures, I'm
55:27
never going to figure this out as opposed to saying, wait a
55:30
minute, what have I learned from these and how has it brought me
55:36
closer to the Lord and closer to my loved ones and, and more
55:40
meek, more teachable so that when I open my scriptures, I'm
55:45
not just checking the box, but I'm opening my scriptures
55:48
because I need the Lord desperately.
55:52
I don't just kind of need him or kind of need his grace or his
55:56
help. These are these are powerful
55:58
reminders that God is working with us through these small and
56:02
simple things, which now brings us to his son Shiblon.
56:06
This you might say the the middle the middle child syndrome
56:12
that that sometimes is easy to overlook or be forgotten.
56:16
Well. By the way, our middle child
56:17
never lets us forget so. There you go.
56:21
Shiblon only gets 15 verses, Helen got 2 chapters.
56:27
Corry Anton's going to get multiple chapters 4 coming up
56:31
and Shiblon only gets one. And you might say, you might
56:33
look at that initially and say, well, that's how, how fair is
56:37
that? I love the fact that in the
56:41
Scriptures and in the gospel of Jesus Christ, he's not
56:44
emphasizing equality or exact fairness.
56:49
He's giving what each individual needs.
56:54
And quite frankly, Shiblon seems to be doing really, really well.
56:59
And he might not need all of the stuff that Helaman's getting,
57:03
and he doesn't need all the correction and the counseling
57:06
that that his brother Corey Anton is going to get.
57:09
He just needs what he got in in verse 15.
57:13
And there's a principle of the gospel of contentment, of not
57:18
being always comparing, because that leads to pride.
57:24
I didn't get as much as you got or I got more than you got.
57:28
Either way, it's pride. And I love the shiblon principle
57:32
here. I love chapter 38.
57:34
It's become for me personally, I I don't know about you, but for
57:37
me, I I like to refer to Alma 38 as the the Proverbs of the Book
57:41
Mormon because almost every single verse is a neatly
57:48
packaged principle of the gospel that is easy to apply to a wide
57:53
variety of circumstances that will lead to great outcomes.
57:57
Yeah. And this idea, I love it as
58:00
well. I love this notion that, and
58:05
really, I think the Prophet Joseph taught that we teach them
58:08
correct principles and they govern themselves.
58:10
And this notion of being able to learn principles, to apply
58:16
principles, it is really in some ways a very different way of
58:21
thinking about things. I think we, we sometimes become
58:24
very law of Moses like and, and think about checklists and
58:27
easier. I was just going to say, and
58:29
some of us are super comfortable with that because it's easier.
58:32
It's, it's just I can walk down the list and check boxes and,
58:36
and, and I'm not critical. I mean, there's times when I
58:38
think I might be more comfortable in a checklist
58:42
environment, but but there's something and I think it's
58:46
deeply connected to this idea of becoming is this is, is is this
58:50
idea of if, if I can learn principles and understand the,
58:56
the why it, it changes my motivation, it changes why I do
59:01
things as well. Those principles allow us a, a
59:05
deeper connection with the, the reason for, for why I'm I'm
59:10
obeying this law or following this plan.
59:14
It, it's it, it this idea of principle based is, is a
59:17
powerful one. And and obviously we've seen it
59:19
with for the strength of youth that that there's so much focus
59:24
and, and candidly our, our implementation was was human and
59:27
imperfect as we approach this because it was such a principle
59:32
based idea as we as we read here.
59:34
Because it takes time. So now in chapter 38, I just
59:38
wanted to highlight a couple of the verses the rest of them will
59:41
let you discover on your own. Because there are so many
59:44
beautiful principles to unpack here and figure out how they
59:48
apply not only to you, but your loved ones and to those that you
59:51
lead or teach or whatever setting you may find yourself in
59:55
in in these different roles of your life.
59:57
I wanted to point out verse 5. Now my son Shiblon.
1:00:01
I would that you should remember that as much as you shall put
1:00:04
your trust in God, Even so much He shall be delivered out of
1:00:08
your trials and your troubles and your afflictions, and ye
1:00:12
shall be lifted up at the last day.
1:00:14
Did you notice the the significance here?
1:00:17
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not just a plan of salvation for
1:00:21
the next life. It's a plan of happiness for
1:00:24
this life. You're going to be delivered out
1:00:26
of your trials, your tribulations, all these
1:00:28
difficult things that you face in this life and lift it up at
1:00:32
the last day. It's a plan of salvation for all
1:00:36
of life and think celestial into the eternities.
1:00:41
And the other verse I wanted to point out is verse 1011 and 12.
1:00:49
He says now, as you have begun to teach the word, Even so I
1:00:53
would that you should continue to teach.
1:00:56
It's usually an easy thing to start a project.
1:01:00
It's a lot harder thing to finish a project as President
1:01:03
Reese has begun his his presidency with this becoming
1:01:07
BYU initiative. It's beautiful.
1:01:09
And on the surface, it's it's easy to see, oh, what a great
1:01:11
thing. And it would be really, really
1:01:14
quite easy for him to abandon it after yourself.
1:01:20
It's too much effort, it's too hard.
1:01:22
It's not just starting something that's inspiring you.
1:01:26
You've begun to teach. You've started this, but now
1:01:29
continue to teach. It's that endure to the end.
1:01:33
When you get the inspiration for something, don't give up on it.
1:01:37
If it doesn't work out or if people don't cheer you on at
1:01:41
every step, there's going to be opposition.
1:01:43
You keep moving forward and I'm sure you've experienced that
1:01:47
200° other opposition, both from the adversary, from worldly
1:01:51
forces, maybe even from people who you trusted and you thought
1:01:55
would respond differently, have maybe been a bit of a naysayer
1:01:59
for what you're trying to do. Yeah, yeah, sure.
1:02:01
And, and and and I think that that's true in in each of our
1:02:04
lives. I know that as as the president
1:02:06
of BYU, there are detractors. There are people who who maybe
1:02:13
they want us to look more like every other institution on the
1:02:16
planet. And they came to BYU because
1:02:19
they wanted to be at a university who had lofty
1:02:22
academic standards. Well, so do I, but we don't do
1:02:26
that at the expense of our spiritual mission.
1:02:29
And so, but what that means is we have to persist.
1:02:32
There's going to be people who, who disagree with, with the
1:02:35
approach that I take as the president.
1:02:37
There's going to be people who, who don't like the direction
1:02:40
we're going in. And, and, and, and that doesn't
1:02:43
mean that when I look back at the charge that Elder
1:02:46
Kristofferson gave that day of my inaugural address, that I'm
1:02:53
going to abandon that. And, and I think that that's
1:02:55
true in our individual lives, that so many times we set out on
1:02:59
the absolute right path. And the hard part isn't that
1:03:04
setting out. Sometimes it's the persisting
1:03:07
through, through the, the, the murky and the, the, the turns
1:03:11
and the curves. We, we talk about the straight
1:03:13
and narrow path path. And we sometimes think that it
1:03:15
means that, that it's straight, it's, it doesn't look like that,
1:03:20
right? It's, it's windy all over the
1:03:22
place. It sometimes turns back on
1:03:24
itself. But but the reality is, is that
1:03:26
that through those, if we persist, we know that we'll be
1:03:32
sustained and and strengthened by the atoning sacrifice of
1:03:36
Jesus Christ. I, I again, this, this enabling
1:03:39
aspect of the atoning sacrifice is, is so powerful.
1:03:42
And I think it's that continuing with the strength of Christ with
1:03:47
us and in in his grace and his mercy is what what what drives
1:03:50
us so. Whatever your your path of life
1:03:55
looks like, whatever your pursuit is, whatever the Holy
1:03:58
Ghost has inspired you to as as part of your life mission or or
1:04:03
discovering that story of your what what you were born to
1:04:07
become. And sometimes it gets dark,
1:04:11
sometimes it gets stormy, sometimes it gets steep.
1:04:14
Sometimes it takes a hairpin turn.
1:04:16
You didn't see and and you're frustrated.
1:04:19
He gives you now principles for how to do that enduring.
1:04:24
He says, and I would that you would be diligent and temperate
1:04:31
in all things. That's an interesting word,
1:04:34
temperate. You could go in like a firebrand
1:04:38
and say we are going to do this. And again, you might be able to
1:04:42
force conformance to some of those things, but at what cost?
1:04:47
Being tempered and all things making sure that you're paying
1:04:51
attention to people around you. President Thomas Monson used to
1:04:56
say there is no problem to be solved.
1:04:58
That is more important than a person to be loved.
1:05:03
And that's that's part of this. And you see it come out with
1:05:06
Alma talking to Shubel in here. Notice this.
1:05:09
See that you're not lifted up unto pride and see that you do
1:05:12
not boast in your own wisdom nor of your much strength.
1:05:16
He must have been a really smart guy and a very strong guy.
1:05:21
And he might have been a little prone to recognize that he was a
1:05:26
smart and. Strong guy.
1:05:28
And his father's looking at him saying temperate.
1:05:33
And then look at this next verse.
1:05:35
Use boldness but not overbearance.
1:05:39
I don't know about you, but when I think bold but not
1:05:43
overbearing, President Nelson's image comes to mind.
1:05:47
I was just going to say that President Nelson, when he stands
1:05:52
up and you know what I love about this is you watch him and
1:05:56
he physically does this. He straightens up and his
1:05:59
shoulders go back and, and you know that he's preparing to be
1:06:03
bold, but you never want sense that he's going to come into
1:06:10
and, and and invade your, your agency.
1:06:13
That that overbearance really to me is invading agency.
1:06:16
And he is, he is bold and he is resolute and he is strong in his
1:06:22
invitation, but not to the point of overbearance.
1:06:25
And what a what a powerful, powerful example that is for us
1:06:31
is, is what it means to to use boldness but not overbearance.
1:06:35
He's he is exactly who comes to my mind as well.
1:06:39
Then he goes on to say here and also so after, be bold, but
1:06:44
don't be overbearing and also see that ye bridle all your
1:06:50
passions that you may be filled with love.
1:06:53
Now, sometimes when you're reading scriptures, it's helpful
1:06:56
to note not just what they say, but to note what they didn't
1:07:01
say. What Alma didn't say was see
1:07:05
that you bridle your passion. But he said bridle all your
1:07:10
passions. There are a lot of passions, and
1:07:14
he's inviting his son to bridle all of them.
1:07:19
Have you ever met anyone who is so passionate about politics or
1:07:23
passionate about a certain sport or A cause that it becomes
1:07:29
almost a an all consuming gospel unto that one thing for that
1:07:35
person and it it can take over their life?
1:07:38
Bridle all of your passions. Why?
1:07:42
So that you may be filled with love.
1:07:46
See that you refrain from idleness.
1:07:48
It's pretty hard to love somebody else when you're so
1:07:51
passionate about my approach or my idea or what I think should
1:07:56
happen. I love the the companion talk to
1:08:00
to this council to Shiblon from his father is President Oakes
1:08:05
gave an amazing talk when your, when your strengths become
1:08:07
weaknesses, which which which really is the, the, the sort of
1:08:12
bridal your passions talk to to to and he gave it, I think at a
1:08:18
BYU devotional. But it was really directed to
1:08:22
all of us where we allow our passions to, to get in the way
1:08:26
of, of, of reflecting love for the individual, love for God.
1:08:31
And, and I love that talk when, when, when our strengths become
1:08:34
weaknesses. That blessed my mission and
1:08:36
blessed my life ever since. I love that talk which stop and
1:08:40
think about that for a minute. Sometimes we can be so
1:08:42
passionate about even good things to the point where we can
1:08:46
be overbearing and it can cause us not to be filled with love.
1:08:51
And there are a few things that are more difficult to take than
1:08:54
than unwanted goodness. Somebody trying to force
1:08:59
goodness upon you is not fun. Versus this relationship that
1:09:03
Alma's trying to teach his son who is an amazing, a missionary,
1:09:08
an amazing person. Obviously with this chapter.
1:09:13
But the father here has noticed a couple of things and he's
1:09:17
using a little bit of sandpaper to say, I want you to, I want
1:09:22
you to be careful, you have a tendency towards this.
1:09:25
And I want to, I want to Polish you just a little bit here.
1:09:28
And he's doing it in a principle based way.
1:09:31
But then notice how he finishes. And may the Lord bless your soul
1:09:36
and receive you at the last day into his Kingdom to sit down in
1:09:40
peace. Brothers and sisters, that is
1:09:43
the motivating factor for why he's saying anything to his son.
1:09:47
He loves his son. There's something beautiful
1:09:50
about somebody who loves you enough to put an arm around you
1:09:53
on occasion and say, can I give you some sandpaper?
1:09:57
Can I? Can I give you just a little bit
1:09:59
of kind feedback or let me help you see what that looked like
1:10:05
from outside of your viewpoint? Those are painful but powerful
1:10:09
moments. Yeah, and, and, and, and they
1:10:12
require a little bit of, of intellectual humility to just
1:10:16
say, yeah, I'll receive that. And it's, and it's most what I
1:10:21
love about this, this, this council to Shiblon is it's clear
1:10:28
that he loves his son. And I think his son, we don't
1:10:32
know exactly about this, but we, we, we, we have to believe that
1:10:36
his son received it in the spirit in which it was intended,
1:10:39
which is out of out of out of love and wanting his son, who,
1:10:44
as you point out, didn't require nearly as much sandpaper as his
1:10:48
brothers, but he knew that his dad loved him.
1:10:52
And what a powerful example that is.
1:10:55
And I think that's part of why we have to begin with a love for
1:11:00
God and then a love for his children that that that order of
1:11:04
the of our first two great commandments is so important is
1:11:08
is when we when that's the reason for for what how we talk
1:11:12
to our children or those to whom we feel like we we need to apply
1:11:16
sandpaper. It is in a spirit of love.
1:11:19
So. I, I love that and again, look
1:11:23
at the at any general conference and identify in as many talks as
1:11:29
possible any kind of expression of love where all these
1:11:34
speakers, how they're trying to communicate that motivating
1:11:40
factor for them. They're nothing motivates people
1:11:44
faster than a sense of you really do love me.
1:11:48
You really do care about me. You really do want to help me
1:11:51
become better. You're not just trying to
1:11:52
correct me because I've I've been bad or because what makes
1:11:56
you look better. If I'm good, you're, you're
1:11:59
giving me this direction or these principles or this
1:12:02
guidance because you love me and and you're helping me become who
1:12:07
I need to become. Which brings us full circle to
1:12:09
where we started. Brothers and sisters, all of
1:12:12
these chapters, chapter 363738. They're, they're incredible.
1:12:18
They're loaded with amazing principles that are true and
1:12:22
that will lead us to a deeper connection with Christ.
1:12:26
But at the end of the day, whenever you come to Christ,
1:12:30
it's this invitation into his arms where he's going to change
1:12:35
us. He's going to take away the the
1:12:37
pain, take away the hurt that we feel that we've caused others to
1:12:42
feel. He's going to wipe away the
1:12:45
tears and he's going to guide us and walk that that path of life
1:12:52
with us. It may be dark, it may be scary,
1:12:54
it may be steep at times, but you're never walking it alone
1:12:59
when you've turned your life over to him and said, Oh Jesus,
1:13:05
thou son of God, have mercy on me who I'm in the gall of
1:13:09
bitterness, whatever that bitterness may may take in your
1:13:13
in your life, it's. Beautiful.
1:13:15
Yeah. It's well, it's been just such a
1:13:18
delight to be with all of you today, to be here with you,
1:13:21
Tyler, Just such a treat. And, and one of the things that
1:13:26
I've had impressed on my heart as we've been visiting together
1:13:32
is, is how much our Father in heaven is, is interested in who
1:13:38
we become. That that just experiencing
1:13:41
mortality is not enough. It's it's who we become.
1:13:47
And, and I know that what that implies is that our Father in
1:13:53
heaven, our, our our Father in heaven knows us individually.
1:14:00
We, we talk about God's love for his children, and it sometimes
1:14:05
feels like a collective thing. But I know that God loves us as
1:14:10
individuals. I know that Jesus is the Christ
1:14:14
and it is through His atoning sacrifice that we can become
1:14:18
what He wants us to become, and that is exalted beings.
1:14:23
I know that his his atonement is infinite and that it that it
1:14:28
covers all of us in all of our imperfections.
1:14:31
No matter how far we feel that we are from Him, we're never,
1:14:37
never too far. And all that it is made unfair
1:14:41
in this life will be made right through the atoning sacrifice of
1:14:46
Jesus Christ. It is that hope that we have to
1:14:50
cling to if we're to become what what he would have us become
1:14:54
that that would allow us to go from from what we call our
1:14:58
carnal state to to to a perfected state.
1:15:01
And we have to trust in him and we have to trust in him through
1:15:04
thick and through thin. But I, but I testify that that
1:15:08
Jesus is the Christ, that God lives and that he talks to his
1:15:15
prophet. And, and we've talked so much
1:15:18
today about President Russell M Nelson and, and, and I testify
1:15:22
that President Russell M Nelson is the Lord's mouthpiece, that
1:15:26
he shares God's will for you and for me and for you and for all
1:15:32
of us, whether we're members of the church or not.
1:15:34
He is God's prophet on the earth at this time and I know that he
1:15:40
is the Lord's mouthpiece. I know that as we listen and
1:15:44
apply his teachings in our life, that we'll find, as you talked
1:15:47
about Tyler earlier, not only joy in the eternities, not only
1:15:53
a promised exaltation later, but that it'll bring us joy and
1:15:58
peace and comfort and, and the, the, the, the, the peace that
1:16:03
comes from the Savior, Jesus Christ.
1:16:07
I know that those are real blessings now and into the
1:16:10
eternities. I'm grateful to have spent time
1:16:13
with, with all of you today. And I and I share that testimony
1:16:16
in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
1:16:19
Know that you're loved.