Latest / Scripture Central / ”Stand Forever” Ep. 18 | The Truth—Who Are You? Part II | Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge

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”Stand Forever” Ep. 18 | The Truth—Who Are You? Part II | Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge · Scripture Central

• 0:00
  You may watch an entire state convene to sustain a new state
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  presidency and feel simple and small because you were not even
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  considered to such a prominent position.
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  A conclusion settles in. I'm nobody who else would be so
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  anointed to be the Lord's rulers?
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  If not you, who will be those kings and Queens, these noble
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  and great ones? If you are not one of them, then
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  who is the mansion? A couple who quietly rely on the
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  Lord and are sealed together for time and eternity.
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  They labor to build up the Kingdom of God, beginning in
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  their own home. They raise their children and
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  lied in truth. Who will remember and honor
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  their names? While the great nations of the
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  earth fade into oblivion, generations and thousands upon
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  thousands in both directions of time will remember and honor
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  them. They will not be forgotten, not
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  ever. Who are you and who are you
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  becoming? Hello, my name is Larry
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  Korbridge and this is episode 18 of the Stand Forever series.
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  In the last episode, we partially answered the question
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  we should all answer from time to time.
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  Who am I? To understand who you are is
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  essential to know where you are, and when you know where you are,
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  you can then plot a course to where you want to go.
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  We considered our our dual nature, both divine and natural
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  or carnal. Today we will consider
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  additional aspects of your identity, particularly who you
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  were before this life. To whatever extent polar
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  opposition or moral opposition existed in our first estate, to
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  whatever extent good and evil were present there, one thing is
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  clear. Nothing then and there compares
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  to the prevalence and extremes of good and evil here.
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  This life, this time, this world is different.
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  For the first time ever we are out of the presence of God on
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  our own, without even memory of Him.
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  For the first time ever we are clothed with this phenomenal
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  physical body. Satan and his minions roam
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  freely on our and are having their way with the world.
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  The Lord said to Enoch, Wherefore I can stretch forth
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  mine hands and hold all creations which I have made and
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  mine. I can Pierce them also, and
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  among all the workmanship of my hands there has not been so
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  great wickedness as among thy brethren.
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  Some have said this statement is a terrible indictment of the
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  inhabitants of this world, and in a way I suppose it is.
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  But while that description is bleak, certainly if the greatest
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  wickedness is here, it also gives rise to the potential for
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  the greatest good as well. You should not conclude Earth is
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  Alcatraz, the maximum security facility to which God has sent
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  his most rebellious or deviant or retarded children.
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  The Son of Man was the perfection of goodness, and He
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  was born among men here, walked among men here, healed, taught,
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  atoned, and resurrected for men here, while great wickedness is
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  scattered across the face of the earth.
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  This is also where God sent the noble and great ones from among
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  his children. Abraham said this.
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  Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligence that
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  were organized before the world was.
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  And among all these there were many of the noble and great
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  ones. And God saw these souls, that
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  they were good, and he stood in the midst of them.
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  And he said, These I will make my rulers.
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  For he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that
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  they were good. And he said unto me, Abraham,
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  Thou art one of them. Thou was chosen before thou was
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  born. Are you among those noble and
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  great ones to be the Lord's rulers?
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  What if you were never called to be a leader?
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  Never called to be a Bishop or a Relief Society president?
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  The Lord said ruler, not leader. A ruler is one who governs his
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  or her own Kingdom, however grand or small, especially one
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  who rules over oneself. It is not the size of the
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  Kingdom, but the quality of the kingship that matters, and the
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  promise to become a ruler is not limited to this life.
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  Who else? Who else would be so anointed to
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  be the Lord's rulers, if not you?
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  Who will be the Lords? Who will be those kings and
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  Queens, if not you? Where should we go to find them,
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  these noble and great ones? If you are not one of them, then
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  who is? If you do not proclaim the
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  gospel, if you do not redeem the dead and perfect the Saints,
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  especially especially yourself, who will?
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  Who among the seed of Abraham will go forward to bless all
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  nations, if not you? With all respect, will it be the
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  Jews, the Shiites, the Sunnis, the Muslims, the Buddhists, or
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  other Christians? Jesus said the harvest truly is
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  plenteous, but the laborers are few.
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  If you are not among the few who will labor, then who is?
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  If you don't, who will? Who else has the truth you have?
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  Who else has the power and knowledge that you have, as the
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  Lord said. For of Him unto whom much is
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  given, much is required, and he who sins against the greater
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  light shall receive the greater condemnation.
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  We live, you and I live, in the dispensation of the fullness of
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  times. It is the fullness of times not
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  only regarding the gospel, the plan of salvation and and the
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  Kingdom of God on earth, but also regarding opportunities,
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  science, industry, information technology and probably evil as
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  well. Was there ever, ever a time like
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  this time ever, ever a time where people are given more than
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  you, with greater potential and opportunity than you?
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  No, never, not ever. You were chosen to come to earth
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  in this dispensation. When so much more has been
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  revealed, the Lord says to you, And behold, ye are the children
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  of the prophets, and ye are of the House of Israel, and ye are
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  of the covenant which the Father made with your father, saying
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  unto Abraham, And in thy seed you, and in thy seed shall all
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  the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
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  You were Abraham's seed. The living and breathing
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  fulfillment of that prophecy In the revelation given to
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  President Joseph F Smith in 1918, the Lord revealed His
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  ministry among the righteous dead assembled in Paradise, and
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  His organization of them to preach the gospel on that side
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  of the veil. Saying from among the righteous,
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  He organized his forces, and appointed messengers clothed
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  with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth
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  and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in
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  darkness, even to all the spirits of men.
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  But in that same revelation the Lord also spoke of the
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  preparation of choice spirits yet unborn, to come forth in the
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  Lord's words, to come forth in the fullness of times, to take
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  part in laying the foundations of the great latter day work on
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  this side of the veil, including the building of temples and the
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  performances of ordinances therein.
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  For the redemption of the dead were also in the spirit world,
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  he continued. I observed that there were also
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  among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning
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  to be rulers in the Church of God even before they were born.
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  They, with many others, received their first lessons in the world
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  of spirits and were prepared to come forth in due time of the
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  Lord to labor in His vineyard for the salvation of men.
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  That's you. Those are the first lessons you
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  received in the world of spirits for the work you were prepared
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  to do here. That is who you are, and that is
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  an essential part of your purpose here.
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  There is no one else, only you, one of the noble and great ones.
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  You may run and hide, duck and cover, but you can't escape who
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  you are and what you were prepared to do here.
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  So imagine this dream. It's actually actually a dream I
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  had one night. You're going to a large
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  gathering, a conference, a devotional of some sort.
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  It's it's a very important event.
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  Everyone is supposed to be there.
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  And as you enter the large Conference Center, you're taken
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  back by how many people are packed inside.
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  It seems every seed is filled. There is tangible energy that
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  fills the stadium as so many people are talking, excited for
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  the event to begin. You're not sure what the event
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  is exactly. You just know everyone is going
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  and you should be there. You wonder if your seat, if you
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  can call it that, will be taken. You came earlier to to reserve a
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  seat, but it seemed even then, an hour before the event, every
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  seat was already reserved with coats and books.
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  You did find one spot high up in the northeast corner of the
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  stadium. It really isn't a seat, just a
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  step of sorts on the highest tier against the windows.
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  You should have come earlier, but at least it's a spot, a
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  place for for you. When you return.
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  You left a book there to save the spot, but you wonder if it
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  will now be taken. Your seat is on the other side
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  of the stadium. From where you are now.
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  It might have been better that you had entered a door on that
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  side of the stadium. As you make your way along the
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  upper tier, you look down to the floor and see those seated on
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  the rostrum below. You see some of the honored
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  guests, it seems. You make brief eye contact with
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  the keynote speaker and he nods ever so slightly in your
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  direction. When you checked in at the at
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  the registration table, your name was not on the list because
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  it was misspelled. They tried to correct it while
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  you waited, but finally told you to just go in anyway.
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  It is still misspelled so no one will know you were there.
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  As you get to the back end of the stadium, you realize the
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  event includes a meal you didn't know, that you should have come
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  earlier. There are tables at the far end,
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  behind the rostrum and under the seats.
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  You don't want to pass up a meal, and you find a vacant spot
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  at the end of the table. People all around you are
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  talking and laughing. Servers are running around,
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  largely cleaning up. You finally get the attention of
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  one of them and he says he will bring you your meal.
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  People are leaving the dining area to take their seat as the
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  event is about to begin. The server brings your food but
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  forgets to bring silverware. Silverware.
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  The food is cold and there isn't time now to eat anyway to get
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  and get to your seat before the event begins.
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  You wonder if you should just leave.
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  No one will notice whether you stay or go.
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  No one will know you were ever there.
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  You are surrounded by 10s of thousands of people, but you are
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  alone. You're not even one of the crowd
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  because everyone else is with someone laughing and talking.
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  You're just alone. It's not the end of the world,
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  you're used to it. You just know you're nobody.
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  That dream is reality for many. An elderly woman feels much the
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  same way as she is walking with her daughter.
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  Actually my wife, she says, I know your father and I are not
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  good enough for celestial life. The daughter, my wife is
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  surprised her faithful mother would say such a thing, or even
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  think it as a temple worthy, faithful woman of God who with
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  her faithful husband raised their family and lied in truth
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  of the restored gospel, served faithfully in various callings,
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  including as senior missionaries and as temple workers for
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  decades. If she had actually been the
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  stake Relief Society president, true and faithful to their
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  covenants as much as anyone. The daughter, my wife Jackie
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  asks. Why?
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  Why do you think that? Why did you say that?
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  She replied. We're just simple and small.
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  We're nobodies. We haven't done anything
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  significant. Your father was never a high
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  priest, and he was only a home teacher and counselor in the
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  Sunday school presidency and a deacons quorum advisor.
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  This the self-image or belief of this mother, grandmother and
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  great grandmother at the age of 85 is as common as it is false
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  and destructive. What she was really saying is
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  we're not prominent. Prominence is a big problem.
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  What do these popular illustrations of Christ have in
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  common as to how he is portrayed or depicted?
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  As with all art of Christ, he is prominent.
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  We wouldn't expect him to be depicted in any other way.
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  The problem is He invites us to follow him and become like Him
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  and we appropriately view him as prominent and unconsciously
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  conclude we must be prominent to or fail our life purpose.
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  We look to other inspiring people, living apostles and
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  prophets, local leaders, the Prophet Joseph Smith and and we
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  admire them as we should. We may be inspired to be more
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  like them. One of the characteristics they
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  all have in common is prominence, and this blurry
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  notion forms that prominence is an essential feature along the
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  path to self fulfillment and eternal life.
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  The more prominent you become, the greater you are, the better
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  you are, or so we think. You may watch an entire state
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  convene to sustain a new state presidency and feel simple and
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  small because you were not even considered.
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  No one even talked to you, much less called to such a prominent
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  position. You see people called to preside
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  here and there, and yet yet you fly unnoticed under the radar.
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  A conclusion settles in. I'm nobody failing in life, or
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  at best just getting by. Or maybe worse.
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  You think I am somebody, but no one else knows that, and
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  resentment and frustration settle in.
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  Neither greatness nor prominence is unsuited to godliness, but
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  neither is an essential quality of godliness.
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  While Christ is both prominent and great, He did not seek
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  either, which is one of the things that made him prominent
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  and great and distinguished him from Lucifer, who sought glory
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  and recognition for himself. Jesus was not a learned rabbi in
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  the in the traditional sense. He came from an obscure village.
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  He was not from a distinguished family.
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  He had No title, no position, no property, no home.
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  He even said foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have
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  nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.
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  He was rejected on every side. He often told others not to tell
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  of His miracles and the good things which He did.
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  He did the will of His Father, not his.
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  John said this. And there are also many other
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  things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written
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  everyone, I suppose that even the world itself could not
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  contain the books that should be written.
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  Even in his prominence, much of what he did has gone unnoticed
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  in the annals of history. At no time has the Lord said we
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  should seek to be either prominent or great.
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  In fact, He said the opposite. His his own disciples struggled
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  with this very same misguided aspiration.
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  Which is only to say they were they were human.
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  The natural desire for recognition is strong, and it is
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  stronger in those who are less aware or settled about who they
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  really are. I repeat, the natural desire for
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  recognition as is strong, and it is stronger in those who are
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  less aware or settled about who they are.
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  We probably don't fully appreciate how difficult,
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  confusing and unsettling it was for Christ's disciples who daily
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  were with the most this most extraordinary man, doing the
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  most extraordinary things, thronged with people who would
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  take extraordinary measures just to see him.
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  How does one measure up to that? In the Gospel of Mark it is
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  recorded that on one occasion Christ came to Capernaum, and
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  being in the house, he asked the disciples, What was it that you
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  disputed among yourselves by the way?
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  But they held their peace, for by the way they had disputed
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  among themselves who should be greatest.
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  And he sat down, and called the 12 and saith unto them, If any
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  man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and
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  servant of all. And And he took a child, and he
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  set him in the midst of them. And when he had taken him in his
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  arms, he said, Whosoever shall receive 1 of such children in my
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  name receiveth me, and whosoever shall receive me shall receive
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  not me, but him that sent me. That was one day.
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  The very, the very next day, I think it's the very next day,
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  James and John, along with their mother, approach Jesus and have
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  the temerity to ask grant unto us that we may sit one on thy
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  right hand and the other on thy left hand in thy glory.
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  Again. They were aspiring to
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  prominence, greatness apparently prodded, it seems, by their
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  mother. They were known as the sons of
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  Thunder, James and John, and I think she was probably the
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  Thunder. Among other things, he repeated
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  much of what he told them just the day before, saying this.
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  You know that they which are accounted to rule over the
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  Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great and their
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  great ones exercise authority upon them prominence.
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  But so shall it not be among you.
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  But whosoever will be great among you shall be your
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  minister, And whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be
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  the servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not
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  to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a
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  ransom for many. The Lord sets our sights on the
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  pinnacle of man's greatest potential to quietly become like
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  him, and says that requires learning to be Listen to this.
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  That requires learning to be the least and the servant of all.
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  He said He that is ordained of God, and sent forth the same as
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  appointed to be the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least
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  and servant of all. The Lord also taught that when
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  thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right
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  hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy father,
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  which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
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  He also said Those who sound a trumpet or seek to be seen of
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  men have their reward. Other.
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  Boyd K Packer said this some years ago in the Philippines.
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  We. Arrived early for a conference.
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  Sitting on the curb was a father and a mother and four small
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  children dressed in their Sunday best.
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  They'd come several hours on a bus and we're having the first
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  meal of the day. Each of them was eating a cob of
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  cold boiled corn. The cost of the bus to Manila
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  probably came out of their food budget.
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  As I watched that family, my heart overflowed with emotion.
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  There is the church, there is the power, there is the future.
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  As with families in many lands, they pay their tithing, sustain
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  their leaders, and do their best to serve.
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  My wife and I do not expect reward for ourselves greater
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  than will come to our own children or to our parents.
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  We do not press, nor do we really want our children to set
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  great prominence and visibility in the world or even in the
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  church as their goal in life. That has so very little to do
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  with the worth of the soul. They will fulfill our dreams if
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  they live the gospel and raise their children in faith.
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  Isaiah prophesied the destruction of all the great and
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  prominent nations of the day, Babylon, Assyria, Philistia,
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  Moab, Damascus, Syria, Samaria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Duma, Arabia
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  and Tyre. They are now dust in the wind,
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  hardly even a distant memory. Who is there now to proclaim
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  their glory? Where are they today as Jehovah
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  continues his great work, gathering Israel from among all
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  nations to his Kingdom, which will stand forever in contrast
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  to the great nations of the of the world?
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  Imagine a couple who quietly rely on the Lord and are sealed
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  together for time and eternity. They labor to build up the
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  Kingdom of God, beginning in their own home.
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  They raise their children and lied in truth.
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  They share the gospel with others, work to identify their
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  ancestors, and receive temple ordinances and their behalf.
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  Who will remember and honor their names while the great
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  nations of the earth fade into oblivion, Generations and
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  thousands upon thousands in both directions of time will remember
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  and honor them. They will not be forgotten, not
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  ever. There is quiet greatness all
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  around us, but we don't see it because it's not prominent.
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  Prominence, greatness, and godliness may coincide, but
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  there is no correlation between them.
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  One may approach a Christ like life despite prominence, not
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  because of it. Prominence is not godliness.
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  So here's another question. Are you special?
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  If you want to make the case for you being special, there's a lot
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  to support it. For starters, and to repeat, you
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  are a child of God, created physically in the image of God,
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  and spiritually. You are first generation progeny
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  of Heavenly Parents, filled with intelligence that vitalizes and
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  informs every cell of your body in ways you don't begin to
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  comprehend. You are more intelligent than
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  you imagined. That makes you special among all
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  creatures, but not so within the human family who all share the
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  same divine parentage. So consider that prior to this
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  life, you made a critical decision to align with Heavenly
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  Father's plan endorsed by Jesus Christ. 1/3 of God's children,
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  1/3 of the hosts of heaven rejected that plan, rejected
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  God, our Father, Christ, and agency in favor of Lucifer, who
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  promised success and salvation for everyone.
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  Those who rebelled with Lucifer were thrust down from Heaven to
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  earth, as the Scripture says, as lightning fall from heaven
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  without mortal bodies. And thus came the devil and his
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  angels. By that score, you are you're 2
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  out of three. That's that's OK, that's good,
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  but not all that impressive, not all that special.
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  So let's let's continue with the math.
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  The Bible Dictionary says this. Although 1/3 of the spirits
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  became devils, the remaining 2/3 were not all equally valiant,
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  there being every degree of devotion to Christ and the
• 31:01
  Father among them. The most diligent were chosen to
• 31:05
  be rulers in the Kingdom. End Quote.
• 31:10
  You have been blessed to come to earth during the dispensation of
• 31:13
  the fullness of times, with all the blessings of the fullness of
• 31:17
  the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As I said before, even before
• 31:22
  you were born, you, as the Scripture records with many
• 31:27
  others, received your first lessons in the world of spirits
• 31:31
  and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to
• 31:35
  labor in His vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.
• 31:41
  President Russell M Nelson declared you were taught in the.
• 31:46
  Spirit World to prepare you for anything and everything you
• 31:50
  would encounter during this latter part of these latter
• 31:54
  days. That teaching endures within
• 31:57
  you, he said. In comparison to the world
• 32:02
  population, maybe 7.8 billion, you are one in 500.
• 32:09
  If you assume half of the membership of the church today
• 32:14
  are faithful. Using the ratio from the parable
• 32:18
  of the 10 virgins, 5 out of 10, you are one in 1000.
• 32:24
  If you compare the faithful today against the estimated
• 32:28
  total number of people whoever lived on the earth, maybe 100
• 32:33
  billion. You are one in 12,500.
• 32:39
  Whether you agree with the math and the underlying assumptions
• 32:42
  or not, it is clear you are special and you have a bright
• 32:48
  future ahead of you. When the Lord revealed the name
• 32:58
  of the Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
• 33:02
  Saints, He put your name next to His.
• 33:08
  His is the Kingdom, the glory and the power.
• 33:11
  But it's also you, our Kingdom, because He gives it to us that
• 33:15
  we share in His glory and power as well.
• 33:20
  Although we don't deserve it, our name is next to His.
• 33:26
  We have equal billing with Him. He made us Co stars with Him,
• 33:32
  that we become Co workers with Him, that we become Co heirs
• 33:36
  with Him. The name of the church is an
• 33:40
  invitation to engage in the work of God.
• 33:44
  Speaking of God's work on earth, President Russell M Nelson also
• 33:48
  said this You. Were sent to earth at this
• 33:51
  precise time, the most crucial time in the history of the
• 33:55
  world, to help gather Israel, and the Lord is hastening His
• 33:59
  work to gather Israel. That gathering is the most
• 34:04
  important thing taking place on Earth today.
• 34:07
  Nothing else compares in magnitude.
• 34:10
  Nothing else compares importance.
• 34:13
  Nothing else compares in majesty.
• 34:16
  For Latter Day Saints, the question is not merely to which
• 34:20
  church do you belong, rather, what work do you have to do?
• 34:26
  Don't ever think your life has little or no purpose.
• 34:29
  It couldn't be grander that which art in heaven hath place
• 34:34
  on earth as well make way for heaven on earth.
• 34:45
  The voice of the natural man says go your own way, do your
• 34:50
  own thing. Don't be a cookie cutter Mormon,
• 34:53
  just be yourself. It is one of the reasons the
• 34:56
  Lord gave for the restoration that in his words every man
• 35:02
  walketh in his own way and after the image of his own God, whose
• 35:07
  image is in the likeness of the world.
• 35:11
  The flame of individuality burns brightly, and some more in some
• 35:17
  than others. But the concern about losing 1's
• 35:21
  individuality is silly because we are all so different anyway.
• 35:26
  There is no reason to believe that will change.
• 35:30
  The Lord said These two facts do exist, that there are two
• 35:35
  spirits, one being more intelligent than there than the
• 35:39
  other. There shall be another more
• 35:41
  intelligent than they. I am the Lord thy God.
• 35:46
  I am more intelligent than they all like snowflakes or
• 35:52
  fingerprints. No two people are alike.
• 35:56
  While there may be many similarities, our different
• 36:00
  journeys make each of us unique. Different from everyone else, we
• 36:04
  are each the product of our particular experiences.
• 36:10
  All that we have seen, heard, read, felt, said, thought and
• 36:14
  done, both here on earth and before combine to make each of
• 36:19
  us who we are different from everyone else.
• 36:24
  And that is a good thing. Like stones of different sizes
• 36:30
  and shapes that fit together to form the foundation of a of a
• 36:35
  temple. It is because of our differences
• 36:39
  that we can be, in the words of the scripture, fitly framed
• 36:44
  together unto an an holy temple in the Lord.
• 36:56
  So, in summary, you are a child of the Almighty God, infused
• 37:06
  with divine intelligence, with limitless potential, and yet
• 37:13
  weak and prone to fall. You are a disciple of Jesus
• 37:18
  Christ and a Latter Day Saints, standing on common ground with
• 37:23
  all other Saints, prepared from the foundations of the world for
• 37:28
  the great work of this last dispensation.
• 37:32
  And to that end, God is with you and will stand by you.
• 37:38
  So where have we been and where are we going now in this series?
• 37:46
  In in this and and the prior episode, we have considered your
• 37:50
  dual nature, both divine and natural, who you were before
• 37:57
  this life and your preparations there for what you are to do
• 38:01
  here in this life. In the next episode, we will
• 38:05
  consider who you are within the circumstances of your life here
• 38:09
  and now. I hope you will join me then.
• 38:14
  Thank you.