Helaman 1–6 | August 26–September 1 | Scripture Study Insights | A Come Follow Me Resource

hello there my name is Tyler Griffin and I'm Cambria Griffin and I'm Jenna Griffin and this is scripture study insights by scripture Central today heilman chapters 1 through6 and it's my exciting privilege and blessing to have two of my daughters join me today in helan and I am just thrilled to learn with them and from them as we go through these chapters and just as a little disclaimer I'm not sure what they're going to share they have prepared some things together and uh I'm excited to learn with you and with them as we dive into

these chapters now is there anything before we start that sticks out in either of your minds as far as an overview of what these chapters taught you as you prepared for this I mean the first thing that comes to mind is just our family theme scripture the Helman 512 um I just love that one I'm excited to read that one we we'll spend a lot of time in chapter 5 I guess yes so let's dive in so Helman chapter 1 opens up remember we finished last week with the ending of the war chapters and and

we finally pushed out the lamanites and and we finalized everything there and then there was a whole group of people that left in in Elma chapter 63 and now we open up Helman chapter 1 with a bit of a problem and it starts in verse one with it behold it came to pass in the commencement of the 40th year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi there began to be a serious difficulty among the people of the Nephites so this chapter is kind of unique because previously we were putting our focus

on troubles that kept coming to the Nephites by the lamanites and in this case the problem's in the house it's Among the Nephites because pahin the chief judge died and now there's a serious contention regarding who should fill the Judgment seat and we have the the three sons here I think it's really interesting that in verse three and four it's talking about um boran's three sons and how there there's this contention and this division among the people now because they're all fighting for the position and it's just interesting that they're ruining their relationship to have

just the Judgment seat how many times in our lives are we we want something so bad that we're willing to fight people for it and it's like in my life with my siblings sometimes I want control and I want to I want it my way and I found that those are the times when my relationships struggle with my siblings and that's interesting when when an outcome becomes more important than a person than than this connection that's a that's a a good caution and an interesting thing is Rel relationships are Eternal like you'll have those forever

whereas a position in a judgment seat that only that's only lasts your life God doesn't care too much about that nope yeah he doesn't pay attention to our titles as much as we do on the earth and yet if we follow president Nelson's advice we'll think Celestial and it would change how many of these interactions would have taken place if these people had been thinking with that longer view so the next thing that happens is they they hold a vote and the vote comes in and the voice of the people the majority select pin the

son of pin to be the next chief judge which for pumai his brother he says okay well I lost the vote but panai the third brother mentioned he's not okay with losing the vote so we get this variation on a premortal theme where the the devil when he lost the voice of the people in heaven what did he do he started a war and these these followers of panai they they want him so badly to be the governor that they become exceedingly wroth those are words used to describe Lucifer with his countenance falling getting angry

and fighting and so verse 8 says that he was rising up in rebellion and so the voice of the people came and he was condemned to death for he had raised up in rebellion and sought to destroy destroy the liberty of the people which once again is exactly what Lucifer was trying to do in heaven is destroy our agency destroy our Liberty which is so sad and so then we get our first introduction to the gadianton robbers and Kish kumin comes to the Judgment seat and secretly gets in and kills pahoran while he's sitting on

that judgment seat very very sad part of this story indeed um a verse I like in here it says in verse 12 therefore kishkumen was not known among the people of Nephi for he was in Disguise at the time that he murdered pin and I was just thinking about how that is applicable to our lives and thinking that often the devil will come to us in disguises um in ways that we don't expect and I think sometimes for a lot of people that will come in the form of social media or often to other people

um and just being sure that we're ready to see him as he is um cuz I think often we expect to see the devil just as he is like oh that is a bad thing and that's the devil but he is very secret and comes in disguises and we need to make sure that we are ready for him and so that we can yeah so we can combat those once we recognize those devilish techniques and teachings and those ideas that get planted in our mind that we can recognize them for what they are seeking to

to destroy us and and get rid of them even though they're very cleverly disguised that's a beautiful Insight add on to that sometimes it's really hard to recognize those disguises cuz like his purpose is to get to us so he'll do very unexpected things but just if we're close to heavenly father in Jesus Christ then we can just have that like peace knowing that the Jesus will not let us be tricked by the devil which I I have a sense Jenna that um we're going to bring this up again and again and again that if

our that that if we're rooted in Christ we can be surrounded by all of these bad things in our world today and be okay we don't need to be afraid we don't need to live our life in anxiety because of the Savior The Rock upon which we're built that we're going to spend some time on later on so now you get this uh second part of the story the second half of chapter one you'll notice the first half was all about this secret society and the secret band Among the Nephites that comes in Disguise and

and does this terrible deed of murdering the chief judge at the same time the devil is working with the lamanites the the the traditional enemy across the border from these Nephites and they do something that we've never seen in the book Morman before so you notice that internally we have this adjustment the devil becomes more sneaky more subtle more secretive more uh in disguise right and at the same time he's working to get the lamanites to become more bold more Brazen more direct than ever before so tublo the son of amaron who now the king

of the lamanites he has sent quaner to the nephite lands and instead of fighting along the borders like they've done every other time in the Book of Mormon he goes somehow through all of the outer cities and goes straight to the capital city right to the heart of the Nephites and he attacks with his army and they they capture the city of zerla and he kills pumani the next chief judge who took the place of his brother pahor who was slain by Kish kumin we lose two Chief Judges in chapter one one internally one externally

as you see the devil changing up how he's doing things so you and I now live in the dispensation of the fullness of time so we're getting more Revelation more temples more missionaries more success than ever before but the fullness of times also seems to mean that the tears are growing side by side with the wheat both in internally and externally and we're seeing a repeat of this in our day today I read in verse 18 it says and it came to pass that because of so much contention and so much difficulty in the government

that they had not kept sufficient guards in the land of zarahemla for they had supposed that the lamanites D not come into the heart of their lands to attack that great City zerah and this first made me think that often in our lives we're not prepared for um the devil's attacks kind of like I was talking about back in ver 12 um often we just don't expect him to come um and so we need to make sure that we are ready and have our armies lined up so that when the Devil comes that we can

fight him back and ultimately that comes with having um the Savior with us because we can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth US um and I think that's important to remember see this is a this is a really important point when is the best time for the Nephites to to prepare the defenses in zerah is it when they see Coran's Army coming over the horizon or is it years before and and sometimes we we wait for troubles to arise before we then turn heavenward probably uh many of you are familiar with with elder deer

F UK dorf's talk of when's the best time to plant a tree well it's 20 years ago and if that wasn't available then today in other words if you haven't already started to build the defense in the past then right now is the best time to build those defenses even if we don't see any immediate need if you consider the prophet s and revelators giving us the proclamation to the world back in 95 or the living Christ document in 2000 when people weren't really uh attacking the character of Christ or the reality of Christ it

was given at a time where it can get established so that those prophets who see the future when there would be times when certain things would come under attack we have our defenses built it's it's a beautiful principle to add on to that when we build our defenses we can't just build them and then leave them be like okay now we're defended because the devil is going to wait for that moment when we're not paying attention and we're focused on other things and that's the time that he's going to attack in full force so we

need to constantly be building our Fortress what are some ways you weld your Fortress J um just by doing like all the the little primary answers like prayer scripture study going to the temple is a huge one I found reading my patriarchal blessing kind of seeing who I am eternally really helps fight off the devil when he comes that is so interesting the it gives you a sense of identity yes and that is a huge defense against those temptations that that when they do come you recognize them better for what they are and what they're

trying to do that's powerful what about you for me going to the temple is honestly ly one of the main things um just the peace that I find there um and I think going to the temple helps me see myself as God sees me gives me a little picture into who he sees that I can become and helps me to remember that with him I can do everything I can fight off Satan I can survive those hard days yeah president Nelson and the uh the prophets Sears and revelators have given a few promises surrounding Temple

worship haven't they they have and you've experienced those so now you have the capital city has fallen to Lites in the center of the land first time ever in the history of the book Mormon where we lose the city of Zer hemlet to the lamanites now we've lost them to kingmen we've lost them to internal denters of the Nephites before and maybe the mikit but never to the lamanites this is the first time and so morona the son of Captain Moroni is in charge of the the armies and he comes and gathers his forces and

he he is able to repel those lamanites they're surrounded on all side because they chose to come to the center of the land and now they're surrounded and a terrible battle is fought so here in verse 28 it says but when Mor and Iha had discovered this he immediately sent forth Lehi with an army round to head them before they should come to the land Bountiful so when he saw the danger instead of just waiting it for it to come and being afraid he immediately he sent his guards to start fortifying the land which is

something that can apply to our lives when we see the devil's attacks and he's coming we can't just sit back and be afraid and wait for him to come we need to immediately call on God to come help us fight that battle that's beautiful we don't we don't need to be afraid if you have on the whole armor of God you can stand yes stand with confidence and with faith in the Lord that he will deliver you so now there's a great battle fought uh verse 2 do you want to read that Cambria sure and

thus had cor anamur plunged the lamanites into the midst of the Nephites in so much that they were in the power of the Nephites and he himself was slain and the lamanites did yield themselves into the hand of the Nephites and so now the the victory is won and and many of you are thinking okay finally we beat the lamanites we never have to deal with that ever again right just because you overcome one Temptation from the devil today doesn't mean that he stops tempting you doesn't mean he doesn't try a different avenue or a

different angle there is an opposition in all things and so uh chapter 2 opens up with an empty judgment seat yet again and look at the wording here in verse one it came to pass in the 40 and2nd year of the reign of the judges after morona had established again peace between the Nephites and the lamanites behold there was no one to fill the Judgment seat therefore there began to be a contention again among the people concerning who should fill the Judgment seat it's an interesting thing Jenny you mentioned it earlier this idea of sometimes

we get so focused on on power or ruling or a a goal in this case who who's going to be the government leader that it becomes contentious what an amazing thing it is in the Church of Jesus Christ of latterday saints when a prophet passes on there's there's no contention among the members of the first presidency in the cor the 12 there's no contention among the church members the Lord has this beautiful established pattern it's just neat to see that contrast between the way these people do it and often in our societies today in the

world compared to the Lord's way of doing this so now we see the exact same thing happening again as happened back in chapter one chapter two this sneaky group this this subtle secret combination group The Gadi an and robbers they send Kish kumman once again to the Judgment seat to destroy in this case Helman the next the next chief judge so it's interesting how here in verse four um it introduces Gad Anon and it's showing exactly the same pattern um what he's doing here as what the devil did in heaven for there was one Gadi

antin for he was exceedingly expert in many words and also in his craft to carry on the secret work of murder and of robbery therefore he became the leader of the band of kishkumen it's interesting in the verse right after that it says therefore he did flatter them so all his followers are probably only following him because he's flattered them but you think about it when you get to the throne of God God's not going to care about how many people you flattered into liking you he knows the desires of our hearts and that's what

truly matters You Can't Hide You Can't Hide your desire from God he knows exactly what what they're working towards which is such a contrast because the devil's whole goal was to get people to to follow him he he wanted the most likes he wanted control he wanted all the glory all the power all of the recognition for himself which is such a contrast from the Savior Jesus Christ who wanted to serve us sacrific himself for our benefit in contrast to the devil sacrificing us for his benefit and the savior's bottom line was that the glory

be the father's forever as he then raises us up to be joint HS with him eternally with the Father the the contrast could not be more astronomically different and we see it playing out over and over and over again in scriptures these variations on premortal themes of what the devil did and what the Savior did and you and I were there but this is our story playing out and now here we are in a different uh uh changed Battle Ground we're not in heaven we're on the Earth but it's the same battle it's the same

war between what the Lord's trying to do for us and what the devil's doing against us and we get to cast the deciding vote it's kind of kind of uh significant to to recognize that it's still going on we're still living in this war so for these next verses let's use the let's use the internal map for a moment so you can see here that there are a great many people who Nephites living in the land of zarahemla says in verse three who departed out of the land of zarahemla and went forth unto the land

northward to inherit the land in so much that they came to large bodies of water and many rivers and then it goes on verse 5 it says yaay and even they did spread forth into all parts of the land into whatever Parts it had not been rendered desolate and without timber because of the many inhabitants who had before inherited the land so they go exceedingly far northward and then they spread out in all parts and we don't we don't follow their story because we keep the record here in zarahemla and a little bit into the

the lower parts of the land northward but these people are spreading throughout all the land um something that stuck out to me is in verse 7 it says and there being but little Timber upon the face of the land nevertheless the people who went forth became exceedingly expert in the workings of cement therefore they did build houses of cement in which they did dwell and I was thinking about this I thought what are the things that God has given us to work with in our life that we need to become expert in whether that be

like personality and character traits or whether that be just talents and skills that he wants us to De develop Cambria that's a really insightful comment because how often do you and I today will get frustrated because we'll try to to build something or to accomplish something or to do something that somebody else might be really gifted at doing and we feel we we we end up comparing oursel to them what's the famous phrase comparison is the of Joy yeah and so we may not have a lot of expertise with working cement but we might be

really good with working with Timber and I love this because these people show that they no longer have Timber so they had to learn to develop this new ability working with cement that they didn't have to do before and so it's this adaptability of the human Spirit to say okay what do I have available to me I'm going to I'm going to work with that and and build the best I can with whatever it is that the Lord has provided with me right now my thought goes right along with that um so it says there

was Little Timber but they did have the cement and this is an analogy that Mom used a lot and it really helps me it's kind of like a cute little analogy but it has really blessed my life if we're going on a vacation and Cambria is going to the North Pole and I'm going to South America I'm going to want like sunscreen and a sun hat in my suitcase where Camry is going to want a winter coat and so instead of looking at Camry's suitcase being like oh I wish I had the coat just be

grateful that you have the things that you're going to need because a winter coat really wouldn't do me much good down in South America you know so being grateful that God has given us what we need to complete our journey and we're all headed back to heaven but we're all going to be taking slightly different ways to get there so just being grateful that God knows us enough to give us the tools that we're going to need to Succeed In the Journey he sent us on and then also in 10 it says and it came

to pass as Timber was exceedingly scarce in the land northward they did send forth much by the way of shipping so instead of just being like oh well we don't have the timber they went to effort to get Timber so that they could like start honing skills in that direction as well so in our lives there are going to be things that we're going to need to really work on to develop and just having the patience to realize that God's given us each our strong suits but he's going to help us develop all the other

the other things other yeah this ties into gifts of the Spirit doesn't it the the by way of shipping in this context would be things that we ask the Lord to send to us and to give to us and heaven heaven has the best shipping program when you when you seek for those gifts those talents those abilities those blessings uh God knows how to deliver good gifts for for those things that we need in our in our Journeys beautiful Insight so this next part is where Mormon jumps in and he says in verse 14 but

Behold a h hundredth part of the proceedings of this people the account of the lamanites and the Nephites and their Wars and their and contentions and dissensions and their preaching by the way I'm going to pause here to point out that verse 14 is one sentence it's it would be considered really bad English if you were to turn in this verse as one sentence to an English teacher today they they would probably not give you a good grade but if you look at it in a in a Hebrew and an Egyptian context which these people

are living in and these plates are being written in reformed Egyptian on the plates they don't have punctuation and this flows beautifully in those pemetic trains of thought so as you look through there look at all of the and theirs and the ands and all and and keeping in mind there was no punctuation on the plates so they have to separate items in a list with with a comma knowing that isn't going going to get you into heaven and most of you didn't wake up this morning wondering about those hebraisms in the Book of Mormon

but it is kind of nice every once in a while to be able to point some of them out and recognize that this book was written by real people living thousands of years ago who lived in a real culture with real language and gratefully a lot of those language artifacts come through Even in our English translation as this book had been translated by the gift and power of God many of those are retained and we get to see them it's it's the Fingerprints of the authenticity of this book all over these pages and and it's

beautiful something I liked in verse 20 is it said helan did fill the Judgment seat with Justice and Equity yay he did observe to keep the statutes and the judgments and the Commandments of God and he did do that which was right in the sight of God continually and he did walk after the way ways of his father in so much that he did prosper in the land the word specific spefically that I like in here is it says and he did do that which was right in the sight of God continually um and just

remembering that in our own lives when we're looking around the things of the world and what they would consider doing right are not in line with what God often sees as right and so just making sure that we're doing things in the sight of him and what he sees and adding on to that sometimes by doing that we're not going to fit in it's G as Camry was saying it's going to be it's going to be hard because we're going to be very different from everybody around us but just knowing like whose approval do you

want do you want the world's approval or do you want Heavenly father's approval because what he thinks of us is far more important than what the world thinks of us amen Amen to that both of you if if by the way if you were to take verse 20 and remove the name helan and you just heard the attributes there's this person if if you were to play guess who or who am I and you were to give these little descriptors who is the best person to fulfill all of those attributes that are listed there in

verse 20 is it Helman J Jesus Christ it's Jesus Christ the reason we like Helman so much is because helan reflects the Christlike that's that's what I want for my life I want to I want to keep getting closer and closer to the Savior so that every day my words my hands my actions my character reflects more and more of those christ-like attributes just like Helman did here so that Helman became a lens whereby we could better understand this Redeemer the the rock of the Redeemer on which we're going to try to build our faith

because he we can see signs of him all around us in in these people who have devoted their Liv life to him that's that's a beautiful goal for all of us which now brings us down to verse 24 it says and it came to pass that in this same year there was ex there was exceedingly great prosperity in the church in so much that there were thousands who did join themselves unto the church and were baptized under repentance what a beautiful uh reminder in the midst of all the struggles that God's work is still moving

on just because the tears are growing doesn't mean the Wheats don't grow in this in this time period they're they're growing side by side and you see tens of thousands in verse 26 joining the faith a little further down in verse 27 it says thus we see that the Lord God is merciful unto all who will in the sincerity of their hearts call upon His holy name I love this verse because merciful is one of my favorite attributes of of God and just that he is merciful unto all you don't have to be perfect for

him to extend his Mercy to you and if we are sincere the Lord is going to bless us for that effort that we're putting forth that's beautiful you know I like the verse um 28 right after that it says yay thus we see that the Gate of Heaven is open unto all even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ who is the Son of God um I like the specific wording all it's like an indication that heaven is open to all of us who will come unto Jesus Christ and be perfected

in him he's giving all of us the opportunity to return to him through the Gates of Heaven heaven but he's given us also our agency so we need to use our agency in a way that will allow us to return to him but he wants us he wants all of us to come back and in verse 30 it says and land their souls yay their Immortal Souls at the right hand of God in the Kingdom of Heaven to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and with Jacob and with all our holy fathers to go no

more out to go no more out with you if you think Celestial if you think eternally that is such a powerful reminder that the decisions you and I make in this life actually have this ability to bring us to the Lord where we can then sit down with him and with all of these incredible people who have gone before us not just to enjoy a moment in the presence of God but to dwell with God in in heaven that Heavenly home where we will go no more out cuz we left Heaven once to come down

here and what an amazing thing to be able to come home into his presence with that Eternal promise that we never need to leave it again and it came to pass that there was peace and exceedingly great joy in the remainder of the 40 and 9th year yeah and also there was continual peace and great joy in the 50 50th year of the reign of the judges here he goes again continual peace and he skipped a year there and then 33 and in the 50 and first year there was peace also say it were the

pride which began to enter into the church not into the Church of God but into the hearts of the people who professed to belong to the Church of God that's an important clarifier that Mormon gave there I think it's so important to separate the people who claim to be members of the church but are actually tearing it down and the Church of God like not to get frustrated with God's church because of people so that now brings us to this this discussion very quickly about the pride cycle that is going to show up all over

the place in the book of Helman and and the beginning of third Nephi and especially culminate in the book called Mormon and again in ether you've seen many lessons in your life probably that showcase the pride cycle and there are a lot of versions of it and one isn't better than the other so we're just going to use one here that starts at the top with peace and prosperity what is human nature when you're prospering it leads you to feel prideful to feel proud and pride always leads a person to Sin Sin always leads to

destruction and and being overthrown destruction leads you to the bottom here of sorrow well sorrow has the capacity to then lead you to be humble to say I I want to get better and humility becomes this gateway to True repentance where we turn to God and repentance leads to God forgiving us and giving us blessings and those blessings Mount up and then we have Prosperity there you go you're noticing this and again there there are dozens of ways that you can choose to diagram The Pride cycle but here we've already seen it in chapter in

throughout the Book of Elma and now it starts to ramp up and go faster and faster and faster through the cycle in helan and if we're not careful people today will start to feel like there's not a thing I can do um it's fascinating if you think of your own life what is our response what is our human nature response when we're prospering when when everything's going well how humble are we when we're prospering usually human nature is it stirs us up and so if we're not careful we just keep going through this cycle over

and over and over again and you'll notice this side is bad and this side is good the reality is you don't need to be a victim of this this cycle right here is in essence a terrestrial cycle it's neither good nor bad it's kind of this neutral it goes back and forth and back and forth later on in the Book of Mormon you will find that at the time of Mormon the people are in destruction and they're Sorrowing and The Sorrowing is going to lead them to further Pride deeper sins more destruction more Sorrowing more

Pride more sin more destru ction more Sorrowing and it becomes a downward slide so this testal cycle these these bad behaviors that just keep getting worse and worse and deeper and deeper is what you see playing out in the latter parts of the book hormon and in the book of ether well we don't need to be a victim of the terrestrial or testal cycle because when we're prospering we can choose to become more humble to thank God more fully to repent more and ask him what to do with this Prosperity he's given us which leads

to more blessings and more prosperity and more humility and more repentance and more blessings and it becomes a spiral staircase helping us to become more like God if we want to think Celestial then we don't have to deal with this part of the pride cycle because our prosperity causes us us to become more humble than ever before we turn to God and say what would that have me do next powerful reminder to us and to tie into that verse 34 where it says and they were lifted up in Pride even to the persecution of many

of their Brethren now this was a great evil which did cause the more humble parts of the people to suffer great persecution and to weigh through much Affliction and the next ver says nevertheless they did Fast and pray off and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in the Faith of Christ unto the filling of their souls and joy and cons consolation yeah even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God these two verses go beautifully together so these

people are struggling they because of their humility and because of their following Jesus Christ they are waiting through this Affliction because um the people caught up in the pride cycle are beating them down and are persecuting them but I love this first word in 35 it says nevertheless even though that they're going waiting through Affliction they're not just it's not just a little bit Affliction they're waiting through it but nevertheless they did fast they did pray and they W and because of that they waxed stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in

their faith that's wonderful look at the look at the root problem of that leads to this Pride for for these people in verse 36 and it came to pass that the 50 and 2 year ended in peace also save it were the the exceedingly great pride which had gotten into the hearts of the people and it was because of the their exceedingly great riches and their prosperity in the land and it did grow upon them from day to day isn't that interesting the more possessions and the more riches they owned the more those riches and

possessions began to own them and their heart their treasure was on their riches not on their God now that's not to say that people today can't be very prosperous and Well on their way on the celestial cycle the point is to figure out where you are and which cycle you want to be a part of and to figure out what do you do when you are prospering are you going to choose Pride or are you going to choose humility when you're in sorrow are you going to choose Pride or humil that determines the trajectory over

time and you know notice that this was a process not an event to add on to that um I think about in my own life when I'm waiting through reflection um I think do I do these little things that it mentions in here like fasting and praying and waxing stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in their faith of Jesus Christ um and then to add on to that like things like going to the temple and taking the sacrament every Sunday at church and reading our Pat roal blessings and all the little

things the primary answers that often are skipped over but just remembering that um when we're in those darkest and hardest moments of our lives are we turning to the savior in those primary answers that's such a simple and yet profound uh way to look at this love it now chapter 4 is is a powerful opportunity to use whatever version of The Pride cycle you that works best for you and to read through there are nine years covered in chapter 4 so you can you can map through all of those nine years and just kind of

assess where are the people in The Pride cycle and consequently you can do the same thing with chapter six uh and you're going to see the people go through this Pride cycle twice in chapter 6 in a very short period of time it's it's painful and yet if we're not careful we end up pointing a finger of judgment and a finger of scorn at these people 2,000 plus years ago without stopping to realize oh wait a minute it's so easy for me to identify their pride it's so easy for me to identify their sins and

their problems and their struggles what about me using that as an invitation to look in the mirror and say what lack I yet and start pleading with the Lord to help me accelerate my Celestial cycle think Celestial on this so chapter four will will help you see some a lot of negative examples but hopefully those are actually becoming inspirational for us to seek our own positive examples what is there in chapter four that stood out to either of you two um I love verse 13 in chapter 4 this is honestly this one is not exactly

the happiest verse but it reminds me of Alma 26:12 I'll read 13 first though it says and because of their great wickedness and their boasting in their own strength they were left in their own strength therefore they did not prosper and that reminds me a lot of um Alma 26:12 which is kind of the opposite of that and it says yay I know that I am nothing as to my strength I am weak therefore I will not boast of myself but I will boast of my God for in his strength I can do all things

I love this verse because this is Ammon talking I think right and he's recognizing that we all have weaknesses and we all need to have the humility to recognize those to the Lord like go to the Lord with your weaknesses and realize that everything good that we do is not because of Our Own Strength that is that all comes because heavenly father is helping us like everything we do good even if it's not like spiritually related it's all because of Jesus Christ an experience I've had in my life that where I really had to learn

to rely on the Lord and his Saving Grace was when I had anxiety for a few years and I was the first person in my family to really deal with anything like that nobody else in the family has ever had to deal with that before so it was hard and I thought if I just have enough strength if I if I just work hard enough I'll get rid of it like I've got this you know how'd that work for you and so I tried so hard I thought I could do it so every time the

Stress and Anxiety would come I just be like no I'm not stressed I've got this I'm I I don't I'm not stressed at all but after a while it got so bad it got way worse and this one evening I was just crying to my mom and I was so I was so done I was like I can't do it Mom and she said Jenna you need to relax into the grace of your savior and that was a moment when I realized that I couldn't do it by myself to My Own Strength I was weak

and then I tried my hardest I started whenever the stress would come instead of trying to fight it off by myself I'd pray and say heavenly father I can't do it please help me and the anxiety didn't go away but every time the stress would come there was this just underlying feeling of Peace like you can do this and I I literally felt like I was being carried through that trial the moment that I turned to the Savior and it wasn't this stressed like every time that the anxiety came it wasn't this Panic like it

used to be but I just felt this peace knowing that the Savior was going to help me through it and all I had to do was turn to him he was waiting there the entire time just waiting for me to reach out and that is a moment in my life when I really realize that I need to relax into the grace of the Savior just let him carry me through everything I'm going through because I can do it on my own to Our Own Strength all of us none of us can do it on our

own we all need to rely on the Savior thank you Jenna that's beautiful Camry is there anything in chapter 4 that stuck out to you as you studied um I like verse 24 said and they saw that they had become weak like unto their Brethren the lamanites and that the spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them yet had withdrawn from them because the spirit of the Lord do not dwell in Unholy temples and I thought of ourselves like we are temples and something that came to mind is the young woman's theme and it

talks about standing in holy places at all times um and in all things and in all places and remembering that we need to constantly surround ourselves with people and be in places that are holy so that we can fill that spirit and he won't withdraw from us that's powerful it it ties in beautifully with verse 25 when it says therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by his miraculous and matchless power why for they had fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness they're they they've allowed themselves to become Holy Temple so to

speak and so they can no longer access That Power from the Lord which now brings us to our our family is one of our favorite chapters of all scripture anywhere Helman chapter 5 it's where our Our Family theme scripture is so we begin in chapter 5 verse one it came to pass in this same year behold Nephi delivered up the Judgment seat to a man whose name was sorum so he gives up the Judgment so that Nephi can now go and devote all of his energies all of his attention all of his efforts on teaching

the people and on being the the head of the church it's a beautiful sacrifice to give up which we see among our prophet sers and revelators today they give up positions they give up power they give up careers they give up many many things in order to devote 100% of their focus as a minister and a witness of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in all the world such a beautiful pattern that's repeated here so look at the description in verse 4 of what Nephi is experiencing it says and it came to pass that

Nephi had become weary because of their iniquity isn't that interesting Nephi the prophet has become weary because of the iniquity of the people I'm sure he's got his own weakness that he's dealing with personally but the weariness comes in what he sees the people struggling with not applying the teachings that he's been been giving them and it says and he yielded up the Judgment seat and took it upon him to preach the word of God all the remainder of his days and his brother Lehi also all the remainder of his days and then you get

this famous intro to this section that is focused on remembering and they that's Nephi and lehi's brother remembered The Words which their father helan spake unto them and these are the words which he spake so they remembered what his what they dad had taught them and it's all focused on remembering now if if you look carefully at the word REM it's a powerful word that the the opposite of to to be membered the opposite is to be dismembered cut off so to be membered means you come and you you become a part a member of

the family a member of the church a member of a organization it's to come into it so if you're reming you're coming into something again and again and again think about the significance of the word remember when it comes to the sacrament when it comes to our covenants that we've made when it comes to the savior's sacrifice remember remember and so it comes up 15 times in these verses here with Helman having taught his two sons this important lesson on remembering I liked in verse 9 it says oh remember remember my sons The Words which

king Benjamin spake unto his people yay remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ who shall Come Ye remember that he cometh to redeem the world this verse I love because it talks about the atonement of Jesus Christ um and in remembering that there is literally no other way that we can make it back to heaven without um that atonement that Jesus performed to add on to that it's again the Lord knows the desire of our hearts so if we're just being

nice to people and serving and doing all these good things because we want to earn our way into heaven and we were like oh we're so good look at us we're going to totally make it to the Celestial Kingdom instead of having that mentality when you're serving people and um being Christlike you want to truly have a desire to help and lift God's children and that's where the true power comes in honestly is when you know that some like when somebody reaches out to me I tell when they're it's just like the flattery thing where

they're just reaching out so they can say they reached out you know but you can feel it when somebody's reaching out because they actually care and so we need to be so careful that in all our interactions with everybody that we're reaching out because we actually care and we want to help lift and strengthen the people around us and if we use the Savior Jesus Christ as the ultimate example he never once did anything nice for anybody in order for him to get the credit or for him to get the glory he he always gives

the the glory of the father such a perfect example for our efforts to become more like him so now if we turn the page over and look at verse 10 it says and remember also The Words which Al AMC spake unto zzam in the city of amanah let me pause here for a minute notice this father Helman teaching his two sons Nephi and Lehi you'll notice what this father is doing he quoted in verse 9 King Benjamin in verse 10 he's quoting AMC from his experience in the beginning chapters of of Alma when they're in

ammona he's using scripture he's using words of prophets to teach his sons he in the beginning he pointed them back to the original Lehi and Nephi using scriptures there he's pointing his children to the Lord through the prophets there's there's a beautiful pattern there and then it goes on to say what AMC taught zzam that Christ should come to redeem his people but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins but to redeem them from their sins for not careful will tell people hey God loves you do whatever you want that isn't

the message of the scriptures the message of the scriptures is there is salvation in Christ from our sins not in Christ in our sins he's going to to change us if we turn to him which now brings us to verse 11 and he ha power given unto him from the father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance so he's waiting for us to show our faith and repent and he will forgive us therefore he ha sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance which bringeth unto the power of the

Redeemer unto the salvation of their souls that's pretty powerful those Concepts that he's he's sharing with them there 12 is Our Family theme scripture so I we've all had this one memorized from a very young age because it's been so much a part of the home it says and now my sons remember remember that it is upon the rock of Our Redeemer who is Christ the son of God that you must build your foundation that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds yay his shafts and the Whirlwind yay when all of his hail

and his mighty storm shall beat upon you it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the Gulf of misery and endless wo because of the rock upon which you are built which is a sure Foundation Foundation whereon if man builds they cannot fall I love this scripture there's so much in here one thing is it says when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds it's not an if you know the devil is going to do everything he can to pull us away but if we're taking the time to fortify our

testimonies as we were talking about earlier on the rock of Jesus Christ just do everything we can to rely on him then he is not going to let us fall they cannot fall like we there's no way the devil can pull us away if we are doing our best to stay with Jesus Christ that is beautiful to kind of add on to that this entire section of chapter 5 kind of lays out a little bit the character of Christ just in every verse just hints it little things um that point to who he is and

then to then plant this verse um 12 here and to say now build upon that wreck after explaining a lot about his character it's just beautiful that it gives us that example um to build upon that rock of Jesus Christ so so look at the different titles and the way it describes him in these first you know four or five lines of verse 12 now my sons remember remember that is upon the rock of Our Redeemer so he's the one who redeems who is Christ the son of God that you must build your foundation all

three of those creates this this powerful foundation for us and that title his the the rock of Our Redeemer and I love what you said Jenna to that it's not if the devil sends forth these Temptations and struggles it's when because it's going to happen and it also says and when all his Hill and mighty storm shall beat upon you the there there's no if until you get to the very last line a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall so if you cont the Ws above with the if below it shows that God

isn't going to come down and say Cambria you will build on this rock Jenna you have no choice you have to do it no it's an if and everybody has to make that decision for themselves no parent can make it for their child and no sibling can make it for a brother or sister everybody has to make that decision for themsel and I I love the finality of that verse Jenna you pointed this out that if you're built on the rock of the Redeemer you cannot fall it's not you might not fall or most likely

you won't fall it's no you cannot fall something else interesting that I found is it says which is a Shore Foundation like when we are built on Jesus Christ we don't have to be afraid like the devil will still be sending his mighty winds and shafts in the Whirlwind but we don't have to we don't have to be frightened of it because we know that Jesus Christ is with us I like verse 18 where it says and it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi did preach unto the lame knights with such great power and

authority for they had power and authority given unto them that they might speak and they also had what they should speak given unto them so Cambria would would even being willing to come on to this setting with your dad uh does that relate to what you just read here yes um words sometimes don't come to me easily and it's stressful and scary for me sometimes but just to remember that as we rely on the Lord and his grace and his mercy and his power that as we need to say things that he will put those

words into our mouths and our mouths will be filled you know along those lines Cambria it's it's interesting how if we're not careful when you're teaching or when you're leading or when you're parenting or when you're working with siblings or loved ones if we're not careful we'll get this perception or this this this false idea that we have to have a perfectly Polished presentation we have to have all the right words all the right presentation in in its perfect order or it's not good enough we're putting the focus on the end result rather than the

process of discovery the process of becoming and so it's an amazing thing when when you can have the faith to say no I don't know everything I'm going to say I don't know everything anything I'm going to present or to do or to to strive to accomplish on that mission or in that calling or in this relationship but when we go forward with faith putting our trust in the Lord building our our foundation on the rock of Our Redeemer He he'll see us through we're we're going to be okay it may not be perfect it

may not be polished there are a lot of things we may have wished we had done differently but that's okay it's okay because it's who we're becoming not just what we're doing it's like the quote it doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful amen so now Nephi and Lehi go on this Mission Among the Nephites and then they go on the mission down among the lamanites and as they as they now serve among the lamanites they're taken by the lamanites thrown into prison and the people are going to come in and take away their

life here they are having devoted everything to God and seemingly on the verge of losing everything including their life when this is this is one of the sweet stories of Deliverance and redemption in the Book of Mormon so as the people come in with this Mal intent Nephi and Lehi are encircled about by fire and yet you'll notice there are other times when other good prophets or or faithful disciples aren't miraculously circled by fire and delivered from Death sometimes there there have been those who have been martyred for the cause and so it this is

a beautiful example of putting our trust in the Lord that he knows who and when and how he's going to deliver some and others he's going to allow to become Martyrs for the cause in this case it is not Nephi and lehi's time to go so they're encircled about by fire and the the people who came in to to destroy them are taken back obviously and the hearts of Nephi and Lehi did take courage in the bottom there verse 24 and then 26 it says and it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi did stand

forth I love the stand forth they they took that as an opportunity to testify of Christ cuz and then they say fear not for behold it is God that has shown unto you this marvelous thing again they're not taking the they're not being like look how cool we are we're not getting burned you know they're using as an opportunity to teach these people of the Miracles of God and giving him the glory of it it's powerful and in verse 28 it says and it came to pass that they were overshadowed with a cloud of darkness

and an awful solemn fear came over them Came Upon them and it came to pass that there came a voice as if it were above um The Cloud of Darkness saying repent ye repent ye and seek no more to destroy my servants whom I have sent unto you to declare Good Tidings I like these verses because especially um moving from 28 it talks about the cloud of darkness and the awful solemn fear which came over them and then moving from that to 29 um where it declares Good Tidings um I'm just thinking that the Lord

anytime we're in um our darkest times especially when we're in those darkest times in our lives um when everything feels so heavy and dark those are the times when the Lord offers those Glad Tidings of repentance of joy of um coming back to him and into those Open Arms of grace and mercy and love that's that's so insightful especially when you you look at how that voice is described that delivers this hope to them so they don't have to stay in darkness in in awful fear and trembling look at verse 30 it says and it

came to pass that when they heard this voice and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise but behold it was a still voice of perfect mildness as if it had been a whisper and it had Pierce even to the very Soul you look at the contrast there this perfect mildness compared to what these men would have come into the prison with with the intent to slay and the the kinds of voices they would have been using to contrast what that gets replaced with hearing

the voice of God the Father this is one of the few places in scripture where we hear the voice of the father speaking and it comes and causes the Earth to shake exceedingly and then it says in verse 32 The Voice came again so this is the second time first time was back in verse 29 here's the second one in 32 and what does it say repent ye repent ye but again it's not an angry voice it's a perfectly mild voice almost a whisper but it pierces them to the very Soul repent ye for the

Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and seek no more to destroy my servants and it came to pass that the Earth shook again and the walls trembled and then 33 it came the third time so three times you get this this voice and the lamanites can't flee the ground's shaking they're fearing and trembling so there was one guy among all the lamanites who wasn't confused all the Lites are thinking what is going on but verse 35 says there was one among them who was a nephite by birth who had once belonged to the Church of

God but had dissented from them and this guy is having a totally different experience than the other lamanites there because he's remembering on a totally different level and I love in 36 when it says and it came to pass that he turned about him and beheld behold he saw at few The Cloud of Darkness the faces of Nephi and Lehi and beholds they did Shine exceedingly even as the faces of angels and he beheld that they did lift their eyes to heaven and they were in the attitude as if talking or lifting their voices to

some being whom they beheld and I like specifically in here as it talks about angels um and as Daddy mentioned earlier I think about um my angel mother um and everything she is to me um I think about back here it says they did Shine exceedingly and I think about every single day my mother's um Shining Light her countenance and her pointing me to Jesus Christ and then ultimately wanting to have that for Someday My Future children um to then bless those around me and not only with my children but anyone I interact with thank

you for sharing that never let us underestimate the incalculable power of the mothers of God in raising up the uh the rising Generations and and grandmothers and aunts and sisters uh such a powerful powerful reminder of angels and daddies so now this man who whose name is aminadab told the people around them around him they do Converse with the angels of God and then the lamanites ask one of the most profound questions in the entire Book of Mormon as it came to pass that the lamanites said unto him what shall we do there's a difference

between that question and what shall we believe what shall we hear what should we focus on what should we say when we invoke that question what shall I do that's not a curiosity question that's an agency based question and it's a turning point in this story because A man aadap gives him an answer doesn't he I think it's so cool that in in this verse 40 that they have a desire to to change I feel like in our lives that's all it takes honestly just to have that desire and then to be willing to take

our weaknesses again to God and to let him purify us but without the desire to change if we if we're prideful and feel like we don't we don't need to change we're fine how we are then that's where we'll get stuck in the pride cycle but if we just have the desire and act upon it then God will help remove the cloud of darkness and it might not be right away but in time he will always help us remove that so isn't it amazing that these people didn't understand what the voice of God had said

to them they didn't they didn't completely get it they're confused so aminadab helps them uh Point them to God and then we get the solution in verse 41 aminadab said unto them ye must repent and cry unto the voice even until you shall have faith in Christ who was taught unto you by Elma and AMC and zzam and when you shall do this The Cloud of Darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you that answer is the same for you today as it was for those lamanites in that prison over 2,000 years ago when we're surrounded

by Clouds Of Darkness the answer is the same what do what shall I do the answer is going to be repent cry under the voice even until we have faith in Christ that's the solution and there's no other name nor means that that verse that was quoted earlier it comes back into play here as well I love vers 45 it says and behold the holy spirit of God did come down from heaven and did enter into their hearts and they were filled as if with fire and they and they could speak forth marvelous words when

we open our hearts to God and let him into our lives we do things that are far beyond our ability things that we would never be able to do on our own which which is interesting because the the reality is is here we are and as we turn heavenward Heaven turns to us so we're able to then turn outward and reflect that love but notice even in the moment of them it says uh the the Holy Spirit came down and entered into their hearts and they were filled then they could speak forth these marvelous words

the order there is the Spirit came which now opened their ability to talk and it says they heard a pleasant voice as if it were a whisper saying so so there's going to be more coming and this is where we identify it as the voice of heavenly father because of what it says here cber do you want to read that says peace peace be unto you because of your faith in my well beloved who was from the foundation of the world I love how it repeats the word peace twice it's a beautiful beautiful word that

I have found um to help me so much on hard days um a verse that I constantly like to turn to is in um John 14 verse 27 and it says peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither Let It Be Afraid um and a while ago I was having a really hard time and my sister Alicia shared that verse with me and it has become one of my favorites um just the peace that Jesus Christ offers as

we come onto him and that peace will encircle us as we willingly come unto the Savior and let him take all those things in our lives that we're afraid of I think often for me at least it's easy to be afraid of all the things happening around us but to remember that as we come unto Jesus Christ that is where the true peace comes in not from the world but from Jesus Christ and his peace is Everlasting um and it doesn't just because we have his peace doesn't mean that all the stuff going on around

us and all the chaos it doesn't mean it's all going to go away but when we have that peace with us it's just this calm confidence that we know that Jesus Christ will be there for us so notice the outcome of hearing the voice of heavenly father delivering that peace verse 48 says and now when they had heard this they cast up their eyes as if to behold from Once the voice came and behold they saw the heavens open and Angels Came Down out of heaven and ministered unto them very very reminiscent of what we're

going to see in third Nephi chapter 11 when they also hear the voice of the father cast their eyes up and see the Lord himself come down and then later on Angels coming down in chapter 17 so there's this pattern of when you look heavenward you're more likely to be able to draw on that power that heaven offers to bring into your life and into your relationships and allow you to to have more opportunities to reflect God's goodness thank you you too for being willing to come in and spend this time with your dad uh

as we cover some of these incredible chapters uh is there anything that you would like to share in in conclusion overarching all these different concepts and principles of the Gospel I have such a strong testimony that Jesus Christ knows us individually he knows the things we struggle with and he knows the our strong suits and he is going to give us opportunities to use what he has given us to bless the lives of others if we're only willing to be an instrument in his hands and I know that if we rely on his strength and

not in our own that we will do miraculous things that we would not expect possible I'd like to Bear My Testimony that I know that Jesus Christ loves us perfectly he died for each of us individually so that we can live with him again someday I know that he knows us individually and perfectly the every desire of our hearts and he wants us there with him and on those hard days when I felt trotten down and beaten and felt like I can't do this by myself I have felt Jesus Christ right there beside me with

his hand reaching out and his arms encircling me in his grace and love for me and I know that he loves us thank you too for coming we want you to know how much you're loved by God the Father by his son Jesus Christ and by so many people around you as we work together to build up his kingdom in these latter days the dispensation of the fullness of times and we leave that with you in the sacred name of Jesus Christ amen know that you're loved I [Music] [Music]