Come Follow Me - 3 Nephi 12-16 (Extended Version): Teaching at the Temple

[Music] when the son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief May our testimonies be as deep and as strong as that of Jacob who when confounded by one who sought to destroy his faith declared I could not be shaken [Music] hello my friends I'm Jared Halverson and this is unshaken and I'm so thrilled that you'd come back and join me for some more time in the scriptures today last week we studied third Nei chap 11 which I hope meant as much to you as it did

to me to be able to see the Savior descend Among the Nephites and begin his ministry here but that's all that chapter 11 was the beginning of his ministry starting today and going for the next few weeks we'll be able to learn from the Savior as he teach is the nephite multitudes but I hope that we'll see these things through the lens of chapter 11 as we study the remainder of his ministry keep in mind the priorities that he established in that very first chapter coming unto Christ and truly coming to know him making covenants

with him following the doctrine of Christ and doing so all the while without any disputation or contention toward others from there we go to what we call the sermon at the temple which is a repeat here Among the Nephites of what Jesus taught the Jews Back in the New Testament time what we call The Sermon on the Mount which is found in Matthew chapter 56 and 7 now some people have a concern that there's repetition here and yet as a teacher I find myself repeating myself often I'm sure my students would give me an amen

hallelujah for that well at least an amen maybe not the Hallelujah there are just certain things that as a teacher I know my students need whether it's first period or fourth period whether it's a daytime class full of college undergraduates or a nighttime class for working professionals I don't mind repeating myself when number one it's a different audience and number two it's the same truths that will help everyone come home now I get it there are those in the world who are skeptical about the Book of Mormon when they see what they find in the

New Testament repeated almost word for word here in the Book of Mormon in fact that's a subset of people who are just concerned about the Book of Mormon at all the fact that additional scripture at all exists is a concern but remember back in second eii 29 when I gives that prophecy that there will be those who say oh a Bible a Bible we have a Bible we don't need any other Bible we've got all that we need now if you look at verse eight in that chapter you'll see a principle that applies not just

to the big issues of Bible and Book of Mormon but to the more specific issues of sermon at the temple and Sermon on the Mount he says this wherefore murmur ye what are you complaining about because that ye shall receive more of my word too much of a good thing know ye not that the testimony of two Nations is a witness unto you that I am God that I remember one nation like unto another wherefore I speak the same words unto One Nation like unto another and when the two Nations shall run together the testimony

of the two Nations shall run together also this is like ezekiel's prophecy those two sticks becoming one in our hand The Book of Mormon is not meant to contradict the Bible or to counteract its great influence these are companion scripture as I used to say to my Evangelical friends in the South The Book of Mormon is the best friend the Bible ever had the Book of Mormon is biblical backup it's canonical clarification it is second witness of the first principles of the Gospel what's there to murmur about in all of that but rereading that verse

in second eepi 29 I think it's interesting that yes there are two separate Nations giving two witnesses from separate prophets and separate civilizations but did you catch that phrase I speak the same words unto One Nation like unto another of course the historical portion of the Book of Mormon will be different from the historical portion of the Bible but the doctrine the theology those are voices that harmonize beautifully and in some places it's not Harmony at all it's everyone joining on the melody a single set of notes that needs to be crystal clear in the

hearer's mind this sermon of Jesus one of the most important things that he ever taught indeed one of the most famous famous ever since was something that both Nephites and Jews needed to understand so no complaint on my end and to those Skeptics who read third Nephi 121 1314 and compare it to Matthew 56 and 7 and see it casting doubt upon Joseph's ability to translate there are some insights in these chapters that shed some incredible light in my opinion on what the translation process really was like for Joseph Smith and what our own experience

translating scriptures into our own lives is supposed to be for you and me and secondly I would say to those Skeptics before you focus all your attention on the similarities between The Sermon on the Mount and the sermon at the temple and those similarities are the majority of the text don't lose sight of the differences because the differences between the sermon at the temple and The Sermon on the Mount are incredible so please take those into consideration as we'll do today in some ways I would say I'll explain the similarities if you'll explain the differences

as I see it both similarities and differences are amazing now let's step back for a second and see the big picture of the sermon at the temple 12 13 and 14 weren't split up into chapters when it was first given this was one long discourse from the Savior but I love the way they're divided now because I think each chapter gives us something else to think about so let me help you see the end from the beginning and then we'll dive in chapter 12 ends with that very famous verse about being perfect don't worry we'll

talk about what that means but by the end of chapter 12 or Matthew Chapter 5 we're supposed to be perfect if we've been following things right well shouldn't the sermon be done then I I made it I've achieved Perfection but it's not done there's still chapter 6 and 7 of Matthew or still chapter 13 and 14 of third Nephi and what are those about post Perfection well having achieved Perfection by the end of third Nephi 12 now in Chapter 13 it's time to perfect your motives why did you become perfect how do you feel about

your Perfection there's still Perfection of motives that needs to take place and then chapter 14 or Matthew chapter 7 now it's time to quit judging those who are still back somewhere in chapter 12 or 13 so become perfect perfect your motives and then perfect your perspective on those that are still perfecting themselves somewhere along the way honestly I don't think we ever fully complete any of those chapters but if we think about it in terms of that order of things and I think we'll see the process unfold that the Savior has in mind for each

of us so let's start in chapter 12 but let's start with the end in mind 12:48 the way it said in Matthew is simply be therefore perfect in the third Nephi version slightly different it starts therefore I would that ye should be perfect now so far that doesn't seem that different but it does soften things a little bit from Simply the abruptness of be therefore perfect there's a person behind this call to Perfection and it's the person who is trying to make it all possible I would that you should be perfect I would want this

for you I would help you obtain it and then instead of simply saying just like heavenly father he includes himself this time even as I or your father who is in heaven is perfect I think that inclusion speaks volumes about what Perfection means for Christ he could have said sinless all throughout his life but he never claims Perfection until now and what has happened between the first time he says this phrase to the Jews and now when he says it to the Nephites his own Resurrection this is post-resurrection perfection which seems to be the only

kind available years and years ago president Russell M Nelson gave a talk called Perfection pending and he used this verse as a key in his text he even got into the Greek of the word perfect this idea of teos as in telescope as in something so far away it's that distant Perfection that we're after but don't force that expectation upon yourself in an impatient way yes you can see the stars through your telescope but you can't force them to get any closer to you be patient Perfection will come it came for Jesus post Resurrection this

is not meant as an excuse to stop striving rather a reassurance that you're doing better than you think as long as you are progressing however slowly toward that all-important and yet very distant goal in some ways this life isn't meant to reach the destination it's simply to establish your trajectory and your momentum if your trajectory is set and your momentum is moving you forward then that will continue on eternally and keep in mind what I've taught previously that if you take this thought be therefore perfect as a command from God and so it is couple

it with first Nephi 3:7 that God gives no Commandments under the children of men save he prepares a way okay fine I'll take your word then you want me to be perfect well you said you'd provide a way so are you going to help me get there well couple that verse to John 14:6 I am the way the truth and the life Jesus says no man cometh unto the father but by me the only way you'll ever achieve Perfection is by me or one more verse to add to the mix Moroni 10:32 and 33 it's

not just about becoming perfect it's about becoming perfect in Christ or as he says in that passage perfected in Christ perfected that Ed is one of the most comforting past participles in all the grammar of God so this is how chapter 12 of third Nephi ends then let's lead up to it let's establish some trajectory and momentum on the way and that's exactly what he does throughout the remainder of this chapter read everything leading up to it with that end in mind now chapter 12 in third Nephi starts differently than chapter 5 in Matthew does

in the Matthew version it's a matter of Jesus going up the mountain and getting set setting himself ready to teach in chapter 12 on the other hand you see him shifting from what he's just done in chapter 11 to what he's about to do in chapter 12 it starts with this transition phrase shifting from the words that he taught to Nephi and the 12 that he's given power and authority to baptize to now to addressing the multitude but notice what he says to the multitude blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words

of these 12 whom I have chosen from the very beginning he is vindicating the prophets as he always has again first thing he said after saying behold I am Jesus Christ prophets are on such a lower level than the Lord and yet the lord always seems to validate them confirm them raise them in the eyes of the multitude so that they know that they have God's Authority in fact notice how he describes them there the twel whom I have chosen so they're here because of my will not because of their own remember Jesus clarified that

to his 12 back in the old world too when he kind of puts them in their place in John 15 and says you didn't choose me I chose you you didn't campaign for this you didn't climb some ecclesiastical ladder this isn't about your position this is about my permission I have chosen them I have chosen them from among you to minister unto you to be your servants notice those phrases I chose them from among you they're no different they're no better they're no higher remember when Jesus first descended where's Nephi not apart from them definitely

not above them he's among them and Jesus had to call him out that's always how Jesus chooses his leaders from among his followers he chooses them to minister not merely to administer all those meetings and things are necessary but they're necessary evils compared to the work of ministry to which they're called and that Ministry is a call to servitude to be your servants let him that is Chief among you be servant of all and nobody personifies that better than Jesus Christ unto them I have given power so I am the source of that they don't

have it themselves they have to be plugged into the power source but they have power that they may baptize you with water and after you are baptized with water behold I will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost there are some things that they can do there are other things that only I can keep them straight having commended to them the men he then commends to them their message and Ministry therefore blessed are ye if you shall believe in me because of their words and be baptized that's their Ministry after ye have seen

me and know that I am and then he adds in in verse two and again more blessed are they Who Shall Believe in your words because ye shall testify that ye have seen me and that you know that I am we've seen that idea of one group is blessed and another group is more blessed several times already in the Book of Mormon and we'll see it again even later in today's material and in some ways it has to do with levels of belief versus knowledge now we would probably assume that knowledge is the higher level

and yet do you remember what we saw back in Alma 32 that there are those who are compelled to be humble and then there are those who choose to be humble and choice is always higher than compulsion as far as blessedness is concerned well we also talked back then about the difference between being compelled to believe versus choosing to believe and Which is higher knowledge is compulsion to believe you know it there's no Escape there's no choice in the matter it's just kind of a a no duh but when it comes to choosing to believe

in the face of other possibilities doubt that is that is a higher level of Faith someone's like wherever there's a higher risk there's a higher reward knowledge doesn't require much risk at all it's obvious it's undeniable but Faith because it isn't as obvious isn't as undeniable there's risk there and reward there so take it back to third Nephi what's Jesus saying I'm here with you believing in my words shouldn't be difficult you know exactly who I am you've thrust your hands in my side you felt the marks in my hands and feet you know there's

no faith here because there isn't any room for it because there's no doubt so you who believe in me you choose to be baptized awesome you are blessed but those who believe in your words they're now one step removed from me the embodiment of perfect knowledge they're one step removed from proof and that belief is a level of faith that surpasses even yours as a historian I get the importance of primary documents primary sources secondary sources are always one step removed they're not quite as powerful well what the Lord is asking is that we trust

a secondary source namely the testimony of someone else who believes I'm not saying this to try to avoid gaining your own firsthand witness but our witness is typically through the witness of others what did Paul say faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God we typically hear others first on our way to eventually Perfection pending hearing God for ourselves so going back to verse two more blessed are they Who Shall Believe in your words a secondary source because you shall testify that you've seen me primary source you know that I am see

how he's putting these side by side in your case it's seeing me in their case it will be hearing you in your case it's knowing me in their case it's believing you knowledge versus belief and the next phrase continues to explain it yay blessed are they Who Shall Believe in your words and come down into the depths of humility it will require humility to trust someone else's witness as we wait to receive a direct one for ourselves you understand why it would be more blessed then because it requires more faith and more humility than the

direct confirmation the one that's undeniable because it's so patently clear but with that greater faith and greater humility your belief will then become baptism and then I will visit you with fire and with the Holy Ghost and you shall receive a remission of your sins now so far that's all third Nephi there's not a hint of that in Matthew Chapter 5 beautiful difference as we lead into now what is very similar verses 3- 12 are what we call the Beatitudes and the order is the same here as it is in The Sermon on the Mount

most of the language is identical but some of the differences are beautiful and I believe the Lord is describing more of a succession rather than just a smattering of good principles to live that this is a cumulative process of growth Peter talks about this when he talks about becoming partakers of the divine nature and that's what we're after here too right becoming as perfect as Christ is that that's becoming a partaker of the divine nature but the way Peter describes it is cumulative it's a staircase approach he says start with this and then add that

and then to this add that and to this add that and so on well if we read the Beatitudes in a similar succession a cumulative Crescendo to Christ notice what he's asking verse three blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven that phrase who come unto me is not in Matthew Matthew's version is simply if you're poor you're blessed because you'll get the kingdom doesn't seem like we have to do anything there but as clarified here in third Nephi you're blessed you poor in spirit if you

come unto me that's how you find in me the Kingdom of Heaven you see this doesn't suggest someone who's just waiting for the blessings to come this is a person who recognizes what they lack secondly recognizes where they can find what they lack and they go to find it I believe that what I'm looking for is there I believe they'll offer it to me when I come what kind of belief is that that's faith in this case faith in the Lord Jesus Christ he has everything you're missing you who are poor in spirit come unto

me have faith in me believe that I have what you lack and that I'm willing to give it to you on that Foundation of Faith then verse four blessed are all all they that mourn for they shall be comforted now is he simply talking about sorrow and relief or in a more spiritual context is there something else he's hinting at mourning a blessed kind of mourning I wonder if this has to do with what Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians about Godly sorrow that's the kind of mourning that brings a mighty change in us remember

Jesus already said as the voice spoke through the darkness in chapter 8 9 and 10 that I'm now asking that you bring a broken heart and a contrite spirit come and mourn over your sins so that I can forgive you I wonder if verse four is hinting at repentance to go to from faith in three to repentance blessed mourning comfort in forgiveness and then in verse five blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth now that one's almost funny in a sad sort of way if we take the world's view of what an

inheritance of the earth will be again without our understanding that the Earth will receive its paradisical Glory that's 10th Article of Faith that the Earth becomes the Celestial Kingdom if that's the case then I would like to inherit that but through the perspective that most people have of the Earth being destroyed by fire at the coming of Christ and that's it I mean is that all the Earth's going to be some kind of orbiting charcoal briquette in that case no wonder it's promised to the meek they're the only ones that would accept it without complaint

they' be like uh no I I I I like charcoal thanks it looks great is that what he's getting at I don't think so but if inheriting the Earth is Celestial Kingdom and it is promised to the meek now meekness is not weakness we should know that clearly from Moses who was described as the most Meek man on the earth in his day he was anything but weak he was strong in fact but knew where the power Source was to borrow language we saw from chapter 11 last time he submitted to all the will of

his father just as Jesus did that is meekness I wonder if there's a suggestion of Covenant making and Covenant keeping in verse 5 this meekness realizing I will do all that I am asked anything that I asked to plug into that power source baptism obviously comes to my mind quickly if I'm thinking about Crescendo from Faith to repentance to baptism because then in verse 6 it hints at the fourth part of the Fourth Article of Faith which is the gift of the Holy Ghost so at least as I read it I see meekness couched in

Covenant making and keeping even the condescension of Christ which was one of his ultimate acts of meekness was Illustrated in Nephi's Visions not only with the birth of Christ which makes condescension obvious but the baptism of Christ that was the other illustration of Christ's condescension that was the other illustration of his meekness so from Faith to repentance to covenants like baptism then verse 6 blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled that's where Matthew ends but third Nei adds the clarifying phrase with the Holy Ghost again that's

one reason I see the Fourth Article of Faith in those first four steps of the Beatitudes when you hunger and when you thirst it's the bread of life it's the living water that fills us and what does it fill us with the Holy Ghost remember that incredible life-changing conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well he'd already sent the apostles in to get food and when they came back ready to provide for him what did he say I'm not hungry I have meat to eat that you know not of I have been filled

with the Holy Ghost verse seven then since we don't finish with the Fourth Article of Faith blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy now in and of itself that teaches the law of the Harvest we get what we give we'll see that taught again in chapter 14 but in terms of this succession of principles we've now begun to develop Christlike attributes not just the meekness that makes us realize we can't do this on our own we have to make a covenant with Christ to receive his power but even after making this Covenant and

receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost am I becoming more more and more like Jesus in verse 8 blessed are all the pure in heart for they shall see God it does seem that Purity Holiness is a higher level than what we've seen to this point we can be taking all the right steps and beginning to develop all the right attributes but to arrive at Purity this is clean hands and a pure heart not just the outward actions Clean Hands but the inward attitudes Pure Heart then in verse 9 blessed are all the peacemakers for

they shall be called the children of God so far these Beatitudes can be largely lived in isolation I can do most of these things on my own develop most of these attributes in a monastery somewhere in fact what a better place to develop them I don't have other people to frustrate me to try my patience to test my meekness to to push on my Purity but it's in the context of our relationships that makes all of these things difficult to obtain we are one another's clinical material as ER Maxwell used to say rubbing off rough

edges knocking chips off of our shoulders that friction in a family for example can we become peacemakers through all of that to me peacemaking requires another person so pulling off verses 3 through 8 on my own is laudable it's impressive but to do all that in the presence of others that are working on those Beatitudes themselves that's a whole another level so to be a peacemaker take all that you've done up to this point and now add your treatment of other people can you avoid friction with them even if they're way back in verse three

or 4 where you used to be verse 10 then needs to be seen together with verse 11 because they're very similar verse 10 is blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name's sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and then 11 adds blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake so opposition in both but in 10 it's for my name's sake and 11 it's for my sake now again that sounds very similar as well but is there a

slight difference between my name's sake and my sake in the Matthew version it's the first one is for righteousness sake and the second is for my sake that makes the difference even clearer if my name's sake is closer to righteousness sake it's like well it's for the church I I can't do that because it's against My Religion it's easy to kind of hide behind the church that way and make the church seem like the the bad guy in all of this so as I see it I just notice a slight difference between those who are

persecuted for Christ's name's sake the Church of Jesus Christ righteousness as opposed to verse 11 it's for his sake I just see him being more directly involved in verse 11 for me are you loyal to me in a personal way do we have enough of a relationship with him directly individually personally that we're willing to face anything for his sake I'm doing this for Jesus call me what you will I am a Christian fight anything you want but I will stand up for the cause of Christ I even see this hinted at in section 76

of the doctrine covenants when it compares the terrestrial to the truly Celestial terrestrial people are described as honorable that seems to be people that are willing to stand up for Christ's name's sake righteousness sake do the right thing be honorable but to go from terrestrial to Celestial Celestial souls are not just honorable they are Valiant and specifically they are Valiant in the testimony of Jesus now if you haven't noticed just like things seem to get harder and harder as they get higher and higher there seems to be more and more opposition as well those first

steps are difficult but it seems to be us that are standing in our own way by the time you hit verse 10 you're facing actual persecution and then in 11 that persecution expands to include reviling speaking evil against you falsely by the way it's important to realize if they're speaking evil against us truly then I guess we deserved it but falsely is what we're after and if that describes you that's okay verse 12 reassures us that we're in good company you shall have great joy and be exceeding glad for great shall be your reward in

heaven for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you others have ascended the staircase of the Beatitudes as well they overcame persecution and so can we now so far so good we've we've completed the Beatitudes we've climbed that staircase then though 13 to 16 helps us know that wasn't just about you that was about everyone else it's about setting an example to others so in verse 13 He says we're the salt and in verse 14-6 he tells us we're the light Salt and Light beautiful symbols to represent what we're supposed to do for others

I mean do you really think you've reached this altitude ascending the Beatitudes just for you no now you're at a place where you can invite others to ascend alongside the way he describes salt in verse 13 the salt of the earth if the salt shall lose its Savor wherewith shall the Earth be salted the salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trotten underfoot of men now we typically associate salt with adding flavor to our food sometimes we like that increase of flavor so much that we add a

little too much I'm looking at you Mom anciently more than just flavor however it was for preservation of food you couldn't refrigerate your meat so what would you do you'd salt it salt is meant to bring out the good and to keep out the bad it was often used in sacrifices in the Old Testament as a symbol of the Covenant covenants bring out the good and keep out the bad but if it's not doing that if it's lost its Savor then that doesn't make it worthless it can just no longer be used to season things

now literally have you ever trotten salt underfoot that verse didn't make much sense to me as a kid growing up in sunny Southern California but once I moved to colder climates I trod salt on under my feet all the time during the winter isn't that what snow melt is just salt dirty unseasonable unsavory salt and I love juxtaposing those two images do I want to be seasoning or snow melt either way I suppose I can help people but I would much rather bring out the best in them rather than just try to keep them from

falling through my life serving as their cautionary tail now as much as I like salt as an image I like light even better so in verse 14-6 as he describes us as the light what's he getting at think of Cs lewis' statement where he said I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else does that apply to us as light not just our own shining examples but are we helping put everything else in the world in proper perspective perspective

now notice what he says about being an example in this way in fact both in terms of salt and in terms of light one thing that the third Nephi version adds that's not in Matthew in verse 13 I give unto you to be the salt of the earth and in 14 I give unto you to be the light we are neither inherently salty nor inherently bright those are gifts that God gives us we'll see that much more clearly later on in third neph when the Lord clarifies I'm the light that you are shining yours is

merely reflected you're the moon I'm the Sun but I do want you to shine just realize that I'm giving you that opportunity I'm putting you in places where you can illuminate in verse 14 you're a city set on a hill but I did the setting I put you there now anciently why would cities be on hills for protection really now we're back to that idea of preser with the salt you're a city set on a hill because this is a place that is easier to defend it's easier to keep bad things out no wonder it's

where we want to bring good things in or in verse 15 when it talks about a candle being put under a bushel the problem with that The Bushel doesn't just hide the light it extinguishes it what keeps candles burning is that they are in open air and the oxygen feeds that flame are we letting our lights so shine before the people around us not just for their sake but for our own cover that example and pretty soon you won't have much of an example to cover anymore a testimony is found in the bearing of it

right that's one way we keep the candle light of flame at the end of 15 he adds that we put that light on a Candlestick we raise it even higher no wonder in the Book of Revelation chapter 1 the church is described as a Candlestick not light itself but something meant to hold up the Light of Christ and that light is given to all that are in the house now if you'll forgive me for a quick field trip to the New Testament it's fascinating to compare I we've been comparing third Nephi with Matthew but to

compare Matthew with Luke they're both contemporaries with Jesus trying to report on the same kinds of events that they're seeing but the differences between those two accounts are remarkable particularly in terms of the audience that they're trying to reach Matthew was writing to Jews to the house of Israel he's constantly quoting Old Testament scripture pointing out to them who would know their Old Testament that Jesus is fulfilling all of these prophecies that they're familiar with meanwhile Luke is writing to Gentiles to Outsiders more women are mentioned in the Book of Luke than any other gospel

more of the marginalized it's only in Luke that he talks about a Good Samaritan for example or has Jesus applauding lepers like nonon the Syrian or widows like the Widow of zarapa an outsider if you're if you're an Insider Matthew's your gospel if you're an outsider Luke is your gospel and when those two men are reporting on whatever Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount the way Matthew says it is that light that you're all meant to be is for those who are in the house Luke meanwhile when he describes that light he says

that we're supposed to shine that they which enter in may see the light fascinating difference fitting by the way that the nephite vers since this is a tribe of the House of Israel would preserve that in the house kind of mentality but there's a further difference in third Nephi even as compared to the Matthew Sermon on the Mount version that I absolutely love it hit me for the first time in fact what 22 years ago when I first started teaching seminary I was just student teaching I was just hoping I'd be good enough that they'd

let me keep teaching the gospel and I was assigned for 5 days to a junior high nth grade Seminary class and I got lucky blessed I would say to be able to teach these chapters in third Nephi to them I guess the Lord knew I couldn't hit so he was throwing me an underhand whiffle ball it's like can you at least do Christ's Ministry Among the Nephites I'm not asking Isaiah chapters okay can you at least do this well I was studying these chapters in preparation for my lesson and I had Matthew 5 in one

hand and 1i 12 and the other and I was trying to compare the two and this next Insight was one that has blessed blessed me ever since because most of my teaching career other than 8 years in the South has been spent in Utah now I'm of Southern California I grew up as an outsider the Gentile right I have was the Luke version not the Matthew and that experience other than teaching in the MTC was my first time teaching utans now even before we get into what I learned I am not a Utah Mormon hater

some of the strongest latterday Saints I've ever met were born and raised in Utah surrounded by people of their faith who also opposed them in their faith no wonder they turned out so strong yes sadly there are some Utah Mormons that are simply here riding the wave of culture just like there were plenty of cultural Christians that I met in the South but in the midst of those cultural Christians there were Covenant Christians that stood out in incredible ways and the same thing is true here in Utah in fact that's the insight that amazed me

notice the change here and in fact you can probably guess it once you hear it for yourself because these verses are so famous from The Sermon on the Mount fill in the blank mentally behold ye are the light of and what would you say you'd say you're the light of the world well you just quoted Matthew or how about this let your light so shine before fill in the blank and what would you say you'd say let your light so shine before po men which is again quoting Matthew but look at third Nephi and what

does Jesus say to the assembled Nephites at the land Bountiful I give unto you to be the light of this people not the world and then in verse 16 let your light so shine before this people not men for the same reason that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven again differentiating between your Candlestick and his light or your moon and his son they may be your works but it's the father's Glory that we're after whole new Twist on work and Glory right but notice the intended audience this

people you Nephites you're not the light of the world the world doesn't know about you yet you can't let your light shine before men cuz no men know about you but you can let your light shine right here before this people now this is why this was such an important thing for me to learn as I began teaching Latter-Day Saints in a latterday saint environment because who was this people in fact perhaps a better question is who wasn't this people what happened in 3D Nephi 89:10 all that destruction the cataclysmic events that took place at

the time of the crucifixion the wicked were gone who was left the more righteous we saw this last week yes they still have things to repent of but you were preserved because you were more righteous than they you're the good guys and what happens when a bunch of the good guys get together and live together sometimes they stop being quite so good at least in terms of not quite so exemplary because they don't feel like their examples are necessary anymore why let my light shine when everyone else has lights of their own wouldn't that just

be showing off it's just not needed here so let's all go on the dimmer switch a bit so that we don't blind each other our lights after all aren't as necessary here well think again because the Lord is saying to these righteous Saints there assembled in Bountiful Church Headquarters now at the temple Let It Shine Crank It Up shine it right here give those with light all around you permission to let theirs shine brilliantly as well you know how the military and Hunters had these heat seeking goggles well imagine if there were light seeking goggles

spiritually speaking and I've sometimes wondered having grown up in LA and spent eight years raising my kids in Tennessee it seems in places where Latter-Day Saints are a tiny minority that if you were to look at the world that way there would be General Darkness with an occasional pinpoint of brilliant light someone letting their light so shine before men someone courageously choosing to be the light of the world and if I train those same goggles on the Mormon Corridor I wonder what I would see it would be bright don't get me wrong there's so many

good people here but I wonder would it be more of a general glow instead of bril Brant pinpoints of light can you imagine the illumination these candles would provide if they were fully on the Candlestick among this people instead of behind bushels since everyone else here has candles of their own can you imagine the Brilliance the protection we could offer the world from this city on a hill if we chose not to hide our lights from one another I do intend the this lesson for everyone wherever you might be around the world but particularly for

you brothers and sisters my fellow latterday Saints who find themselves in Latter-Day Saint heavy areas please please shine here I need your light we need each other imagine the difference we could make if we let our light shine before this people that was the first lesson I ever taught a group of Utah latterday Saints 22 years ago and I have been trying to teach it here ever since now having crescendoed up to Christ through the Beatitudes and then turning ourselves loose on the world that needs that example as Salt and Light in those next four

or five verses starting in 17 we'll see what Jesus is trying to accomplish through the rest of this incredible chapter and it all has to do with raising the bar lifting us to a higher level of living now Jesus recognizes there's some concern among his audience because going higher means leaving behind the earlier elevation and if you're used to that if you've always tried to live at that level you might get a little altitude sickness as you climb to higher Heights there is a concern among them well what about the law of Moses so he

reassures them in verse 17 think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfill huge difference there not one jot and not one tit have passed away from the law in me it's all been fulfilled now the key difference here is between destroying something and fulfilling something when you take down the scaffolding after you've built the building have you destroyed the scaffolding no it's simply fulfilled its purpose if you needed a stepping stool to climb to a higher place but now you're going to

stay on that level forever you don't need the stepping stool anymore and so the law that was our school Master to bring us unto Christ if it was added so that we could get up to a higher level of living then once you've surpassed it it's no longer needed it has served its purpose its purpose has been fulfilled not destroyed in some ways this is all about means and ends once the ends have been reached then the means have served their purpose the means were accomplished they've been fulfilled we no longer have to continue in

those particular means we've arrived he'll say this again at the end of this chapter when you look at verse 46 and 47 for example in fact he'll say the same thing in chapter 15 after this whole sermon is done Among the Nephites but it'll take us a while to get there in ch 12: 46 and 47 therefore those things which were of old time which were under the law in me are all fulfilled old things are done away all things have become new so what he starts in 17 he ends in 47 these are book

ends to all the stuff that comes in between by the way that second book end is much more clear in third Nephi than ever it is in Matthew by the way while we're on this topic of old things being fulfilled because they've got us to the point of the new there's an important verse in section 10 of the Doctrine and Covenants that has this idea of destroying versus fulfilling in it as well but it's much more important for us us as a modern group of readers especially as we see those of other faiths or for

you who have converted to the church at some point in your life how you view your old life and your old faith and I hope you view it with a sense of gratitude rather than a sense of rejection a sense of fulfillment rather than a sense of Destruction this is section 10: 52-54 he says Now Behold according to their faith and their prayers will I bring this part of my gospel to the knowledge of my people this is what this restoration is all about I'm bringing this part of my gospel the part that's been missing

from the fullness behold I do not bring it to destroy that which they have received but to build it up so restored truth isn't meant to destroy or deny or contradict previously held truth it's meant to build it up to fulfill its purposes that part was built in the right direction it was built correctly it's aiming it's just not high enough we ran out of bricks well here comes the rest and these bricks aren't to replace the old ones they are to build upon them that's what he means in verse 53 when he says for

this cause have I said if this generation Harden not their hearts I will establish my church among them well what would Harden their hearts against additional truth part of it perhaps being so convinced that what they had before was its fullness no wonder they're saying we don't want anymore or need anymore no wonder they're saying a Bible a Bible we don't need any more Bible and worst of all perhaps we're the ones that are convincing them to harden their hearts because of the way we approach the part that they've already received maybe they're rejecting part

two because we're rejecting part one do we treat them or look at them or look at their truth in such a way that they start worrying that you've come to destroy what I have we've heard this from practically every modern day Prophet from Joseph Smith to today as they reassure people we are not here to destroy or deny anything you have we're here to say hold on to all the truth you possess and simply come and see if we can add any more you sense Jesus doing the same thing I'm not here to destroy the

law I'm here to fulfill it hold on to all of its purposes the ends have not changed in fact the means have served their purpose you should be grateful we should be grateful for all you have that's back in second Nephi 29 as well you who say oh we have a Bible that's all we need Nephi pushes back and says do you have any idea who brought it to you do you recognize the labors and pains and travails of the Jews to bring forth salvation unto you do you give them any thought or thanks for

that no you Christians holding to your Bible have largely rejected the house of Israel that went before that provided you that Foundation upon which you can continued to build this is a caution against cold supersessionism that says oh we're Christians who needs the Jews and I think honestly that's one of the beautiful contributions that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes through the restored gospel because it doesn't just Restore New Testament Christianity It restores Old Testament Judaism right along with it when I was at Divinity School and somebody once asked where do you

Mormons fit in all this stuff I joked and it said well if Judaism and Christianity got married and had child it would be Mormonism they were like what yes I still had to explain some more things but that's kind of the truth of it it's the whole edifice Subterranean Old Testament foundations along with everything superstructure from the new I am grateful for truth that was preserved through Judaism and Catholicism and protestantism the restored gospel and did not have to start from scratch the gospel does not destroy the law it fulfills it and the restored gospel

and the restored church does not destroy other churches it fulfills their purposes their aims their hopes that's why I'm so passionate about Interfaith work we're in this thing together it's what the Lord seems to suggest in DNC 10 in 54 I do not say this to destroy my church I say this to build up my church it's an echo of what he said earlier in 52 I'm not here to destroy the gospel I'm here to build it up I'm not here to destroy the church I'm here to build it up it's like wait wait destroy

the church I thought you were restoring it cuz it was already destroyed well no it was just missing some things so 55 therefore whosoever belongeth to my church all of you who've always been a part of it the part of it that has always existed no need to fear you'll still inherit the kingdom of God if you've been building towards completion you're still my church no matter how many bricks you've been missing like I taught a couple weeks ago about the three shelves and Revelation yet to come we're missing bricks too we just know how

they'll come through prophets and apostles like always the church is in a constant state of construction it's Perfection bending for us all and in the meantime we're here to fulfill not to destroy I hope we can come across in that way as we're speaking to people of other faiths and as we're looking back at previous faiths of Our Own if we've joined the church now one other important thing before we move forward this what I've just explained is looking backwards we're not here to destroy we're here to fulfill but we can actually do a better

job looking forward into the future as well and that's exactly what the Nephites were trying to accomplish in second Nephi chapter 25 after Nephi has emerged from the Isaiah chapters it's right after that all important verse about talking of Christ and rejoicing in Christ and preaching of Christ and prophesying of Christ remember he said why so emphatic Upon Jesus so that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins well again why so emphatic I want you to look at this so you know what source to look for

and usually I'm only emphatic about where to keep your eyes if I'm worried about where your eyes might wander well the people growing up as the house of Israel where might your eyes naturally be pulled as far as the source for your remission of sins well the law these outward performances and ordinances all this stuff we're supposed to be doing all the time as we would say in our day the programs and practices of the church so what do they do part constantly focusing on the future talking of Christ and his coming but then in

27 we speak concerning the law that other thing yes we have to live it we have to talk about it but we speak concerning the law that our children may know the deadness of the law whoa that's a little bit scary can you imagine if you talked about the church and all of its deadness or the programs of the church and their deadness or the deadness of this commandment or the deadness of your mission the deadness of all these things whoa that's scary but not if you focus on its comparative deadness it's only dead as

compared to Christ the life that comes in him that's their focus and they by knowing the deadness of the law may look Forward Unto that life which is in Christ and know for what end the law was given you see the difference between means and ends here and after the law is fulfilled in Christ this is 600 years in advance and they're already planning for it after the law is fulfilled in Christ that they need not Harden their hearts against him when the law ought to be done away you see how proactive their preparation was

obviously it wasn't fully successful Jesus is still trying to reassure them here in third Nephi but that's not Nephi's fault from the very beginning kids this is the law we're going to live but their means not ends all this work is meant to help us reconcile our will to God but it's not to earn our Salvation that will only come as a gift of Grace from Christ so work on these things live this law practice these programs but always keep in mind their comparative deadness their lack of Life compared to the life that comes in

Christ these things will someday be fulfilled and I don't want that to feel like destruction dismantling the scaffolding should feel like a glorious thing right now downtown Salt Lake as the Salt Lake Temple is being retrofitted for earthquake safety scaffolding is necessary but I look forward to the day when it no longer is when its purpose has not been destroyed but rather fulfilled the church Church itself will come down like so much scaffolding many modern Apostles have told us that shouldn't freak us out even as faithful members of that church we'll simply realize it's fulfilled

its purpose it has fully established what has always been the ultimate intention of its existence creating the Eternal family ready collectively to return to God now that's definitely going to take a lot of raising of the bar so let's see how he does it with specific Commandments in mind now he gets to that in 21 we still have 19 and 20 to get there and these two verses are completely different from the Matthew version that we're used to in Matthew it's where he says you better do and teach these things otherwise you're no better than

the scribes and Pharisees but here notice what he emphasizes I've given you the law and the Commandments of my father that you shall believe in me and that you shall repent of your sins and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit he's trying to help them understand the purpose of what he's given them before that's why he says at the end of the verse behold ye have the Commandments before you and the law is fulfilled therefore now that it's in your rearview mirror having served its purpose come unto me and be

saved for verily I say unto you that except you shall keep my Commandments which I have commanded you at this time ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven all that's gone before I hope hope it has helped you develop righteous reflexes wax on wax off right that you is naturally now to obey to submit your will to the will of the father as I have done nothing helps you succeed in the game like lots and lots of practice and that's what the law of Moses has done as he said in 19

it was all to help you develop belief in me and repent of your sins and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit that's what the law of sacrifice for example intends every wit of those ordinances and performances all of that animal sacrifice pointing forward to that great and last sacrifice infinite Eternal this is all Alma 34 from AMC and if putting the animal on the altar representing as Elder Maxwell said us putting the animal within us on the Altar and letting it be consumed if that's not repentance what is if sacrificing

things doesn't suggest a broken heart and a contrite spirit what does preseason is over I hope you're ready for game time every lesson learned hopefully has served its purpose so let's raise the bar starting in 21 and in 21 and again in 27 and 31 and 33 and 38 and 43 six times in this chapter he uses phrases that shift us from the past to the present he says things like ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time or it is written by them them of old time or it hath

been written or it is written so looking back at the law and then in the following verse every single time 22 28 32 34 39 44 he then says but I say unto you or but verily verily I say unto you see what he's doing each of the six times this is what you're used to now I'm asking you to do this this was preparation now let's go on to the next level I actually think it's interesting that there were six examples that he uses because you'd kind of expect seven right if we're thinking about

the symbolism of numbers that seven is that more full and complete whole the Earth itself until it was very good I think in some ways he's left that seventh spot open for each of us to figure out what is it in my life that needs to be raised to a higher level I'll give you six you give me the seventh it's all aimed at becoming perfect even as I and your father in Heaven are perfect so what lack ye yet that's the one you need to put in position number seven well position number one is

in verse 21 and it has to do with murder or the law against it according to what's written before Thou shalt not kill we're all familiar with that one whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the Judgment of God but I say unto you so you see how he's replacing old with new whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of his judgment oh so the Old Law was simply forbidding murder the new law is forbidding anger now you see what Jesus is doing see how those two are inherently connected we typically

don't murder anyone if we haven't passed through the anger stage along the way so there is a certain sense of if I can control what leads to that then we'll never get there actually God has been really good at creating two lines of Defense since Adam and Eve themselves remember when the serpent asks Eve did God really say not to eat that fruit Eve's response is fascinating because it establishes two lines it draws two lines in the sand Eve says yes God commanded us not to partake of the fruit in fact she adds he said

don't even touch it now that's an interesting one would she have fallen if she just kind of touch the fruit really quick I don't think so so why that preliminary prohibition because if you never cross line number one you'll never even approach line number two and so these people who have been raised with this law that says don't fall off the cliff are now being said um can you actually step back away from the edge you're far safer back here so again he's raising the bar or if you want to shift the metaphor a little

bit picture a freeway with five Lanes in it and have you ever been in a freeway that is under construction and so they putting cones out or barrels and you've got to start narrowing the lanes they usually give you plenty of time to begin merging right because eventually there's going to be a bottleneck that everyone's going to have to pass through well early on you can be in any of those five Lanes you can be weaving through traffic not a problem but as the freeway starts to narrow you've got to merge or you'll be forced

off the road you'll be hitting cones now if you think about it life in general you're allowed to live tesly on the earth and during morality we can kind of weave in and out of how we're living Our Lives days that we testial and days that were Celestial and days that we somewhere in between but when Christ returns and the Millennium begins guess what we've had to merge into the middle no more testial life available to us hopefully we've learned to drive pretty well and we've merged in the meantime and then at the end of

the Millennium the Earth itself becomes the Celestial Kingdom there's more cones on the edge of the freeway and we're all all being redirected into that Middle Lane where by the way we could have been driving all along I found it helpful for myself to see these things in the context of testial terrestrial and Celestial levels of living you see Tesa would take any of these Ten Commandments and say I don't have to live that I don't intend to and so they do commit the sin itself terrestrial you've merged a bit at least would say okay

fine I'll obey that law I won't kill I won't commit adultery I won't do those things I will live the law because I have to but Celestial is so much further away from from being tempted to fall in those directions I'm not going to jump from Lane three to Lane five I'm not going to kill somebody I don't even get angry I love this kind of Lifestyle I've progressed from the won't do to the have to to the love to it's who I am this is the lane I want to stay in I don't have

to worry about merging in fact once I'm here I can help create some space so that other people can merge as well I'm always grateful when somebody does that for me so again this first example murder the testial says I'm not going to live that law I will kill the terrestrial says fine I'll live that law I won't kill the celestial says I'm so far away from killing that now it's anger that's my enemy I am overcoming that that and by the way this is another great place to compare third Nephi with Matthew because the

Matthew version adds a little loophole little caveat he says whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause well third E5 removes that sorry the Matthew version Justified me getting angry if it was legitimate cause the 3d5 version there doesn't seem to be legitimate cause at all one other difference I thought was interesting the Matthew says whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and here it's shall be in danger of his judgment now the antecedent of that pronoun would be the brother that you were angry with

and I think that's really interesting Matthew seems to leave us with well I don't want God to judge me for be for getting angry but here it's I don't even want my brother to judge me this seems more of the horizontal relationship rather than the vertical one which shifts the conversation from me being right or wrong or Justified or not and it turns it more into well what's the perception of the other person now all of a sudden it's are they justified in feeling any anger from me are they justified in their perception of me

as I engage in this relationship that takes things to a higher level as well as I need to be concerned what will this person's perception of me be based on the way I treat them what will they take away away from this exchange I might feel totally justified I might feel innocently indignant over this but if I've allowed my anger to bring in any level of disputation or contention which comes from the adversary we just learned in chapter 11 then what will their judgment of me be what will their judgment of the experience or the

exchange be I may not be in danger of God's Judgment at all in terms of what I'm defending or the position that I'm taking but will their judgment be such that they won't be open to later reconciliation or further clarification of my position I tried to make this my rule as a missionary I didn't always keep it but I tried and that was to never leave the other person with a bad taste in their mouth CU I don't know what's going to change with time if they'll soften and open their hearts to some later missionary

I feel the same way with my Interfaith experiences never leave them with a bad taste in their mouth I do the same as I'm working with people oneon-one who are in the middle of Faith crisis even as I'm trying to defend the faith or explain principles of the Gospel or church history issues or whatever I do my absolute best to never let emotion get the best of me to the point that there is some kind of anger that the other person might feel because then I'm in danger of their judgment not the Lord's that's a

different issue in fact that seems to be suggest a little later on keep reading in 22 he gives us three examples first angry with your brother you're in danger of his judgment second you call him raqqa you'll be in danger of the counsel and then third thou fool you'll be in danger of Hellfire now raqqa most people interpret that to mean fool as well or empty-headed which basically seems like the same thing as the last one so I'm less concerned about my part of things I'm more concerned about their part of things or the outcome

of the exchange again I might be doing the same thing I was angry I said Rocka I said fool maybe that's synonymous but on the one hand there's his judgment second level it's the council's Judgment third it's God's judgment and I'm in danger of Hellfire in each case what am I in danger of and that escalates with each iteration that seems to be the nature of anger or sin in general also I may not be getting worse with time although that often happens but the continued actions the consequences seem to increase with time I need

to learn to nip this in the bud and how do I do that the Lord explains in 23 through 26 we just saw the problem here now is the solution therefore if you shall come unto me or shall desire to come unto me and rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee then go thy way unto thy brother and first be reconciled to him then come unto me with full purpose of heart and I will receive you now that's a little different than the Matthew version Matthew starts with if you bring your gift to the

altar now that's more of an external action here I love the internal perspective if you come unto me or desire to come unto me you see it's not just that anger will cheapen your outward actions it will affect your inner attitude udes so don't just clean it up and overcome it before you go do the outward things before you do the inward things we've got to work on this and this isn't just you having something against your brother it's your brother having something against you again you might feel completely innocent completely Justified I haven't done

anything wrong so what's there to keep me from coming to the altar or what's there to keep me from coming unto Christ well it's not that easy what might other people have against me again it was his Judgment at the start that I need to be concerned about so work that out and work it out first first be reconciled horizontally then you can come and connect with me vertically because then there won't be anything in your heart to stand in the way you'll be able to come with full purpose of heart that's missing from the

Matthew version too this is living the Second Great commandment on the way to living the first great commandment those two are inseparably connected but for certain personality types the type that are Z the shiblon of the world go back and rewatch the video for Elma 38 people that are so zealous in keeping their first commandment commitments their vertical connection to heaven please know that you have to be living the Second Great commandment on the way the first may come first in order of priority perhaps but the second is first in terms of order here as

if to say you'll never fully Master the first commandment until you've kept the second along the way in 25 he gives us this advice agree with thine adversary quickly while Thou Art in the way with him lest at any time he shall get thee and thou shalt be cast into prison now that's ironic advice agree with thine adversary quickly what he's the one in the wrong why do you think he's my adversary because I'm the guy that's always in the right and you know you might actually be you might be right so why agree with

him well because if he's your adversary at least if that's his perception his Judgment of you has been adversarial then you're never going to convince him of your rightness that is you'll never convince him to agree with you on those things that really matter if you don't agree with him along the way now I'm not saying oh you just agree with everything and say oh yes you're right when in some things they're wrong but within any position they're tends to be a nugget of truth that's why I'm so passionate about this concept of proving contraries

that I may be passionate about this side but there's always some particle of Truth on the opposite position that helps keep mine in Balance if I'm passionate about Grace I need to have room for works if I'm passionate about Justice I've got to have room for Mercy usually what makes somebody my adversary is that they hold to the opposite extreme of the extreme that I'm holding on to and so if I can agree with my adversary quickly if I can sort through their position and see ah there is an element of truth that I do

agree with it's the other half of my truth and I can agree with that you see the beauty of proving contraries is I can validate their position I can come over and look at things through their perspective and say you know I agree with you on this not the whole thing but we can get to that later I agree with you and once they feel understood listened to agreed with validated once they know that we're trying to see things from their perspective they may be more willing to see things from ours I'm amazed at how

often that happens as I'm working with somebody one-on-one I remember as a young missionary 25 years ago we didn't have preach my gospel yet we used the old missionary guide and it was famous for having these examples to learn from and there would be less effective and more effective examples you could see how to do it and it was really nice because you could see how not to do it and often as missionaries it's like oh yes the M eicas the more effective that's how I'm doing it now the menos eicas the less effective oh

yeah that's how I did it when I was a greeny because I was so zealous and I there's no way I'm going to agree with my adversary see there were some specific examples where you're teaching something and the investigator in these examples would say something no I I this is my belief whether it was the Trinity or infant baptism or any of those kinds of things and in these examples that you'd practice with your your companion they'd give you some possibilities and there'd always be one that was like oh no that's false we believe in

this there'd be another one that would say something along the lines of oh that's a great point that you're making and I remember as a greeny missionary always being adamant that they got it wrong when they'd say it was that second example that was better of the two I'm like no no no you've left them with this falsehood you just got to come out with the truth and let him have it no Jesus had a better way agree with thine adversary quickly while thou are in the way with him otherwise you'll be cast into prison

at least a prison of his perception and he's not going to let you out of it that's the suggestion in verse 26 if you're thrown into that prison Thou shalt by no means come out then until thou Hast paid the uttermost cine and while you are in prison can you pay even one cine ver verely I say unto you nay that see that's the hard part if I'm thrown into debtor's prison how on Earth am I going to be able to work off my debt if I'm in the prison of your perception then how on

Earth am I going to be able to make things right you won't even let me get a word in edgewise anymore you see how that works this is tricky this is interpersonal relationships with adversarial positioning and the moment I'm in the prison of their perception of me then I'm going to have a very hard time convincing them that I deserve to come free whereas if I can agree with them early quickly those parts of their position that I can agree with maybe I'm being too vague let me give you an example I remember the last

area in my mission again I'd outgrown the greeny menos eicas and was becoming a more effective missionary myself and there was this family that was so strong in their faith they were wonderful wonderful Catholics and I remember we were teaching the apostasy which never goes over well as you're teaching Catholics for a good reason and I remember this Catholic father saying no the pope has Authority and always has s Pedro St Peter was the first pope and it's been continued passed down ever since and I could sense my companion who was much younger than I

was kind of bracing himself for the fight and I just kind of relaxed everything and leaned back in my chair and and I saido thank you so much for what you just said it's one of the things I love most about my Catholic brothers and sisters I could sense my companion now kind of what what what are you saying and I said because you understand the importance of authority that is so refreshing to me because most people that I know that aren't latterday Saints or Catholics don't care much about Authority at all remember the Protestant

Reformation was all about rejecting Catholicism and its priesthood to form what they called a priesthood of all believers which is basically way of saying no need for priesthood we've got the Bible this will be our Authority and nothing else needed no wonder we also aim towards Grace and away from works because there's no Authority for ordinances anyway that's a conversation for another day but this conversation with this Catholic Family it diffused the situation we were no longer adversaries I came to his side and said Amen brother Authority is absolutely essential the conversation continued of course

as we made the point that we're going to have to figure out where the authority lays if there was an apostasy or not if Authority was maintained throughout Apostolic succession or if the links in the chain were broken at some point and needed to be reforged but either way we agree that Authority is absolutely essential it's awesome and it was amazing just how much softer it was I was never in prison to them the prison of their perception because I agreed with that aders he was never my adversary but I agreed with him quickly while

we were in the way before we parted ways over an issue that had more Common Ground than perhaps either party wanted to admit early on instead of attacking trinitarianism I so grateful that people believe in the father and the Son and the Holy Ghost so do I first article of faith we can talk about the composition of the Trinity versus the godhead later but can we agree on that I don't have to slam someone for infant baptism I can say I'm so grateful that you consider baptism so essential that you don't want anyone to miss

out on that blessing you understand whatever it might be in our efforts to avoid anger we're so far away now from murder I I can't even remember we were talking about that and again Jesus wants to get us so far away from that testial level or even the terrestrial level of living I'm so focused on saying in the middle of my Celestial Lane that I'm not worried about the cones on the edge of the freeway verse 27 he now shifts to the next order of business from murder to adultery behold it is written by them

of old time that thou shalt not commit adultery so that's the old that's the testial terrestrial divide you either commit adultery testial or you refrain from committing adultery terrestrial 28 but I say unto you so let's raise the bar move into the celestial Center that whosoever lookth on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery already in his heart so the Old Law was don't commit adultery the new law is don't look with lust again a huge step removed if I don't cross the first line I'll never cross the second I did notice one

extremely minor difference between this version and the Matthew version at the end of 28 when it says he hath committed adultery already in his heart Matthew says he hath committed adultery with her already in his heart so I was pondering does that make a difference to omit the with her part first it hit me that adultery is a sin against far more than it's a sin with that's really what separates fornication from adultery right right the same act has been committed but fornication is more simply an act with someone else that's wrong whereas adultery is

that same act that does happen to be with someone else but it's inherently against the person that you've covenanted to be faithful to the real Sin of adultery what makes it such a daming sin has nothing to do with whoever you happen to be committing the sin with it's the fact that it is a sin against a covenant committed partner that this is a sin not only against love but against loyalty and I think it's interesting also that when it comes to lust lust has very little to do with its object and very much to

do with the person themselves that is guilty of that lust it is not about committing adultery with anyone especially since the actual Act of adultery has not been committed lust alone doesn't have to involve another person at all lust is a sin that can be committed independent of any other person it's an internal struggle something that the individual has to deal with whatever the object of that lust might be is practically interchangeable no wonder it's eliminated from this entirely so on one level adultery is not about the new person it's more about the old person

a sin against not a sin with and secondly it's not about either person it's about you you are the person at the core of the element that we're discussing here now just like in our previous example the murder SL anger one he didn't just leave it with raising the bar he explained a little bit of how to do that you know reconciling with your brother and agreeing with your adversary and so on same thing here but in this case the third Nephi version is completely different from the Matthew version after raising the bar from adultery

to lust in the Matthew version Jesus says if your right eye offends thee pluck it out and cast it from thee better to go to heaven with one eye than to hell with two if your right hand offends thee cut it off better to go with to heaven with one hand than to hell with two drastic measures but as we say about desperate times maybe it's those Desperate Measures that are required if I have a problem with lust again keep it in context then pluck out the eye then I can't use that eye to look

at things I shouldn't be looking at I used to joke with my students imagine IM if somebody took that advice literally and somebody came to church with an eye patch on or probably more likely two eye patches and they're trying to feel their way into the room and you're like whoa what happened to you and imagine if they said well I used to have a problem with pornography I don't anymore and again we discussed that you can't have a problem with pornography if you've literally removed the possibility of it but the longer I thought about

that I realized wait a minute can that person still have a problem with pornography can lust still be eating at them even if they can't act it out in terms of visibly looking at something after all isn't that exactly what this raising of the bar is all about you haven't technically acted out in adultery you've just done it internally instead well to the idea of pornography if I've only removed the outward I can't see anymore the eyes no longer function can I still have struggles within can I still be painting inappropriate pictures on the screen

of the mind so that was the first step in this realization that simply removing the opportunity doesn't necessarily eliminate the attitude and that's where the third Nephi version comes in this is amazing to me 29 and 30 he doesn't talk about pulling out eyes or cutting off hands he simply says in 29 behold I give to you a Commandment that ye suffer none of these things to enter into your heart he see that that goes even deeper than the eye or the hand verse 30 for it is better that you should deny yourselves of these

things wherein you will take up your cross then that you should be cast into hell so there's still that element of better Heaven than hell but there it was focused on eliminating outward action and here it's focused on eliminating inner attitude denying yourself taking up the cross the jst of Matthew 16 by the way repeats those same ideas that taking up the cross means denying yourself of all ungodliness and of every worldly lust that's what the Lord is asking of us now here's where it gets interesting though I've asked students in the past which version

is raising the bar higher obviously they're both raising the bar it used to be adultery on both now it's don't even look with lust and how do you do that the Jewish version is eliminate every outward possibility and the neite version is eliminate the inner attitude that would move you in that direction Which is higher and correctly they always say well the nephite version is higher again first level you can do anything you want as long as you don't commit the actual Act of adultery Next Level don't look with lust the first was control the

body the second was control the eye and the Jewish level leaves it there the nephite level don't just avoid the eye avoid the heart we're now several steps removed from that final action we're up to the Heart level now when I was in high school i' high jumped and I learned a very obvious principle that the higher you raise the bar the harder it is to clear it that's kind of a no-brainer and yet what's fascinating about these verses that which one's higher Matthews version or third Nephi's version well the third Nephi version is higher

heart rather than just ey but here's the irony which is harder harder to control the eye or harder to control the heart now you'd think well it's harder to control the heart educating your desires but not entirely I mean the initial goal is to eliminate adultery the ultimate goal is to have a mighty change of heart so we might as well be aiming for that body part to begin with but think about it this way picture in your mind a cliff now there's a plateau at the top but it doesn't meet the cliff Edge directly

like a 90° instead you have this plateau and then it starts to gradually Decline and then you take that gradual slope and then it meets a much steeper slope and then that steep slope hits the the straight up and down vertical drop off and you position someone at each of the three transition points one at the top of the plateau where it starts to go down a second where the gradual decline meets the steeper Decline and a third where the steep slope meets the straight up and down drop off and then you have this giant

boulder at the top that's starting to rumble a little bit it's a little unstable and the goal is don't let the boulder plummet down into the sea now which of those three people will have the easiest time doing their job the one right at the top there's no momentum at all it's fairly stable right there and if I'll just kind of put a hand on it I'll keep it from starting the downward descent now the second person has a much more difficult time there's some momentum it slowly started to roll down the hill but if

I can plant my feet and anchor myself then hopefully I can keep it from going any further but if it has started rolling and now really picked up speed on the the steeper decline that poor soul that's right at the edge of the cliff he has no hope at all of keeping that Boulder from falling into the sea which of the three has the easiest time the one at the very beginning up here it's don't even let these things enter into your heart over here it was well I guess you've been thinking about it a

lot it's become a desire just don't look at anything okay I'll try the third person you've let it enter your heart and mind you've begun acting upon it with your eye the only thing keeping you from acting on it fully is your own self control which you've already given up a lot of there is so much momentum to this lust that has begun lumbering down the hill that you are in danger of committing the act that you never intended to ironically the easiest time to control lust is when the boulder first starts to rumble in

that moment control your thoughts control your heart don't let it start to work its way in there because the longer you think about it the more likely you will be to act in some way and once you are acting then it only builds up speed I'm grateful for the wisdom of the Lord in raising the bar in such a miraculous way that it actually makes it easier for us to clear the jump that matters deny the heart deny the mind and not only will you never have to pluck out an eye but you'll never have

to deny the flesh at a moment moment when it seems almost impossible to do so now his next instance of bar raising is verse 31 and 32 and this one has to do with divorce 31 it hath been written that whosoever shall put away his wife let him give her a a writing of divorcement which I suppose is better than just putting away a wife for absolutely no reason at all I guess the testal level would be simply yeah eliminate relationships and and break covenants no problem at all but this way at least terrestrial well

at least have a reason okay what 32 then does in raising the bar to the celestial level is saying that reason better be the ultimate reason it's a high standard he sets in verse 32 verily verily I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication causeth her to commit adultery and who so shall marry her who is divorced committeth adultery now I know this is an incredibly sensitive subject because of the divorce rates that are prevalent across the world and it prevalent even in the church historically this

is the reason that Catholicism has not permitted divorce at all now if you want a good talk to read on this one go back to Elder d h Oak's talk on divorce where he explains the rule and the exceptions to the rule that there has to be a way out of marriages that are truly broken broken beyond the point of repair President James E fa once explained what then might be just cause for breaking the covenants of marriage oh over a lifetime of dealing with human problems I have struggled to understand what might be considered

just cause for breaking of covenants I confess I do not claim the wisdom or authority to definitively State what is Just Cause only the parties to the marriage can determine this they must bear the responsibility for the train of consequences which inevitably follows if these covenants are not honored in my opinion just cause should be nothing less serious than a prolonged and apparently irredeemable relationship ship which is destructive of a person's dignity as a human being now president Fa went on at the same time I have strong feelings about what is not provocation for breaking

the sacred covenants of marriage surely it is not simply mental distress or personality differences or having Grown Apart or having fallen out of love this is especially so where there are children now I'm not here to wound delicate feelings and Tender Hearts this is such a personal and difficult thing you can sense president fa struggling with that as well I believe Bruce amaroni once in trying to explain these verses let us know that this is a higher law that's what this whole chapter is trying to do right raise the bar and that we're not yet

living at that level but I don't think that means that we just dismiss these verses and I don't think that that's what Elder makoni was implying but there have been people throughout Christianity and within the restored gospel that have really wrestled with that verse and worried if I am divorced am I committing adultery if we got divorced for any reason short of adultery itself then am I now an adulterer myself and that's a difficult question to Grapple with in these days of no fault divorces we've almost returned to the testal level where we don't even

really give bills of divorcement anymore it's just I'm done and I'm out and we don't have to have very good reasons that seems to be what the Lord is asking us to Grapple with what is the reason here t would be no reason no fault divorce terrestrial would be well at least have some reason 31 says have a writing of divorcement celestial would say you better have an incredibly good reason actually the more I've thought about this verse because I've wrestled with it on behalf of people that I know and love as well I think

the fact that we struggle with it is actually exactly what the Lord intended that we we wrestle with this thinking wait a minute turning myself into an adult CER just because I divorced for some lesser reason than that I don't know if I can accept that I doesn't that seem like it's it's blowing things out of proportion a little bit like unless she or he was an adulterer then their next spouse is One automatically that's that seems to be blowing things out of proportion it seems to be magnifying sins beyond what they really are and

I wonder if right then the Lord would say stop exactly exact exactly you're accusing me of magnifying things beyond what they really are you're trying to say that I'm making too big a deal of this well in this case it is a big deal but think about yourself have you been guilty of magnifying things beyond their real proportions we'll talk about Moes and beams in the next chapter but I wonder if we're starting to head in that direction that you took some something relatively small and blew it up into something that would justify in your

mind eliminating ending annihilating a relationship that was meant to be Eternal can we not keep faults weaknesses imperfections in perspective you want me to say it's just divorce well I'm asking you to say it's just a difference of opinion or it's just human friction that we need to work through and that we can there seems to be almost this law of the Harvest reciprocity that whatever you measure out will be Meed unto you again there seems to be almost a spreading of this sin you're judging them and condemning them as if they had committed adultery

against you well if we're following law of the Harvest logic you turning them into an adulterer in your perspective is turning you into an adulterer in mine your raising of their sins Beyond The Pale is what's justifying me in treating you likewise judge not unrighteously that you be not judged again we'll see that very shortly he then shifts to the next bar raising 33 again it is written here's the past Thou shalt not forswear thyself but shalt perform to the Lord thine Oaths but verily verily I say unto you swear not at all and then

he explains a few examples now for swear doesn't mean swear it means to break what you've sworn to uphold it means to swear falsely perjury is what we call it so the testial level would be swear falsely break your contracts a terrestrial level would be swear truly keep your contracts but a Celestial level would be why why do you need to swear at all who needs a contract that is notorized and full of legal ease and printed in triplicate and recorded somewhere just be a person of your word that's what he gets at when he

says in verse 37 let your communication be yay yay nay nay anything more than that is evil in other words if you say yes mean yes and if you say no mean no do you really have to have a lawyer drafting some kind of contract that eliminates every possible loophole think about it this way I remember on my missions seeing these gated communities with guards out front thinking wow that must be a really safe neighborhood with those guards then I thought wait the fact they need guards maybe this isn't a safe Community after all which

is the safer neighborhood the one with bars and Gates or the one that doesn't need any which is the safer world the one with enough stockpiled weapons to guarantee mutually assured destruction or the ones where none of those weapons are needed because all the swords have been beaten into plowshares which is the more binding agreement the notorized legalized triplicate or the handshake and the word of someone you know to be honest that is the celestial center lane the next one is from 38 to 42 he says behold it is written an eye for an eye

and a tooth for a a tooth such a famous phrase making the whole world blind and Toothless as others have said but I say unto you that ye shall not resist evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other Also if anyone sues you with the law and takes your coat give him your cloak too if they compel you to go a mile go with him Twain two miles that is give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn thou not away how do

treat each other we look down at that idea of eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth but that was actually moving things up a notch up to the terrestrial level the testial level was hey somebody knocks out your eye kill them somebody chips a tooth destroy them it was Injustice on the testal level it was escalation instead of reciprocity the terrestrial level was at least keeping things Fair there was justness there testial it's worse than what it should be terrestrial it's exactly what it should be but Celestial it's better than it should be

we go from Injustice to Justice to Mercy from escalation to reciprocity to generosity and charity that's the world I want to live in notice by the way in verse 39 it's the right cheek that is smitten now most people are right-handed so how would a right hand hit a right cheek on the other person well that's a tough uppercut right so what is probably happening if a right-handed person is hitting the right cheek of an adversary this seems to be backhand so is this an attack or is this an offense a backhanded slap in the

face I don't think the Lord is saying to never defend yourself or your loved ones you can picture Captain Moroni standing up for that and rightly so but if it's just someone hurt your feelings someone offended you somebody once went to Joseph Smith and asked for that kind of redress and he simply said and he's one that would know since he was constantly being attacked by others he simply said walk such things beneath your feet get over it in other words you give me a backhanded slap I'm all right I'm moving on this is what

Nephi described with those in the great and spacious building mocking and pointing the finger and him paying them no heed perhaps turning the other cheek is not just a matter of hit my other side but I'm going to turn and walk away so that this does not escalate and the other instances give them your cloak as well as your coat walk two miles not just one there's this sense of doing more than expected a willingness rather than mere Duty in all of those instances it's raising the bar in both of those instances we're increasing what

we're doing for the other person but think about what it's doing to that person as well you see this idea of reciprocity is such an ingrown inherent social Norm some scientists have even suggested that it's evolutionary that within any organism or social group I should say reciprocity is something that just develops that if someone is constantly on the Lesser end always taking and never giv then eventually that one will be drummed out of the group so there's all kinds of social ways of making sure we stay on equal terms it's like we understand inherently that

the testial level is insupportable it's insufferable we have to live on this terrestrial level but that's the irony if Society itself wants to stay on this equal level and can't stand it when some other party is beneath them well what happens when the other party is above them what if the other party instead of giving them just the coat that was sued for gives them their cloak as well then all of a sudden what does this person feel uhoh I'm on the lower level If instead of just walking the mile that was required of you

you walk too then what happens with this other person with their inborn sense of equality of justice of reciprocity it invites them in the gentlest possible terms to live at a higher level of themselves haven't you ever sensed that when somebody else does something nice for you and you want to reciprocate happens every Christmas right when it's like oh no they gave us something we hadn't intended to give them anything you know neighborhood gifts and things are notorious for this and all of a sudden it's like do we have anything assuming that we can get

Beyond mere Duty in that but almost to be provoked to goodness I think that's a beautiful thing because it spreads the desire to live up to that Celestial level I love what the Lord is doing here almost like he's using society's earlier progress up to the terrestrial level to prime the pump for continued progress up to the celestial just somebody has to start it so let that be you just like waiting for justice to have its day requires some self-control on our part be the one that allows the celestial law to have its day to

live up to that High law and then let Society follow one last Insight in verse 42 when it says to him that would borrow of thee don't turn them away I love how soft that is they haven't even asked yet that was in the previous phrase if they ask for it give it to them but if they would borrow they see they can't even bring themselves to ask for it but you kind of read the body language you look at the needs you see what some other person might need and might lack and you just

give it to them before they ask we'll see Jesus doing that himself in chapter 17 acting on a perceived need even before a group can bring themselves to express it the last one well his last one remember our last one is whichever one we need to fill in number seven with 43 to 45 behold it is written also Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy that's just Justice right and it's better than it would have been it's better than hating your neighbor now you only hate people who deserve to be hated but then

again you only love those that deserve to be loved that points to the kind of publicism that I mentioned in the Matthew version only loving those that love you but in verse 44 here's the higher law behold I say unto you love your enemies again that's not just a love Reaching Across to its own level but a love reaching down to a level below bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you and why do that why be that kind of person verse

45 says that ye may be the children of your father who is in heaven for he maketh his son s n and in his case s o n as well to rise on the evil and on the good I love how he connects it back to his father this is an example of like father like son and like daughter that's how God is God loves people who have put themselves into an adversarial position with Him He blesses those who curse him he does good for those who hate him he prays like the father of every

prodigal son for anyone who's despitefully using and persecuting him or his other children that's the way our loving father in Heaven is and if we want to be children of that Father in heaven then we have to treat each other in the same way we have to love the undeserving that is beyond the Publican level I joke with my wife about what we call parental publicism there are times I get frustrated with my children and I think ah I would be so much more patient with them if they would just obey because I'm so patient

with obedient children and then it hits me oh yeah that means I'm patient with kids that don't require any patience o I'm so impressive as a parent that is Parental publicism if I only love The Lovable anybody can do that you don't have to be a child of God with that Divine inheritance those generous genes that's just easy but to love your enemy that's what the Lord is asking for now in 46 and 47 as we already discussed there's the second half the other book end of this great discussion the last 30 verses or so

about raising the bar having old laws fulfilled as new habits develop old things being done away all things becoming new this is the new you and whatever is lacking in that new you can be brought to a higher level of living as well it can merge into that Celestial center of the straight and narrow path that's how we progress to towards Perfection verse 48 says therefore that's a conjunction that's supposed to connect what went before with what's going after therefore with all of this past discussion in mind that's what all that went before it is

leading up to this Crescendo unto Christ through the Beatitudes this becoming like Jesus inwardly so that we can then turn and become examples to others outwardly Salt and Light even among this people it explains this idea of fulfilling instead of destroying of understanding the difference between means and ends and when those means are served to continue on towards the ends it explains all of this incredible examples of raising the bar and coming into the celestial Center therefore with all of that in mind I would that you should be perfect just like I am better yet

just like heavenly father is I know this is a lifelong process it's a Beyond this life process but there will come a day where you can add your name to that list of being perfect as Moroni clarifies perfect in Christ I'm grateful for his Perfection his perfect example but also his perfect patience in my imperfections his perfect love and perfect Grace in leading me on I am still one of those old things that needs to be done away but I know that I can be made new in Christ yay All Things New we made it

through chapter 12 the first chapter of Christ's sermon at the temple and how's it feel to be perfect not that we've arrived there yet but now we know the trajectory and aim that we need to be headed towards I would that ye should be perfect even as I and your father who is in heaven is perfect and crescendoing up the Beatitudes turning outward so that we can salt and light the world raising the bar or coming into the center lane of the celestial straight and narrow allowing old things to be fulfilled as All Things become

new we're on the path but we're not done yet as I mentioned last time the first chapter of the sermon at the temple gets us to that Perfection or at least points Us in the direction Perfection pending right the next chapter chapter 13 is meant to help us perfect our motives because we can be doing all the the right things for all the wrong reasons and this chapter helps wean us off of ourselves The Pride that often goes along with striving for Perfection and the first eight verses of chapter 13 emphasize doing things for the

right reasons and the Lord asks us to ponder the why of our service in the first eight verses of chapter 13 by putting before us the who of service namely who are we doing it for or who do we hope will see us as we do it he focuses on three different actions that we do frequently alms or giving to the poor prayer and fasting I love the fact that he chooses things that are so frequently done in the church think about your own prayers and fasting and fast offerings that goes along with it Irene

once said that if we can make small improvements in things that we do frequently then our progress will be massive because of the repetitive nature of those activities so if we can make small improvements to our prayer think about that multiplied by the number of prayers that we offer or purifying our motives behind fasting or behind service or giving of Charity we do a lot of that as members of the church small improvements multiplied by much repetition leads to great progress on our part he starts with alms or service or charity in verses 1- 4

and he says at the beginning verily verily I say unto you that I would that you should do alms unto the poor but take heed that you do not your alms before men men to be seen of them otherwise you have no reward of your father who is in heaven so there's the why and the who why are you doing alms unto the poor is it to be seen then of who of men you can tell that that's one of the ulterior motives for some people's charity because of how much publicity they want to go

along with it in verse two when he says when ye shall do your alms do not sound a trumpet before you as will Hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets why do they do that that they may have Glory of men verily I say unto you they have their reward and in fact it's the reward that they were looking for they get the glory of men all eyes turn to see the source of that trumpet blast the clicking of cameras on the news broadcast look at all that I've done for other people and

although their contribution does indeed do so much good the poor can be fed by the prideful as much as by The Humble but for the person themselves who is giving and we're all asked to be givers then why are we doing it and who are we doing it for that will largely determine the source of our reward for the service that we render it's almost like the Lord is saying you get one reward for this and you can pick its source would you prefer your reward to come from heaven or come from Earth in verse

three he says when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth well how do you do that I mean the left and right hand are connected right and yet have have you ever tried to separate them in some activity you ever tried to Pat your head and rub your belly at the same time how do you do that if you're able to in my experience it's all about getting one of those hands to go on autopilot to get it going patting the head until I don't even have to think

about it anymore and if that can just become automatic autopilot then I can focus on the other hand and get it to rub the belly the one is with thought the other is automatic now I don't know how successful I am at that but I wonder if we can train ourselves so that righteousness becomes reflexive that giving to others is something that doesn't require a lot of thought that the right hand is just giving and giving and giving and the left is more occupied in other things to the point that it doesn't even recognize what

this is doing to make our service habitual another key in my opinion is just to fight the sense of Pride that so often naturally arises through service to recognize him when it's happening and to squash it I think it was George Albert Smith that whenever he was paid a compliment he'd kind of mutter under his breath devil talk devil talk make you proud he didn't want that devil talk sounding in his ears to make him inflate the ego I think of that in terms of these two hands if the right hand which is the one

doing this service this is our covenant hand the hand that we typically use when making covenants with God and the left hand well if this one's already taken by covenants then if this is my spiritual man it seems my left left hand is more of my natural man and maybe that's part of it I don't want what I am doing through my covenants my promises to serve and consecrate don't let that knowledge pass to the Natural man of course I'm going to recognize that I'm doing these things that's not a problem but allowing the natural

man to grab a hold of that thought and wield it like some kind of trophy look what I've been doing well that is your trophy then the praise of man instead of the blessings of God you see if we resist that worldly reward then the reward we get will come from the other option verse four that thine alms may be in secret and thy father who seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly let God specialize inv visible generosity we don't need to we can keep those MMS in secret there's something Magnificent about Anonymous service

because like we talked about last time about doing good for someone beyond the expectation and that drive within us for reciprocity makes them want to increase their goodness to others as well well couple that thought with the anonymity suggested here at the beginning of chapter 13 you see what happens when you combine generosity with anonymity to put it at its coarsest you don't know who you owe to put it on a higher level you want to bless all the world around you every person you see is a potential benefactor I felt that on the giving

end once as a little kid when we did a sub for Santa and packed up a box full of things on Christmas for a family in our Ward who was struggling and we left it and dingdong ditched and ran back and took off the next fast and testimony meeting January I was probably I don't know six or seven at the time but I remember this mother in the family getting up to Bear her testimony and talk about what a blessing it was that someone some unnamed kind soul had come and blessed her family for Christmas

I think I learned what a poker face was that day as I sat in the Pew in the back and just tried to maintain total flat don't let her know that it was us but inside I was beaming I got my reward from Heaven not from Earth she didn't know who to thank so guess who she thanked she thanked everyone she felt that expansion of soul that that multiplication of gratitude to everyone in the ward CU it could have been any one of them I've been on the receiving end of that too it's a little

harder because I want to know who to thank in fact I remember once teaching a lesson along these lines to a seminary class and later that week they did something incredibly kind to me and I didn't know who did it it was just from a Seminary Student and I thought in fact I went to class and and expressed my gratitude to every class of mine to all the students that were there in fact I laughed I said when I taught you about Anonymous service I didn't mean for me I'd rather know who it is I

I want to specify I want to direct my gratitude well you got me I can't direct it individually now I have to direct it universally but do you see the multiplication of goodness that that entails this ends up being a multiplication of Loaves and Fishes just as miraculous as what Jesus did at the shores of Galilee from 5 to 15 he then shifts from service or alms charity towards prayer and he says when thou prayest Thou shalt not do as the Hypocrites for they love to pray not because what it does vertically but because of

what it does horizontally they stand in the synagogues so there's a church setting and in the corners of the streets that's more the public setting that they may be seen of men verily I say unto you they have their reward and it's coming from the horizontal Direction makes it seem like our prayers are answered by whomever we happen to be praying to if we're praying to other people they're the ones that we hope are hearing us then they're the ones that are going to have to answer our prayer giving us what we're asking for whether

or not we admit what we're after as opposed to praying to God knowing that he will answer our prayers how do we make sure our prayers are truly vertical verse six thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou Hast shut thy door pray to thy father who is in secret and again just like with alms thy father who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly now this doesn't require a kneelin closet I think he's simply suggesting to go to some place apart spiritually even more than physically to close the door to cut

yourself off from outside distractions again spiritually more than physically honestly the times that I'm praying publicly that feel most like real prayer is when I forget that there's anyone else out there remember we saw that in helan when Nephi was on his Tower not a tower to be seen of men but a tower to be up above away apart that was his elevated closet and didn't even recognize that a multitude was gathering down below another solution to the problem in verse 7 is to avoid vain repetitions that doesn't mean that repetition is not allowed but

vanity should be dismissed use not vain repetitions as the Heathen for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking in fact that's always what blows me away about en's prayer we always talk about the length all day and into the night but what's more amazing to me is the depth that his soul hungered that he raised his voice High until it reached the heavens again vertical prayer not horizontal he's out in the woods in the forest hunting beasts he doesn't care to be seen no one's around to see him I think our

most powerful acts of worship are the ones that no one will know about but the god that we are worshiping at the time no wonder we close our eyes to shut out the world with our prayers being seen only by him with an allseeing eye after all it's not what we're saying anyway verse 8 be not ye therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things you have need of before ye ask him it's almost like he's saying why are you even asking God he knows in advance to which we might say Well then

why am I praying at all exactly it's not about asking for things prayer is so much more than mere petition it's not your wish list or your to-do list prayer is much more about relationship than it is about language honestly that's one of the ways I know I'm truly connected with someone when I can sit beside them in silence and neither one of us gets uncomfortable you ever had those other relationships where it always feels like I mean those LS in the conversation seem to last forever and it's like okay what am I going to

talk about next prayer shouldn't be about what am I supposed to say it can be sitting in silence together with someone you know and with whom you want to spend time he knows what you need yes it's okay to ask for those things it shows humility on our part and admission that we cannot acquire those things on our own but really what prayer is all about is the relationship now from 9 to 13 he will give a version of what has come to be known as The Lord's Prayer it was never meant to be the

one thing we're supposed to say every time it shouldn't become our own vain repetition rather it's a patter for us to follow no wonder he says in verse 9 after this manner therefore pray ye this manner there's the pattern to follow our father beautiful possessive pronoun and in the plural Jesus is sharing his relationship with God With Us Our Father do you sense that you and Jesus together are approaching the father's Throne he is our intermediary after all that's why to me the most important thing we say in our prayer is the last line which

unfortunately is the one that people rush over as they're diving for the Finish Line it becomes a one syllable word and yet it's in the name of Jesus Christ that we are allowed to approach God's throne in the first place so to recognize him alongside you as together the two of you approach heaven and address Our Father do you ever have to give a public prayer when you were little and you were scared to death to do it and so you clinged on to Mom or Dad asking for their support and sometimes for the exact

words that you wanted them to whisper in your ears I guess we're not supposed to grow up or grow out of that Jesus will you be with me as I address my Father in heaven will you help me know what to say to our father Our Father Who Art in Heaven so much higher than we with a view that's so much more expansive and inclusive thy ways are higher than my ways thy thoughts are higher than my thoughts I trust you you see things I can't see help me know what I should be praying for

Hallowed be thy name do we do that enough in our prayer do we hallow the name of God do we honor him is it worshipful full of Praise or is it just full of petition and by the way the best way to hallow the name of God in our prayer isn't through words at all it really is through feeling to be still enough and quiet enough to be able to begin to feel how we feel about our Father in heaven and to offer that emotion to him that gratitude that love that's what worship is worship

is so much more than something that we do worship is something that we do because of something that we feel about something we believe put that all together in the feeling behind your prayer prayer is something that I'm doing because of something that I feel about God based on the things that I believe about God if we master that feeling in verse n then it is so natural to continue in verse 10 with this thought thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven of course it's easy to submit because we understand who

it is that we're submitting to We Trust the perspective that only he has from his Heavenly Vantage Point even before we ask for a thing we are offering our will to him trusting that his will is far better you ever had those times where after the fact you said to God thank you for not listening to me I've had a few of those prayers well to be able to offer that prayer in advance trusting that he is a loving father trusting that he is in heaven trusting that he's worthy of the worship we offer him

in fact back to verse 8 trusting that he knows not just what we're going about to ask because we might ask for the wrong things but trusting that he knows the things we have need of the things we have need of and the things we're asking for May in fact be two completely different things we know what we want we don't always know what we need but God does and so trusting that again very easy to say thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven in verse 11 I can't believe that people

actually repeat this one it must be without thinking because you see what we're asking for forgive us our debts now stop there and yes that's something worth pleading for but forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors see what we just asked for to be treated the way we treat others God be as forgiving to me as I am to other people gulp in other words help me be more forgiving father help me be merciful so that I might obtain Mercy back to the Beatitudes verse 12 lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us

from Evil now that's a tricky one because it seems to suggest that oh oh well might he might he lead me into temptation please don't do that don't put me in spiritual Harm's Way well that's actually one that it's repeated exactly from King James and yet Joseph corrects it years later when he works on the Joseph M translation of the Bible he changes it to suffer us not to be led into temptation and that's actually caused a lot of angst among some people thinking wait a minute if the King James was wrong to the point

that it needed to be corrected in the King James version then why is the Book of Mormon version wrong right alongside King James they can't start freaking out over these things well part of that I think comes from our misunderstanding of what spiritual translation really entails and Joseph Smith's process of growing up in God as a translator now some Scholars have pointed out that the hebraism here is actually totally fine the way King James and the Book of Mormon presents things that there was a sense among the Ancients that any that is being done is

the will of God so that even passive voice constructions can be put into an active voice that the things we're hoping will happen we can say God is causing so in some ways the lead us not into temptation active really is saying the same thing as the suffer us not to be led into temptation the idea that if it's happening at all God could have ensured that things weren't otherwise so as far as ancient sin tax is concerned I'm fine with the original King James I'm fine with what we have in the Book of Mormon

but it is interesting that a few years later when Joseph turns his attention to the King James version and asks God for help page after page verse after verse please help me bring out the truths of these messages help me restore plain and precious parts that are lost help me clarify confusing passages well that is kind of a confusing passage if you don't understand Hebrew syntax so I love the fact that Joseph Smith from an ancient text and that other translated ancient text is content to leave it in its ancient form but with his Joseph

translation how do I make this more understandable for people so he renders that text in a way that an English reader would not be so confused by it now that's one possible explanation for these differences that exist between these three versions of the King James version of Matthew 6 The Book of Mormon version in 3513 or the Joseph Smith transation version of Matthew 6 but I also like the chronology and just the chance of for Joseph Smith to learn line upon line and precept upon precept the translation of the Book of Mormon happened by Revelation

the gift and power of God and the jst happened by Revelation the gift and power of God and if you watch Joseph Smith grow throughout time he becomes much more flexible when it comes to the language of scripture it's actually fascinating to watch we won't have time to get into all the detail today but early on in the book of translation for example it seems very this is exactly how it's supposed to be words appearing on the searstone for example and him conveying to his scribe this is exactly how things are supposed to be written

there's even a place in the doctrine of covenants where he and Oliver calary almost get in well they do get into an argument over the language of a particular verse in section 20 of the doctrine covenants and Joseph's like how dare you question the language of this it's exactly the way it's supposed to be but then give it some some time grow up in God progress and what is Joseph saying near the end of the doctrine covenants for example when he quotes Malachi and he quotes the Old King James version even though he knows a

better version was given or a different more correct perhaps version was given by the angel Moroni he wrote it down the Angel's way that different wording in Doctrine Covenant section two but by the end of the book he's like ah I could give a planer translation of this but the one we've got from King James is good enough for me wow Flex ability with God's word that's an interesting concept later when he's in preaching a sermon in navoo about the letters of Peter and the New Testament he says that the words that the prophets wrote

were only hints of what existed in the prophet's mind that is an amazing concept to consider what we have in scripture are prophetic hints of Revelation that came into the prophet's mind there are times that Revelation comes by dictation but there are other times where Revelation comes by depiction have you had that experience in your own Revelations from Heaven there are times where it seems like actual language is coming to the Mind other times it's more like pictures a depiction of something and you're trying to convey those things into actual language that's hard to do

there are times when the Book of Mormon translation or the receipt of the doctrine of covenants Revelations or the jst times it seems like it is dictation word for word this is exactly how it has to be lock it in other times where there is so much more flexibility and Joseph is trying to tap into those hints that existed in the prophet's mind receiving some kind of depiction of truth and how will I put these into words I am totally okay either way there are things about the King James version that speaks powerfully to me

and things about even identical passages in the Joseph Smith translation where those adjustments teach me powerful truths as well as I've said before scripture doesn't have to be inherent to be inspired or inspiring especially when scripture is always meant to be a means to a higher and greater end the means are these words on the page the end is the word of God himself the word made flesh Jesus Christ so if in 1829 Joseph understands this language to be lead us not into temptation and then in the early 1830s as he begins work on the

Joseph translation he realizes that a clearer interpretation rendition translation of this language would be suffer us not to be led into temptation then great thank you for learning in the meantime Joseph and for clarifying things for me better later in life you know one of the reasons Joseph never published the jst in his lifetime was because he never felt completely finished with it and are we ever really finished studying scripture and trying to understand the word and will of God go read the chap the chapter heading the section heading of section 86 of the doctrine

covenants when Joseph Smith is explaining the parable of the wheat and tears and it says that that came to him that Revelation when he was reviewing and editing the Joseph smid translation so that Revelation didn't come the first time he went through scripture does it ever I I have so much marked in my scriptures and people sometimes look at it like wow I can't believe you got that much and I always say what you're looking at is 20 years of layers and the first time I only saw this insight and the second I got this

and the third I marked this in the 15th I wrote that and the 20th I noticed this it's a lifetime of growth line upon line precept upon precept and so if Joseph is receiving canonized scriptural Revelation section 86 as he is reviewing and editing something that he received by Revelation the first time you know when I was a student in college I worked for a year on a scholarly transcription of the Joseph Smith translation transcription means you're supposed to take what was in the manuscripts and then convert it to more searchable text but you're not

supposed to change anything so our goal was not to come up with a finalized version of the jst you can already buy that from The Community of Christ The Inspired version we were trying to reproduce on computer exactly what was on the original manuscripts themselves so when there were things that were crossed out we were supposed to cross them out when things were cared and inserted we were supposed to put carrots in insertions even places where the ink was still wet so that the Scribe could just lick his thumb and wipe it out and then

right over it we were supposed to figure out what was underneath the smudge and so we'd zoom in and increase the contrast and and try to understand the handwriting analysis of John Whitmer and so on just trying to piece together so we could see how the jst came together it was an amazing project very tedious as a group of three of us kind of editorial interns would be looking at every word and have to decide if ever there was a discrepancy is that an A or an e because it changes the word and we have

to look and check handwriting and see I think it's an a the other I think it's an e and then the third would be the tiebreaker it might be an O actually oh great back to the drawing board but what amazed me about that year of work on that project was seeing the process of translation of Revelation scripturally unfold and there were times that it comes out like a Mozart Masterpiece Moses 6 and 7 are like that I I say Mozart Masterpiece because he was famous for not having any corrections on the page there was

no need for them it came out flawlessly the first time and yet there are other places in the jst where you can see and sense that Joseph is wrestling with the text because he'll dictate something and they'll write it and he must no no that's not right and they'll cross it out or they'll lick and you know lick and smudge and then they'll write something over it and that's still not right and they'll cross that out and they'll write something in the margin or in the lines in between and then they'll cross that out and

then take a scrap of paper and literally pin it to the page they were called pin notes just to have some extra space so they could keep writing Corrections on it I remember talking to one of my professors at the time saying what do you make of this this this wrestling over the language and he reminded me of the time in the New Testament where Jesus healed the blind man in stages one of the weirdest Miracles that you can study there remember He blesses the blind man and says he what do you see and he

says I see men as trees walking and then Jesus blesses him again and now he can see perfectly fine well was Jesus having an off day did he get it wrong the first time or is this actually truer to life than most of his other Miracles that they happen line upon line that we start to see things we didn't see as clearly before but we still don't completely know what we're looking at well continue to come unto God continue to study and pay that price and eventually you will see things perfectly clearly I'm probably spending

too much time on this point already I want to get back to the actual prayer that Jesus is giving us as a model but I think the principle here applies and we'll see it several times in this sermon at the m/s sermon at the temple don't get me wrong I am passionate about the language of scripture I hope you've sensed that by now nouns and verbs and adverbs and adjectives are intriguing to me in what principles they can teach but it's those principles that matter to me even more than well what was the punctuation mark

right in that spot it could be this it could be that o can both of those teach me a lesson then I'll take them both the jst version teaches me one thing and the King James teaches me something else can both of them teach me truths that I can apply in my life you see scripture is less about the Reconstruction of ancient history and more about the navigation of my own unfolding history that's what makes it scripture after all instead of Simply ancient literature anyway sorry not sorry for the tangent but back to the prayer

verse 13 for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen it's God's kingdom he's in charge it's God's power he's the source it's God's glory he deserves all the credit do those feelings Define our prayers now again if you compared this to the Matthew version we are missing the phrase thy kingdom come and the phrase give us this day our daily bread I don't know why those ones aren't aren't here I love those phrases I love the lessons that they can teach us I just need enough bread for today just my

daily bread that's Mana from heaven right I don't need enough for the whole week I'm sure you'll provide more for me again tomorrow thy kingdom come I don't know why he doesn't say it here maybe because he's right there the Risen resurrected Lord among them I the kingdom is in you and I'm here to coax it out the kingdom has come right here with you again I don't know all the reasons for that I'm happy to invoke the flexibility with scripture that Joseph developed later in life Jesus has finished teaching them the manner of prayer

but having brought up forgiveness which is obviously one of his favorite topics since he just atoned and Rose from the grave he then adds in verse 14 and 15 just almost an afterthought based on that phrase of forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors 14 and 15 expands upon it if if we forgive men their trespasses your heavenly father will also forgive you but if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father forgive your trespasses law of the Harvest you get what you give again in that statement about forgiveness don't lose

sight that he's been talking about prayer and in this example of prayer don't lose sight that he's trying to teach us not just the what of prayer but the why and who that's what the Common Thread is throughout chapter 13 why are you doing this who are you doing it for just want to be seen of men he then gives us the third illustration of that Concept in verse 16 through 18 and this one's about fasting moreover when ye fast be not as the Hypocrites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that they

may appear unto men to fast verily I say unto you we should expect this line now they have their reward will it be horizontal or vertical you see in each instance now are we doing this to be seen tough thing about fasting it's hard to see alms giving can be very visible right prayer can also be very visible and audible I can do it on the street corner make sure everybody knows but fasting that's a tough one unless I can somehow amplify the sound of my stomach growling well if that's too hard to come by

I just disfigure your face look as hungry as you possibly can make sure that people know how much you're suffering you want to have a fun time teaching this principle to kids ask them to do it ask them to look as hungry as they possibly can you'll get a kick out of it on the flip side what's he asking us to do verse 17 the exact opposite when thou fastest anoint thy head wash thy face make it look like you're doing totally fine it's almost this weird reverse hypocrisy that's anything but hypocrisy in fact it's

called called humility if hypocrisy is not wanting people to know the bad that you're doing then humility is not wanting people to know the good that you're doing and I love the humility inherent here Verse 18 that thou appear not unto men to fast but unto thy father who is in secret and thy father who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly now the lessons that the Lord wants to draw from these three examples he's going to teach in 19 through 24 but before we go there I do want to add one thing from the

very first verse of this chapter it's something that only comes up in the nephite version not in Matthew but to me it answers a question that I've actually had some people ask you see several times in this chapter Jesus has decried hypocrisy again why are you doing this if we're achieving Perfection through chapter 12 well why are you doing it is there a hypocrisy in this striving for Perfection are you doing it to be seen of or are you being perfect for the perfect reasons again that's what chapter 13 is all about but that worry

about hypocrisy is real couple that with something Mormon says in morona chapter 7 that if you're doing things and not doing them for the right reasons then it's as if you didn't do them at all in fact he calls it evil to do those things for the wrong reason that's even stronger language and I've had students over the year sometimes say well then should I just not do them if I'm doing things for the the wrong reasons is that automatically hypocritical and therefore I should avoid doing the thing at all now I see where they're

coming from there's logic there but you see the problem and what they're suggesting I'll admit it's really easy to avoid hypocrisy when you have no standard to fall short of that's the world's approach well if here's my belief and here's my behavior let's just eliminate the belief we talked about this way back in the videos about I and his message since it was the priests of Noah that wanted to push it down squash down the Jack in the Box okay if you haven't seen that lesson I would highly encourage you to go back I honestly

think it's one of the most important King Benjamin's messages are huge abad's messages are huge I know that's like months ago but they're really key anyway easy way to avoid hypocrisy if the distance between those what I'm doing and why I'm doing it if that distance is filled with hypocrisy then just stop doing it it honestly frustrates me sometimes when people accuse Latter-Day Saints of being Hypocrites even when they're trying valiantly to live up to the standards that we know to be set by God yes there is real hypocrisy that needs to be rooted out

of church members but if you think about the that version I sense sometimes that those that are decrying hypocrisy have only overcome hypocrisy this way by eliminating standard in general so that back to the question do I just stop doing those things when my heart isn't in them I shouldn't fake it till I make it right well notice the phrase that's added in verse one of chapter 13 verily verily I say unto you I would that ye should do alms unto the poor that's not in Matthew just here I want you to do it and

then he clarifies but just make sure that you're doing it for the right reason so again if we have this gap which are we going to do eliminate our beliefs or bring up our behaviors forget what we're doing or purify why we're doing it that's what the Lord is asking for he wants us to continue giving alms and praying and fasting if you're doing them for the wrong reasons don't stop doing them stop doing them for the wrong reasons change your reasons purify your motives that's what this whole chapter is about and why is that

so important because again reward tends to come from only one of the two locations heaven or Earth so make your choice verse 19 lay not up for yourselves Treasures upon earth like the praise of man Earthly Treasures are where moth and rust can corrupt where thieves can break through and steal as opposed to the other choice doing your good deeds secretly so that God can reward you openly well those open rewards can be in heaven where moth rust and thieves are never a problem for where your treasure is there will your heart be also and

it's the heart that the Lord is after it's almost like the Lord knows that we focus more on Treasure than on heart God is the reverse he focuses more on heart than on Treasure but if he can help us envision our Treasures in a certain place knowing that our heart will follow then it's Celestial stockpiles that we should be focused on that's what we should have our eyes fixed upon that's the suggestion in 22 the light of the body is the eye if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light

so where are your eyes fixed are they just looking around to see who's seeing you or are they looking up to see God or are they closed so that you don't see anything around you but trust that God seeth you even in secret you see if you're looking at the wrong things then you're headed in the wrong direction 23 if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness and if the light that is in the be Darkness then how great is that Darkness we call the eye the window to the soul

but it's not just so that the soul can Peak out it's so that light or Darkness can seep in so what are we looking at verse 24 make up your mind we have to choose horizontal or vertical why are we striving ring for Perfection no man can serve two masters either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other you cannot serve God in Mammon now of course you can serve vertically and horizontally at the same time that's the first and second great commandment

and they're not mutually exclusive the question is though if we're trying to get two things to coexist and coincide that are at odds with one another that's the suggestion in 24 loving one and hating the other this is opposition not connection these ones really are mutually exclusive love and hate yeah these two don't get along at all but loving God and loving neighbor giving alms to others but doing them for the right reason praying for others but not to them praying to God fasting for others welfare but doing it with a face that only Heaven

Knows is in pain those are acts of goodness and kindness and worship that couple the two great Commandments together but the motivation behind them those can be at odds with one another those can be mutually exclusive where do you want your reward to come from are you serving God or are you serving Mammon which is treasure or wealth or riches but could also simply suggest are you serving anything else worst of all is it selfs serving then fine you got your reward now from 25 to 34 the rest of this chapter Jesus is going to

shift gears literally he's going to shift his attention from the multitude that he's been teaching this sermon to to the 12 disciples that he had singled out from the crowd this actually helpful to us because it lets us know the direct audience to whom he was giving these more difficult commands this is for full-time min ministers he's going to teach them a few principles and make them a few promises that if we took literally in all of our circumstances I don't know how well prepared we'd be for coming trials so notice what he says verse

25 came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words he looked upon the twel whom he had Chosen and said unto them again new audience a much more specific one remember the words which I have spoken now one reason behind it behold ye are they whom I have chosen Chen to minister unto this people so you're going to need to remember this stuff CU you're going to be teaching it the water hasn't gotten to the end of the row yet okay not every nephite is here so you remember it so you can preach it

Beyond and then he picks up where the Matthew version continues but again to this specific audience to these full-time ministers he says I say unto you take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink drink nor yet for your body what you shall put on is not the life more than meat and the body than rment look at the birds they're fed without farming look at the flowers They're beautifully clothed and yet they do no spinning of their own don't worry so much about food and rment the food is

just to sustain life and reignment is just to cover the body and it's life and body that are far more important than those other things this is more ends those other things are just means do not confuse means and ends we saw that before last time right about fulfilling the law but not destroying its purposes now that's good counsel for us all don't confuse means and ends it's interesting back in verse 25 he even suggests that even those ends are inferior to the ends that I want you involved in because when he says at the

end of 25 hey isn't life more than meat isn't the body than rain so why are you worried so much about food and clothing but rewind a little and he even brings up body and life as being of lesser importance take no thought for your life including the eating and drinking that goes into it take no thought yet for your body including the things that you put on it again it's not that those things are unimportant it's that they shouldn't be your highest priority you full-time ministers building the kingdom of God is your full-time priority

and since you're doing that for me then I will take care of those things for you just like I do for the fowls and the flowers we have to trust in God no wonder he says in verse 30 that God provides all these things and will to you also if ye are not of little faith no wonder he says in 32 that your heavenly father knoweth that you have need of all these things no wonder he says in 33 seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added

unto you again I know that you need them those are ends and not just means life and body really do matter I'm just asking you to trust me that they'll be provided for you for the vast majority of us we provide those things for ourselves with of course the help and strength and power that God gives us but he's not asking every church member to go out and spend your life without pers or script we have jobs to do that but to allow these disciples to build God's Kingdom fulltime that requires them to leave those

other things behind and to seek first the kingdom of God they just have to trust that other things will be taken care of and they are in fact even building the kingdom itself is taken care of they do all they can they do their very best but to build something that is Heavenly requires Heavenly help it's what I love about verse 27 when he says which of You by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature it's amazing what plastic surgery can seem to do it seems like people work on just about everything they

can imagine but I haven't seen much success in the realm of height sure there's high heels out there but can you imagine trying to add one cubit to your stature I know my basketball playing Sons would love that there are some things about providing for ourselves we can take care of but there are other things about growth that we simply can't and so we trust it all to God Paul planted Apollos watered but it was God who gave the increase so leave the increase to him let him grow the church one cubit and he's doing

that Cubit by Cubit by Cubit the way he ends this chapter in 34 take therefore no thought for the morrow for the marrow shall take thought for the things of itself and then this strange line sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof that's actually rendered much more clearly in other translations The New American Standard Bible says each day has enough trouble of its own and the Contemporary English version renders it you have enough to worry about today it's like the whole give us this day our daily bread similarly give me just enough strength to

make it through today's challenges just enough peace to cope with today's worries I'm not going to worry about tomorrow's things today I'll have a new day and a new supply of strength to deal with that I love what Victor Hugo once said an inspired author of L miserab he wrote have courage for the great Sorrows of life and patience for the small ones and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task go to sleep in peace God is awake don't worry about tomorrow wake up in the morning and be prepared to tackle the challenges of

that day but you'll wait your present if you fixate on your future I was always so impressed with President monson's calm seemed like he was never overwhelmed with all of the world's problems he seemed to live his life by that rule of I'm only going to worry about the things God wants me to do today and if that means blessing a widow I don't have to worry about opening the doors of another Nation for the preaching of the Gospel that I'll move towards that on a day that that's what God wants me to do today

I'm going to the old folks home today I'm going to the hospital this is so much like what Jesus says to Martha Martha Martha probably had to say it twice to get her attention Thou Art careful and troubled about many things just come and sit and learn that's all I'm asking today tomorrow there will be time for Martha type activities don't you worry you see everything that he says In this passage to the his disciples there's a contrary to each of them so as you read these and apply them to your life as well realize

that there's a flip side that there is a space for both Mary and Martha in the kingdom of God and both of their skills and attributes are needed here he's saying don't worry about the things of tomorrow but that doesn't mean we just not prepare for anything we need to become both Mary and Martha simultaneously we just need to realize that in today's Martha like world world we don't always make room for the merry like priorities that need to be put in place go back to that idea of adding one cubit to your stature you

can control a lot of things food rment and so on other things they're just beyond your control understand the difference have the wisdom to distinguish between your work and God's he's doing his and all he asks is that we do ours and throughout it all if we prioritize his the rest will all fall into place or as has been said by modern Apostles they will fall out of our life altogether we didn't need them now if we've been doing this right if we've perfected our actions and attributes by the end of chapter 12 and purified

and perfected our motives by the end of 13 what's left well the fact that there are still people back somewhere in chapter 12 or 13 themselves and that's where chapter 14 comes in for us it pulls us away from the propensity to judge others we're so quick to forget that we used to be in that same position ourselves working on our actions attributes and motives well they still are in fact we probably still are too so we need to learn from chapter 14 not to judge anyone including ourselves those areas of our life that we're

still struggling that is not to judge those things un rightous ly that's another element where Joseph grows into an understanding because here at the end of chapter 14:1 when he says judge not that you be not judged that's exactly what we see in King James but a few years later line upon line precept upon precept how does Joseph render that in the in the jst judge not unrighteously that ye be not judged but judge righteous judgment we're always making judgment calls and we always have to in some ways that's false Doctrine to to Simply say

judge not that you be not judged that's an invitation to relativism I mean who am I to say what that that anything's right or anything's wrong I I don't want to judge no wonder that needed to be corrected in the jst in fact to me one of my favorite illustrations of that principle comes from the story of Solomon in the Old Testament the most famous one when these two mothers come with the one child that they're arguing over and whose mother is it and it's the wisdom of Solomon that decides well let's just chop the

baby in half and each of you can have a half believing hoping trusting that the true mother would come to the rescue which she did again beautiful story very famous and it's meant to illustrate the wisdom of Solomon but what amazes me about that story even more than Solomon's wisdom is I think it illustrates both parts of the judging righteous judgment and at the same time not judging unrighteously because he is making a judgment call he has to determine which mother deserves this child and that does require righteous judgment what about the unrighteous judgment we're

supposed to avoid well reread the story and this detail never makes any of the veggie tale versions that are out there who are these two women fighting over this child they were both harlots prostitutes does that change the story at all these are two prostitutes fighting over an illegitimate child you can picture less compassionate King going what chop all three of them in half let's just clean up the kingdom but no this wise but compassionate King knows that even a woman in this condition deserves to be with a child that she loves that even an

illegitimate child deserves to be raised by his mother I think it's one of the most beautiful depictions of judging without becoming judgmental that's available to us and that is the principle behind that corrected phrase of Judge not unrighteously but judge righteous judgment judge but don't become judgmental please realize within ourselves those places that need some improvement but don't beat yourself up over them just make steps towards change now that's the message throughout chapter 14 it's all about becoming judicious which the way I think of that word includes both the judging righteously without judging unrighteously to

be judicious now this is meant for everyone chapter 14 begins with an addition that's only in the nephite version it tells us that when Jesus had spoken these words to the 12 the end of chapter 13 then he turned again to the multitude and opens his mouth unto them again so that taking no thought for yourself and putting all your eggs in the king basket that was for those full-time ministers those 12 that were set apart but now for everyone again don't judge unrighteously now verses 3-5 is about becoming judicious in offering correction famous phrases

why beholdest thou the moat that is in thy brother's eye but considerest not the beam that is in thine own how on Earth are you going to pull out somebody else's Speck when you have a 2x4 sticking out of your face in fact if if you think about it not only does my beam keep me from clearly seeing the moat in your eye but flip it around if you saw somebody coming with a pair of tweezers and a beam in their eye offering to help assist you would you trust them not at all so part

of this is your inability to help someone else but part of it is their unwillingness to even let you try we have to be working on ourselves and the more we're willing to do that the more open to assistance others will be the order is key verse 5 thou hypocrite so we got to get rid of that first and how do we do it by working on our own beams First cast The Beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou See Clearly to cast the moat out of thy brother's eye he never denies

the fact that your brother's got a moat too he recognizes that but you can't clearly see it and he certainly won't let you attempt a removal until you've cast out beam from your own eye too and again since we often judge ourselves the most harshly keep this principle in mind there does seem to be a hierarchy of sin there are some things that are so glaring those are beams others that are so comparatively small those are the Moes and yes the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance he wants to remove

even the last moat the tiniest particle but he'll work on the big ones first and be content with that gradual growth that successive change what's the biggest thing keeping you from God right now then work on that and don't worry so much about the other things you'll get to those but the biggest obstacle is the one that's keeping you from progressing as soon as that one goes down you'll be able to progress to the next biggest and the next biggest and the next biggest there are Moes a plenty but work on your beams first that'll

actually give you some momentum and confidence moving forward verse six then adds be judicious in offering truth offering correction was 3-5 offering truth is six give not that which is holy unto the dogs neither cast ye your Pearls Before Swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and Rend you are we judging a person's Readiness because sometimes if we force feed them or push things upon them that they don't yet recognize as being valuable then no wonder they get angry because notice it's not just that they trample the pearls under their feet

it's not just neutral it's anger there's something about pearls that I guess tick off pigs as I thought about that why is that the case I assume what are pigs looking for something to eat is what I would guess can you imagine them trying to sink their teeth into a mouthful of pearls yeah I could picture that turning again and rending you but do we sometimes force feed Pearls of great price to people who are completely unready to receive them you see if earlier was judge not unrighteously here it's judge righteous judgment be wise in

what you are offering to people the day will come where they recognize their true worth but maybe today they do just need to be fed now this actually leads in a fascinating way into what he says next because from 7 through 11 the idea is to be judicious in asking and receiving six was in offering truth 7 through 11 is in asking and receiving in seven he says ask and it shall be given unto you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you I love that of repeated promise if you're

an English speaker he literally spells out ask a k ask seek knock can he make it any more clear that God is open to our questions I want to respond in a abundance but be judicious in what you're asking for and be judicious in how you judge the answers that God gives you in return you see in verse eight he promises if you ask you'll receive if you seek you'll find if you knock it'll be opened but then he adds an interesting Insight in 9 through 11 what man is there of you if his son

asked bread will give him a stone or if he ask a fish will he give him a serpent this time through actually was the first time I've ever ever read verse 99 through the lens of what we just saw in verse 6 because what's the sun asking for in nine bread what did he get instead a stone now as far as a swine is concerned just wanting food give me some some Mash what's a pearl to them nothing but a rock to chip my teeth on oh so in nine am I the swine that God

is casting pearls to ouch am I on the receiving end of that principle now when God gives me something do I sometimes accuse him of it being worthless to me that's not what I asked for and if worthless is bad enough in nine then 10 is even worse a serpent when I wanted a fish you see if I'm hungry a stone instead of bread is just worthless but a serpent instead of a fish that's downright harmful and unfortunately sometimes we accuse God of whenever we ask for something nourishing helpful something that we think we need

when he offers us something different from what was asked notice he said you ask you'll always be given he didn't say and I'll give you exactly what you asked for no there will always be a blessing granted there will be a response to your petition but it may not be exactly what you had in mind but please do not turn my bread into Stones you see Jesus's Temptation with the adversary was to change stones into bread the adversary reverses that for us very often God has given us something true bread bread of life meat to

eat that we know not of and yet we sometimes look at it and go that's not what I asked for that's worthless Stone that's harmful Serpent and here the Lord is saying now be judicious judge righteous judgment but don't judge unrighteously especially when it comes to the things that I offer you see that's what he clarifies in verse 11 11 if ye then being evil mortal natural man if you know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him

I am a good father I'm a better father than you are I'm an all knowing one and an all powerful one and an all loving one if I gave you something different from what you asked for please do not judge me unrighteously I know what I'm doing I'm giving you Pearls of great price do not trample them under your feet do not turn again and Rend me no gift of mine is worthless or harmful I'm giving you just the kind of bread that you need God then takes the advice that he follows and encourages them

to follow it also verse 12 is the go Golden Rule he says therefore all things so therefore that's the connection therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the law and the prophets follow that rule in giving to others and trust that God is following that rule whenever he gives something to you God is doing to you what he would have you do to him and through the atonement he is doing that to him it's amazing that through the savior's condescension and perfect

atonement joining us in everything along our journey he's right beside us in every stone or serpent likee gift from God I am giving you exactly what you need I'm giving it to my son Christ was willing to pass through those same things so do not judge me harshly when we sometimes say oh this is hurting me more than it's hurting you as parents we say that to our kids sometimes when we push them beyond what they consider their breaking point when we expect things of them when we're just trying to help them grow God is

an even more wise and generous and just parent so when he says this is hurting me more than it's hurting you the atonement makes that concept literal there's a fascinating connection between the Golden Rule and and The Garden of Gethsemane God backs up those words in Deeds you see there's a cheapened version of The Golden Rule that's just make it easy for them because you want it to be easy for you there's a mercy that's so cheap it becomes unmerciful a let them get away with murder so I can get away with murder no God

is much higher in that and so when he says therefore and then teaches the Golden Rule connected to what he just taught about swine and pearls and bread and stones and fish and serpents do for others the best possible thing trusting that God is doing for you the best possible thing too whatever type of bread he sends your way verse 13 and 14 he then asks us to be judicious in the paths that we choose to follow there are some that are easy wide Gates broad ways but those lead to destruction many there who go

in there at and they're probably grateful for how easy the way is this is just the kind of hog slop I wanted you to throw into the trough not realizing that at the end of The Journey we're not where we need to be no wonder he starts verse 13 with enter ye in at the Straight Gate not ght this is AIT T straight meaning narrow verse 14 straight is the gate narrow is the way that's repetition which leadth to life few there be that find it so don't judge unrighteously and take the easy way judge

righteous judgment and take the path Less Traveled by it will make all the difference no wonder God in his more judicious approach to the Golden Rule does beckon us on the upward climb not the downward slide verse 15 to 20 in these verses be judicious in whom you choose to follow false prophets or true sheep or merely sheep's clothe in verse 15 beware of false prophets which suggests there's true ones out there who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves those with sheep's clothing suggest there are actual sheep how can

we tell the difference how can we judge righteously and avoid unrighteous judgment 16 tells us and 20 repeats it 16 ye shall know them by their fruits 20 wherefore by their fruits you shall know them how do they live how do they lead how do they love how do they serve where are they on this journey through chapter 12 and 13 I am so grateful for the fruits that I have been able to see in the lives of living prophets the chances we have to reach through the wool and recognize that down deep they are

true sheep of the Good Shepherd he walks us through that very clearly good fruit from good trees corrupt fruit from corrupt trees but I love what he says in verse 16 there's another Insight here when he says do men gather Grapes of thorns or figs of thistles you reap what you sow so you can tell the kind of seed it was by the kind of fruit that it produces but there's something about the symbols that Jesus uses there grapes and thorns th and figs and thistles it hit me once that thorns and thistles are specifically

mentioned as fruits of the Fall yet what does Jesus do with the fall he turns Ashes to Beauty he atones for it he'll come and make the blessings flow far as the curse was found and that's exactly what he does because what are grapes symbolic of Jesus trotting The Wine Press alone staining all of his reignment The Grapes of Wrath the wine of the sacrament grapes are atonement and what about figs the withered fig tree better yet the parable of the Fig Tree pointing to the second coming of Christ when all that is wrong immortality

is made right in the Millennium I love seeing that symbolism in verse 16 from us can I draw grapes out of thorns can I pull figs out of thistles no but Jesus can he can change us he can take the fall thorns and thistles and turn them through the atonement and through his promised second coming into grapes and figs and from those new grapes and new figs a new life good fruit continues to flow now do you get a sense of what he's been teaching us throughout this chapter judge not unrighteously but judge righteous judgment

be judicious in offering correction be judicious in offering truth be judicious in asking and receiving be judicious in the paths you choose to follow and in the people whom you choose to follow look for good fruit now in all of this as he concludes this chapter the focus has to be on finding Christ coming to truly know him remember we're not perfect we're perfected we're perfect in him and so through all this process notice how he ends this in 21 through 23 and then confirms it all in 24- 27 in 21 not everyone that saith

unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven talk is cheap and maybe you've learned the lingo along this journey but you have to do more than just say it he that doeth the will of my father who is in heaven this is a faith without Works kind of a moment this is a talk the talk versus walk the walk kind of verse but notice he doesn't end there verse 22 we respond many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have

cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works you see 22 seems to be a response to 21 I wasn't just saying Lord Lord I was doing all this stuff I was letting my light shine I was salting the Earth I was raising the bar I was merging into the center lane I was doing all this stuff I'm not just a lord lord latterday Saint I'm a doer of the word okay great wonderful you've you've passed 21 and you're on to 22 but have you reached 23 then will I profess unto them I

never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity or as Joseph will later correct the King James version which reads identically you never knew me now I love both versions because a real relationship is reciprocal it does go in both directions I know you and you know me and how has that happened because we've been journeying together this whole time ever since you said three chapters ago blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me I've been coming unto you this whole time I know you you know me this is a relationship we've

developed that's the real solution to all that we've been studying to this point if we've just been talking about it filling up a few hours of YouTube video and it doesn't get translated into actual action then what a waste of time and even with action if that action doesn't turn into knowledge and I'm not talking book knowledge I'm not talking some kind of cerebral understanding of who Jesus was I mean know him I mean Kos instead of this is life eternal that they might Know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he has

sent relationship familiarity friendship Oneness you mean to tell me you've gone through chapter 12 and 13 and 14 purifying actions p purifying attitudes purifying motives and purifying perspectives on everyone behind you and you still don't know who I am this isn't working I don't know you you don't know me and yet we could have known each other I've been walking alongside you this whole time should we try again should we start over should we go back to the beginning of chapter 12 I'm game are you ready to do it right this time humble yourself poor

in spirit come un me wise or foolish rock or sand that's how he ends this who so heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them doeth them with an eye to knowing Christ I will liken him unto a wise man who built his house upon a rock and not just a rock but the rock the rock of Our Redeemer the rock of Heaven build on that and helan was right when he promised that no shafts in the Whirlwind would have any effect 25 the rain descended the floods came the winds blew shafts and all and

beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock sure beats the alternative those that hear these sayings of mine and doeth them not those shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand the house might be equally well constructed both times it just wasn't connected to the bedrock in 27 the rain descends the floods come the winds bloat same outside elements they beat upon that house and this one Falls and great was the fall of it sounds like it was quite the house that was

on top one deserving of good construction again it's the foundation the connection between everything that went above to what it lies upon below that was lacking how's your foundation and How Deeply have you drilled into it so that all of this superstructure everything you've been working on through chapter 12 and 13 and 14 each one its own story above ground but is it founded is it sunk into stone is it built upon Bedrock have you come to know Jesus as the psalmist wrote except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it

he is the master builder and he's the rock upon which it's meant to be built he is the Cornerstone in this Foundation of prophets and apostles and here he has laid it all out for us I pray that we can build our Liv Liv on that kind of a rock the rains and the winds and the floods are coming at us all in fact maybe some of that's a good thing as it tends to wash away sand and hopefully expose the Bedrock that Lies Beneath it I remember someone that I love very much hitting rock

bottom and realizing in that moment what a perfect place it was for for her to be because all the sand in her life had been washed and Blown Away you sense the beauty of hitting rock bottom of finally being back in contact with the rock that has always been Beneath You bearing you up no need to have the wind and the floods wash away our sand if we are willing to drill down to bedrock ourselves that's true wisdom and as Jacob once said oh be wise what can I say more with the sermon at the

Temple completed where do you go from here well in Jesus's case Among the Nephites he commends everything that he's just taught them and then reminds them of what it means to them and who they are specifically if you look at chapter 15:1 when Jesus had ended these sayings he cast his eyes round about on the multitude and said unto them behold you have heard the things which I taught before I ascended to my father you're all caught up you have learned what I taught my people in Israel therefore who so rememberthe sayings of mine and

doeth them him will I raise up at the last day remember he told those 12 chosen nephite disciples you need to remember these things so that you can continue to teach them well the people that initial audience they need to remember them too so they do them King Benjamin ended his speech that way if you believe these things see that ye do them but then Jesus notices something verse two when Jesus had said these words he perceived this is a perceptive teacher reading the facial expressions and body language of his students he perceived that there

were some among them who marveled and wondered about what specifically they wondered what he would concerning the law of Moses for they understood not the saying that old things had passed away and that all things had become new they didn't quite get it now it's easy for us to judge them unrighteously thinking come on you finally got freed from this but when this is everything that you've lived for the last thousand years I mean if it took conference talks and all kinds of messages from prophets and apostles in our day to go from 3-hour church

to two or to go from home and visiting teaching to ministering imagine the wondering and marveling wait a minute what does this mean for those old things change can be hard especially if we approach it simplistically you see the simplistic approach to change suggests that old ways are wrong that's why we've abandoned them that makes the past a problem but a more thoughtful approach to change would say that the new Builds on and grows out of the old this is passed as Prelude I've seen both among members of the church whenever A Change Is made

some using the moment to dismiss the past and others using it to honor it I happen to serve my mission under two different Mission presidents I had one year with each and their administrative approaches their personalities could not have been more different my first mission president was a big tough Texan Barrel chested Cowboy that used to run the church's cattle ranches and did didn't change a lot when he shifted from cattle to missionaries he'd bring his bullwhip to Zone conference every once in a while and crack it as he taught us about obedience and we

obeyed out of fear sometimes my second mission president was the most softspoken humble he was a native Puerto Rican just kind-hearted soul and he didn't worry about being a stickler on the rules not that he didn't care about obedience he just had a feeling that we would continue to obey as we had before but that we do it out of love not out of Duty certainly not out of fear I'll admit a lot of us feared that he'd get walked all over but he ended up being right honestly in many ways my first mission president

got us up to that elevation of chapter 12 be perfect in your obedience and then Mission president number two helped us through chapter 13 purifying our motives for doing so it's amazing to watch those two one after the other but it was interesting to watch some of the older missionaries that had lived under the regime of our first mission president and felt like they had emerged into this realm of openness and goodness and flexibility under our second mission president in fact our second mission president he was Latino happened to have a first name of Jesus

and they couldn't help but compare their days under the law of Moses finally coming into the Gospel of Jesus and in a way they end end up throwing our first mission president under the bus and even at the time something about that felt wrong to me since then Having learned more about the history of the island and both missionaries and the church itself I realized that each of those men was the man for their season God knew exactly what he was doing and we had to have them in that order they would have walked all

over my second mission president if we had not established the level of obedience under the first this was our school Master to bring us unto Christ the change that we saw was not a repudiation of the past it was a recognition that all that happened there was absolutely necessary those missionaries that were mature enough to recognized that loved both the Old and the new and when we see changes happening in the church I hope we have similar maturity now what the Lord does here is amazing in trying to help them navigate this transition cuz it

is heart he gets it too notice what he says in 3 and 4 Marvel not that I said unto you that old things had passed away and that all things had become new behold I say unto you that the law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses now he'd said that before right no more sacrifice of animals now it's a sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit but he starts all of this with reassurance Marvel not it's going to be okay don't freak out that the law was fulfilled and please don't dismiss the

past as if it were some kind of problem or mistake honestly here's the question you need to Grapple with can both Moses and Jesus be right can both of my mission presidents be correct in the approach that they took to Leading our mission can each be correct for their individual time and place I think sometimes we we don't think hard enough about these kinds of issues and we just assume yep those are they don't agree so they're mut exclusive but Moses and Jesus got along fine Jehovah Called Moses after all and Moses followed Jehovah's Commandments

letus bring it a little closer to home can both Joseph Smith and Wilford Woodruff be right about plural marriage Wilford Woodruff thought so in fact in issuing the manifesto he even said to the saints that were like whoa who again it's very similar to this I don't know if these changes are right and he basically said I'm older than almost everyone in the church and I knew Joseph and Brigham better than almost anyone in the church and I'm about to go see them soon do you really think I'm going to go completely against them both

in the letter and the spirit of what they established when I'm about to go face the music see this is the power of having a scriptural Canon everything together within one set of books because it suggests that all these prophets get along That Old Testament and New Testament that these Apostles and Prophets can reach across the divide and find themselves agreeing in principle on the things that they taught even when their practices happen to be different Moses would say like AMC did all that I taught was pointing forward to the coming of Christ all this

sacrifice pointing to that great and last sacrifice of Jesus Jesus would say the same thing in reverse search the scriptures they are they which testify of me I've even seen some detractors former Latter-Day Saints take president Nelson to task for changing our approach to the official name of the church accusing him of condemning all of his predecessors when he said that it is not wise to use the shortened version well those previous prophets didn't have a problem with it so who's wrong president Nelson or president hlin certainly they two can't agree with each other can

we not be okay with different approach approaches at different times and both of them are correct both can be inspired from Heaven again this is the principle of a cloud of witnesses of canonical consistency of proving contraries I've seen all kinds of people freaking out not just marveling and wondering but really freaking out over changes the church has made as far as policies are concerned well they went this way in 2015 and this way in 2019 oh what's going on can we not step back and see both of those underneath a higher unifying principle watching

church members Veer to one side and so they try to pull the ship back a little bit this way and then watching people overcorrect and so they try to pull it back this way it's constant course correction all with the same end in mind this goes back to the whole it's not destroying it's fulfilling in fact the way Jesus begins 3515 is In The Same Spirit of what he said earlier in chapter 12 along those lines I'm not destroying anything I'm not throwing Moses under the bus I'm fulfilling his mission I'm building upon his foundation

I'm actually doing exactly what he would do if he were here we get along fine from verse 5 to verse 10 I don't know if I've ever seen it done better trying to help people navigate a transition from old things to new helping us see that there are some things that are different but some things that have stayed the same different means for example while pursuing identical ends different programs or policies or procedures or practices all following the same principles and purposes so as we go through these verses keep an eye on what's different and

what's Constant verse five behold I am he that gave the law and I am he who covenanted with My People Israel therefore the law in me is fulfilled for I have come to fulfill the law therefore it hath an end you see the repetition of I am he I was there the first time I'm still here the second time you do have continuity as far as the ultimate source I am the Jehovah behind the law of Moses I am that I am I'm also the Jesus of the New Testament who atoned and sacrificed to fulfill

that law and Usher in the gospel that it had always been pointing to so I am is the ultimate constant the law was the past but the Covenant is the past present and future the law is old and specific but the Covenant is new and everlasting it's Universal new knew only because it's been renewed but it's the same Covenant that's always existed that is something a constant throughout it all so you see what he said in verse 5 I'm here I've been here the whole time I'm behind both approaches I'm not contradicting myself both the

law and the gospel fit under this umbrella this higher unifying principle of the Covenant do I change my approach to parenting you bet as children are small and then grow up and become adults my parenting style has to change right along with them but my goals for them haven't changed my love for them my purposes behind that parenting whether it's law or its gospel it's all Covenant and it's all Christ in verse six behold I do not destroy the prophets that hasn't changed as many as have not been fulfilled in me verily I say unto

you shall all be fulfilled believe me I vindicate my servants constantly verse 7 because I said unto you that old things have passed away I do not destroy that which hath been spoken concerning things which are to come so those prophecies and promises are still in place verse 8 Behold The Covenant which I have made with my people is not all fulfilled that's why it's the higher unifying principle it was inforce under the law it is inforce under the gospel I should actually flip that both the law and the gospel are in Force Under The

Covenant the Covenant which I've made with my people is not all fulfilled but the law which was given unto Moses hath an end in me so don't lose sight of the Covenant the big picture the ends as you worry about the law which is the little picture the means verse 9 and 10 then behold I am the law the law is me and I'm the light in other words I'm the light by which you should be reading the law if you've been interpreting it in a way that doesn't point back to me back to the

Covenant then you've been misinterpreting it you've been reading it under the wrong light but if I am the light by which you read the law then you'll see its continuity in Christ from start to finish I am the interpretive lens through which you should be reading the law that's what Jesus meant when said to the Pharisees that verse I just quoted you search the scriptures you look back to the law like nobody else you got the thing memorized but you search it because you think that in the scriptures you have eternal life but guess what

they're just means and I'm the end they are they which testify of me I am the law and the light by which you should view it Paul got that perfectly well he he got it once he got it once he saw the light in the Risen Lord he knew by what light to look at the law he says to the Corinthians that their minds were blinded and here's why for until this day remaineth the same Veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament which Veil is done away in Christ even unto this day

when Moses is read that is when you look at the law the veil is upon on their heart no wonder they can't see it Veil makes it hard to see Minds being blinded makes it hard to see it's all too dark so how do we bring light into it when it shall turn to the Lord the veil shall be taken away once you see that the law was always pointing to the Lord once he becomes the light by which you read the law then everything's fine there is continuity it is our school Master to bring

us unto Christ look for Jesus in the old Testament you'll see them everywhere look for the atonement in the law and you'll see that they are practically synonymous once you have the eyes to see once you have the light by which to look at the law and Jesus is both so we continues in verse 9 look unto me see that light and endure to the end and ye shall live for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life don't stop early don't stop with the old version of things endure through change

unto the end verse 10 behold I have given unto you the Commandments therefore keep my Commandments is there a difference between the Commandments and my Commandments it might seem like it well no no those old Commandments were from Moses no he was simply the one receiving the tablets Christ was behind those Commandments and he is behind these ones and the need to obey them is constant this is the law and the prophets obedience it doesn't have to be obedience to specific things but the law of obedience continues on those laws and those prophets they truly

testified of me start to finish anyway I love what the Lord is doing here for them and for us as we endure times of transition don't lose sleep over changes to what the scriptures themselves call a law of outward performances the in W purposes are still the same don't lose sleep over changes to policies or programs or procedures or what I call packaging we've been through a lot of them fairly recently do you lose sleep over the change of mission age or the length of church or how we minister to one another or how the

churches run the composition of councils how about participation in priesthood ordinances who gets to witness baptisms for example ex who gets to perform baptisms for the dead involvement men and women boys and girls it's amazing some of these changes even things as significant as the temple endowment itself please learn to distinguish between contents and packaging between presentation and the food that's actually on the plate in some ways it's understandable that we get so caught up in changes is those are the things that seem to stand out to us but look deeper at what has stayed

the same or look higher at what are the overarching unifying principles again did you notice the ones he lists In this passage the need for obedience and endurance has not changed that's verse 9 and 10 the need for prophets hasn't changed that's verse six prophecies and promises are still still in effect that's verse 7 The Covenant is still in place that's verse 5 and verse 8 the light is still on that's verse n and I am still here the Lord says repeatedly that's verse 5 and verse 9 and verse 10 you see the constancy admits

this change practice this with other changes you can think of do it with plural marriage for example what didn't change the law of Chastity did not change reread section 132 and keep an eye out for that the sanctity of marriage and the importance of the family did not change pre- plural marriage during plural marriage post Manifesto end of plural marriage those priorities held true the law of obedience and the role of agency are Eternal principles that apply across the chronology the significance of priesthood Keys the centrality of Temple ordinances all of those were constant and

most importantly and this applies through any and every change the wisdom and love of God the atonement and Grace of Jesus Christ and the confirming witness of the Holy Ghost those truths apply across the chronology as well do you remember those beautiful words from Be Still My Soul they apply so perfectly in situations like these in every change he faithful will remain if we can trust in that in every change he I am he I am he I am the law I am the light I'm still here behind it all in every change he faithful

will remain if we can believe that and trust him through every transition then the following lines in that hymn are so much easier to accept leave to thy God to order and provide just leave it to him he knows what he's doing and the following verse thy God doth undertake to guide the future as he has the past thy hope thy confidence let nothing Shake all now mysterious shall be bright at last I have no idea what changes will yet come but I'm open to them in fact far more than open to them I'm excited

to see what comes because I know that I will see the hand of God behind them he faithful will remain he's guided the past beautifully the future isn't in good hands My Hope in him and my confidence is unshaken now once Jesus has established this in the minds and hearts of his hearers he then teaches them in an amazing way who they are from verse 11 to verse 21 he explains that they are his other sheep now in 11 it says that he specifically addresses this to the TW whom he has chosen so he's shifting

back and forth between the the general and the specific audiences But ultimately the messages will be for all verse 12 ye are my disciples ye are a light unto this people uses that same phrase we saw back in chapter 12 and who is this people they're a remnant of the House of Joseph again he's not just going back to Lehi he takes it back a few Generations he goes all the way back to Joseph that way we know we're talking house of Israel context and whenever you talk House of Israel in the Book of Mormon

keep an eye out for scattering and Gathering because that's what it's all about but by calling them the house of Joseph he's also reminding them you're not the whole house of Israel which itself is not the entire Seed of Abraham which itself is not the entire human race you're part of a part of a part but a part that I know personally a part that I have promised this land to verse 13 this is the land of your inheritance and the father hath given it unto you now 14 and 15 he explains but nobody knows

this 14 not at any time hath the father given me Commandment that I should tell it unto your brethren at Jerusalem and 15 neither at any time hath the father given me Commandment that I should tell unto them concerning the other tribes of the House of Israel whom the father hath LED away out of the land so the Jews back in Jerusalem don't know about the Nephites and they don't know the specifics about the Lost tribes of Israel either all I was left do was give them a hint in verse 16 this is what the

father did command me I love that in 14 15 16 he just keeps going back to the father's commands I do what he asks and this is what he asked of me 17 tell them that other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd which is exactly what Jesus told them back in John 10:16 now every latterday saint worth his salt when he looks at that verse his eyes light up and they think ah Book

of Mormon Nephites other sheep but we're the only Christians out there that do that when we read John chapter 10 they don't see Lehi and his family hiding behind that verse and neither did the people that Jesus said it to originally 18 tells us why because of stiff nakedness and unbelief they understood not my word therefore I was commanded to say no more of the father concerning this thing unto them do you see in verse 18 the three shell I talked about back in third Nephi chapter 2 Revelation past Revelation present and Revelation future and

that the Nephites in that time period doubted what had been given in the past took for granted what was the signs that were being given in the present and didn't believe that any future signs would be given at all well do you see the same thing here their stiff nakedness and unbelief in the present LED them to misunderstand or not understand the word that he had given them in the past and therefore he was commanded not to give them any additional word concerning this thing in the future it's amazing how this past present and future

all are interrelated another way to say that lack of faith and humility in the present lack of faith that's the unbelief lack of humility that's the stiff-neckedness LED to lack of understanding of the past and lack of further light and Truth in the future or to flip it all around pride and doubt in the present lead to confusion over the past and ignorance of the future that's a true principle far beyond just the specifics of what Jesus is talking about here pride and doubt today make me misunderstand yesterday and have no hope for tomorrow we

close ourselves off in both directions they're doing the same verse 19 he continues the father hath commanded me and I tell it unto you that you were separated from among them because of their iniquity theirs that goes back to Lehi the people driving Lehi out of Jerusalem because of their sin therefore it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you interesting these explanations for their ignorance why don't they get it iniquity stiff-neckedness unbelief I wonder sometimes what am I missing and what am I misunderstanding because of my lack of faith and humility

and righteousness are there incredible life Chang changing truths that I could know and I could understand if my heart and mind were in the right place I'm sure there are now he doesn't even stop there with lehi's group that remnant of the tribe of Joseph there are yet other tribes that were scattered too verse 20 hints at them verily I say unto you again that the other tribes hath the father separated from them and it is because of their iniquity that they know not of them again our iniquity keeping us in ignorance 2 one verily

I say unto you that ye are they of whom I said other sheep I have which are not of this fold so he's clearly connecting what he said to the Jews to what he's saying here to the Nephites you're the ones I was talking about them also I must bring and here I am bringing they shall hear my voice and hear you are hearing there shall be onefold and one Shepherd two different continents but one single Christ he is the higher unifying principle the Good Shepherd over all the fold 22 they understood me not iniquity

and ignorance always go together but since they tried to figure it out what they come up with they supposed it had been the Gentiles but they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching asked Paul about that they understood me not that I said they should hear my voice and they understood me not that the Gentiles should not at any time hear my voice that I should not manifest myself unto them save it were by the Holy Ghost I said they wouldn't hear hear my voice and I meant it they would hear

my servants voice now again it is the same but Gentiles would have to trust in my servants and in the spirit that's how they would come to know one step removed secondary sources on the way to a primary confirmation of Truth again higher level of belief and higher level of blessedness this is the day of the Gentiles being ushered in 24 on the other hand you House of Joseph House of Israel Seed of Abraham ye have both heard my voice and seen me and ye are my sheep and ye are numbered among those whom the

father hath given me you're mine if you'll make me yours now 15 flows seamlessly into 16 so keep reading and verily verily I say unto you that I have other sheep which are not of this land neither of the land of Jerusalem neither in any parts of that land roundabout whether I have been to minister now this is really where it gets exciting you were my first concentric circle of other sheep well there are yet other sheep still not Jews not Nephites we're talking lost sheep of the House of Israel I remember once I was

a TA at Divinity School in a class in American religious history and my professor asked me to do a lecture on Mormonism and so I did and then we were getting together that was kind of lecture then we were doing lab and I was leading this uh outof class discussion with all the students and they were intrigued by this thought of additional scripture and most of them were Protestant ministers in training so Sola scriptura was kind of their watch word so additional scripture they were they were not sure what to make of it but kind

of intrigued by the idea and as we got together to talk about it more I I honestly found myself laughing saying you think it's shocking that we added the Book of Mormon to the Bible you ain't say nothing yet because then we added the Doctrine and Covenants and the pear great price and in fact the Book of Mormon even talk talks about another additional book of scripture the record of God's dealings with the house of Israel the record of the Lost tribes I seriously laughed with him and said you know the Book of Mormon is

more like a gateway drug to additional scripture and we just want it to keep on coming and that's what the Lord seems to be hinting at in chapter 16 when he says onefold and one Shepherd he means a worldwide flock and he's aware of them all now verse two this will be new to them too they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them but I have received the Commandment of the father and like we saw in chapter 15 over

and over Christ does the Commandments of his father I received a Commandment that I shall go unto them and that they shall hear my voice and shall be numbered among my sheep that there may be onefold and one Shepherd again that's always the goal therefore I go to show myself unto them Nephi h at this way back in second Nei 29 God speaks to all his children and commands them all to write things down and someday the Jews will have the record of the Nephites and someday the the Nephites will have the record of the

Jews Bible and Book of Mormon being exchanged cross-culturally but then he says and the record of the Lost tribes of Israel it's what Elder Maxwell called a Triad of truth that additional Witness by the mouth of two or three Witnesses shall every word be established someday the Lost tribes will have the Bible and the Book of Mormon and those who possess the Bible and Book of Mormon will also receive the record of the Lost tribes can hardly wait for that day we'll have to add an additional year of Seminary or something but go on a

5-year rotation through come follow me bring it on see what he's saying there in verse three is key the goal has always been onefold and one Shepherd even when I visit some and I send servants to others and I wait and visit others later you see this idea of concentric circles really does seem to apply I call this the principle of exclusivity in pursuit of inclusivity that's another one of those contraries that we need to prove because on the one hand exclusivity God does call chosen people that seems very exclusive but on the other hand

God is no respector of persons that's incredibly inclusive well how on Earth can he he be both he's proving the contraries he's choosing a chosen people with the purpose of them choosing everyone else he chooses the chosen to choose others to be chosen right alongside them does that make any sense at all again he's balancing this think about what he said to Father Abraham the father of the faithful the ultimate chosen patriarch he says to him in thee and in thy seed there's exclusivity shall all the families of the earth be blessed that is inclusivity

nobody's left out we're going to have onefold one Shepherd even though I chose one group then and I'm choosing another group now and I'm going from here to there and others will be treated differently you see in some ways by setting things up with difference in hopes of bringing it eventually to togetherness again exclusivity in pursuit of inclusivity it's because both the halves and the Have Nots have something to learn and something to teach one another good things happen in both directions because of that flow it's what wind does it's what water does in flowing

downhill it's things in high concentration seeking equilibrium it's exclusivity in pursuit of inclusivity and the only thing that can stop it and ruin it is us standing in in the way kinking the hose not letting the water flow resting assured in our exclusivity it's an occupational hazard when you're part of the chosen people feeling oh well we were chosen because we were better no you were chosen to choose so go choose everyone else share the Gospel Light that you have I want every sheep worldwide to know about the one fold that they're a part of

and the one Shepherd that is calling them home I'm calling you to call them I'm choosing you to choose them and honestly the moment we stop choosing others is the moment we stop being chosen ourselves we are sheep called to be UND Shepherds and gather the rest of the flock and Christ wants to make sure we get it that's why in verse four He commands them to write this down write these sayings after I am gone that if it so be that my people at Jerusalem they who have seen me and been with me in

my Ministry the ones I dropped the hint to but that never fully understood if they do not ask the father in my name that they may receive a knowledge of You by the Holy Ghost and also of the other tribes whom they know not of then these sayings which you shall write shall be kept and shall be manifest unto the Gentiles that through the fullness of the Gentiles the remnant of their seed seed who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the Earth because of their unbelief that way they may be brought in or

may be brought to a knowledge of me their redeemer now that is one long verse and it's easy to get lost in the weeds there so let's unpack it he's basically saying someday they will know they'll know who they are and whose they are they'll be brought to a knowledge of me their redeemer that's how the verse ends right now he seems to suggest that there's two different ways to get to that knowledge one of them is intriguing to me right in the middle when he says you know just in case they don't ask the

father to receive a knowledge of You by the holy ghost or a knowledge of the other tribes whoa you mean that was an option people could have gone straight to the source they could have asked God Heavenly Father please help me understand who your sheep are help me find your lost Lambs help me gather scattered Israel help me see in others who they really are so I can let them know with that faith God would have answered their question if they'd asked the father then they would have known through the Holy Ghost who you are

who the Lost tribes of Israel are but just in case they don't do that write this stuff down record that you're my other sheep record that I have yet other sheep beyond that because someday these words will go to the Gentiles now we're talking restoration of the gospel and the gospel spreading through Gentile Nations and then through the fullness of the Gentiles they'll be able to bring these records these truths that the Jews could have gotten firsthand this way they'll get it secondhand through the records that are written that's part of the purpose of the

Book of Mormon remember the title page is to remind both Jew and Gentile and lamanites talking every branch of the House of Israel and outside of it as well all under the umbrella of one fold and one Shepherd but I need everyone to know the covenants of the Lord that they're not cast off forever to convince Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ that he manifests himself unto all nations all of that is in the title page and so the Book of Mormon is serving this purpose just as Jesus said it would need to

and having first spread through Gentile Nations as the fullness of the Gentiles comes in the Gentiles will then bring the gospel in its fullness back to the house of Israel we're here Gathering scattered Israel home right it's happening as we speak I talked about this in the video of Samuel the lonite what the fullness of the Gentiles is all about because his time period seems to illustrate it so beautifully because it seems like the nephite nation had served its purpose in bringing the gospel back to the lamanites it's like Nephites AR to lamanites as Gentiles

are to Jews the fullness of the Nephites was passing and the gospel was returning to the lamanites in anticipation of the coming of Christ well the gospel will go from the Gentiles back to the Jews the house of Israel in anticipation of the second coming of Christ it's amazing these parallels when that happens verse 5 then will I gather them in from the four quarters of the earth and then will I fulfill the Covenant which the father hath made unto all the people of the House of Israel by the way that does seem to suggest

that the spiritual Gathering end of verse four brought to a knowledge of the Redeemer precedes the physical Gathering then will I gather them in from the four quarters of the earth I sometimes worry that we focus so much on geopolitical movements and the establishment of the of the state of Israel in 1948 and thinking that's the trigger event well I worry that I the the way I read the book of Mormon it really does seem to suggest that the spiritual Gathering precedes and precipitates the physical Gathering sure I suppose that both of those things will

be happening simultaneously but don't just wait on political events we need to be gathering Israel on both sides of the veil that's what president Nelson has been asking verse six blessed are the Gentiles because of their belief in me in and of the Holy Ghost which Witnesses unto them of me and of the father again that's that higher level of blessedness because higher level of belief because you're one step removed it's Faith through the spirit not knowledge through Sight and Sound from the Lord himself see this goes back to what he said at the end

of chapter 15 people just assumed that the Lord was going to visit the Gentiles too and he said no I never said I would they would receive not my voice and visitation they would receive my servants and my spirit and that seems to be one step removed no wonder he's saying in chapter 166 that the Gentile are so blessed because of their belief Gentiles had to exercise faith in Christ in ways that the house of Israel never did maybe that's why they're so perfectly suited to restore Faith to the house of Israel now that the

voice and visitation is no longer theirs the last shall be first and the first shall be last right so now it's these lamanites returning to the Nephites to teach Sam lonite now it's these Gentiles returning to the house of Israel to teach them and to teach them what real faith is all about you had Sight and Sound and it wasn't sufficient we had spirit and servants and we found that that was enough to fortify our faith it can be enough for you as well come unto Christ come to know him trust in his servants and

seek his spirit and you'll be prepared for the voice and visitation which will eventually come but before that knowledge you can now develop Faith just like we did verse 7even behold because of their belief in me saith the father and because of the unbelief of you oh House of Israel see this comparison one group has Faith the other does not in the latter days shall the truth come unto the Gentiles that the fullness of these things shall be made known unto them I think there's a similar parallel between new converts belief to lifelong members lack

of belief it's these Gentiles coming in and and waking them up reminding them of things they should have known all along no wonder that converts are called the lifeblood of the church it's like Gentiles coming in and infusing the house of Israel with faith that they may have allowed to grow cold verse eight woe sayith the father unto the unbelieving of the Gentiles so the Gentiles themselves aren't all of equal faith for notwithstanding they have come forth upon the face of this land here the promised land the Explorers the conistor the the colonists all of

these people who have come to a land that God had promised to the house of Israel the tribe of Joseph those have scattered my people who are of the House of Israel and my people who are of the House of Israel have been cast out from among them and have been trotten under feet by them think about how Europeans have treated indigenous populations Gentiles who were called upon to gather Israel ended up scattering them instead some did at least and woe unto them the Lord says in verse N9 because of the mercies of the father

unto the Gentiles and also the judgments of the father upon my people who are of the House of Israel verily verily I say unto you that after all this and I have caused my people who are of the House of Israel to be smitten and to be afflicted and to be slain and cast out and hated and become a hiss and a byward among them this describes the process of the first becoming the last the house of Israel God's first chosen people becoming last in the list smitten and Afflicted and so on we talk about

Rags to Riches stories this is more of the riches to rags story God shifted his attention from the Jews to the Gentiles that was the mercies unto the Gentiles and the judgments upon the house of Israel see how that all fits together in verse 9 but be careful Gentiles verse 10 thus commandeth the father that I should say unto you at that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel you've had the riches what have you done with them through God's mercies you were put in a superior position but remember the only thing about

superiority is to give you some potential energy for your blessings to flow downward to those that are supposedly beneath you it's all the flow it's exclusivity in pursuit of inclusivity but from your privileged position you forgot what those privileges were for to be shared you damned the river you stopped the wind you kinked the hose you held to your exclusivity and never pursued inclusivity well then you never deserve to be in that position in the first place so in verse 10 at that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel and shall reject the

fullness of my gospel and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts Above All Nations including the house of Israel above all the people of the whole earth and should be filled with all manner of lying and deceits and mischiefs and hypocrisy and murders and priest crafts and whoredoms and secret Abominations if they shall do all these things and shall reject the fullness of my gospel behold sayeth the father I will bring the fullness of my gospel from among them and then verse 11 will I remember my Covenant which I have made unto

my people oh House of Israel and I will bring my gospel unto them this is the Nephites forgetting what the gospel was all about and so God shifts his attention to the lamanites Instead This is the Gentiles taking for granted their privileged position and therefore losing it and God turning to the house of Israel Instead This is the first shall be last and the last shall be first riches to rags and Rags back to riches verse 12 and I will show unto thee Oh House of Israel that the Gentiles shall not have power over you

I will remember my Covenant unto you oh House of Israel and you shall come unto the knowledge of the fullness of my gospel I hope I'm making this clear in my own notes this is how I tried to put it down on paper to you privileged Gentiles who now have open access to the fullness of the gospel and the blessings of God where much is given much is required so if you don't live up to these privileges if you don't live up to these expectations if pride and priestcraft if iniquity and willful ignorance keep you

from fulfilling your role as stewards and UND Shepherds then you will lose that privileged place the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled and the focus will shift back to the house of Israel if you only scatter Israel then Israel will someday scatter you if you neglect to gather them then you'll find yourself in a position to to need to be gathered yourselves now if that sounds harsh please read verse 13 if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me saeth the father behold they shall be numbered among my people oh House of Israel remember

exclusion is always meant to be in pursuit of inclusion I'm happy to graft wild branches into my tame Olive Tree just repent and return I'm still after onefold I am the one Shepherd the ultimate goal of both rags to riches and riches to rags is that everyone ends up with the riches of Eternity the ultimate goal of first shall be last and last shall be first is eventually for all of us to be first onefold and one Shepherd but repenting and returning will be required in 14 I will not suffer my people who are of

the House of Israel to go through among them and tread them down sayeth the Lord you see in 15 if they will not turn unto me and hearken unto my voice I will suffer them yay I will suffer my people oh House of Israel that they shall go through among them and shall tread them down and they shall be a salt that hath lost its Savor or snow melt instead of seasoning like we talked about which is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and be trotten underfoot of my people oh House of

Israel you see the Poetic Justice here between verse 9 and verse 15 that in nine it was the Gentiles casting out and hating the house of Israel in 15 it's the house of Israel casting out and trotting underfoot the Gentiles and all of that whichever way you're looking at it who's on top and who's on bottom and it switches Jews Gentiles you name it all of that can be avoided through repentance and returning unto God there will be no clash between sheep and wolf if there's only sheep one onefold under one Shepherd that was the

promise in 14 if the Gentiles repent and return in 13 then I won't suffer my people of the House of Israel to go through and tread them down in 14 otherwise 15 which we just read that's exactly what will happen now 16 verily verily I say unto you thus hath the father commanded me that I should give unto this people this land for their inheritance this Promised Land the Americas is still promised to God's chosen people if they'll open the door and choose everyone else it still has to be exclusivity in pursuit of inclusivity and

once that happens verse 17 then the words of the prophet Isaiah shall be fulfilled and here he quotes Isaiah 52 8-10 the lord loves Isaiah brace yourself he's going to keep quoting him but here he says thy Watchmen shall lift up The Voice voice those are the unders sheeper the gatherers of Israel they lift up their voice and with the voice together shall they sing can you sense the harmony there otherwise this would be cacophony every voice going in different directions no The Voice together shall they sing for they shall see eye to eye when

the Lord shall bring again Zion you sense the unity the Oneness that they finally found onefold one Shepherd eye to eyee voice to voice singing together in harmony 19 what are they singing they are breaking forth into Joy singing together ye waste places of Jerusalem that have once again blossomed as the rose and why so joyful because the Lord hath comforted his people he hath redeemed Jerusalem my favorite note in all of handles Messiah is the song that puts to music the first verse of Isaiah 40 to me it's one of the most merciful sounds

I've ever heard you see Isaiah 40 comes on the heels of the northern kingdom being scattered and the southern Kingdom almost being destroyed at this point God could have said to Israel I told you so it could have been another one of those but ye would not and it would have been well deserved but what does the Lord say right after all of this destruction and scattering Isaiah 40:1 can you hear the tenner Comfort ye Comfort ye my people no I told you so just help them feel better give them hope sing Break Forth into

Joy the Lord hath comforted his people just hear that note held out Comfort ye we have to do that for each other we have to do that for scattered Israel we need to comfort them as we invite them home verse 20 the Lord hath made bear his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations all the ends of the Earth shall see the salvation of God his holy arm is made bare how often would I have gather thee as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings the Lord's wings are extended his arms have

been made bare it's up to us who recognize those arms to invite all the world to seek shelter there there are other sheep all around us and we who have heard his call and come running are now expected to go out on missions of Mercy to gather other lost sheep we are meant to be onefold and I pray that we can heed the voice of that one Shepherd who is calling everyone to come unto him [Music]