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Episode: 4.50- Moroni 7-9 - Part 2, Moroni Shares His Father's Words

Author: Lili Anderson
Duration: 00:42:52

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Full Transcript

00:00:04 Speaker_00
Hi, this is Lily DeHoyos-Anderson, and you're listening to Choosing Glory. Thanks for joining me for part two of Moroni chapters seven through nine.

00:00:18 Speaker_00
So we are going in reverse order today, and that means that we're going to talk about chapter seven in this part two. And again, there's so many powerful doctrinal teachings here.

00:00:32 Speaker_00
that I hope that you will really enjoy taking them in and asking the Spirit to guide each of us as we study these words and see how we can be strengthened personally in our lives by these words. Here we have Moroni sharing words again by his father.

00:00:53 Speaker_00
All three of these chapters are Moroni sharing with us words of his father, Mormon. Verse one, I write a few of the words of my father, which he spake concerning faith, hope, and charity.

00:01:06 Speaker_00
And then again, after this manner did he speak unto the people as he taught them in the synagogue, which they had built for the place of worship. So again, there is a group of believers here that Mormon and then Moroni minister to.

00:01:20 Speaker_00
not exactly sure what happens if they all become full of iniquity, or if some of them just are swept up in the destruction of the Nephites, even though they still believed.

00:01:32 Speaker_00
We don't really have that detail, but there was a group of people for these men to minister to. And then Mormon begins here in verse 2, that he feels this,

00:01:46 Speaker_00
gift of a calling that has been given to him, and he's permitted to speak at this time about these subjects. And he speaks in verse 3, he uses some wonderful phrases in these next two verses.

00:01:55 Speaker_00
Verse 3, I speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ. So, for a while they were righteous, at least, if not even longer than that, and they have obtained a sufficient hope

00:02:12 Speaker_00
by which he can enter into the rest of the Lord. He's going to describe and define hope again in a later verse.

00:02:20 Speaker_00
And verse 4, he uses another beautiful phrase, Now my brethren, I judge these things of you because of your peaceable walk with the children of men, peaceable followers of Christ, and because of your peaceable walk with the children of men.

00:02:39 Speaker_00
It is a gospel of peace. It's a message of peace. Christ is the prince of peace. So those who follow him are characterized by peace. It can seem hard for us sometimes to find peace in this world.

00:02:56 Speaker_00
And we have a lot of verses of scripture and hymns that address that. Where can I turn for peace? Of course, the answer is always Jesus Christ. And we will talk about that in a moment. in some beautiful quotes about that.

00:03:11 Speaker_00
But brothers and sisters, that is the fruit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is peace, inner peace, the peace that ultimately passes understanding, and also that we walk peacefully with others, that we are peaceable followers of Christ.

00:03:28 Speaker_00
He is not a God of contention. He is not a God of anger. So how can we kind of check ourselves in a way? Sometimes I've met with clients over the years who, you know, they're trying to be good people and they do a lot of good things.

00:03:50 Speaker_00
They attend church, they pay their tithing, do family history, go to the temple, give service, things like that they can be really good at. But their lives are full of contention. Maybe it's with a spouse, and they're constantly fighting.

00:04:08 Speaker_00
They're criticizing constantly. They're fighting over something. Or maybe it's with the neighbors. And they start to hate their neighbors for some reason. They get into a fight about something.

00:04:22 Speaker_00
And maybe it's with their children, and they're angry at their children a lot. Now, OK, I get that we're human and we're imperfect, but we have to keep working at this if we want to be followers of Christ.

00:04:33 Speaker_00
Because His followers can partake of this peace, and then they can share that peace with others. And that is a litmus test, to some extent,

00:04:46 Speaker_00
how we are following the Savior is, are we peaceable followers of Christ, and are we doing a peaceable walk with the children of men?

00:04:55 Speaker_00
Now, I'm not talking about the fact that we might have other people who won't be at peace with us, but are we able to lay down our weapons of war and not fight back or not contend back?

00:05:08 Speaker_00
And then he says exactly that in verse 5, I remember the word of God, which saith, by their works ye shall know them. And that's how he's telling us that we can be known to God is our peaceable following of Christ and our peaceable walk with others.

00:05:23 Speaker_00
And then I find this really interesting, and I've quoted this a lot in my life. For behold, God has said, a man being evil, this is verse 6 of Moroni 7, God has said, a man being evil cannot do that which is good. I think that's really important.

00:05:42 Speaker_00
I think that's really important. Now, that doesn't mean that we may not have moments where we do something worthwhile, but if we really have still evil in us, it doesn't really translate into good.

00:05:58 Speaker_00
I've used this example many times, that even the hell's angels can stop and help a stranded motorist sometimes. But I'm talking about the Hells Angels, not just any motorcycle riding gang.

00:06:10 Speaker_00
I'm talking about the ones that are, you know, into drugs and they murder people. They even might have moments where they do good, but is that really good?

00:06:19 Speaker_00
I mean, if they are coming from such a place where there is so much corruption in their behavior and evil in their actions, then God's saying, like, that doesn't really count. Like, it's not a point system.

00:06:32 Speaker_00
So it's not about, like, I can check these boxes and get these certain points because I helped somebody, or I did something good, or I paid tithing, or whatever. Remember Samuel saying this to Saul, basically. To obey is better than sacrifice.

00:06:45 Speaker_00
Like, you really need to give yourself over to obedience and become a peaceful follower of Christ. It's not about, like, can I make these sacrifices? Can I give enough service to people? Can I fill enough callings?

00:06:55 Speaker_00
Can I do enough work in the temple to cancel out the fact that I really still have anger and contention and natural man desires in my heart, and I give in to those appetites too often. That's what he's talking about.

00:07:12 Speaker_00
And then he continues on this theme for a while.

00:07:15 Speaker_00
For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, this is verse 8 in chapter 7, he doeth it grudgingly, wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift, wherefore he is counted evil before God.

00:07:31 Speaker_00
And then skipping again, he says this so many times, I think it's a really important message to Mormon here, where for a man being evil, verse 10, a man being evil cannot do that which is good, neither will he give a good gift.

00:07:44 Speaker_00
Verse 11, for behold, a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water.

00:07:51 Speaker_00
Neither can a good fountain bring forth bitter water, wherefore a man being a servant of the devil cannot follow Christ, and if he follow Christ, he cannot be a servant of the devil." Now, this is repeated how many times here by Mormon?

00:08:06 Speaker_00
He really wants to make this point, and I think it's a great point. I had a few clients that came from this ward years ago. It was a bishop. who sent a new bishop, who sent some of his people to see me.

00:08:23 Speaker_00
And the ward had gone through a very difficult time because it turned out that the bishop was having an affair with one of the leaders of the auxiliaries and had been involved in that adulterous relationship for some time while serving as bishop.

00:08:39 Speaker_00
And when it came out, of course, he was released and excommunicated. And the ward kind of reeled with it for a while. Some people that were more closely involved in the families that were affected directly were really struggling.

00:08:58 Speaker_00
And so I ended up seeing some of those people for a while. And it was really interesting one day as I was speaking to one of the members of that ward that this person said, But he was a really good bishop in some ways, and he was great with the youth.

00:09:18 Speaker_00
And I stopped them. I said, hold on, hold on. I said, I don't think that's an appropriate way to characterize his service as a bishop. And the individual said, what do you mean? And I said, let's look at this verse.

00:09:35 Speaker_00
And we pulled this verse up, and we read that. some of these repeated admonitions by Mormon, a man being evil cannot do that which is good, neither will he give a good gift, for behold, a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water.

00:09:50 Speaker_00
Anyway, my point was not that it may not have seemed like this bishop was good with the youth, but ultimately, what's the message to the youth when they see that this man who was

00:10:07 Speaker_00
fun to be around or involved with the youth or whatever, but this was the example he was setting? That while pretending to be a servant of the Lord and pretending to be worthy of a bishop's calling and mantle, that he was actually living a lie?

00:10:28 Speaker_00
That he was living in this intensely hypocritical fashion? Is that really good for the youth? No, it's not. It may have, on the surface, seemed like he had these good moments.

00:10:43 Speaker_00
And I'm not suggesting that he didn't maybe stop himself with straddled motorists, so to speak. Like, you know, maybe do some things for people or whatever that by themselves might have been seen as good.

00:10:53 Speaker_00
But ultimately, his hypocrisy tainted everything he did. He was living a lie. Now, again, I'm not trying to make a final judgment of this man. This is a temporal judgment. Mormon is going to talk about that right here in these coming verses.

00:11:13 Speaker_00
Verse 12, all things which are good cometh of God, and that which is evil cometh of the devil, and the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and do that which is evil continually.

00:11:26 Speaker_00
So he's already starting with this theme that like, okay, all good comes from God, all evil comes from the devil. And then I'm skipping a little bit to verse 14.

00:11:37 Speaker_00
Take heed, my beloved brethren, that you do not judge that which is evil to be of God, or that which is good and of God to be of the devil. Isn't that addressing that concern?

00:11:50 Speaker_00
I've mentioned this before, but over the years again with many of my clients, they come in and they're hurt by somebody who is maybe doing some really particularly nasty things.

00:12:01 Speaker_00
Could be a family member, could be a neighbor, could be anybody, a boss, a coworker, an employee, somebody who is doing a lot of really like mean or nasty or dishonest or otherwise bad things.

00:12:14 Speaker_00
And in their effort to not be too harsh, a lot of times I'll hear this litany of pain and painful behaviors that are inflicted by somebody intentionally.

00:12:25 Speaker_00
And then they say, but you know, they're really good people, or he's a really good person, or she's a really good person. And I'm like, hold on, hold on, back that up. What does that mean to you? What does that mean to you?

00:12:38 Speaker_00
Now, again, I think it all stems from the fact that we so often believe in a false doctrine, which is that we should not judge. That is not what the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches. It does not teach us to judge.

00:12:53 Speaker_00
Often people get stuck with Matthew 7 and the Sermon on the Mount, judge not that ye be not judged.

00:12:59 Speaker_00
They don't look at or perhaps comprehend the footnote where Joseph Smith, in the Joseph Smith translation, corrects that to say, judge not unrighteous judgment.

00:13:09 Speaker_00
And maybe they're just tentative about not being sure what righteous judgment is, so they just go back to not judging. But that is an error, brothers and sisters. That's a serious error to not judge.

00:13:20 Speaker_00
You can't really navigate life correctly or safely without making judgments. So look what Mormon says right here. And I honestly, I cross-reference it in my scriptures. And I wanted my kids to cross-reference Matthew 7, Moroni 7.

00:13:38 Speaker_00
It's easy to remember, right? M7, M7, Matthew, Moroni, both chapter 7. Look at this verse that comes next. For behold, this is verse 15, Moroni 7, it is given unto you to judge. Could God be any more plain and clear than that?

00:14:00 Speaker_00
For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge that ye may know good from evil, and the way to judge is plain, that ye may know with the perfect knowledge as the daylight is from the dark night."

00:14:14 Speaker_00
I've read that so many times, I've got it memorized. And I am so grateful for this clarity that Mormon shares with us. It is given unto us to judge. Please never, Say again, I know I shouldn't judge.

00:14:29 Speaker_00
Now, we could correctly say, I know I shouldn't condemn, because condemnation is a final judgment, and that is reserved for God himself. Christ is the judge, and he will get it exactly right because he knows everything.

00:14:49 Speaker_00
I've quoted many times or referenced many times, then Elder Oaks' wonderful speech at BYU called, Judge Not and Judging. If you haven't heard about that yet, please go look it up and drink deeply and enjoy.

00:15:04 Speaker_00
It's a wonderful, wonderful treatment of this subject. Even before he gave that devotional, I had realized that there had to be a difference. He uses the term intermediate judgment and final judgment, which is great.

00:15:19 Speaker_00
But I had learned to use, in explaining to my children how I wanted them to judge as they were growing up, and this was prior to Elder Oaks' speech, I talked to them about the difference between judging and condemning.

00:15:33 Speaker_00
And that really fits in well with that same idea of intermediate and final judgment. But I remember trying to teach my children as they grew up And at first, I thought it would be sufficient to say, well, we can judge behaviors, but not people.

00:15:50 Speaker_00
But honestly, that wasn't enough because they needed to make a judgment about whether or not this was a good friend for them at school, someone to hang out with or someone to you know, allow to be an influence to them or be in their circle.

00:16:06 Speaker_00
And that was important to me to help them understand that, you know, you are making a judgment, but that's why I thought about it and I came up with the distinction. And I said, it's not condemnation because we don't know enough.

00:16:19 Speaker_00
Anyway, in that beautiful speech, then Elder Oaks does say something also beautiful when he says that there's only one prerequisite for being a judge, a final judge he's talking about, and that is omniscience. And that's beautifully put.

00:16:36 Speaker_00
If we were omniscient, yeah, we too could make final judgments or condemnations, but that's not our business, and we don't have the capacity because we're not omniscient.

00:16:45 Speaker_00
We don't know all the extenuating details or circumstances or all the factors that are influencing the situation or how much that person really understands or has been taught or how they've been hurt and all those things.

00:16:58 Speaker_00
That's not our purview, so we leave that to God. But we don't abandon judgment completely. One of the examples that Elder Oaks uses in that speech is, who are you gonna choose to babysit your children?

00:17:12 Speaker_00
If you have to leave for a weekend and there's somebody who's been accused of pedophilia, even if they haven't been convicted of a crime, and we know that in this country, you're innocent until proven guilty according to our law, nevertheless, he said, that would not be a wise decision.

00:17:28 Speaker_00
We may not know if that person is truly and completely innocent or guilty, but it would be pretty foolish to leave your children with them. And I thought that was a great example.

00:17:39 Speaker_00
I actually recently re-watched a really cute movie that our family used to enjoy called Mr. Mom. Really, really fun movie if you are looking for. Something clean and entertaining to watch, Michael Keaton and Terry Garr.

00:17:56 Speaker_00
Anyway, it's really a cute movie. And there's a place where Michael Keaton, who's out of work and his wife has found a job in the interim, but he is going to go to a job interview.

00:18:06 Speaker_00
So he goes to the door and he opens it up and there's a girl with headphones on and blaring and she's got kind of a punk rock hairstyle. you know, chewing a big wad of gum and just looking, you know, kind of goth. And he says, excuse me, who are you?

00:18:25 Speaker_00
And she says, I'm your babysitter, man. And he says, oh, just a minute. And he closes the door. And the next scene, he takes his kids to the interview. OK, he makes a judgment. Maybe that's a great babysitter. Maybe that girl's got a heart of gold.

00:18:40 Speaker_00
Maybe she really likes children. And when she comes in, you know, she does a good job. He's not taking a chance. He's making a judgment. or as Elder Oaks would say, an intermediate judgment. Not a final judgment, not a condemnation, but a judgment.

00:18:56 Speaker_00
So let us lose this false doctrine in the church once and for all. We hear it all the time, but teach your children. And you yourself, catch yourself if you say, I know I shouldn't judge, correct that.

00:19:08 Speaker_00
Actually, I know I shouldn't condemn, or I know I shouldn't render a final judgment, and I won't, but I will make an intermediate judgment. I will judge, but not condemn, however you wanna Choose the vocabulary. Please learn this lesson.

00:19:22 Speaker_00
It is given unto us to judge. I have said this so many times when I've taught lessons on this subject and every semester at BYU that I taught those kids, I'd say, please judge. How are you going to use your agency without judgment? Tell me.

00:19:40 Speaker_00
You have to choose between a good or an evil choice or a good or an evil behavior or

00:19:47 Speaker_00
And I would say, and then, since many of them were in that mate selection season of life, I would say, and when you are dating and when you are choosing a partner, if not for your own sake, which it should be for their own sake too, but at least for the sake of your future children, please make a judgment.

00:20:07 Speaker_00
Please make a judgment about whom to marry. Okay. And it should be as plain that we can know with the perfect knowledge as the daylight is from the dark night. And then he gives us exactly the litmus test again, the measurement by which we should judge.

00:20:27 Speaker_00
Verse 16, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man that he may know good from evil. So we have this light of Christ in us.

00:20:36 Speaker_00
Wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge, for everything which inviteth to do good and to persuade to believe in Christ is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ. Wherefore, ye may know what the perfect knowledge it is of God.

00:20:50 Speaker_00
Like, if it invites us to Christ, if it brings us closer to Christ, if it's helping us to keep our covenants, or to do good, or to be peaceable followers of Christ, we can know that that is good.

00:21:03 Speaker_00
And if it pulls us away, and that's what he says in verse 17, whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, ye may know with the perfect knowledge it is of the devil. There it is. There it is.

00:21:19 Speaker_00
Moroni 7 is an absolute treasure. And somehow it seems to have remained a mystery in the church in some respects, because we still hear people say all the time, I know I shouldn't judge. What a terrible mistake, brothers and sisters.

00:21:33 Speaker_00
What a terrible mistake not to judge. Ironically, we judge all the time, whether we acknowledge it or not. We're all making judgments all the time, because we do make choices. We do use agency. Hopefully we do select good companions.

00:21:46 Speaker_00
We stand in holy places. That's a judgment. We don't cast our pearls before swine. I'm pretty sure the Savior of the world was not talking about livestock.

00:21:56 Speaker_00
He was talking about us making a judgment about with whom we share the sacred, with whom we share personal parts of our lives and become vulnerable. So, brothers and sisters, let's not fall into that error anymore.

00:22:09 Speaker_00
I've talked about this many times, talking about it again. This is such a key chapter in that principle. Now, he says, you know, verse 18, seeing that ye know the light by which ye may judge, see that ye do not judge wrongfully.

00:22:25 Speaker_00
That's what it says in Matthew 7. Do not judge unrighteous judgment. It got changed in the translation somewhere. Joseph Smith corrected. That's what he was talking about. And then I'm skipping around a little bit, the end of verse 19,

00:22:39 Speaker_00
If ye will lay hold upon every good thing and condemn it not, ye certainly will be a child of Christ." Now, that means we have to make judgments to lay hold on every good thing and to not lay hold on the evil.

00:22:54 Speaker_00
And verse 20, this important question, how is it possible that ye can lay hold upon every good thing? How is it possible that we can have every good thing and then

00:23:07 Speaker_00
He teaches us, and I'm jumping to the answer here at the end of verse 22, in Christ there should come every good thing. So it's living for Christ. It's following Christ. It's becoming a peaceable follower of Christ.

00:23:23 Speaker_00
And in doing that, we can lay hold upon every good thing. Verse 24, partway through, all things which are good cometh of Christ. He is repeating this again and again. Let us not miss the message. And then he talks about

00:23:38 Speaker_00
the ministering of angels that comes, and miracles come, and it's because of faith in Christ, that faith in Christ precipitates miracles and precipitates the ministering of angels. And I'm jumping around a little bit. This is all very straightforward.

00:23:53 Speaker_00
I'm not gonna talk about all of it, but he does ask the rhetorical question, have miracles ceased because Christ had ascended into heaven? And then, of course not. And he says, again, in verse 29, have miracles ceased?

00:24:09 Speaker_00
Nay, neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men. We've been hearing the speeches of our prophet, President Nelson, who is talking about these things. He's talking about miracles. He's talking about how angels can minister to us.

00:24:27 Speaker_00
And he talks about finding that and finding access to that even more powerfully in the temples as we worship in the temples of God.

00:24:36 Speaker_00
But brothers and sisters, even outside the temples of the Lord, not to discourage us from worshiping there, but to recognize that the day of miracles has not ceased.

00:24:49 Speaker_00
In fact, our prophet is promising that there will be great manifestations to come in the last days. I think I have that here. Seek and expect miracles, our prophet has said. Seek and expect miracles.

00:25:06 Speaker_00
The Lord will bless you with miracles if you believe in him, doubting nothing. Do the spiritual work to seek miracles. Prayerfully ask God to help you exercise that kind of faith. So when President Nelson says this,

00:25:27 Speaker_00
He's asking us to increase our faith in Jesus Christ. Remember this from April 2018, our Savior and Redeemer, Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again.

00:25:45 Speaker_00
We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this church in majesty and glory.

00:25:54 Speaker_00
And then the warning, but in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost. So as I said,

00:26:08 Speaker_00
As he's talking about these manifestations and these miracles that are to come, he's asking us to ask God to help us exercise this level of faith, the level of faith that Mormon is inviting us to exercise, that brings forth both miracles and the ministering of angels.

00:26:26 Speaker_00
Now in verse 40, he's going to talk to us about hope. And it starts just with the definition of hope. Verse 41, what is it that ye shall hope for?

00:26:40 Speaker_00
Behold, I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

00:26:52 Speaker_00
So, big connection between faith and hope. But this is what I mentioned the other day.

00:26:58 Speaker_00
I think it was just last week, in fact, when I was talking with my son Harper on Ether 12, which by the way, forgive me, I mislabeled those segments for a while, podcast segments, but I've corrected it. So it now says Ether 12 through 15.

00:27:15 Speaker_00
For a while it said Moroni or Mormon, you know, so anyway, brain fog there. I just want to reemphasize that this is what hope means. This isn't, I hope the weather is good, or I hope I do well at this, whatever.

00:27:33 Speaker_00
It's hope that through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, that we can be raised up into life eternal. And remember, life eternal is not the same as everlasting life.

00:27:47 Speaker_00
Whenever the word eternal is used, it refers to the Eternal One, who is God the Father. So, eternal life is the quality and kind of life that the Eternal One lives. So, when we have a hope for eternal life, that means life in the celestial kingdom.

00:28:05 Speaker_00
That means life with God.

00:28:09 Speaker_00
So hope is very specifically believing that because of the atonement of Christ, the merciful plan of our Heavenly Father and the atonement of Christ, and because of the power of his resurrection, that we can have eternal life in the celestial kingdom.

00:28:28 Speaker_00
That is what gospel hope is, and that's why we call it hope in Christ. It's not just hope, it's hope in Christ, and that through his power, We can receive the blessings that we're invited to receive, but it requires faith.

00:28:44 Speaker_00
We have to have faith in Christ and faith sufficient to bring about repentance and obedience, because otherwise, how could we be raised up to live an eternal life with God? because no unclean thing can enter.

00:29:03 Speaker_00
So our faith has to precede this miracle, right? Our faith has to also bring forth fruit, meat unto exaltation, that brings us to repentance and to obedience. Not because we save ourselves, but because those are the fruits of a follower of Christ.

00:29:22 Speaker_00
Those are the manifestations that we believe and that we choose a covenant path and a life with Him. So this is beautiful to me, that we see this wonderful connection between faith and hope, and hope is clearly defined as gospel hope, hope in Christ.

00:29:43 Speaker_00
And then this faith and hope, verse 44, are vain, because none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart. And if we are meek and lowly, We will have charity, Mormon tells us. For if he have not charity, he is nothing.

00:30:02 Speaker_00
Wherefore, he must have charity. And charity, and then this beautiful verse that we quote often about charity. Charity suffereth long and is kind. Charity suffereth long. I've mentioned this before, but I had a client years ago who told me that

00:30:22 Speaker_00
There were only two things he didn't like about long-suffering. One was that it was long, and the other is that it involves suffering. And he was saying it with his tongue in his cheek, and this was a good man, but it is hard.

00:30:36 Speaker_00
It is hard, and that is part of charity, to suffer long. And charity is kind and envious Not. That's a big one. That's a big one. And that's hard sometimes. There are times where I envy people who pass to the other side of the veil.

00:30:56 Speaker_00
Not in any way that I would hurt myself, but I feel a little envy for those who can put down their burdens and enter that different part of the second estate.

00:31:16 Speaker_00
Now, I know that there is a separation from the body that is a burden to people in the spirit world that will be alleviated in the resurrection and will bring an added joy to that day of resurrection, but it is important not to envy not.

00:31:32 Speaker_00
And I am working on my part of that too. It's not puffed up. Seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked. Boy, each of these could be an entire lesson, to not be easily provoked. That's important to God. Thinketh no evil.

00:31:51 Speaker_00
That's charity, brothers and sisters, to think no evil. And rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Again, in our world, that is more and more of a rare quality, to rejoice not in iniquity, but rejoice in truth.

00:32:12 Speaker_00
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. There we are again, endureth all things, abiding all things. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, verse 46, If ye have not charity, ye are nothing. For charity never faileth.

00:32:37 Speaker_00
Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest for all. For all things must fail, but charity, verse 47, is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever. And whoso is found possessive at the last day, it shall be well with him.

00:32:55 Speaker_00
And then he mentions that we need to pray for this gift because it is an endowment. Pray with all the energy of our hearts that we may be filled with this love. I'm changing the pronouns a little bit.

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That he bestows upon all who are true followers of his son, Jesus Christ. And then this wonderful reminder that ye may become the sons of God, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. He will know us because we are like him.

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He will know that we are his because we have been cleansed by the Holy Ghost and been given a greater outcome than we could receive through our own efforts.

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Now, we do bring forth the fruit, but we don't make ourselves into beings that have his image in our countenance. That is a gift that we can pray for, and we should pray with all the energy of our hearts

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And then we can have this hope and may be purified even as he is pure. So, okay, a few thoughts on this. I actually really love that part that talks about us being like him when he comes.

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This is from a talk by Quentin Cook, Elder Quentin Cook in October, 2023 called Be Peaceable Followers of Christ. Now I'm gonna share some of this and then I'm gonna put some more of this on Also, I'm going to post on Patreon.

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I've got some content that I've promised and I'm catching up with that. So there'll be some things coming pretty quickly now. But I also will put a list of the prophecies made by Moroni. It's nice to see them.

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Somebody compiled those and it's really kind of nice to see them as a list. Moroni makes very specific prophecies and it gives us comfort, I hope.

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when we think about His lonely life, because He was given these visions of the future and that He was allowed to share with us in prophecy that have all been fulfilled. So it's really quite beautiful. But here we go from Elder Cook.

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For those of us in the Church striving to be peaceable followers of Christ, a brighter day awaits us as we focus on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. A brighter day awaits us.

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It is clear, I'm skipping around a little bit in this speech, it is clear we have a Father in heaven who knows and loves us personally and understands our suffering perfectly.

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As we rely on Jesus Christ and His atonement, He can help us endure our trials, sicknesses, and pain. We can be filled with joy, peace, and consolation. All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

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That's from Preach My Gospel, and I've quoted that off, and I have PowerPoint slides with that statement, because life is unfair, and it's not resolved in this life. It's not meant to be all resolved in this life.

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We're meant to take our pain to the Savior and feel His joy, peace, and consolation. I'm still working on that, brothers and sisters. I can see it coming, maybe. I believe that it will come.

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And I am willing to be patient and try to suffer long with as much grace as I can muster, because it is a long journey sometimes to reach the joy, peace, and consolation that are promised, but it is promised.

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to us as followers of Christ, and everything that is unfair will be made right in the next life because of the atonement of Christ. I'm going to leave the rest of this for Patreon, but I'm going to end with this thought by C.S.

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Lewis from his very last sermon called, A Slip of the Tongue. Brother Lewis said, our salvation is a gift by grace through faith and is not earned. Mormon and Moroni both talk about the grace of Christ.

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So I want to tie this into this beautiful statement by C.S. Lewis. Our salvation is a gift by grace through faith and is not earned.

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However, the indication that we have truly received the gift of salvation is that we exert effort daily and choose by an act of our will to follow Jesus, even if imperfectly, regardless the cost." That's quite the statement. I'm going to repeat it.

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Our salvation is a gift by grace through faith and is not earned. However, the indication that we have truly received the gift of salvation, and we could add exaltation,

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is that we exert effort daily and choose by an act of our will to follow Jesus, even if imperfectly, regardless the cost.

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And it is when the cost gets high that we can demonstrate that we will at all hazards serve the Lord as the Prophet Joseph indicated was required for exaltation. Now, what does that look like? Well, again, I was talking to Caitlin, my daughter, and she

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pulled up and sent me a link to this church news article from June of this year, 2024, that summarized the invitations given by our prophet, President Nelson, since he became the president of the church.

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And it was a great article, and I'm not going to even be comprehensive in all the things I list, but I did write down several of the things that might be some of the things we want to do in our daily efforts. Our prophet is giving us these lists.

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Are we doing these things to show? that our act of will is to follow Jesus by following the invitations and admonitions of His prophet, even if imperfectly, but regardless of the cost. Okay, here are some of them.

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You're going to recognize them all because they have been repeated again and again. Hear Him. Help to gather Israel on both sides of the veil. Daily repentance. Let God prevail. Be a peacemaker. Maintain spiritual momentum. Think celestial.

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Worship in the temple as regularly as circumstances permit. And then, because it didn't include our most recent conference, I reread President Nelson's speech from October of this year. Now is the time for you and me to prepare for the second coming.

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All of this is preparatory to the second coming. And if those warnings were repeated again and again in his most recent speech, but he has given many warnings, hasn't he, that the Savior is near. Make our discipleship our highest priority.

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That is worth a lot of pondering to consider if we're making it our highest priority to be a disciple of Christ, one of his peaceable followers. Devote time each week for the rest of your life to increase your understanding of the Atonement.

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I have a dear friend who told me recently that she is doing that, and I was really touched by that, that she heard the admonition of the Prophet and is taking it seriously and making those efforts a part of her daily life to follow the prophet.

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And she is taking time each week to increase her understanding of the Atonement. And President Nelson's admonition is to do this for the rest of our lives. Brothers and sisters, we can become better disciples.

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We can become peaceable followers of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

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We can thereby qualify for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost that will be required for spiritual survival in the last days, to help us judge good from evil and truth from error, to cut through the sophistries of Satan and see clearly what will bring us to Christ and those things that will take us away.

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And as we come to Christ, we are choosing the celestial glory, eternal life, exaltation forever. And we will be building Zion in this dimension of life, which is a requirement before the Savior comes. There must be a Zion people to receive him.

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Let us be a part of that group that chooses to become prepared for Zion now. and then call to Zion when the time is right, we can do it. We live in this dispensation because we can do it.

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As ever, thanks to my wonderful husband, Chris Anderson, and Doug Larson of Point Digital. Take care.