The following transcript is intended to aid in your study. However, while we try to go through the transcript, our transcripts are primarily computer-generated and often contain errors. Please forgive the transcripts’ imperfections.
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Segment 1
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How long is your name? For instance, the Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso's. Full name is really long. I'm gonna try it. I'll probably butcher it, but here we go. His name is Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso Diego. Jose Francisco that's a lot of names. Okay, well listen this week's discussion of Exodus Chapters 19 through 20 and 24, and then chapters 31 through 34 contains a name of the Lord that is a 32 word name, and we're going to see what that wonderful name has to do with the Israelites and with us.
Welcome to the Sunday on Monday Study Group, a Deseret Bookshelf plus original, brought to you by LDS Living where we take the come Follow Me lesson for the week and we really dig into the scriptures together. I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. Now, if you're new to our study group, please follow the link in our description and it's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your come Follow Me study, just like my longtime listening friend, Sid Beckstead.
Hey Sid, I loved meeting you. Now, another awesome thing about our study group is each week we're joined by two of my friends, and sometimes it's just one. And that's this week and I'm so excited to introduce you to my friend Morgan Jones Pearson. Oh my gosh. Hi Morgan. Hello, how are you Tammy? Oh, I'm so good.
And here's why. Okay. For those of you listening who've been with us from the very beginning, Morgan was on like one of the very first episodes we ever did because we didn't know what we were doing and we just pulled you into the recording room really fast. 'cause we had somebody cancel on us. I'm like, Morgan, get in here.
And you were so gracious. And then I think like a year later you did the episode with Michael Wilcox. That is still like one of my favorites. Fan favorite episode. He is. He is a fan favorite in my heart, right? Wasn't that so special? We all sat in that room together and just listened to him. All we wanted to do is hear him talk.
He's so good. And here's how I got to pull Morgan in because if you have heard her name before, you're like, I know that voice. She is the host of the All In podcast, which is so awesome. Morgan, tell us how you got involved with that. I just wanna know a little back history. So I worked for Deseret News for four and a half years writing faith feature stories.
So I interviewed people and then would write stories kind of along the same lines of the type of interviews that we do now. It just required more effort on my end. Mm-hmm. And so when I was kind of, I was I guess four years into that. The opinion editor for Deseret News came to me one day and he was like, Morgan, I have this really great idea for a podcast.
And I was like, okay, let's hear it. And Tammy, I did not know anything about podcasting. Right. Like to the point that I thought that you had to pay to listen to any podcast. So I just said like, yeah, let's hear it. And he said, well, I think that there are several different podcasts that are interviewing people about why they're leaving the church or why they're leaving their faith.
Mm-hmm. And he said, I would argue that the, the decision to stay is just as thoughtful and just as deliberate as the decision to leave. We just aren't hearing those stories. Oh, no. And I was like, I think that's a brilliant idea for a podcast. You should totally do it. And he said, well, I think you need to host it.
And my immediate reaction was, no. Like, no chance. I'm not doing that. I don't know anything about broadcast, period. Mm-hmm. And then Hal said. Well, hang on Morgan. He's like, you've been doing these kind of interviews for years. It's just, nobody's heard 'em. And when he said that, it was like this memory popped into my mind of the first interview that I had ever done in that job.
And I remembered exactly which room I was in and I remembered that it was a disaster. And I just thought, you know what? He's right. I've gotten a lot of reps in and I felt confident that I could do an interview that had a good arc and was intriguing. And so we started working on it and long story short, his Deseret News was gonna run it.
They made some strategic shifts that led to them saying, actually, we don't wanna run this, but if you wanna go over to LDS living, they have some interest in this kind of thing. And that's how eventually all in came to be. It wasn't gonna be all in at Deseret News, it was something else. Mm-hmm. But same kind of.
Oh my goodness. And how many years have you done it now? Seven and a half. Wow. You're right there with me though, right? I am, yeah. Like I, I think like six months after you Yeah. Is when I came to them and said, you need to throw your hat in the ring with a Come Paul the We podcast. 'cause everybody else has one and Deseret Book should have one.
So yeah, I think we are right about the same. And I was like, you, I'd never even listened to a podcast, but my friends sure loved him, so I was like, well maybe there's something to it there. There must be something there. Yeah. Okay. Just right off the top of your brain, tell me what are some of your favorite guests you've had?
I always say, besides me, of course, it's kind of like, yes. Besides you Tammy. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because you are a delight and people should go listen to your episode. 'cause I feel like you talk about other things on this podcast. Yeah, it's fine. So I feel like people should hear your story. That's the cool thing about that.
Um, I always say that it's kind of like having to pick favorite children. Mm-hmm. You know? But. I tend to, if somebody asks me, like, give me a recommendation, I try to think of, okay, what would this particular person be interested in? But if there was one episode that I had to say like, it doesn't matter what you're into, if you have a heart, you should listen to this episode merely Kak.
She was in the very early going and her episode is just heart wrenching and beautiful. Wow. And it's about her. Her son was born with a condition and he required a bone marrow transplant. And so her 8-year-old son donated, or 7-year-old son donated bone marrow to his little brother. And the way that she like describes that experience is just.
It's like breathtaking. So that one highly recommend after that. I'd say it depends, like if you're into Sports, mark and Leanne Pope's episode is really good, man. T's episode is really good. Tay Hills is really good. Tony Pheno is really good. I'm a sports person, so those ones like stand out in my mind.
Yeah, I can tell if you're into scholars, Michael Wilcox, definitely. Absolutely. There's a million of 'em. Jenny Reer. So good. So mm-hmm. It depends. Oh my gosh. Okay. Well here's the cool thing for everybody who's listening, because she does interview so many people, I'm impressed 'cause I thought for sure you were gonna say Elder Bednar 'cause that's like the most high profile one you ever did.
But it's just cool 'cause there's real people. That's what I love about your podcast is it's just real people telling their stories and then sprinkled with some of these bigger names. It's just a beautiful podcast and you've done a great job. Well, that is very intentional because I think that everybody has a story.
Like I spoke at a women's or a conference couple weekends ago and I was like, I could interview anybody in here. Yeah. And every single one of you would have a story to tell. And so I, I think sometimes we get stuck in like these circles of the same people over and over again, and I just, I think everybody deserves a chance to share their story.
Well with having said that, then this is gonna be a really cool episode because what we're gonna do is we're going to take the main principles that are found in these scriptures in Exodus, and we're going to be playing some clips from interviews that have stood out to Morgan, that apply to these verses of scripture.
So I'm really excited. We've never done this type of episode before. We've done it with music, we've done it with art, but to do it with another podcast and stories that people share, I think this can be pretty powerful. So thank you for taking the time Morgan. And fun note. Morgan's also a mom with two little girls.
She is up to her eyeballs in all things, little girl. And so we're recording this late at night 'cause she had to put her little girls down to her bed first, so she's tired. So thank you for giving us your time 'cause I know you just wanna curl up in bed. I'm just hoping that something coherent comes outta my mouth.
But like you said, we are playing clips so it's less pressure on me. Very good. You just have to pick good clips. That's right. Okay. So if you guys wanna know more about Morgan and see her picture and read her bio, you can find those in our show notes, which are at lvs living.com/sunday on Monday. So everyone grab your scriptures and something to mark them with.
And let's dig into Exodus Chapters 19 through 20 24, 31 through 34. Okay. First things first, Morgan is just when you were reading and preparing for this podcast, this episode, what did the Holy Ghost teach you? Oh man. I think that the interesting thing to me, and I think I can attribute this to the outline that you created for these chapters, but I think I normally would enter them thinking like, these are the 10 10 Commandments.
Yeah. And I think the way that you framed it, I kind of went into it with more of a mind of, well, what can I learn from this outside of the 10 Commandments? And I think the, the biggest thing that stood out to me, Tammy. Which is just a little thing. But in Exodus 19 verse four, it's the Lord talking to Moses and he says, ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagle's wings and brought you un myself.
And those words, ye have seen what I did, just made me think how many times do I see what the Lord has done in my life and I forget, or I just gloss over it. And I think that principle of, look back and see how good the Lord has been to you, and I think that's kind of how I feel about my life. I'm like, how could I ever not believe that God loves me when I look back and see what he's done in my life?
And I think all of us probably feel that way. Wow. What a great all in moment to just think like, I love that you, 'cause I was thinking of your podcast and I think what a great moment to just say, think back to what the Lord has done for you and share a story that gives you the faith. And so I just Give me one thing, Morgan, in your life, think back to one thing the Lord has done for you where you can go.
Wow. He did do that. Yeah, I, well, I always say that there have been two things that have been most formative in my life. One is being the oldest sister. I'm the oldest child in a family of six, and none of my siblings are active in the church anymore. And so that has been like really formative for me. And I think it was particularly formative because I was single for a very long time.
So that family of origin means even more when you are, yeah. You know, living by yourself. And so the second thing is that I was single into my thirties, which I don't think anybody anticipates. And when I look back on that time in my life, like all in is a great example of it. Just the way that the Lord.
Took care of me and gave me opportunities to feel fulfilled and to feel like I was making a contribution and opening doors that I never ever would've expected. Like I grew up in North Carolina, Tammy, I was in a ward that should have been demoted down to a branch. Wow. If it could have been and it wasn't, but fun fact.
But I have loved the gospel since I was little. Tiny. I read the Friend magazine the second it came in the mail. I read the church news every week and if you had told me like, you'll have the chance to write articles for the church news, you'll have chance to sit with the general primary president, the this member of the corner of the 12, I would've been like, you are absolutely nuts.
Right? But the fact that the Lord gave me these opportunities at a time when I really needed to know that he loved me, like how could I ever deny that love? Wow. Morgan, thank you. Thank you for sharing that. As you shared that story, I felt the spirit, and I love that verse. 'cause I thought for sure you were gonna point out Eagle's wings, but you didn't.
You chose such. Just like you have seen what I have done, and I just love that 'cause it's a reminder to all of us, what has the Lord done for you? And to let that be part of your anchor in your foundation. So thank you for sharing that. You're welcome. Okay, so here was what we're gonna do in the next segment.
Then we're gonna dive into these chapters of Exodus. And like she said, it's more than just the 10 Commandments. So in the next segment we're gonna start with Exodus 19 to see what the Lord has to say to the people.
Segment 2
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Let's go to Exodus chapter 19. Here's what you wanna know. So three months have passed since the children of Israel walk through the Red Sea on dry ground. In fact, that's how Exodus chapter 19 starts in the third month when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt. And in these three months time, they have seen miracles and they're being led by the prophet Moses.
And now it's time for the Lord to tell them his plan with them in the wilderness because they know, according to Exodus chapter three, verse eight, when Moses is having his experience with the burning bush. Here's what the Lord says to Moses. He says, I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and then bring them up out of the land unto a good land and into a land flowing with milk and honey.
So the children of Israel like. Where they cross through the Red Sea and they're like, where's the milk and honey, that would be me. Alright, let's do this 'cause I'm starving. And I think the Lord's like, all right, slow your roll everybody. There's a couple of things. First, because his version of milk and honey is going to be so much different than the children of Israel.
And so he gets to speak to them now in chapter 19. And here are his plans. Here is what I think the Lord thinks is milk and honey for them. So we're gonna go into chapter 19 and we're going to mark a specific verse. And this verse is going to be found in verse five. So it's right after verse four that you shared with us, which is so perfect.
They're down at the base of Mount Sinai and then we get verse five and six. So Morgan, can you read both of those for us? Yes. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice deed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me. Above all people, for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me, a kingdom of priest and a holy nation.
These are the words which thou sht speak unto the children of Israel. Okay, we're gonna mark a couple of things in these two verses and then talk about one specific word. First of all, we have an if and then statement. Go back to verse five where it says Now, therefore, if circle if, if you obey my voice indeed and keep my commandments, here's the then circle, then.
Then you shall be a peculiar treasure. We wanna highlight peculiar treasure. Unto me, above all people for all the earth is mine. But I love verse six. We'll come back to peculiar treasure, but verse six says, ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests. I want you to highlight kingdom of priests. 'cause here's the really cool thing about this in Hebrew.
In Hebrew where it says Kingdom of priests, it's translated into what they call collective plural, which includes women also. So it's not just a kingdom of men priests, it's a kingdom of priests and priestesses. So he's like, I have such great hopes for you. I want you to be a peculiar treasure and a kingdom of priests and priestesses, which is kind of saying the Mel priesthood, I have such high hopes for you to receive the highest of all the blessings and all the priesthood that you're gonna become a holy nation to me.
And then we know that's not gonna actually turn out to work that way because. The golden calf and all of that, but that's his milk and honey. Like, oh, you can't even believe how great I think you are. You're gonna become so awesome. Now, the thing is though, with these two verses is we often get hung up on that darn word, peculiar.
So, Morgan, tell me a little bit about this, because you have talked to me and shared some great things with me about this word peculiar and how it often is a peculiar word. So tell me what your thoughts are and what you've shared with some people. Well, I just recently, when we were kind of prepping for this and looking at these chapters, it made me think about a conversation that I recently had with a dear friend who sent me a message on Instagram and she said, I wanted to ask you, I struggle when LDS people seem to have their ego wrapped up in the idea of being different.
Why are we different to show the world? Or because our heart fills the desire? And then she continued. I grew up feeling like I was better because I was different. I would love to hear your thoughts and then later says, I don't wanna be afraid of the people of the world, but also am so grateful for my faith, which has helped me feel comfortable to be different.
But ultimately I'm grateful for my relationship with relationship. So I, to be honest, I think the invitation to be peculiar is not something that anybody should have any ego wrapped up in. In fact, I think it should be the thing that keeps us humble. Yeah. Um, and always striving. So. This is what I said back to her.
I said, it's interesting that you asked this question because my sister who has left the church, posted this weekend about why she left. And one of the things she highlighted was religious superiority. And I've been left wondering whether I feel better than others because of my faith. I honestly don't feel like I do.
If anything, I feel like my faith pushes me to try to be better than I am and maybe it's because I've spent a good amount of time around really solid Christian women the last 10 years, but I'm like, they know the Bible so much better than I do and are so unashamed. So I don't know that I feel the ego piece that some obviously do feel and then shared some thoughts about why.
Why are we different? And I think there's a few reasons for that. One is we're supposed to be representatives of Jesus Christ and take his name upon us. And because of that, that should make us different. We've covenanted to be different. We also, I think, are supposed to be a light to other people, to draw people to Jesus Christ.
Mm-hmm. So I think all of that factors into this, this thing that I've been tossing around. And I'll tell you kind of an interesting example. Um, I'm, like I said, a sports junkie and I've been watching March Madness like nonstop. Mm-hmm. And uh, high Point University had a kid who was like totally unabashed about his faith.
He wears the number 99 because he knows that it's a unique number. Oh yeah. And that people will ask, he says, you, I wear it because Jesus left the 99 to find the one. And I just like watched him and I thought, that kid is peculiar, right? Mm-hmm. But he is. He is sharing his faith in such a powerful way on such a powerful platform.
And then Utah State, their guard Mason, false love. He was like, thank you Heavenly Father after they won, which is just like so funny 'cause he's a member of our church. Mm-hmm. And other churches don't usually use Heavenly Father. Right. But I just was like, why? This is gonna sound terrible, but like, why did, why wasn't BYU saying anything peculiar?
You know? Wow. And I just think that it's important for us as members of the church in, in whatever way, like Mason Fos love was doing it in a way that was true to himself. Mm-hmm. And the other kid was doing it in a way that was true to himself. But we have to be peculiar. We've been called to be a peculiar people, and the interesting thing is I feel like we've really gotten away from that.
Mm-hmm. And we seem so intent on being like everybody else. Yeah. And I just, I don't know that our covenants allow us to be like everyone else if we're living them fully. Wow. Morgan, I love so much that you worked in the. The word covenants to this discussion. And I loved it also how your friend said she's grateful for her relationship with God.
And then you talked about covenants, because I think that for me is the heart of the word peculiar, specifically when you take it into context of what it means in Hebrew. I I, we need to just completely make sure we teach it correctly when we get to verse five. Because when it says that if you keep my commandments and you keep my covenants, there's the word, then you'll become a peculiar treasure.
And I love what peculiar really means in Hebrew. In fact, this is a quote from President Russell M. Nelson, and he said this in his conference address in April of 1995. And he has since said it over again. And will you read this for us, Morgan? I will. Yes. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew term from which peculiar was translated is sala.
Yep. Which means valued property or treasure for us to be identified by servants of the Lord as his peculiar people as a compliment of the highest order. Now it's pretty powerful when you think of this idea of instead of a peculiar people, that you will be a owned treasure, a possessed treasure. There's great cross references we can put next to this verse, and they are, the first one we wanna do is one, Peter chapter one, 18 through 19.
In first Peter, he talks about this idea of being owned, like what does that mean, owned? And here's the definition of that, of being some, being owned and being someone's possession. And I'll read that. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of lamb, without blemish and without spot.
And I just love that like you were redeemed or you were owned with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. So because of him, I think that's incredible. He owns us because of the sacrifice that he made. And you can cross references this to Malachi and doctrine and covenants as well, where we're called a treasure or a jewel to him.
And so right there he's saying we are a peculiar treasure. We are his own special treasure through his sacrifice. So then I go back to, thank you heavenly Father. I love that he said that because Morgan, I think you said as members of the church, we really kind of struggle with giving credit to whom, whose we are.
I I really wish we were better at that. I, I like the Inner Baptist in me wants to say, praise Jesus as often as I can. Can we change our conversations Please. Because you're right. We really struggle with that. I think that's what it means. I think some of our friends in the Bible belt are far more, quote unquote peculiar than we could ever be because they give credit to them in all their conversations.
I think it's powerful. What's some way that you do that in your conversations? Is there something you say when you give credit to God? Hmm. I, I honestly need to be better myself. I, I don't know. I mean, I do feel like I try to acknowledge God in conversation and, and yeah, maybe that's just like the way to do it, true to myself.
But I do think, like, like you just said, the women that I referenced in that Instagram message, I volunteered for a few years, um, with a nonprofit where I got to work really closely with some Christian women. And they're just completely unabashed about their faith. And I think that is so refreshing. Like however you wanna do it, however you want to talk about God or make it clear that you believe in him.
But I think sometimes I, I don't think we're the best at that. And I feel like this is kind of funny 'cause my kids are so good at it, it's kind of a thing now. Like they all want sweatshirts, generationally, yes. They want the sweatshirts that say, I love Jesus, or I'm a child of God. And I'm like, I would never wear that in public as a teenager.
But they don't care. Nope. My daughter has a bumper sticker on the car that says God is good all the time. She loves that saying. And then you go back all the time, God is good. Or I have another daughter that loves Jesus music and not LDS music, but like other religion. Christian music. Christian music. And I'm, and I remember hearing her, seeing at the top of her lungs through this music and this thing popped into my mind that I thought, she's a Jesus freak.
Like she loves Jesus so much. Where did she get that from? Like to me that is peculiar. Peculiar. They are treasured, they are owned. They know whose they are. And I think it's, I think it is for sure generational. Was it like that though? When was you come from in North Carolina? Ooh. Uh, where I come from in North Carolina, our church got a lot of flack.
So like talking about religion was really tricky. Okay. Um, so I don't know. I don't know that I, there were definitely people that mm-hmm. I was friends with who were strong Christians and they were unabashed about it. But I don't know. That's probably a tricky one. Well, I think our challenge then, and I love what Morgan said, that we could do better at it.
So that's our challenge for sure, is think of how you can give credit to God in all your conversations. To truly be an owned people. Like who owns you. It's Jesus Christ. So think of what your term is, what your term of endearment will be. If it's God is good all the time, all the time, God is good. Um, praise Jesus.
My saying is, God is good. I do love that one. Anytime something good goes in my way, I'm like, boy, God is good. So think of some things you can do and ways that you can truly become a peculiar treasure. You know, it's a funny one, please. My cousin used to say, he'd point up at the sky and say, see you on Sunday.
Oh, I love that. Anytime something good happen, see you on Sunday. That's fantastic. I'm gonna do that in front of my kids. They're gonna love it. See you on Sunday. Okay, Morgan. I love it. That's a new one. I've never heard that. Okay, so this is so cool because here's the Lord saying, here's my land of milk and honey for you.
Here's my plan of what I wanna make you. And so in the next segment we're gonna see what the Lord's plan was for helping them become these things. We'll do that next.
Segment 3
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Like Morgan said at the very beginning, you wanna look at these chapters and you immediately think, okay, it's just 10 commandments. That's what we're doing. And it is so much more than that. But of course we have to talk about the 10 Commandments. So turn to Exodus chapter 20. And we want you to write something on the page.
I have something for you to write right here at the top of your page, and I've put it at the very bottom of my page. But what you wanna know from this point on, from Exodus 20, until you get to Exodus 40, these chapters are quote, the legislative code by which Israel must live. That's what you're gonna read about from 20 to 40, the legislative code by which Israel must live, and the Lord is going to now lay out, here's my plan for making you a holy and peculiar people.
Here's my plan for making you priests and priestesses. In fact, let's just jump to the very end. Go to Exodus chapter 40. And we're gonna mark a couple of things really quickly. Exodus chapter 40, and we wanna look at verses 16 through 33. We're not gonna read 'em all, but I have something that I want everybody to highlight because I mentioned before we had an if and then statement in the last segment.
Now we have a because and then statement, because Moses did something. Then this is what happened. So in Exodus chapter 40, we're gonna look at verse 16. Thus did Moses, according to all the Lord commanded him. So did he now highlight that, and then you're gonna go at the very end of some of these verses, it's going to say, as the Lord commanded Moses, here's everything Moses did as the Lord commanded him.
So at the end of verse 19, highlight as the Lord commanded Moses at the end of verse 21, as the Lord commanded Moses. Verse 23 says it again as the Lord commanded Moses. Highlight it in verse 25, in verse 27. Verse 29, and then in verse 32, these are all the things. So because Moses did what the Lord commanded him, that's the, because here's the, then Morgan, will you read the, then in verse 34.
Mm-hmm. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. That's the whole goal was for the Lord. Then to dwell among the people because they built this beautiful tabernacle, and yet we have one small problem. Look at verse 35, Morgan in verse 35. Was Moses allowed to go into the tabernacle?
He was not. No. He did not get to go because the people hadn't figured it out yet. They were not doing the because and then statements. They were really struggling with this, which we're gonna talk about next week. Just a little spoiler right there. They weren't ready, so. Go back to Exodus chapter 20 because here's the Lord, and he's going to try and get these people ready to have experiences with the tabernacle, and the first thing he's going to do is give them the 10 Commandments.
Now this is a fun fact. I learned in Hebrew, they're not actually called the 10 Commandments, Morgan. They're just called the 10 words. Isn't that crazy? Like forever and it kind of takes away some of the impact. Well, absolutely. How, how different is it to go from just 10 commandments to 10 words according?
When you hear that, it's like in your brain, what are you thinking? It it feels less, less exciting. Yeah, that's exciting. Exactly. I thought of it too as like Les, maybe the Lord's not as angry about it. Like, here's some suggestions, less of a big deal. Here's what I hope you do. Yeah, very interesting. So we have the 10 Commandments or the 10 words.
Now I have this really cool quote. This is from Cecil b Demil, and here's what he had to say about the 10 Commandments. So I thought that was pretty powerful. Morgan, will you please read this quote for us? Yep. Some who do not know either the Bible or human nature may see in the orgy of the golden calf, only a riot of Hollywood's imaginations, but those who have eyes to see will see in it.
The awful lesson of how quickly a nation or a man can fall without God's law, if man will not be ruled by God, he will certainly be ruled by tyrants and there is no tyranny, more imperious or more devastating the man's own selfishness without the law. We cannot break the 10 commandments. We can only break ourselves against them or else by keeping them rise through them to the fullness of freedom under God.
God means us to be free with divine daring. He gave us the power of choice, thank you, at the very end where he said, God means for us to be free. I thought this was so cool. Let's go back into Exodus chapter 20 and look at verses one and two. That's what he says to the children of Israel before he even gives them the 10 Commandments.
In verses one and two it says, and God spank all these words saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage. Right there. He's saying, remember when you were enslaved? Remember when you were in bondage? I brought you out and now you're free.
And now that you're free, I'm going to give you these 10 Commandments. Morgan, tell me the connection there. He's saying you're no longer in bondage, but the 10 Commandments kind of feel like, how do the 10 Commandments make us free and not feel like we're enslaved? Well, I think it kind of reminds me of the kite analogy.
Oh, tell me about that. Um, you know, they, they talk about how sometimes it seems counterintuitive that a, a kite flies connected to a string. And our bishop actually just shared this analogy recently in sacrament meeting because he said, I've never heard this. A little boy out to fly a kite. And the little boy was like.
Just wanted to let the string go because he thought that would make the kite fly. And he said at one point his little boys said, let her rip. And then just let the string go. And of course the kite then comes crashing down. But that instead it's by being tied down that the kite is able to fly. And I think sometimes that is how we feel about commandments, um, big and small.
It's like, why do we have to have all these rules? Why do we have to have things that hold us back? But those are the things that ultimately give us freedom and protect us and keep us safe. I like that. I'm writing all of this down. Sorry, I'm just drawing a picture of a kite now in my scriptures. That's the greatest thing I've ever heard.
It was so funny when the bishop told it in Zachary meeting and he said, let it rip. We were like, so cute dying. Oh, that's adorable. Makes sense. And then later that day, we actually saw our bishop out flying a kite with his little boy. So it was pretty perfect. That's awesome. Yes, absolutely. Perfect. So tell us who you have, what of your guests have taught you anything about maybe a kite analogy or the commandments or being free and all of that from by keeping rules?
So Ardeth Kapp is one of my favorite people in the world. Oh, right. Uh, I, the world is not the same for me since she passed. Like I am still not okay. And um, she told the story when she was on All In and she was talking about how she got to, how she met her husband, which they met because he was a missionary in Canada where she's from.
But she told this really sweet quote from her dad. About the night that she met her husband, her dad was the bishop, and he said they were gonna have some missionaries come to their home. And he said, but you need to be here, Artie. You need to be here. And she said, my mom was in the hospital. It wasn't really serious, but she wasn't there.
And her dad said, you'll need to fix supper for the missionaries. And I thought those old men, because the only missionaries she knew were old men. But I, I love what her dad said to her. He, she said, I said, dad, do I have to do that? And he said, well, you decide, but I, but I've learned to trust you and I've learned that you've learned to be obedient.
And she goes on to decide to stay and make dinner for the missionaries. And obviously like there's a bigger story at play. But I think that idea of learning to be obedient, I think that is. Important. None of us, I don't think. It's like our natural inclination to always be obedient. Some people I think have like obedient hearts.
Yeah. But when you learn to be obedient by observing the way that it does provide safety for the soul. Yeah. And already went on to say, and then I learned when obedient ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest at that moment, God endows us with blessings. Wow. And so I think that that principle of letting obedience cease to be an irritant and instead become our quest is just beautiful.
Absolutely. Well, and one of the things I've loved learning is that obedience is the first principle of heaven, that God has to be obedient. I always thought he was just God. He could do whatever he wanted to do, but it blew my mind to think that there are rules he has to follow. Yes. And certain things.
And so if we wanna become like him, we have to learn to be obedient. So I think it'd be really cool. How about if we just hear the, that story from Ardeth Kapp's voice? And you should hear it because she's the cutest human on the planet. Okay. Let's go ahead and play that then, and we're gonna end this segment directly from The Sweet Lips of Ardeth Kapp.
Let me just tell you that I was 16 years old. I lived a little town of about 250 people, about 20 miles from the Ton Temple, and for the first time ever, three provinces. We're putting the missionaries together. British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan were coming to the Cardston Alberta Temple. The, the missionaries were coming and we were all so excited about it.
It was historic in nature, but they needed a place where the missionaries could stay overnight. My dad was the bishop, and of course he was eager, and, and he says, we're gonna have some missionaries come to our home. And, and he says, you need to be here, Artie. You need to be here. And I thought, those old men, I mean, we only knew missionaries that were old because the younger ones were in the military.
And I said, dad, do I have to do that? And he'd say, well, you, you decide, but I've learned to trust you. And I've learned that you're, you've learned to be obedient. And then I learned when obedience is ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest at that moment. God and us with blessings. So that was a tender time because I said, okay, dad, I'll stay home from the dance in Garton and fix, suffer for these old man.
And my brother went into town to get these dear old men, and I was fixing tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Our town was in famous for its cheese factory. And so the car drove up and these elders got out. They weren't all old men, they were young. I, I just was so impressed with the spirit that they carried.
One particular was very impressive because he had eye contact with everybody was speaking and he was more concerned about what others were doing than what he was doing. When I look back. That principle has been repeated many times when I felt like, oh, do I have to do this? And then I'd look back and think, oh, I'm so glad I did.
Segment 4
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10 commandments are given in Exodus chapter 20, and then in Exodus chapter 21 and 22, the Lord gives the children of Israel more rules and things that they need to follow. He expounds on some things, and then he gets into chapter 23. And in Exodus chapter 23, God promises five specific things to Israel if they're obedient.
And I think this is pretty neat. So we're gonna bracket these off in Exodus chapter 23, and we're gonna number them. And here's what we have. First of all, I think this would be the coolest thing ever. I can't even imagine if the prophet, well, he probably ha, who am I kidding? The prophet has said this to us about going to the temple.
This is such a good one. The very first promise for being obedient is in verses 20 through 23. Bracket that off. And in verse 20, just read that for us. William Morgan. Verse 20. Mm-hmm. Yep. Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring thee into the place, which I have prepared.
How about that? He promises them an angel in the promised land. That's the first thing. The second thing is that they would be blessed with good health. That's in verses 24 and 25, so bracket that off and put to the outside. Number two, good health. The third thing that they're promised is verse 26, that their flocks would be greatly multiplied.
The fourth thing they're promised is verses 27 through 30. They would be successful in their fight against heathen nations. They really needed that. And then fifth is verse 31. They would ultimately inherit everything from the Red Sea to the Euphrates River. Like they're going to have so much land to inherit and they're so excited now.
I mean, the anticipation of these things is just so exciting to them. Let's see how the children of Israel reacted. When Moses then said, okay, are you gonna keep the commandments then? Are you gonna do everything that the Lord has asked you to do? And in Exodus chapter 24, we're going to read verse three and then verse seven, and we're gonna highlight their answer.
So Morgan, will you read verse three, and then I'll read verse seven. Yes ma'am. And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments and all the people answered with one voice and said all the words, which the Lord hath said, will we do verse seven? And he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the audience of the people and they said all that the Lord hath said, will we do and be obedient?
Okay. That's, they're so excited. They're all in. Literally. They're all in Morgan. If we get these blessings, we're gonna keep all these commandments and then Oh, they struggled. For sure. So Morgan, we talked about this, this idea. Do you have a story about someone who said we're gonna be obedient and, and how that turned out for them and maybe it didn't turn out like they thought it would or anything like that you can think of?
Well, I think there have probably been a million all in answers that kind of epitomize this idea. The interesting thing is how different, all the different, all in answers are. But I do have one that I really love that we will play the clip. I would say, you know, all in is a decision and it's the best decision that you can make because.
Clayton Christensen was, was fond of saying it's easier to do something a hundred percent of the time than it is to do something 95% of the time. Because if you do something 95% of the time, every time you come into contact with that decision, you'll be wondering, is this the time for an exception? And I remember, you know, and I, I have through my entire life had challenges where, you know, I've, I've wondered or had doubts or things that I've come into contact with.
But I remember very distinctly making the decision, I, I am in this, this is the path that I am choosing. This is, this is, and now it's not a question for me. It is emotionally exhausting to try and decide whether or not you are going to serve in the church, whether or not you are going to read your scriptures that night, whether or not you're gonna say a prayer.
But if you make the decision, no, I am a son of God, I believe. We have a prophet today. I believe that the church has been restored. It's either true or it's not true. And if it's true, it requires a tremendous and full um, commitment and that there is not room for the in-between. You know, certainly all of us are doing the best we can, but I promise it is so much easier to just be fully committed to the Lord because we get, we get back in blessings tenfold what we put in Morgan.
That was such a powerful all-in moment. Like I love that. And you have asked that question to so many people. You've written a book about it. The All in book is so great 'cause it's just story after story. And so the amazing thing about this idea of being all in, I would love, like you said, everybody has a story.
I would love to read people's stories. If they have one, like submit it, go on Facebook or Instagram and tell us what your all in story is. I think for me and my life, when I look at this, I think of you Morgan. I didn't realize how much we have in common. I'm the oldest of all my siblings as well. No way.
Five kids. Yes. And I was just like you. I was just the nerdy little girl who did the same thing, loved the friend, loved the new era. I had all of those. Um. What are those? Those Mormon ads? Mormon ads. Oh, I had them. I collected them. Of course we did all over my room. I got a new one. I put it up on my closet.
It was so exciting. I was the nerdy girl who used to sit and try to write lyrics to, um, my, in case, in case, uh, Michael McClain needed a helper. You know, I knew he was gonna call me in Missouri. You never know when we might need you. I was ready with church lyrics 100%. I wrote songs, I wrote poetry was such a nerd.
We should call Michael up and let him know that you're ready. I'm ready. Call me in coach. The time the time has come. Yes, exactly. And I think about my life, about how my foundation was laid for me to be all in and what you started out with. The beginning. When I go back to those moments in my life where I'm like, how can I deny it?
Like I had so many experiences after experience that make me just go, God loves me like I am all in. And are there times where I wonder about it? Absolutely there are, but I'll tell you one time, Morgan, that. Has been so powerful for me. And um, it was just a couple years ago and I was on my way to the temple.
I don't know if this ever happened to you, but I was driving to the temple and it was just one of those days where I kind of started to have a little bit of doubting, like, what is this all about? Like, I am going to the temple. I've got so much to do. Is this really true? Satan is so good. Like, he just puts all these doubts in my mind.
And I get to the temple and I walk in and I am really feeling like, is this a hoax? Like, what am I doing? This is so bizarre. It is weird. Is it weird? What am I doing? And I go in to get the name to go and I'm going to do an endowment that night. And I walk into the room and I look down where all the little names are the name cards, and one of the name cards has my daughter's first name on it.
And the woman takes the card and the next name is the name of another one of my daughters. And then the new name that's given to me is another name. The spirit was like, you know, this is true. Like, you know, all three names had something to do with me. And I just like, sure. Is it coincidence? I just don't think so.
I don't think there's any coincidences. I think that that's exactly where I needed to be. And for me in that moment, the spirit was like, get it together. You know, this is true. And I just started sobbing right there in the initiatory room and I walked to the endowment and I cried and I'm like, it's true.
It's absolutely true. I am all in 100%. And so I just, I love these moments that the Lord gives us, where he reminds us like, I'm here. And going back to that verse that you talked to us about, which I think is so cool. Like, yes, he bears us up on ING's wings, but I also have seen what the Lord has done for me time and time again.
So, well, I, I, I think one thing that's cool about your story, Tammy, is. How patient the Lord is with us in those moments where we have doubts, right? Like he's not shaking his head at us. He's not frustrated. He's just like, Hey, let me give you this little thing to remind you of why you're here when you have a million other things that you could be doing.
Um, I like that. I think he's really, really merciful and kind to us. I agree. Wow. Thank you for pointing that out, Morgan. Okay, well this is so cool. We, we, we have another segment. I'm so excited because I can't wait to hear who you chose to talk to us about the next thing. Because of all the 10 commandments or 10 words, there's actually one that was the earliest commandment taught before the even the 10 Commandments were given.
This commandment was taught, it's the most repeated and encouraged of all the 10. We're gonna discuss what it is next.
Segment 5
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So I said that the commandment that the Lord gives this one specific commandment is the most off, repeated and encouraged to keep of all 10. And it was taught before the 10 Commandments. So I'm gonna show you, I was taught before the 10 Commandments were given. Turn to Genesis chapter two, verse two. Here we go.
The Lord sets this up in Genesis chapter two, verse two, and will you read that for us please, Morgan? And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made. There it is. So the Lord's teaching us from the beginning. He keeps the Sabbath day holy.
He rests highlight the word rested in verse two. I love the footnote down below. It's gonna tell you what it means in Hebrew, which is Shabbat, and that literally means to cease and to stop doing something. Then in Exodus chapter 16, before the 10 Commandments are given, the Lord is going to again teach the children of Israel.
Let's go there. Exodus chapter 16, and this is the very first mention in scripture to the Israelites about keeping the Sabbath they holy. So Exodus chapter 16. We're gonna read verse 27 and 28, and I'll read that. This story is about the manna and how the children of Israel were supposed to collect the manna.
And they were told go out every morning and collect enough just for that day ex. And then if you have anything left over at night, it's gonna turn into worms. It'll be yucky the next day. But on a Saturday, you're gonna collect double so that you don't have to collect on a Sunday. And it was fine. It didn't turn into worms.
And so here we go. Verse 26 says six days, you're gonna gather it. But then 27 it came to pass that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, how long refuse you to keep my commandments and my laws like it hasn't even been a commandment yet, but the Lord's saying, I'm trying to teach you something here.
You're going to need to learn how to keep the Sabbath day holy. And so now we're going to go into Exodus chapter 20. Let's mark the Sabbath day. Holy verse. Will you please read that for us? It's verse eight. Mm-hmm. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Now it's interesting because of all the commandments, this is really the only one that gives instruction on how to do it.
All the rest of the commandments are, here's what you can't do, da, da, da, da. But this one gives instructions verses nine, 10, and 11. Tell us, keep reading for us Morgan. Six days. Shout thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it. Thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man, servant nor thy maid, servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hollowed it. To the outside of those verses, let's put this cross reference. So put Exodus chapter 31, verses 13 through 17. But mostly what we wanna read is just verse 13.
Here we go. Because he's gonna teach us what it is about the Sabbath day. And Morgan, will you read verse 13? Mm-hmm. Speak thou also unto the children of Israel saying, verily my Sabbath, ye shall keep. For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord.
That death sanctify you. Let's highlight where it says, verily my Sabbath, she shall keep for it is a sign between me and you. Now, that's a fascinating statement to make about keeping the Sabbath they holy. It's a sign. I have a quote from President Russell M. Nelson. Here's what he says about this idea of a sign, and so this is the quote.
In my much younger years, I studied the work of others who had compiled lists of things to do and things not to do on the Sabbath. Do you remember that Morgan? Mm-hmm. Did you grow up with list? I love this top. Oh, keep reading for me then. Okay. It wasn't until later that I learned from the scriptures that my conduct and my attitude on the Sabbath constituted a sign between me and my heavenly Father.
With that understanding, I no longer needed lists of do's and don'ts. When I had to make a decision whether or not an activity was appropriate for the Sabbath, I simply asked myself, what sign do I want to give to God? That question made my choices about the Sabbath Day crystal clear. Why do you love this talk?
I love this talk because I think President Nelson kind of flipped our understanding of the Sabbath day on its head a little bit. Mm-hmm. I think prior to that, our culture was very much a list of dos and don'ts. That's the reason President Nelson was making the list to begin with, right? Yeah. Like we've all done that and um, and instead he said, you know, what sign do I want to give to God?
And that makes it very different and I think helps us better make decisions just like he said. Yeah. Like has your Sabbath day observant changed over the years? Oh, for sure. How so? I definitely grew up in a home where we were very rigid, and I think now I try to think of it more as. What kind of spirit am I inviting in?
How am I showing that I'm putting the Lord first? I think that there are, there are still some like pretty clear black and white aspects of Sabbath day living. Mm-hmm. But I think there's also a lot of gray and where we have to make decisions for ourselves. And I think, you know, I think marriage is an interesting thing because you get married to somebody who grew up in a different home than you did and it's like, okay, well what are we gonna do on the Sabbath?
And I've heard friends that have said, you know, one of my best friends always gives this example of her husband who is so devoted to the gospel, but she said when they got married, he liked to watch sports on Sunday. And she's like, at first I would just. Like kind of sulk and act like, you know, she was judging him throughout the day.
And then she was like, and then I realized that wasn't the kind of spirit that I wanted to have in my home on Sunday, right? So I just decided I wasn't gonna say anything about it anymore. And she's like, eventually he came to the decision himself that he didn't wanna do that anymore. But I think that sometimes we, we, uh, kind of defeat the spirit of the law and the interest of the letter.
And so I, I, I don't know. I think that, that, that story from President Nelson is just spot on. I absolutely agree. And this idea of what is your, what is the way you observe your Sabbath? What is, what sign is it to the Lord? And I think we all have to come to that decision in our life. I love that he pointed out this verse of scripture in Exodus.
That's the point of keeping the Sabbath they holy. What sign are you giving to him? Um, and so I, I just think it's so powerful. So have you ever had a guest that's talked about Sabbath day observance or anything? Yes. I actually have like the perfect story for this one, Tammy. Okay. So I'm very excited. I don't know if you know gay Strahan at all, but, oh, she's a professor at BYU.
She's amazing. Yeah. And for starters, for those that are not familiar with her, she has the greatest Australian accent, like of all time. Mm-hmm. So you'll enjoy listening to her no matter what, but she tells this really, really cool story that I think your listeners will love. Okay. Let's do that. So I told you that I liked studying the scriptures from a fairly young experience and, and my views of the Sabbath were as a teenager, were fairly rigid, right?
This is what you can do, this is what you shouldn't do. Going to churches at the very center of that. But my dad was not a member of the church, and so my mother and grandmother joined the church when my oldest sister was about, I know four long before I was born. And this is dating me, but when I went to, when I was a teenager, that's when we, this was before all of the consolidations of the Sabbath, right.
The meetings on the Sabbath. So we would go to church in the morning for Sunday school and then we'd come home, have lunch, and then we'd go back in the evening for sacrament meeting in the evening, which was a very Christian, ancient Christian thing to do. Just saying, okay. So as, as a teenager, I, I was pretty focused on okay, Sabbath day.
But what that meant is that for my dad, the Sabbath became something that distanced his family from him because we're in church all day. Right? Right. And so my dad loved to fish, he loved to do that. And so one day a year, his fishing club had their Christmas. If you wanna call it that, but they did that on the on Sunday and it was at an island at the beach.
I'm Australia, there's beach is everywhere, right? Uhhuh. Um, and so dad wanted us to come and I was a bit of a pill honestly, as a teenager and I didn't wanna go because my view of that would be breaking a Sabbath. I'm gonna burn in hell if I do that and I don't wanna do it. And so I went kicking and screaming I guess metaphorically.
So there came a time though now because I was young, I dunno if I remember it, but I don't remember us talking about the Sabbath in terms of it being a sign of the covenant. For me, the saboteur, do this, do this, do this. And I remember very clearly reading Exodus 31 in my personal study and this idea of it being a sign.
And all of a sudden I started thinking, oh, I think you're looking at this the wrong way, gay. And, and I thought, if this what I do on the Sabbath is a sign of my covenantal committal, then isn't it also a sign of my covenantal commitment that one day a year I spend with my dad doing things that are important to him and building on that relationship.
And so I, everything changed for me from that. Point. I mean, it wasn't that we went to the beach and personally we were sitting around eating, talking, enjoying one another's company. That's what it was for me. But I'm so glad that I learned that lesson before it was too late. Mm-hmm. So that I could share that experience with my dad and build my relationship with him.
And for the other 50, whatever it is, two weeks of the year I was in church and enjoying that experience. So this is what first started me thinking about maybe there are different ways of understanding what the, the Sabbath means. Well, that was absolute perfection and we didn't even play on that. Holy cow, Morgan, that was so cool.
Thank you. Thank you so much for thinking of her interview because that was spot on and she just taught the whole point and purpose of keeping the Sabbath they holy and what sign does it give? So thank you. Oh, okay. So here's what I'm gonna do in the next segment, then we're gonna talk about what a name has to do with all of this.
With everything we've discussed today. We'll do that next.
Segment 6
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Morgan, going back to how I started in my intro, were you shocked by how long Picasso's name was? Yeah. And that intro really created some serious intrigue for me. Right? Like what? I walked in waiting to hear, hear the name of the Lord. It worked. I love this. Okay, well, do you have it? How long is your name?
Do you have any names, middle name, all of that? Uh, I dropped my middle name as soon as possible. Why when I got married. Oh, you did what? Your full name? Yeah. My middle name is from the movie Willow. Willow. You idiot. I love that movie. Yep. The fact that my parents saw that movie and thought, let's name our child after.
So my middle name was all Laura. Of course it is. And uh, yeah, as soon as I possibly could, that name went. And so now my name is just Morgan Jones Pearson. So Morgan Alora Jones, Pearson. Mm-hmm. Wow. That. Do you give your girls middle names? I do. Yeah. My girls are actually named after Emma Smith and Jane Manning.
James. That's their first name. And then my oldest, her middle name is Elsie, which is my grandma's name. Sweet. And then my second, her middle name is Holland because of Elder and Sister Holland. Oh my word. How neat is that? Yeah. Gave me, I just am a fan girl. That's all. Well, hey, that's fantastic. Okay, so love it.
Love the names, the middle names. I would love for anybody who's listening, share with me what your full name is. I'd be so fun to see if people have more than just, you know, your beginning, middle, and end. On my mission in California, I met a lot of people who were of Hispanic culture and they have very long names 'cause they take on their mother's maiden name and then their father's last name.
And so I thought that was really fascinating to me to learn that my brother, Tammy, he, my dad didn't want my brother to be a third. My dad's a junior. Okay. He wanted to name his son after him, but he didn't want him to be a third. Yeah. And so my brother's name is Franklin Lee Spencer Jones. Oh my gosh. And he goes by Spencer.
Okay. But it's really confusing in like school settings. So sometimes you'll be somewhere with him and people are like calling him Franklin and you're like, what? You've never gone by that in your whole life. That's fascinating. Yeah, that's a lot of names then. Yeah. Okay, so you get it. You get the names.
Alright, well here's what we're gonna do. This is so cool because we're gonna read two verses in Exodus that tell us about a very important name. Here's a little bit of history or background that'll lead us into this chapter. So when Moses came down from the mountain, he brought the law written on stone tablets, and after finding that the Israelites had broken their covenant, Moses breaks the tables of stone.
And then later God commanded Moses to make another set of stone tablets take them back up to the mountain. So in the Joseph of Translation of Exodus chapter 34 verses one through two, which you can read in the Bible appendix, it actually clarifies that the first set of stone tablets included the ordinance of God's holy order or the tic priesthood.
The second set includes the law of a carnal commandment, and this was a lesser law administered by the lesser or ironic priesthood. This was meant to prepare the Israelites for the higher law and the higher priestess so they could enter into God's presence Now. Try to put yourself in the Israelites place.
You're in the wilderness. Moses has been gone for 40 days and a confrontation with the Canaanites over the promised land is in your future. So the Israelites, of course, they want a golden idol because they're terrified. They only, they're going back to what they knew. They're going back to their ways of Egypt, of what they knew that people worshiped back then.
And so they get in trouble for this. And Moses is so upset. And so Moses actually pleased to the Lord, he, he prays to him and asked for help. Let's go to Exodus chapter 33. 'cause the Lord is mad. And Moses is like, but hear me out. Here's what I have to say about this. Now in Exodus chapter 33 verses 11 through 17, you're gonna wanna mark that and you're going to wanna put Moses' plea to the Lord.
But I'm telling you right now, it's way better in the NIV version 'cause it's just so much better. It makes so much more sense. So here's what we wanna do. We're gonna go there and we're gonna read it. So I'm gonna find it. There's so many great apps. Do, do you have an app that you like? Morgan, when it comes to other translations, I really like just going to Bible hub where you can see all the different ones compared.
Can I get an Amen? That is my favorite app. I use it a hundred times a day. Yeah? Yes. Okay, so go to Exodus 33 and we're gonna start in 11, and we're gonna read the NIV. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide, Joshua's son of none, did not leave the Tet Moses said to the Lord, you have been telling me lead these people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.
You have said, I know you by name and you have found favor with me. If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people. The Lord replied, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. Then Moses said to him, if your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.
How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people? Unless you go with us. What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth? And the Lord said to Moses, I will do the very thing you have asked because I am pleased with you. And I know you by name now twice, right there.
I love that so much. 'cause the Lord says to Moses, I know you by name. And I love that Moses wants us to know that he would've been the one to write this storyline. So twice Moses is like, he knows my name. That's super important. And so he's going to help us. And then when Moses says he knows my name, it's almost like he doubles down in it.
Exodus chapter 34 by saying, and let me tell you the Lord's name. Here's what his name is to us. So go to Exodus chapter 34 and it's verse six and seven. I Do you still live in the NIV? Nope, not in the NIV. We're gonna go right back into Exodus 34. In Exodus chapter 34 verses six through seven, I love what one BYU Scholar called this as the 32 word name for God.
I'm gonna read it and after I read it, Morgan, what my question is for you is what does the Lord's name teach you about him based on all these words, and if there is there a specific part of his name that you like? 'cause Pablo Picasso was long and we could have picked out one of those names and talked about it, but here's this name, here we go.
So highlight one thing that stands out to you or more. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God. Merciful and gracious lung suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands for giving iniquity and transgression and sin and the will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and the fourth generation, there's his name.
I really like abundant in goodness. Tell me why I, I have probably told you this before, Tammy, but I am a big believer in approaching life from a place of abundance versus scarcity. I think like scarcity is the way to be totally miserable and believing that God, you know, he gave this person this, so he is not gonna be able to give me this.
That's just not the way that God works. Mm-hmm. And so that idea of him being abundant in goodness means that there will always be enough to go around. Wow. Okay. I'm gonna just like, like double down on that word that you taught us that you just said you love, because the word goodness in that specific instance, abundant in Goodness is the Hebrew word heed right there.
Oh, wow. So he, he's abundant in heed. Isn't that so cool? I love that's you pointed that out. So then if he's abundant in Ed, then for me, I'm just gonna say I love that. Then it says, and he's keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. I mean, that is. That I, I, I love this idea that he is abundant in Hassed and he's abundant in it for the children of Israel who are going to be so naughty and make poor choices, and he doesn't care.
It's okay. Like he cares. I shouldn't say that. He just loves them. I love that. How you believe that in this idea of you don't believe in the scarcity model. It's one of my favorite things about you. You don't, you're like, everybody should benefit. Let's all be a one big happy family. It's 'cause you're the oldest, right?
Can we all just stop fighting? Of course you believe in a God that's abundant in goodness, but his name is so powerful right there. It's everything. Everything about him that he could possibly be. All of his attributes, all of the things that he is for us. And so Moses wants us to know that because they're about to end, they're about to end their time in the Promised Land.
And one of the things we're gonna study and know is that he won't get to go to the promised Land. He's going to be stuck. Wilderness. And yet he still believes this about him. He still believes that God is good. And I think that is pretty powerful. Yeah. Uh, can I share something really quickly? Please. This actually makes me think, especially the way it says, and that will by no means clear the guilty.
It reminds me. So we just had a, a podcast episode with a guy named CNE Avili. And to make a really long story short, if you wanna go listen, they can hear the whole story, but Yes. But CNE Avili was a football player who was committed to play for Brigham Young University. He, between the time of him going to BYU and graduating from high school, he was gonna serve a mission.
And before he went on that mission, he had his mission call was about to leave and there was some gang violence in his. Neighborhood and he participated in an act of retaliation and he went on his mission thinking he had gotten away with it. And eventually it caught up to him. 18 months into his mission, he got a call from a detective and had to to come home.
And it's interesting, I've, I've thought a lot since that interview about one interesting aspect of it, which is that BYU said, you know, we can't have you come to school here anymore. University of Utah said they couldn't have him come to school there anymore, which kind of changed the trajectory of his life a little bit.
And thinking about how sometimes mortal forgiveness falls so short of the forgiveness of God. Hmm. And so Sione Havili is now in a stake presidency. Um, clearly like the Lord forgave him, he paid his debt to society. He, he went to prison for a year, he repented and to the Lord, he is clean. But there are, there are sometimes our mortal ability to forgive falls.
So short of that, and I think it's been cool for me to think over the last couple of weeks since I did that interview just about how good God is at forgiving. Wow. What an incredible story that just bears witness of the truthfulness of his name. So we'll end this segment and this whole episode with a clip from Sione Havili bearing witness of the Lord's 32 Word name.
I went through this experience. God is merciful, he's kind. You know, obviously it doesn't matter how many mistakes we make, we can always make our way back to the covenant path. And so for me, and anything that that I do, I try to pay the opportunity and the chances that I've been given forward to any anybody, whether it's a second chance for convicted felons or maybe even a first chance for, you know, those that are underprivileged.
And so I feel like that's the blessing that the Lord has given me in this position, and I've tried my best every single day to find opportunities to give those to others. Well, that was such a treat. Oh my gosh, that I didn't know what to expect, and she just knocked it out of the park. I'm so grateful for that podcast.
Those were great sound bites. And her guests, wow. It's just cool when people share their own personal story. It's one of my favorite things about people if they're willing to be transparent. I will be your friend. That was so good. Okay, well, so tell me then. I'd love to know what your thoughts were for those of you who are listening, what did you learn from this week's episode?
And you can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at ldsliving.com slash Sunday on Monday and go there anyway, because it's where we're gonna have links to all the references and a transcript of this whole discussion. So go check it out. The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original, brought to you by LDS Living.
It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall. And today our so fabulous study group participant was Morgan Jones Pearson, and you can find more information about her at lds living.com/sunday on Monday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger. And our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom.
Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week and please remember, you are God's favorite.
SOM Transcript - S7E19
Season 7 Ep. 18 | Sunday on Monday
The following transcript is intended to aid in your study. However, while we try to go through the transcript, our transcripts are primarily computer-generated and often contain errors. Please forgive the transcripts’ imperfections.
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