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38: "I Am the Law, and the Light" (September 21–27)

Sun Sep 20 14:00:13 EDT 2020
Episode 38

This week’s lesson is going to be riveting. Can you even imagine what it must have been like to hear Christ pray or learn at His feet? There is just so much to study in 3 Nephi 12–16 that we could spend a lifetime learning from the Savior's words. So, as a roller coaster operator would say, “take a seat and buckle up. Please safely store any loose items or clothing. Keep your eyes forward, head up, and be sure to enjoy the ride” as we dig into this week’s lesson.

Find full episodes of the Sunday on Monday study group here. Start your free trial of Deseret Bookshelf PLUS+ here.


Books Referenced in this Episode:

Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 4: Third Nephi through Moroni by Robert L. Millet, Joseph Fielding McConkie, Brent L. Top

Verse by Verse of the Book of Mormon Vol. 2 by Andrew C. Skinner, D. Kelly Ogden

Understanding Isaiah by Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, Tina Peterson


Segment 1:

3 Nephi 12: Sermon at the Temple

(Compare 3 Nephi 12 to Matthew 5)

"17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil;

"18 For verily I say unto you, aone jot nor one tittle hath not passed away from the blaw, but in me it hath all been fulfilled" (3 Nephi 12:17-18).

What are the law and the prophets?

The law and the prophets are two of the three major parts of Jewish scripture as known as TANAKH or:

1. Torah (law)

2. Navi’im (prophets)

3. Ketuvim (writings)

What does "jot" and "tittle" mean?

"Jot" and "tittle" are Hebrew letters and vowels.

Cross Reference with 3 Nephi 15:2–5:

"2 And it came to pass that when Jesus had said these words he perceived that there were some among them who marveled, and wondered what he would concerning the law of Moses; for they understood not the saying that aold things had passed away, and that all things had become new.

"3 And he said unto them: Marvel not that I said unto you that old things had passed away, and that all things had become anew" (3 Nephi 15: 2–3).


Segment 2:

"1 aAnd it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words unto Nephi, and to those who had been called, (now the number of them who had been called, and received power and authority to bbaptize, was ctwelve) and behold, he stretched forth his hand unto the multitude, and cried unto them, saying: dBlessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have echosen from among you to minister unto you, and to be your servants; and unto them I have given power that they may baptize you with water; and after that ye are baptized with water, behold, I will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost; therefore blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized, after that ye have seen me and know that I am" (3 Nephi 12:1).

What is the significance of the number 12?

In Hebrew, 12 is considered the perfect number and represents God's power and authority. It can also represent wholeness.

Blessed: Fortunate or happy (see www.vocabulary.com).

What can we do to be blessed, according to verse one?

1. Listen to the prophet and apostles

2. Be baptized

3. Believe in Christ

The Beatitudes:

Yea, blessed are the apoor in spirit who bcome unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (3 Nephi 12:3).

Poor in Spirit = Poor in Pride

"And again, blessed are all they that amourn, for they shall be bcomforted" (3 Nephi 12:4).

"5 And blessed are the ameek, for they shall inherit the bearth" (3 Nephi 12:5).

Meek = Greek Praus: Exercising God's strength under His control. Power without undue harshness- gentleness and strength.

"6 And blessed are all they who do ahunger and bthirst after crighteousness, for they shall be dfilled with the Holy Ghost" (3 Nephi 12:6).

"7 And blessed are the amerciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

"8 And blessed are all the apure in heart, for they shall bsee God.

"9 And blessed are all the apeacemakers, for they shall be called the bchildren of God.

"10 And blessed are all they who are apersecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (3 Nephi 12:7–10).

Cross Reference with Matthew 5:10

10 "Blessed are they which are apersecuted for brighteousness’ sake: for ctheirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:10, emphasis added).

11 And blessed are ye when men shall arevile you and persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake;

12 For aye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your breward in heaven; for so cpersecuted they the prophets who were before you" (3 Nephi 12:11–12, emphasis added).

Cross reference with Matthew 5:11–12:

"11 Blessed are ye, when men shall arevile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of bevil against you falsely, cfor my sake.

"12 aRejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your breward in heaven: for so cpersecuted they the prophets which were before you" (Matthew 5:11–12, emphasis added).

"13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the asalt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor wherewith shall the earth be salted? The salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing," (3 Nephi 12:13).

Cross reference with Lev. 2:13:

"13 And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer asalt" (Lev. 2:13).

Why salt?

Salt was a vital part of sacrifices during Old Testament times. It also symbolized fidelity, loyalty, covenants, and hospitality (see "What does it mean to be 'the salt of the Earth?'" ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

Journal Question: How are you like salt?


Segment 3:

"21 Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, and it is also written before you, that thou shalt not akill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment of God;

"22 But I say unto you, that whosoever is aangry with his brother shall be in danger of his judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire" (3 Nephi 12:21–23).

Raca: A Greek word meaning "empty headed" or "numb skull."

Fool: An ungodly or wicked man. It correlates to the Hebrew word "marah" meaning rebel (see Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers Matthew 5:22).

"23 Therefore, aif ye shall come unto me, or shall desire to come unto me, and rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee—" (3 Nephi 12:23).

24 Go thy way unto thy brother, and first be areconciled to thy brother, and then come unto me with full bpurpose of heart, and I will receive you.

In this verse, Christ uses the monetary system of the Nephites.

26 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence until thou hast paid the uttermost senine. And while ye are in prison can ye pay even one asenine? Verily, verily, I say unto you, Nay" (3 Nephi 12:24,26).

"26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid athe uttermost farthing" (Matthew 5:26).

25 aAgree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him, lest at any time he shall get thee, and thou shalt be cast into prison. (3 Nephi 12:25).

Adversary = opponent in a lawsuit (seeVerse by Verse Book of Mormon Vol. 2  pg. 156).

48 Therefore I would that ye should be aperfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect (3 Nephi 12:48).

Perfect: 

Hebrew = Kalal, meaning complete, perfect

Greek = Teleios, meaning having reached its end, complete


Segment 4:

"31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

"32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things

"33 But aseek ye first the bkingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

"34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. aSufficient is the day unto the evil thereof" (3 Nephi 13:31–34).

What does it mean that all things will be added unto you?

Quote: “When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities. …

“We should give God, the Father of our spirits, an exclusive preeminence in our lives” (Ezra Taft Benson, “The Great Commandment—Love the Lord,” Ensign, May 1988).

"7 aAsk, and it shall be given unto you; bseek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

"8 For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

"9 Or what man is there of you, who, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?

"10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

"11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (3 Nephi 14:7–11).


Segment 5:

Quote: “My dear young brothers and sisters, these surely are the latter days, and the Lord is hastening His work to gather Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty. And if you choose to, if you want to, you can be a big part of it. You can be a big part of something big, something grand, something majestic! When we speak of the gathering, we are simply saying this fundamental truth: every one of our Heavenly Father’s children, on both sides of the veil, deserves to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They decide for themselves if they want to know more" (President Russell M. Nelson, "Hope of Israel", June 3, 2018).

17 That other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one ashepherd.

21 And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: aOther sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one bshepherd.

22 And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the aGentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be bconverted through their preaching (3 Nephi 15:17, 21–22).

Gentiles: Sometimes to designate peoples of non-Israelite lineage and other times to designate nations that are without the gospel, even though there may be some Israelite blood therein. This latter usage is especially characteristic of the word as used in the Book of Mormon (ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

Quote: "The American Israelites—the people of the Nephite nation and the other seed of Lehi—are here definitely identified as one group of the 'other sheep' of which Jesus had spoken in Jerusalem. Lacking the greater understanding that comes via the Spirit, the Jewish audience had assumed that he was speaking of some subsequent conversion of the Gentiles. Even modern Bible scholars, lacking both insight from the Spirit and understanding from the restored gospel, have concluded similarly.

"The Savior’s teaching at Bountiful serves as a second witness of his words to the Jews. 'I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (Matthew 15:24). These verses clearly establish the Lehites as a branch of the 'other sheep' and provide additional illumination concerning the work of gathering the scattered remnants of Israel. Jesus is also preparing his Nephite disciples to receive additional instruction about his ministry and the future gathering of even 'other sheep' (see 3 Nephi 16:1–5; 18:31; 21:1–29) (Robert L. Millett, Joseph Fielding McConkie, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon Vol. 4, Deseret Book).

"1 And verily, verily, I say unto you that I have aother sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister.

"2 For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them.

"3 But I have received a acommandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall bhear my voice, and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; therefore I go to show myself unto them" (3 Nephi 15:1–3).

Did Christ visit other nations?

Quote: "Of course he did, in one or many places as suited his purposes. He assembled them together in exactly the same way he gathered the Nephites in the land Bountiful so that they too could hear his voice and feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet. Of this there can be no question. And we suppose that he also called twelve apostles and established his kingdom among them even as he did in Jerusalem and in the Americas. Why should he deal any differently with one branch of Israel than with another?" (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, as quoted by Robert L. Millett, Joseph Fielding McConkie, in Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon Vol. 4, Deseret Book).

"4 And I command you that ye shall awrite these sayings after I am gone, that if it so be that my people at Jerusalem, they who have seen me and been with me in my ministry, do not ask the Father in my name, that they may receive a knowledge of you by the Holy Ghost, and also of the other tribes whom they know not of, that these sayings which ye shall write shall be kept and shall be manifested unto the bGentiles, that through the fulness of the Gentiles, the remnant of their seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their cunbelief, may be brought in, or may be brought to a dknowledge of me, their Redeemer" (3 Nephi 16:4).

Cross reference with 2 Nephi 29:10–13

"13 And it shall come to pass that the aJews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the blost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews" (2 Nephi 29:13).

How are we gathering today?

And then will I agather them in from the four quarters of the earth; and then will I fulfil the bcovenant which the Father hath made unto all the people of the chouse of Israel (3 Nephi 16:5).


Segment 6:

"17 And then the awords of the prophet Isaiah shall be fulfilled, which say:

"18 aThy bwatchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion.

"19 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

"20 The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God" (3 Nephi 16:17–20).

Watchmen: 

  • Traditionally a watchman was set upon a tower or wall to watch for the safety of the people: to watch for the enemy and then warn everyone (Ezekiel 33:8-9, 14.16).
  • The watchman had to stay awake and who faced execution if he failed to warn the city when the enemy appeared. 
  • Such a watchman was in jeopardy always: the enemy sought to destroy him to keep him from raising the warning and, if he did not raise the warning when it was needed, his life was in jeopardy at the hands of those he was responsible to warn. Likewise, watchmen in the Lord’s kingdom have a serious responsibility with far-reaching consequences. 

Quote: "While the duty to warn is felt especially keenly by prophets, it is a duty shared by others as well. In fact, 'it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor'" (Elder D. Todd Christofferson, "A voice of Warning," April 2017 conference).

Sing: (See D&C 84:99-102) The lyrics to the song that will be sung when Jesus returns (Andrew C. Skinner, D. Kelly OgdenVerse by Verse of the Book of Mormon Vol. 2, Deseret Book). 

Eye to Eye: United in purpose and understanding with Christ

Zion: The City of Enoch will return (Moses 7:19, 61-63). Jackson County Missouri is prophesied as Zion. (Andrew C. Skinner, D. Kelly OgdenVerse by Verse of the Book of Mormon Vol. 2, Deseret Book).

Jerusalem: The old Jerusalem of the Holy Land and the New Jerusalem in Missouri (Andrew C. Skinner, D. Kelly OgdenVerse by Verse of the Book of Mormon Vol. 2, Deseret Book).

Comforted: Comforted with the gospel, His Atonement, and the Holy Ghost

Make bare his holy arm: During battle, men would throw their capes over their shoulders exposing their battle arm as symbol of strength (Don Parry, Jay A Parry, Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah, Deseret Book).

Transcript


0:00:00 Tammy Uzelac Hall: Raise your hand if you could use a spiritual pick me up right about now, 'cause let's face it, it's kind of hard to come by these days, right? It just feels like argh! Which is why I am so excited to talk to you about something that I love, and I know you're gonna love it too. It's called Time Out for Women. Now, last year, I got to be a host for Time Out for Women, which meant that I got to travel around to different cities to meet women, to hear talks, to fill the Spirit, to get a stronger testimony. I'm telling you, it was just such a great experience, and the same thing is happening this year, but in just a little bit of a different way, so I wanna tell you about it.

0:00:33 TH: The theme for Time Out for Women is "Take Courage, My Heart", which is such a perfect theme for this year, am I right? And here's the best part, you can watch it at home, you can watch it in your pajamas, eating as many treats as you want to, and have such a great time. Now, it's divided into four super affordable bundles, and when I say affordable, I'm not even kidding, like super affordable. And you can pick and choose, and you can even host your own girls night in. How fun is that? Just invite your friends over, and everybody sit down. Have fun in your pajamas, and watch some of the greatest talks, some of the best speakers that Time Out for Women has.

0:01:08 TH: Something else really cool about Time Out for Women this year is that every Tuesday in November, Time out for Women is going to have live presenter chats, giveaways, and other great stuff on their Instagram, and you can find more information about all of this at tofw.com, Time Out for Women. So tofw.com. You guys, this is just the perfect spiritual boost for right now, and I'm excited to tune in, because some of my friends and some of the people who have been on our podcast are gonna be speakers for this year's Time Out for Women event. Join me. It's gonna be so much fun. Get in your pajamas, get a good treat, and enjoy "Take Courage, My Heart".


Segment 1

0:01:47 TH: All right, friends, I gotta be honest with you. This is one of those lessons where you could spend a lifetime studying the topics. In fact, that's the first thing that came to my mind. All I could think about as I was studying and preparing for this lesson was "How in the world am I going to teach the enormity of these chapters in just six segments?" I mean, seriously, this is crazy. We could spend weeks on the topics of the Saviour Teach Us in 3rd Nephi, Chapters 12 through 16. Like the conductor of a roller coaster would instruct, welcome to 3rd Nephi, Chapters 12 through 16. Take a seat and buckle up. Please safely store any loose items or clothing, keep your eyes forward, head up and be sure to relax and enjoy the ride. 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, and we're really going to today. I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall.

0:02:38 TH: Now, if you guys are new to our study group, I just wanna make sure you know how to use this podcast. There's two different ways. First, you can listen to it all at once, and it lasts about an hour and 10 minutes sometimes. Or, another cool thing about this podcast is, it's broken up into six segments, and each segment is about 10 to 12 minutes long, so you can study for 10 to 12 minutes a day, which is my preference. And at the end of each segment, you're gonna hear some music play, so that's how you know the segment is finished. But either way, we're just so grateful that you're here. Now, my favorite thing about this podcast is that each week, we are joined by two of my friends, and so it's a little bit different. You get a different take on scripture.

0:03:13 TH: And so today, we have my new friends, well, they're new to the podcast, they're not new to me. We have Lenna Panisi Loveridge and Lisa Love Zollinger. Now, Lisa, you're the baby sister of two of our previous guests, Holly Howarth and Amy Whitmore, and as the baby sister, they kinda gave you a middle name, which is Love, so now we all call you that, you're Lisa Love. And I know that's not really your middle name, Lisa, but we've always called you "Oh, Lisa love, we know her". I have two lovely women.

0:03:42 Lisa "Love" Zollinger: Aww!

0:03:43 TH: Hi ladies!

0:03:43 LZ: So cute.

0:03:44 Lenna Panisi Loveridge: Hi.

0:03:44 TH: Now, how do we all know each other?

0:03:46 LL: Amy's our connector.

0:03:48 TH: We've had Amy on before, Amy, she's in Colorado. Lenna, that's where you are, is in Colorado.

0:03:55 LL: Right. And so, I don't know how we got to the point where Amy was scrolling, showing me her wedding and showing me... Is scrolling through pictures. And then I said, "How do you know Tam?" And she's like, "You know Tamara?" And I was like, "I love Tamara Uzelac." And she's like "Well, she's Tamara Uzelac Hall, and if you love her then we can be friends". And so it was just from there we took off.

0:04:17 TH: So Lenna and I, we were in the singles ward together in college. Love the Lenna...

0:04:22 LL: Such a good time.

0:04:23 TH: And then on comes Lisa.

0:04:25 LZ: My connection is through my sister Amy for sure. But then, when you started a Bible study for my sister Holly, just to help her, which is the sweetest thing, made me love you even deeper. And I've always wanted a Bible study because of that. And so, you can imagine how excited I was when my girlfriend Lynn called me a couple of months ago and said, "I wanna start a Bible study", and I'm like, "Oh, are you serious?". And guess what? Our main thing of Bible study, our main source is the podcast. We love it so much, and listen to it and talk about it, we're like, "Well, Tammy said... "

[laughter]

0:05:03 TH: I love it.

0:05:04 LL: So awesome.

0:05:04 LZ: So I think everyone needs a Bible study.

0:05:06 LL: Hear, hear.

0:05:07 TH: Everyone does. Lisa, I think that is so fantastic. Well, shoutout to Lisa's Bible study friends. Hi, Lynn. Awesome. Well, for those of you listening, if you wanna know more about my friends, Lenna and Lisa, you can find pictures of them, maybe their families, we'll see what they put on in our show notes, and you can get to those at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday. Okay, ladies, a few weeks ago on Facebook, a friend named Sydney Wilkinson, she posted this question on Facebook and she asked, "Can I get some thoughts on paper verses digital scripture study, or do you do a mix?" A lot of people gave some great insight and input into what they use. Now, for me, because I am not technologically advanced, I prefer my paper scriptures, but whatever works for you, use it. However, for today's lesson, I'm going to give a little plea. You're gonna want your paper scriptures, and you're gonna want a colored pencil that you don't normally use in your scriptures, because we're gonna highlight some things that are gonna stand out from everything else you've ever highlighted. We're gonna mark up and learn as much as we can in this limited hour time frame. So friends, grab your scriptures and let's dig in. Okay, Lenna and Lisa, ladies. Now, a couple of weeks ago, I asked you to read these sections that we're gonna be studying today. Tell me what your thoughts were.

0:06:19 LZ: I've always read through and enjoyed this part of the scriptures, and I've always thought... Feels a little bit like a check for me, and where I stand in things, and I know, when I read it, there's a lot of things I don't understand. I'm super excited about today because there's a lot that I'm like, "Okay, okay, I feel good, I'm good with that", but I really... If someone said, "What does that mean?" I really don't know the deeper meaning of it, so...

0:06:45 TH: Like Raca?

0:06:46 LL: Don't forget Raca.

0:06:48 TH: Like Raca at my brother, right?

0:06:50 LL: Yeah.

[laughter]

0:06:53 LL: And I will be honest too, I know that there's more. I know that there's more than what I'm reading, because what I read is, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth." And I'm like, "Let them have it."

[laughter]

0:07:07 TH: That's great, if they want it, fantastic.

0:07:09 LL: I don't wanna come across as petty but I just feel like this is... Anyway.

0:07:12 TH: That's fantastic, I love it. Well, for sure, how many of us have read the blesseds, the blesseds and read all these things? And I'm like, "Not me, not me." Maybe that could... That was probably me as a kid, right? I called you guys and we talked a little bit about this 'cause I said, "I don't know how we're gonna do this. This is crazy." And this is the first time we've ever done an episode like this. I kind of call it a 4000 level college course, where we are just going to get in and really like, "Oh, it's so much." So I'm super excited. So let's go into 3rd Nephi chapter 12. And here's the first thing I want you guys to do. Above 3rd Nephi chapter 12, write this term "Sermon at the temple." We know this in Matthew as the Beatitudes, but this is specifically called the "Sermon At The Temple." And then what I want you to do is at the end of each chapter summary, do you see how down below it says compare Matthew five? Highlight that, because it's gonna say that a lot. 3rd Nephi chapter 12 says that, 3rd Nephi chapter 13 says compare Matthew six, then we have a compare Matthew seven. And so we are going to do exactly that today. We are going to compare it to Matthew 5, 6, 7, everything that the Savior said. So 3rd Nephi chapter 12, and Lisa, will you read verses 17 and 18 for us?

0:08:30 LZ: Think not that I'm come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, one jot nor one tittle hath not passed away from the law, but in me it hath all been fulfilled.

0:08:44 TH: How many times have we read these verses and we're like, "Okay, that sounds good," and then you move along. So let's look at verse 17, because this is why there's some similarities and some differences. So this is the Savior and he is saying to them, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets." Now highlight the word "law" and "prophets." He says this in the New Testament, as well as here in the Book of Mormon, because the Law and the Prophets, that is two of three part of the Jewish scripture. Even to this day, Jewish scripture, there's three parts to it. It's called the "Tanakh," and it's an acronym for Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim. Torah is the law, Nevi'im is the prophets. And then the last word that I had was Ketuvim, which means "the writings." And so He's saying to them in Jerusalem time, "Look, I'm not coming to change your Jewish scripture. I'm not coming to change the Law or the Prophets, I'm just going to fulfill it and bring you more."

0:09:44 TH: Okay, so then what makes verse 18 so cool and what I love is that... When I learned this in a Hebrew class, it was like my second class, I just went, "Oh my gosh, thank you." Mark the word "jot" and "tittle" in verse 18. So the Savior says, "Not one jot or one tittle hath passed away from the law, but in me it hath all been fulfilled." In the Hebrew language, the Hebrew alphabet is totally different than our alphabet, because a lot of the letters look similar. Sometimes there's a letter that has a little tiny hook on it that changes the way it sounds. And the word "jot" is a little... That little hook on the end of a consonant, or the tittle is a little tiny shwoop at the beginning of a consonant of a letter. And those little dots and those little dashes change the way you say the word, and the way it's pronounced. And so here's Jesus Christ saying, "Listen, not one little dot, not one little dash is going to be missed or forgotten. I will remember it all and it's all going to make sense."

0:10:43 TH: Now I'm gonna give you a cross reference for those two verses. To the outside, I want you to put 3rd Nephi chapter 15 verses two through five, because He's saying every single tiny minute aspect of the Law is going to be fulfilled by His atoning work, death and resurrection. Nothing and no one will be forgotten. That's what he's teaching with that verse in verse 18. Now look at this cross reference, because after he gets done teaching his Beatitudes, and we have 3rd Nephi 12, 13, 14, 15, He finishes, and I want you to see the reaction of the people. So 3rd Nephi Chapter 15, verses two through five and Lenna will you read those for us?

0:11:25 LL: And it came to pass that when Jesus had said these words, He perceived that there were some among them who marveled and wondered what He would concerning the Law of Moses. For they understood not the saying that old things had passed away and that all things had become new. And he said unto them, "Marvel not that I said unto you that old things had passed away and that all things had become new. Behold, I say unto you, that the Law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses. Behold, I am He that gave the Law and I am He who covenanted with my people Israel. Therefore the Law in me is fulfilled. For I have come to fulfill the Law, therefore it hath an end."

0:12:04 TH: Thank you. So even when He got done speaking and teaching, the people were still like, "Wait, what now? What exactly is happening?" So He's just re-instructing them here, "No, I fulfill the Law of Moses. You don't have to sacrifice animals anymore, you don't have to do any of the stuff you did at the tabernacle. I was the sacrifice." And last week, we talked about this because He, Jesus, taught the people, "The only thing you have to sacrifice now is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. That's all you have to do." And so we have those verses right there setting up for us what the Savior is now going to teach the people. He says, "I have fulfilled the law, I need a broken heart and contrite spirit. Now let me show you what that looks like." And he's gonna give them this amazing discourse. So Lenna, Lisa, that's just a couple verses right there. So tell me some things. That was our 4000 level college course for just three verses of scripture. How you doing?

0:12:58 LZ: Awesome. Awesome.

0:13:01 LL: That was really fun.

0:13:02 LZ: Yeah, no, it's opened up a lot. Just explaining that, I would have gone through that verse, like I said at the beginning, I would have gone through that and just thought, "That's nice." [laughter] "How sweet is that?" That nothing will be missed. That nothing is... Everything that's mentioned, all of His promises have a purpose and He's not gonna leave any unfulfilled. And that's beautiful.

0:13:25 TH: That is beautiful, Lisa. I love how you summed that up. Lenna, anything?

0:13:28 LL: It actually gives me a lot of peace. Sometimes, I wonder, we don't do things to be seen, right, but sometimes, you're just hoping and counting on faith that it's gonna count. I guess there's these laws and just these commandments and the promise that as imperfectly as I'm trying to keep them, that he's taking note of that and that it's fulfilled. And so, for me, it's just a comfort to know that everything is counted and everything is noted, every jot, every tittle.

0:14:21 TH: Thank you, both of you. That was great. I didn't expect that much to come out of those verses. That was powerful what you just did with those so thank you. So, in the next two segments, you guys, we are going to do exactly what the section headings told us to. We are going to compare. We are going to go over 3rd Nephi Chapter 12 in detail. So, this is where you want your other colored pencil. We're gonna highlight the powerful differences between Matthew 5, Beatitude and the 3rd Nephi Chapter 12 temple sermon. And it's gonna be so fun.


Segment 2

0:15:00 TH: We're gonna jump right into 3rd Nephi Chapter 12, and I did what the section heading said to do. Compare to Matthew 5. And I wanna share with you some of the things that I found, and I thought this was really powerful. You can do this on your own with Matthew Chapter 5. You can open up to it if you want to go along with us but I'm gonna mostly be in 3rd Nephi Chapter 12, and we're gonna mark some really cool things. So before we even start with these blesseds, it's really cool because in 3rd Nephi Chapter 12, Verse One, we get three blesseds before the actual Blesseds of the Beatitudes. And so, what I want us to do is look at Verse 1. Lenna, will you read Verse 1 for us, please.

0:15:38 LL: Sure. "And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words unto Nephi and to those who had been called. Now, the number of them who had been called and received power and authority to baptize was 12. And behold, he stretched forth his hand unto the multitude and cried unto them saying, "Blessed are ye, if you shall give heed unto the words of these 12, whom I have chosen from among you to minister unto you."

0:16:01 TH: Okay, pause for a second there. So, when we see the word, blessed, we're gonna highlight that. So, highlight that first blessed. And then, He said the number 12 two times, right here, and we need to mark that. He called 12 and now, He's saying to listen to the 12. What do you guys think about the number 12? Have you thought about the number 12?

0:16:19 LZ: I love this part because I looked that it was a... I've never seen it as such a missionary experience. I guess I missed that in the past that...

0:16:29 TH: What do you mean?

0:16:29 LZ: Well, that He is... It's almost like Christ is... He's appointing these 12 that are now gonna go off and teach and baptize. He gives them authority to baptize and I feel like this is like the MTC right here. Maybe I read that totally wrong but...

0:16:47 TH: No, no, you're absolutely right. He does, and He's prepping them right now with what they're gonna teach. I love that.

0:16:52 LZ: I thought that was so cool.

0:16:53 TH: It is so cool. Thank you for bringing that up 'cause they do teach the people. Okay. Well then, this is so cool, Lisa, because here's what the number 12 means in Hebrew and why it's so important for us to know this because the number 12, it is considered the perfect number and it symbolizes God's power and authority. It also serves as a perfect governmental foundation. So, any time you read 12 in scripture, that's the purpose behind it. God's power and authority, his governmental foundation and it can also symbolize completeness. I love that number.

0:17:25 LZ: That was awesome.

0:17:27 TH: And it's cool. I love what you just put with it, Lisa, is that he's calling 12 now to show his power and authority to all these people, to make them complete or whole by knowing his doctrine, so very cool, Liz. Great, great insight. Okay. So, Lenna, let's go back to you then. We have a blessed. Now, there are gonna be a couple more so mark these because this is not in the New Testament. So, this is significant to the Book of Mormon and the Savior is giving them a couple of blesseds before he'll go into the beatitudes. So, keep going, Lenna.

0:17:57 LL: And to be your servants and unto them, I have given power that they may baptize you with water. And after that ye are baptized with water. Behold, I will baptize you with fire and with the Holy Ghost. Therefore, blessed are ye, if ye shall believe in me and be baptized. After that, ye have seen me and know that I am. And again, more blessed are they who shall believe in your words because that ye shall testify that ye have seen me and that ye know that I am. Blessed are they who shall believe in your words and come down into the depths of humility and be baptized for they shall be visited with fire and with the Holy Ghost and shall receive a remission of their sins.

0:18:39 TH: Okay, a couple of things we're gonna mark. So, we have the word, blessed. Now, here's what we need to know about that word. The word blessed means to be fortunate or happy. Blessed are ye or you will be fortunate or happy if you do these things. So, he's saying, "You're gonna be blessed. You're gonna be fortunate or happy if you are baptized, if you do repent." When He says, "Come down in the depths of humility." Boy, I don't know if there's any better way to describe repenting and seeking repentance. And then, you be visited with fire of the Holy Ghost and then you'll receive a remission of your sins. Okay. Those are the first three blesseds he gives. And now, we jump into these beatitudes. Now, Verses 3 through 11, we're gonna mark some things in your new color. So, I'm just gonna go through these verses and have you mark some things and we're gonna talk about it because what I love, you guys, this is a game changer.

0:19:28 TH: Because, like you said, Lenna, for years, I would read these as well, that someone's like that and someone's like that and someone's like that. When in actuality, these verses describe you. They are progressive in nature and they progress from being a repentant person to fully repented. When He says, "When you come unto me in the depths of humility to receive a repentance of your sins," He's going to describe what a repentant person looks like. So,here we go.

0:19:57 TH: Ye, blessed are the poor in spirit. Highlight, who come unto me. That's not in the New Testament. Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Poor in spirit is actually poor in pride. You've now lost your pride. So, that's the first step. Letting go of your pride to repent. First four, again, blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted. I don't know. I have mourned over my sins for sure.

0:20:25 TH: Five, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth". Mark the word meek. In Greek, the word meek means exercising God's strength under his control. I love this definition. Gentleness is another word to use to describe meek. The next thing in progression, "And blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled", now in the Book of Mormon, this is with the Holy Ghost, that is not in Matthew. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost". Ahh, I mean when you've gone through that repentance process, I know for me I remember one time when I was told my sins are forgiven, I did hunger and thirst after righteousness. I wanted to be good. I remember walking out of the bishops office thinking, I'm not even gonna speed home. I've never felt more clean. Verse seven, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy". Beautiful. How are you able to be merciful? Because you just received mercy. So now you can be merciful to others.

0:21:24 TH: Eight, "Blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God". Nine, "Blessed are all the peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God". And 10, Blessed are all they who are persecuted", highlight, "For my name's sake". In the New Testament it says, "Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake", but I like how He says, "For my name's sake". This is the person who, when you have fully repented and you don't wanna go back to that sin or those people who are associated with it, that's hard. You might have to let go of some lifestyle choices, and you might be persecuted for those changes. And then verse 11, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake". Verse 12, for ye shall have great joy, highlight, "Ye shall have great joy", that is new to the Book of Mormon. "Ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you". So now, Lenna and Lisa, let me ask you this, knowing that this is progressive in order, and it describes you, how does that affect the way you view these beatitudes?

0:22:33 LZ: Well, every time. Every time I feel like you explain something in the scriptures, it loses a lot of the heavy hand feeling. It just feels very... Almost, I start to feel some shame or some guilt when I read some of these things. When things are clarified, all of a sudden I feel like these scriptures are given to me a lot more out of love than a heavy hand. And that the Lord is just trying to guide me along and help me rather than tell me what a horrible job I'm doing. [chuckle]

0:23:06 LL: Yeah.

0:23:08 LZ: And what I'm lacking, so I just think it's... I think it's beautiful. This is the way it's intended to be.

0:23:13 TH: Wow Lisa.

0:23:14 LL: Absolutely. I love the personalizing of this because, when blessed are the meek, and it's so easy to just discount that "Well, I'm not that". Right?

[chuckle]

0:23:25 LL: And blessed are the pure in heart, I'm like "Not there yet". But the idea that I could be. So when I read the word meek and I feel empowered. I love that. And it doesn't feel like a guilt trip so much anymore.

0:23:39 TH: Right, because I look at this and I think the minute you repent, the minute you begin the repentance process, when you get on your knees at night and say heavenly father, forgive me for doing blank, you've become... It's like the dominoes all fall into place, you are all of those at that moment. You are meek, you are poor in pride, you are submissive, you are merciful, you are pure in heart, and you will do anything to defend his name. And then it makes sense then that he can use you, and look how he does that in verse 13. Verily Verily, I say unto you, I give... Highlight this, this is new to the Book of Mormon, "I give unto you to be." Those words right there. He says, "I give unto you to be the salt of the earth". Now, highlight the word salt, 'cause this is so good. Now we know how great salt is, I can't eat a single meal without salt, and I probably overdo it.

[laughter]

0:24:25 TH: But that's not this. To the outside of that verse 13, put Leviticus chapter 2, verse 13. So in Leviticus, chapter 2 verse 13, you will read, that salt in... It is an essential addition to every meat offering in the Law of Moses. So when you would bring a meat offering to the tabernacle, you had to bring salt with it. So to the people he's speaking to in the New Testament, they're like, "Oh, we know how important salt is", that's part of the whole... Like everyone hearing this in the Scriptures knows, "Yeah, we bring salt when we offer things to the meek", he's trying to help them understand, "No you're the salt. That's what was represented, I was the animal sacrifice, but you are the salt that accompanies it". The other cool thing that they know about salt is the symbolism of it. It is a symbol of fidelity or loyalty is another word for that, so it's a symbol of loyalty, it's a symbol of covenants, and it's a symbol of hospitality. And what's so neat is that, in order to use this salt at the tabernacle, it had to be pure. You couldn't bring any salt that was defiled or ruined. Now think about that, when he says "I give unto you now to be the salt". So my question is, how are we like salt when he says, I give unto you to be this, how can we be like salt? And maybe those of you listening, take a minute to write it in your journal, how are you like salt?

0:25:48 LZ: I think with... In my own life with a lot of dear friends who have left the church, I think that... I'm probably gonna think about this a lot because I get around certain groups and I have to be... I have to be loyal to the Gospel. And sometimes they belittle certain things, they'll say things that I am uncomfortable with, and it's almost more uncomfortable for me to stand up for it, but I know I have to, and I guess I'm gonna think about salt now.

0:26:17 TH: Yeah.

0:26:18 LZ: I need to be loyal and overall, I love these friends still very much and... But I know that they know that I am loyal to the church, and I know that they speak differently around me. That will be a little theme in my head. The salt. [chuckle]

0:26:34 TH: It's a great example of you being salt. I imagine in my head the Saviour saying, "Lisa, I give unto you to be the salt".

[chuckle]

0:26:42 TH: That's really cool. Lenna.

0:26:45 LL: What comes to mind is I actually just had a little visit with a neighbor, and she talked about how she was watching my children walk home together from school. They all just kinda walk up the hill together to come home, and she talked about how that gave her a longing. She wanted that for her own children. She's got these two boys, and she was like, "I want... She said, "I didn't realize how much I wanted that for my own family," and I thought... They might have been fighting up that hill, but the idea is that even just the visual sight of family walking together and walking home together, that that gave her a longing for her own family that she would love to have that kind of unity and that peace. I love that it's not perfect, my kids, but what is perfect is that they do love each other, and they do take care of each other, and how I think that even something as simple as walking home together and not being afraid to be seen together, how that... That's being salt of the earth. I think it's also one of those things where sometimes we can get it complicate... Like it feels complicated, right? Be the salt of the earth, go out there and shine my light. But really where the tire meets the road, it really is just when you teach kindness and then they are, and then they come home together, that that was a light being shined, right? That's them being salt of the earth.

0:28:23 TH: Yeah, and that it's... Sometimes it's not as overwhelming as it seems...

0:28:26 LL: No.

0:28:26 TH: Like it would be to be the salt of the earth. I like how he says, "I give unto you to do this." He wouldn't ask us to do it if it couldn't be done. Wow, that was so powerful. Thank you for sharing that. So, that's the end of that segment. We're gonna continue this whirlwind comparison, and we're gonna finish up 3rd Nephi Chapter 12 in the next segment.


Segment 3

0:28:56 TH: Okay, so let's just jump right back into 3rd Nephi Chapter 12, and let's look at verse 21. Get those highlighters out. You have heard that it hath been said of them by old time, and... Now this is new in the Book of Mormon... It is also written before you... That's the new part, an he goes on to say, "That Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment of God," is new to the Book of Mormon. In the New Testament, it says you'll just be in danger of judgment, but he's saying of the judgment of God. Now, Verse 22 is fun. "But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of his judgment. And whosoever shall say unto his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." Okay, so what do these words mean? This is a fun one. So, highlight Raca, R-A-C-A. So this word is a Greek word, and it's Raca. What it means is empty-headed. This term, it is expressed contempt for a man's head, viewing him as stupid like a numskull, completely without sense.

0:29:57 TH: You're not supposed to tell anybody that they're stupid or completely like an idiot, I guess, like a numskull, but then it gets interesting because then it says, "And whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." So the word thou fool does not mean dumb, like we would say, like, oh, he's probably saying the same thing. The word fool, according to the Greek word, this denotes an ungodly and wicked man, and it more correlates with a Hebrew word for rebel, which is marah, and it had to do more with the temper of saying the word and not so much the utterance of the word, that Christ is condemning. Okay, verse 23, this is a good one. So in verse 23, highlight, it says, "If you shall come unto me or shall desire to come unto Me." This was beautiful. That's added to the Book of Mormon. Because in the New Testament version, it actually says, "If thou bring thy gift to the altar." So, what we need to know about these verses is that gift is a generic term for any kind of offering of a sacrifice for the altar, and he's saying, I don't need a gift, I don't need a sacrifice, I need you. If you will come unto me. You are the gift for Him, and that gift is, again, what we read earlier, a broken heart and a contrite spirit. So when you compare it to Matthew 5, he's telling them to bring an offering, but now in the Book of Mormon, he's saying, bring yourself. You are my gift. Lenna and Lisa, any thoughts or comments about those two verses?

0:31:22 LL: I love the broken heart and contrite spirit. It's almost easy to gloss over, like, check, check, got it, I've had my heart broken. But it's repeatedly, it's allowing yourself to get to that point.

0:31:39 TH: Oh, Lenna, Lenna, I love that. What a beautiful reminder that it's not just a one-time event. That was great.

0:31:45 LL: Yeah.

0:31:46 TH: Then we have verse 24. Go thy way into thy brother and first be reconciled to thy brother, and then... Now highlight this. Come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I will receive you. I just think that's beautiful how he adds that. Then we have in verse 26, this is kind of a cool sidenote, Verse 26 is exactly as it appears in Matthew 5, except for one word. Verily, verily, I say into thee, thou shall by no means come out thence until that has paid the uttermost senine. That's the Book of Mormon money. In the New Testament he says farthing. So how cool that he put in the correct money term for the people in the Book of Mormon. And while you're in prison, you can pay even one senine? Verily, verily, I say unto you, nay. So the Book of Mormon, you're like, oh, we know what a senine is. They wouldn't have known what the other monetary value was. Go to Verse 25 where it says, "Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him." So, there are two words there, agree and adversary. Agree doesn't mean like, mm-hmm, yes, okay. It's talking about making amends. And then adversary is interesting because according to Skinner and Ogden in the book that I used, they said that adversary is an opponent in a lawsuit. I thought that was pretty interesting with verse 25, make amends with any opponent in a lawsuit, kinda cool.

0:33:06 LZ: Yeah, I love that. I have a little something on that. We had an obvious lawsuit where we had a tenant who just destroyed the property and didn't rent for a long time, and I remember saying in front of my kids, "I'm taking her to court and she is going to pay for this." And the Spirit kept coming to me, over and over again, to let it go. And I think what the world... When people knew what was going on, they were like, "Oh yeah, you need to stick it to her. You need to get back what's yours. She destroyed your property and all these things happened." And it was really an interesting process as I kinda humbled myself and tried to listen to what the Lord wanted me to do, and it was clear that I wasn't supposed to pursue this, and let it go. And it was so freeing when that decision was made. And I'm sure it kept me from a lot of hardship myself, 'cause what an ugly thing. I kept finding myself getting stirred back up into it, if somebody asked me, "How did that go?" I'd be like, "Oh, well, let me tell you how bad the property was and let me tell you this," and then when I would go back to the Lord and pray about it, it was like, "Oh, okay. I'm free, I don't need to hold back." And I just... I love that that's mentioned in scriptures. That it's like not to be that way, because I think that people can get so wrapped up in that. Here's the instruction right here in the scriptures. [chuckle]

0:34:35 TH: Oh please. Wow, Lisa, I appreciate that you shared that personal experience. Thank you. So we are gonna go to verse 48 in this section, and we're gonna highlight this, this is such a good one. Verse 48 says, "Therefore I would... " Now, this is so significant, the change in this verse is so significant, you guys. So in verse 48 it says, "Therefore I would that you should be perfect even as I... " highlight, even as I, "Or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." Okay, you guys, in the New Testament, the Savior never compares himself to being perfect. In fact, He doesn't include Himself in that verse of Scripture until here, after He is a resurrected being. We're gonna break down the word perfect right now, because here's what you need to know about the word perfect. In Greek and in Hebrew, the word in Hebrew is Kalah, which means complete or finished. And in Greek, the word is Telos, which means having reached its end, complete, perfect in all its parts, just as a resurrected body would be, you guys. So I just think it's powerful that now the Savior is saying, "Be perfect like me." He did not say that in the New Testament. So tell me, how does that change the way you view perfect now and perfection?

0:35:52 LL: Well, the pressure is off, right?

[chuckle]

0:35:55 TH: Yeah.

0:35:55 LL: The pressure is... Do your best and it's gonna happen, right? And so there's a lot of peace in knowing that I'm just gonna keep holding onto my temper here at home, and I'm just gonna keep trying to do good.

0:36:08 LZ: And especially with everything else that we've learned in these scriptures, because we know that in order to be complete or having reached our end, we don't have to be perfect because we have the Savior to fill in the rest for us. And I think that's so beautiful because perfect is really an ugly word. [chuckle]

0:36:27 TH: It is.

0:36:28 LZ: The way we look at it, it's just... And it completely changes the meaning. And when you take those two, the Greek and the Hebrew word and you combine it with the atonement, it makes it very possible and attainable.

0:36:44 TH: Absolutely, absolutely. Thank you, both of you. That... Gosh, great stuff. That was a great discussion for those verses and that was whirlwind. Okay, I wanna tell everyone, just take a big deep breath, maybe a potty break, maybe you'll get a snack. We just did three fast intense segments, so take a good stretch, because in the famous Chinese proverb that says, "The journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step," in the next segment, we will study the most important step that we can take on our journey towards the new version of the word perfection that we just talked about.

[background conversation]


Segment 4

0:37:41 TH: Okay. So ladies, before we met, I asked you ahead of time to come with a story about a shot in the dark prayer. Like a time when you did a Hail Mary prayer and you just went for it and it worked out. Do you guys have anything like that? Anything that came to mind?

0:37:56 LZ: I have one, but I don't know... Do you have one, Lenna? Do you wanna go first?

0:38:00 LL: No. Go ahead. Take it away please.

0:38:02 LZ: Mine's pretty personal. Back in 2009, we found ourself in a position where we were out of all of our savings and we were about to lose our house. And every time I got on my knees and asked for help, I felt such an unbelievable presence that everything was gonna be okay. And I literally asked to save our house, and I remember telling my husband, "I don't know what's gonna happen, but I've had a lot of really good conversations with the Lord, and I feel completely at peace at what's gonna happen." Although, just like every prayer, after I got off my knees, I would feel the stirring again, the stress would come. So I found myself on my knees quite a bit at this time. And literally two days before our house was to go to auction, there was a change in our bank's policy, and they gave us the loan modification. And our house was saved and it was... I remember my husband just coming home that day and just crying 'cause he was delivering the news to me, and he was like, "I don't know how you knew everything was gonna be okay." I felt like if there's ever been a Hail Mary, it was that. But I wasn't expecting... Truly, I wasn't expecting to keep the house, I was just grateful for the peace that I felt during that time. That was really, really a crazy time.

0:39:30 TH: Wow, Liz. Okay, that's a great Hail Mary prayer story.

0:39:34 LL: Yeah.

0:39:34 TH: That is a great...

0:39:35 LZ: It's a long one.

0:39:36 TH: Well, it's good though. It's good. Thank you for sharing that. Lenna, anything come to mind?

0:39:40 LZ: No, not after that one.

[laughter]

0:39:42 TH: All right. We'll just keep Lisa's.

0:39:46 LL: Oh no, just on a... But just on a personal level, when you texted that, and then when you asked us to think about Hail Marys, I just feel like I pray in faith. There's this faith knowing that he is hearing me and he's going to give me what I need. And so I like feel the conversation that I have with Heavenly Father, on the daily is, "Please, please, don't let me be snarky with the teenagers though they deserve it", and then "Please... " [chuckle] I have some really good snarky comebacks, all the time, they run through my head all the time, and I feel like I can zing so many people, and then I lose the Spirit, but the idea is, but I love that my prayers... I don't know that it's a Hail Mary so much as, "Please help me", and then when He does, there are times where I'm like, "Thank you Heavenly Father, I knew you would", but a lot of times I'm like, "What, are you... What was that, thank you" He has my back all the time, so that always feels great.

0:40:48 TH: Both of your stories and both of you with your core belief system have something in common, and that's what these two chapters are gonna teach us. In order to get answers to prayers, there is something that we do as a people or that Heavenly Father is asking us to do. So I wanna talk about that. Elder Rasband, before he was Elder Rasband, he was an Area Authority, he got asked to come and speak to all the seminary and institute teachers during one of our summer in-service meetings. He shared this story and it's so powerful to me. He was assigned to go, it was his very first state conference to preside over it, but before he was to leave, he had a meeting with Elder Packer, who was alive at the time. And so he went into this meeting with Elder Packer, and he kind of... Elder Rasband kinda laughed at himself when he was telling this story because he said, "I brought my scriptures, I brought a notebook, a journal, I'm gonna write so many notes 'cause Elder Packer is gonna tell me so much that I need to tell these people at this state conference that I'm gonna attend, that I don't even know if I can write fast enough."

0:41:42 TH: He goes in armed and ready to go and he sits down on the other side of Elder Packer's desk and says, "Okay, what do I say to these people, what is the message you want me to share with them?", and Elder Packer looks at him and he says, "Turn to Matthew chapter 6, verse 33." And so he turns to Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, which is also 3rd Nephi, chapter 13, verse 33. Elder Packer reads this verse and he says, "This is the only thing I want you to teach these people." And so let's read that verse, and Lisa, will you please read verse 33 for us in 3rd Nephi, chapter 13.

0:42:17 LZ: But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

0:42:22 TH: And Elder Rasband was like, "That's it?" [chuckle] "That's all you want me to say to the people." And Elder Rasband just shared, and I don't have all the words, but just, I remember the feeling which was, "Elder Packer just said, if our people could truly live this verse, everything would work out, all the problems would be solved, everything would be okay." Let's go into these verses in 3rd Nephi, chapter 13, what I want you guys to do is above verse 25, draw a line, because verses 25 through 34, there's a lot that's new. In these verses right here, He's saying, and I like at the end of verse 25, He's saying to the apostles, to the 12 that He's called, "Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you will eat and what you will drink, nor for your body and what ye shall put on", he's saying, I want you just to go out and serve me and don't worry about anything else.

0:43:13 TH: And it goes back to this idea of being a missionary, Lisa, that you brought up at the beginning, because I think if the Lord were to say to me, "Be a missionary, but don't worry about what you're gonna wear and how you're gonna look and what you're gonna eat", I would be like, "Ah, excuse me, just to clarify, are we gonna have three regular meals?" [laughter] I'm not really sure I'm gonna put a lot of trust in this 'cause I'm a hungry girl. "Will there be cheese?" It's interesting 'cause he's like, "Don't even worry about that, you put your trust in me." And then we have these verses, Lisa, will you please read for us verses 32 through 34, knowing that background for these verses.

0:43:46 LZ: Yes. "For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things, but seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof."

0:44:07 TH: Now, go back to verse 33, 'cause tell me, how does this apply to you when it says, "All these things shall be added unto you", knowing the context for these verses ahead of it, what does that mean to you, "All these things shall be added unto you, Lenna, and to you, Lisa, and to you, Lynn", to everyone who's listening. [chuckle]

0:44:25 LZ: Basically, if we're seeking the Kingdom of God, there is a lot less that we're gonna need to worry about, just as long as our heart is in the right place and we are seeking, actively seeking, that a lot of things will be taken care of, that we don't need to worry about all of the details if our heart's in the right place.

0:44:46 TH: Lisa, that was perfect. In fact, let's read this quote by Ezra Taft Benson, basically what you said, this is so cool. And Lisa, will you read this quote for us?

0:44:56 LZ: When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love for the Lord will govern the claims of our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue in the order of our priorities. We should give God the Father of our spirits an exclusive preeminence in our lives.

0:45:15 TH: This is cool, when you seek God first, and this goes back to the Hail Mary prayers that you both have talked about and how God will guide us, when we put God first, all these things will be added. Things don't matter, or we'll pray for things that do matter, we'll know what to pray for. What I want you to do is take a little arrow and connect verses 32 through 34, connect it right over that line into chapter 14, verses 7 through 11. This is so cool. I love that it's right here by each other, because if you seek ye first the kingdom of God, doing that is what will then guide, what you ask for. How can it not? And so in the discourse, Jesus Christ teaches, verses 7 through 11, so Lenna, will you read those beautiful verses, because I think this is one of my favorite verses about prayer.

0:46:02 LL: Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you, for everyone that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh, findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened, for what man is there of you, who, if his son asks bread, will give him a stone, or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, who is in Heaven, give good things to them that ask Him.

0:46:34 TH: Tell me your thoughts about those verses, 'cause I love these verses. Even as a bad parent as I am, I still know how to give good things to my kids. So imagine how this perfect father, will obviously give you what is best, he's not gonna give you a stone if you ask for bread. What kind of dad would do that? And what kind of dad would give you a serpent, when really, you just wanted fish? In fact, my experience is, that the Savior and that our Heavenly Father, has saved me from many stones and many serpents. Tell me some of your thoughts, when you read that.

0:47:04 LL: Well, I don't know, in reflection, as I'm reading this, I know that when I've been my happiest is when there's been more clarity in my relationship with God, and so to read that and be reminded and to know that He wants me to ask, and then from there, I don't have to worry, He'll provide and He will give me what I need. And then so then, if I'm not given what I'm praying for, then I guess I don't need it. And having the faith and to believe and know, it will be added unto me, later.

0:47:34 TH: Yes, yes. And I think what's beautiful about the stories you shared at the beginning is, both of you are seeking the kingdom of God. That's what allowed you to go and ask for what you've asked for, I just think there's beauty in that. When you seek ye first the kingdom of God, Elder Packer was right, if we could truly do that, that all things will be added on to us, you wouldn't sit and pray for something that you knew, "Please strike my enemy, that he dies," you wouldn't pray for that, you'd think it, but you wouldn't pray for it. "Cause you know, that's not the kingdom of God, it's not how it works. And so, I think there's...

0:48:10 LL: I feel a real affinity with the sons of thunder.

[laughter]

0:48:14 TH: Yes, totally. Oh my gosh, Lenna, you're so funny. I just love these ideas, I love the connection between seeking the kingdom of God and just getting answers to our prayers, 'cause they're absolutely intertwined. And what's so cool about these verses is that, it's such an important piece, it's such an important principle, a doctoral principle that we have to understand, that I was thinking about this I'm like, it makes sense that He would want all of His children to know this. So He teaches it in the New Testament, then He teaches it here, in the Book of Mormon, and in the next segment, we are going to read and study some very interesting words of inclusiveness, that the Savior, He spoke in Israel, he spoke in America and quite possibly, other places, that leads us to believe that He taught this truth to more than just two groups of people.


Segment 5

0:49:10 TH: So, for this segment, we're just gonna start with a quote by President Nelson, and this was given to the youth at a June 2018 youth devotional. So, Lenna, will you read this quote for us, please.

0:49:20 LL: My dear young brothers and sisters, these surely are the latter days, and the Lord is hastening His work to gather Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on Earth today, nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty. And if you choose to, if you want to, you can be a big part of it. You can be a big part of something big, something grand, something majestic. When we speak of the gathering, we are simply saying this fundamental truth, every one of our Heavenly Father's children, on both sides of the veil, deserves to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They decide for themselves, if they want to know more.

0:50:02 TH: Those were powerful words when I heard that, when he started talking about the gathering of Israel, and then he invited all of the youth to be part of the Mormon youth battalion. So let's look in 3rd Nephi, we're gonna do chapters 15 and 16, to see what Jesus taught about that quote that we just read. Okay, let's go to 3rd Nephi, chapter 15, and we're gonna highlight verse 17, and then we're gonna go to two other verses there, so let's start with verse 17, and Lenna, will you please read Verse 17.

0:50:28 LL: That other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

0:50:37 TH: Okay, thank you. So He precisely says that in the New Testament, to the people, He's saying this, "Other sheep I have." Now, let's go down, go to verse 21 through 22. He's repeating again, the same thing He taught them there. Lenna, continue to read verse 21 and 22.

0:50:51 LL: And verily, I say unto you, that ye are they, of whom I said other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles, or they understood not, that the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching.

0:51:13 TH: Highlight the word Gentiles in verse 22. There's dual meaning with this word. When you read this in scriptures, here's what it could mean. So the first meaning, sometimes it's used to designate the people of non-Israelite lineage, so that's the first way. The second definition, is that it's used to designate nations that are just without the Gospel of Jesus Christ, even though they may have Israelite blood in them. The Lord's trying to teach these people, "No, I'm not talking about people who don't... Who aren't like you. I'm talking about people who don't have knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." So we mostly are referring to, when we talk about Gentiles, that's the one that's used in the Book of Mormon, people who need to have the gospel of Jesus Christ taught to them. Let's go into 3rd Nephi, chapter 16, because this is crazy. I love that Jesus is now saying to them, "You know what, guys, I spoke to the people in Jerusalem about other sheep, and now I'm here to tell you about some other sheep," and this is crazy, I love teaching this in seminary, to see the kids eyes just bug out, like, "Wait, what? There's more people?" So Lisa, I'm gonna have you read for us, 3rd Nephi, chapter 16, we're gonna focus on verses one through six, but I'm gonna kinda stop you here and there and have you read different verses. So let's just start with 3rd Nephi, chapter 16, verse 1. Okay, hit it.

0:52:24 LZ: And verily, verily I say unto you, that I have other sheep, which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem, neither in any parts of that land, round about whether I have been to minister.

0:52:34 TH: Okay, cool, so right here, the savior, He's broadening our understanding of what the statement means, other sheep. He's saying, "I'm not talking about the people in Jerusalem, and I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about even more people who are out there.

0:52:48 TH: Now, Lisa. Read verses 2 and 3 for us.

0:52:51 LZ: For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice, neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them, but I've received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them and that they shall hear my voice and shall be numbered among my sheep. But there may be one fold and one shepherd, therefore I go to show myself unto them.

0:53:14 TH: Okay, this is fun. So then the kids would say, "Wait, did Jesus go visit other people?" And the answer is, yes. Yes, he did, and he called them together, and he assembled them for his purposes and taught them the same thing he taught the Nephites in the land of bountiful. We suppose he also called 12 apostles and he established a kingdom among them just like he did in Jerusalem and just like he did in America. So that is pretty powerful. And then we have another question 'cause I thought this was an interesting question, was what happened to the ten tribes after the Savior visited them? And according to one scholar, he believes the same thing that happened to the Nephites, that they dwelt in righteousness and goodness and then they fell away. And that they believed that the same thing, it just continued on. He says, "And that the restored gospel was to go to every nation, kindred, and tongue, and people upon the face of the whole earth, including the ten tribes of Israel." So he went and visited other tribes. So now everyone's getting a chance 'cause he's a fair God. Right? Everybody gets a chance to hear his words. So now, Lisa, go and read verse 4.

0:54:17 LZ: And I command you that you shall write these things after I am gone, that if it so be that my people at Jerusalem, they who have seen me and have been with me in my ministry, do not ask the Father in my name, that they may receive a knowledge of you by the Holy Ghost, and also of the other tribes whom they know not of, that these things which you shall write, shall be kept and shall be manifested unto the Gentiles. That through the fullness of the Gentiles, the remnant of their seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the Earth because of their unbelief, may be brought in or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer.

0:54:54 TH: Okay, go to the very first two lines of verse 4. What did He command them to do?

0:54:58 LZ: Write.

0:55:00 TH: Yes, to write them. Let's put a cross-reference there. Put 2nd Nephi chapter 29, verses 10 through 13, that's 2nd Nephi chapter 29, verses 10 through 13. Because then people are like, "Well, wait. So did those ten tribes have their own scripture?" The answer is yes. We believe that they have their own scriptures. I, one time, heard a talk given in a singles ward where the speaker said... Oh, my gosh, he's so funny. He's my friend, Matt. He said, "Can you imagine what it'll be like to get the scriptures from the ten tribes? There will be so many scriptures, we'll have to carry them to church in a wheelbarrow." There is so much scripture we have yet to read. And so, turn to 2nd Nephi chapter 29. Let's just read specifically verse 13. This is pretty cool. And Lenna, will you please read verse 13?

0:55:46 LL: And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews.

0:56:00 TH: So cool. Do you love that?

0:56:04 LL: So cool.

0:56:04 LZ: Awesome.

0:56:04 TH: Okay, Liz, go back and read then... Let's go back to 3rd Nephi chapter 16, and the last point we wanna point out is verse 5.

0:56:11 LZ: And I will gather them in from the four quarters of the earth; and then will I fulfill the covenant which the Father hath made unto all the people of the house of Israel.

0:56:20 TH: So highlight, gather them in. This is really cool because it is a priesthood key. It is a key of gathering, the gathering of Israel and of leading the ten tribes from the land of the north. Now this is a phrase which seems to me more generally from their scattered condition. We talked about how earlier they're not really lost, they just... They don't have a knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now this is important because this key is given to the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Keys are the right of presidency, the directing power. They imply responsibility. Our prophet today, President Nelson has the keys of gathering, and that's what is so cool about his invitation for these youth to join this Mormon battalion who are going to help gather these tribes. Now both of you have teenagers. So my question is, what does gathering look like in their lives? How are they helping to join in President Nelson's invitation?

0:57:14 LL: Technology.

0:57:15 TH: Tell me about that.

0:57:16 LL: Well, being invited to participate in family research, family history, and they just are wizards at computer, right?

0:57:25 TH: Yeah.

0:57:26 LL: The idea of that we're putting this all in their hands and making the work go forward, especially with COVID and the missionaries and how much they've relied on technology just to continue teaching and the blessings that they've seen around the world still, I think, is just incredible.

0:57:46 TH: You know, Lenna as you were talking about this, I'm sitting here thinking, every prophet on the Earth has had this key. All of our prophets in the restoration have had the key of gathering, but this is the first prophet to actually invite and set up this... We're gonna gather at a time when we really can with technology, Lenna. That is really cool because every prophet's been gathering. We've always been doing it but never as quick as we can do it right now.

0:58:10 LL: And then especially, taking the youth, inviting the youth to participate. Right?

0:58:14 LZ: And based on what's gone down this last year especially, but the couple of years preceding it as well, if the prophet does something, there's always a purpose, but he's not messing around. This needs to be done. I kind of laugh because when he told us at the end of conference a couple of years ago to take our vitamins and then coronavirus came out, I'm like, that was literal. He really meant to take vitamins, oh, my gosh.

0:58:41 TH: I love that Liz.

0:58:43 LZ: It's pretty... He means business. This is really happening and so if he's telling us to gather together, we need to take it seriously. I think that that's kind of a common thread that I've had in my little Bible study about this exact thing, and what does that mean. How do we join in the gathering 'cause we wanna be part of that majestic, magnificent thing, and how do we not lose sight on that because it's obviously really important. It's obviously really happening. This isn't a dress rehearsal.

0:59:14 TH: You're absolutely right, wow. I like how you said that, Lisa. This isn't a dress rehearsal. The perfection of you saying that right then is because in the very next segment, we're gonna talk about how it isn't a dress rehearsal and the finality of it all, and one specific word that the Savior used to define our role in the gathering process.


Segment 6

0:59:43 TH: Okay. Lenna and Lisa, has there ever been a time in your lives where you were warned about something and then later you were grateful for that warning?

0:59:52 LZ: Back in February, I had a realization one night as I was hearing the news of Coronavirus. We had moved the year prior, and I had thrown out all of our food storage. Because when we went to move, I noticed that all of it was expired. So one night, I'm thinking as I'm going to the bed, "Wow, I probably need to figure this out. There's a possible pandemic coming." So the next morning, I wake up from my sleep like this. I don't know if it was sleep apnea or what, but my heart was pounding out of my chest. I knew in that moment I had to jump up and get prepared. I'm getting dressed, I'm drying my hair and I'm like, "I can't do this. I can't feel this panicked." So I get on my knees and I'm like, "Heavenly Father. This is scary. I've never woken up like this before," and this overwhelming peace came over me that everything was gonna to be okay. And it wasn't like, "Don't go to Costco," but it was like, "It's all gonna be fine." So I go to Costco and I have a flat, and I'm literally packing it up and people are staring me down, 'cause this is before the panic buying. But anyway, I'm just gonna say that really, I didn't need all that stuff and I was able to share it with a lot of neighbors and I was able to donate a lot of stuff. So it was great. But my point is, is that every time the fear would come back in, that comfort, that feeling that I felt, it was such an incredible reminder that everything was gonna be okay.

1:01:24 TH: Lenna what about you?

1:01:26 LL: The only thing that comes to mind is, for me, it has been the warning to... It's social media and my teenagers. And I know that it's very personal and it's very different for each family, but for me in my house it has been... The answer has been that, no, it's not time yet. And it's such a battle, 'cause you don't want them to feel isolated. You don't want them to be on the outs on the social scene. And that's not what I want for them. I do want for them a better connection with heavenly Father, to turn to Him as their source. And so we don't have a lot... They don't have access to a lot of the social media apps and it's been so hard. I've been driven to my knees often trying to figure out, is it time? Would it be okay? But just the peace of, again, like Lisa has talked about, every time I go to my knees and pray about it, for us, the warning has been, not yet. Not yet. And so that's been a hard but a right. And so, a hard right. [chuckle]

1:02:35 TH: Okay. I like that, a hard right. Thank you, Lenna for sharing that. Let's go into our scriptures and find out what the word warning has to do within gathering and why we would talk about being warned. Go to 3rd Nephi, chapter 16, and we're gonna read verses 17 through 20, and we're gonna cross-reference them with another set of verses. So 3rd Nephi, chapter 16. And we're gonna do 17-20. And Lenna, will you please read those for us?

1:03:02 LL: And then the words of the prophet Isaiah shall be fulfilled. Which say, Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: For they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: For the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God.

1:03:33 TH: Okay. So tell me what you think about those verses? No, I'm just kidding. [laughter]

1:03:40 LL: I think they're true.

1:03:43 TH: I don't even know how many times. Okay. You're gonna need all the space you have around these verses to write notes. Because these specific verses are quoted four times in the Book of Mormon, you guys. Four times. So they must be pretty important. And of all the four times we read them, we probably read 'em and just go, dah dah dah dah dah, and we move right on to the next couple of verses. But they're just packed with so much goodness. So I'm gonna ask you that question again when we're done studying these four verses. So let's get into them. Verse 17, when it says, "And then the words of the prophet Isaiah shall be fulfilled, which say," Let's put that reference where it's found, it's in Isaiah chapter 52, verses 7 through 10. So what is he trying to tell us in these verses of scripture? Let's go into this. So the first thing is, thy watchmen. Highlight the word watchmen. Now this is what watchman were traditionally in the Old Testament. And there are so many great scripture references you can connect this with. Down below, the foot note takes you to Ezekiel chapter 33. That's the quintessential watchmen Scripture reference. Ezekiel 33. That's for footnote B. But traditionally, a watchman, he was set upon a tower or a wall to watch over the safety of the people. He was supposed to watch for the enemy and warn everybody when the enemy was coming into their territory.

1:04:53 TH: And the watchman, he had to stay awake. In fact, he would face execution if he failed to warn the city when an enemy appeared. So his life was on the line. His job was super important. Another thing about, with the watchman, is that they were always in jeopardy because the enemy sought to destroy him and keep him from raising the warning. So his job, that was a pretty... Like, I don't know how many people were volunteering to be the watchman. And then likewise, the watchman in the Lord's Kingdom has a serious responsibility with far-reaching consequences. Specifically you can start with saying, the prophets are watchmen. The apostles are watchmen. The missionaries are watchmen. But what I love is that we are, and Elder Christofferson said this in an April 2017 General Conference. Lenna, will you please read this quote by Elder Christofferson about watchmen?

1:05:41 LL: Of course. "While the duty to warn is felt especially keenly by prophets, it is a duty shared by others as well. In fact, it becometh every man who has been warned to warn his neighbor."

1:05:54 TH: Okay. So we are the watchman. Now, go back to verse 18, it says, "That we will lift up our voice. With the voice together shall they," all of us, "sing." Highlight the word "sing." Oh, and I love this. When you highlight the word "sing", I want you to draw a line and connect it down to verse 19, where it says, "Break forth into joy, sing together." I'm gonna give you a cross-reference, section 84 of the doctrine and covenant. So put doctrine and covenants 84, verses 99 through 102.

1:06:24 TH: And what's cool about those verses is, in Section 84, we're not gonna study these right now, we get to it next year, and I'm excited. In Section 84, verses 99 through 102, those are actually the lyrics to a song, that will be sung when Jesus returns. Isn't that cool? The song hasn't even been written yet, people have tried to write it, but it hasn't, but someone's gonna write it and we're gonna sing it, and I can't wait. So it's kind of fun on your own, go and read the verses, read those lyrics. Okay, go back to Verse 18, when it says, "For they shall see eye to eye." Highlight eye-to eye. What that means, in scripture is, we are united in purpose and understanding with Christ, we are all united, and then it says, "When the Lord shall bring again, Zion," and so Zion can be two things, we know it for sure is going to be the city of Enoch, it has been prophesied that that will return, the city of Zion, and then Zion also means Jackson County, Missouri, and how that's gonna ever work out, where we're all gathered. Okay, go to verse 19, we did break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem.

1:07:24 TH: Okay, this word, Jerusalem, has two meanings. Number one, it's the old Jerusalem of the Holy Land, and number two, it's the new Jerusalem in Missouri, or the word Zion, that we studied. But then I love, in verse 19, when it says, "For the Lord hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem." Highlight the word comforted. This word, comforted, means He has comforted them with the gospel, with His atonement and with the Holy Ghost. Three things He'll comfort us with. And then Verse 20 is so great, highlight, "The Lord hath made bare His holy arm, in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God." That phrase right there, "The Lord hath made bare His holy arm," here's what it means. This is cool. So I'm picturing a man on a horse, with a cape, but during battle, men would throw their capes over their shoulders, exposing their battle arm, as a symbol of strength.

1:08:18 TH: And so right here, the Lord, when it says, "He had made bare, His holy arm," it is literally a phrase, saying, He is going to show forth His power and His strength, in all the eyes of the nations and in all the ends of the Earth, and we will see the salvation of God, we will see His power. Okay, so now we just discovered what those four verses. Lisa, so here's my question, tell me what those verses mean to you. What are your thoughts?

1:08:40 LZ: Well, it's the spoiler, right? God wins and all has been provided, and after all, we'll sing in joy. I love that idea. I love that you brought that out.

1:08:57 TH: I'm curious to know, Lisa, how are you like a watchman?

1:09:01 LZ: Because we are needing to recognize, and hear, and heed the warnings, and recognize them, and shift our lives accordingly, and guide our families, like a watchman would.

1:09:15 TH: I think for me, it was interesting, I served a mission, and I think that's a great example of a time that I was a watchman. But boy, never have I lifted my voice louder. When it says in Verse 18, "Thy watchman shall lift up the voice." Never have I lifted my voice louder than I have, for my children. And I'm not a yeller, I don't like to yell or scream at my kids, but I would say, spiritually speaking, I am screaming my head off, I am trying to warn them as much as possible, about everything that's out there.

1:09:46 LZ: I love that. And I think what Lenna, even her story, or her example of social media, she's truly being a watchman for her family, and protecting them.

1:09:55 LL: Just to piggy back off of Lisa, I just... I love that idea of being the watchman in our home, for me, it kind of conjures this idea of, it's opening my doors, and it's inviting anyone to come into, hopefully, a safe space, and wanting that my kids to feel safe and bringing everyone into our home. And so, being a watchman not so much the tower, but being at the kitchen, pumping out all the quesadillas, while people come through. You know what I mean?

1:10:27 TH: Yeah, totally. Wow. Well, Lenna and Lisa, thank you. This was so good. It turned out better than I thought. I did not know what to expect, and I was a little worried, because this is sort of like a 4000 level college course. Would you agree?

1:10:41 LL: I dumbed it down nicely for you, though.

[chuckle]

1:10:46 TH: No. There was so much to take in. So I'm so glad you guys are with me today. This was fun. So let me ask you this then. What is your big take away?

1:10:53 LZ: I have a lot of takeaways, but I really loved... In a way, I've never noticed before, in chapter 13, verse 33, is, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things shall be added unto you." It's so beautiful, I just need to keep seeking the kingdom of God, and I'll receive these incredible promise blessings, which we know will be fulfilled.

1:11:21 LL: My big take away is just the idea that there's a watchful God, that first and foremost, He's watchful and that He will give us warning and guidance and direction, and I love that He comforts us during the hard rights.

1:11:36 TH: For me, the takeaway, and I had already known this, but I love the way that both of you apply jot and tittle to your lives, and I had never considered it that way, and so when you made that applicable to your own life, that was powerful for me, so thank you. Oh my gosh. Today was such a great day. I loved having you on this episode. I have good friends.

1:11:56 LZ: Thanks for having us.

1:11:58 TH: Lenna, you wanna add something? Go ahead.

1:12:01 LL: No, no, I'm a little light headed, I can't believe it's over. [laughter]

1:12:06 TH: It's just too much. I love how you said that. That was like...

1:12:08 LL: You didn't tell us to breathe a little deeper or something.

1:12:12 TH: It was like a roller coaster ride, wasn't it?

1:12:14 LL: Yeah.

1:12:15 TH: Up and down, loop-de-loops all over, you gotta catch your breath now, after that episode. For those of you listening, I would love to hear what your takeaway was from this episode. And if you haven't already joined our discussion group on Facebook, and if you're not following us on Instagram, please do. I encourage you to do that, because it is a great place to ask questions throughout the week, as you're studying, ask anything, and I try to answer throughout the week. What I love, is that everybody who's in this Sunday on Monday community, they help answer your questions too, it's so much fun to read what people have to say. Every week, at the end of our week, usually on a Sunday, we also post for a call, asking for what your takeaway was. So comment on the post that relates to this lesson, and let me know what you learned. I read every single one of them. It's my... I always say this, but it really is my favorite part of Sunday, is just reading what you guys are learning, and the concepts that you're sharing from the episode that you studied.

1:13:06 TH: You can get to both our Facebook and our Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode, on ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday. And it's not a bad idea to go there anyway, because we have the links to all of the references for the scriptures and the show notes that we use, as well as a transcript of this entire discussion, so you should go check it out. The Sunday on Monday study group, is a Deseret Bookshop Plus original, and is brought to you by LDS Living, and it's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall, and today, our incredible study participants, were Lisa Hutchin Zolinger, and Lenna Panisi Loveridge. And you can find out more information about these ladies at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday. Our podcast today is produced by Katie Lambert and Erika Free, it is recorded and mixed by Mix at 6 Studios, and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here, we'll see you next week. And to all of my watchmen out there, you are God's favorite.

1:13:57 TH: Welcome to Sunday on Monday, a study group... Welcome to Sunday on Monday, a study group, with our... Try that again. Welcome to the Sunday on Monday... Here we go. Welcome to the Sunday on Monday study group. The word, blessed, means to be fortunate or happening... Sorry. The word, blessed, means to be fortunate or happy. This quick quote, and Lenna, will you read... Oh my gosh. Lenna, will you read... Okay.

1:14:23 LZ: I would love to.

1:14:24 TH: Will you please read for us? Then when the saviour said, not one jittle or tattle... Sorry. Not one... [laughter] Not one jittle or tat. Sorry.

1:14:36 LZ: Here's the thing, I was with you, I am totally...

1:14:39 TH: Yeah, you knew what I was saying.