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Hey there everybody welcome back another podcast here my name is Scott Durfey joined as always

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by Dave Durfey what's up? Good to be here Scott important things to talk about today and thankful

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to be able to do that with you. Before we get started I just want to thank those of you who

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have been sending emails asking questions and sharing insights and encourage you to do that again

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or continue to you can do that at heredeemsus at gmail.com heredeemsus at gmail.com Dave we

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had a great podcast last week we talked about a lot of really important wonderful things and

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today we're going to begin or can not begin but continue our discussion around repentance and

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I think today we're going to start talking about manifestations. Yeah Scott last week was kind of

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the heart really I think of repentance the crying out which some people just kind of I think

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ignorantly almost just skips over you know the people maybe not really crying out and people

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who see repentance as a series of steps usually that's not one of them and it often gets missed

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and I think if in all the scriptural examples we looked at last week and my own personal

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experience and I know the personal experience of many of our listeners who can relate to that

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crying out it should be seen as an absolute essential part of repentance. Too many people in

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the church Scott and this goes to kind of what we'd like to talk about today relates to our

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subject today too many people see repentance as kind of an institutional activity they see it to be

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kind of through the church and when things are right with the church then they expect to be forgiven

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I'm bearing witness today and will always that repentance is not an institutional activity

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repentance and forgiveness are not through the church I remember mentioning that to elder

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Anderson how many of my students at the Utah Valley University Institute of Religion how they

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saw repentance or how they had been taught repentance really by the church that it was

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an institutional activity through the church and I remember that that really that saddened him and

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I also remember that you know he gave me a book a very thick book of stories that had been collected

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over many years 10 years of him traveling throughout the church he had been wanting to write the

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book that he eventually did called the divine gift of forgiveness and he had compiled stories

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that he thought might be potential parts or stories that he would put in his book well as

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I went through every one of those stories I marked them I I tried to put them in categories

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what what was the real essence of each of those stories and the lessons learned from each of

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those stories it was a little shocking how many people felt they were forgiven because they

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had confessed their sins to the bishop and they felt like that was the final step of their

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repentance and today Scott we're going to talk about confession and forsaking of sins and I

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think these two actually go together at least the Lord put them together confession and forsaking

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of sin in the doctrine covenant section 58 a great revelation given in independence or Zion

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or Jackson County Missouri on August 1st they were dedicating this the temple site that day

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they were having a meeting and and they're at the temple site out it's kind of fun to think about

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that because I was just there a few weeks ago again but in doctrine count section 58 versus 42

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and 43 we'll get us kind of into the the meat of this subject Scott yeah 42 and 43 of section 58

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behold he who has repented of his sins the same as forgiven and neither Lord will remember them

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no more by this you may know if a man repented of his sins behold he will confess them and forsake

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them by this I want to just focus on those words those two words for a minute Scott by this you may

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know if a man repenteth is that what it says yeah yeah exactly by this you may know if a man

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repenteth of his sins behold he will confess them and forsake them well as the Lord describes them

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there those are manifestations of repentance those aren't repentance you know that you'll know if a

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person has repented because he'll be willing to confess his sins and he will forsake them these

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are signs or manifestations of their repentance yeah this is not the heart of repentance these

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are manifestations of it I that's how I read that and that's kind of I think based on my experience

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with it and my experience with so many who would come in and confess sins repentance really at the

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heart Scott has a foundational piece which we talked about which is really understanding the

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role of the atonement of Jesus Christ exercising faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement and we

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talked about all the foundations of repentance last week we talked about the actions of repentance

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right we talked about the real the real heart of it is to cry out to God and to to acknowledge him

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and to acknowledge our in fact I think since we're talking about confession Scott too often we

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talk about confessing to the bishop and too little we talk about confessing to Jesus Christ or to

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God our father of our nothingness and our absolute total reliance and dependence upon Jesus Christ

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we we're too short on confessing or acknowledging Jesus Christ in our lives and sometimes we might

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be too long on confessing our our sins I mean we we see that confessing sins almost to be more

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important than confessing our dependence upon Jesus Christ and confessing his his messiahship

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and being a savior and redeemer to us confessing his suffering we don't do that enough so when we

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speak of confessing today I don't want to I don't want to just have people think that it we're

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talking about confessing to the bishop or those who have priesthood keys although Scott we we do

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not want to minimize that that is so critical when it comes to certain serious sins but however

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confessing includes confessing our need confessing that we're not not just our sins but confessing

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that we are sinners and that without Jesus Christ there's really no hope for us and that we can't

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do it alone yeah really a recognition of our own nothingness right recognition acknowledgement

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of our nothingness if we go back to you know the great discourse by king benjamin and you know

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where he talks about the natural man and and in there we he talks about how you know it's through

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our because of our own nothingness and and all of those things that that makes us so dependent

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on the power of jesus christ through his atonement yeah we are uh and he says remember your unworthiness

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Alma told us shiblin good shiblin righteous righteous steady shiblin you know to remember

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his unworthiness always acknowledge his sins always before god uh that's that's part of what

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we're talking about here which is which is more of an attitude right scott uh maybe more of an

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attitude of our repentance and not so much a step quote unquote step of repentance well well i think

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that our repentance and and having that attitude of repentance and we talk about repentance as a

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process that this is and and we talk about how this is something that we should be constantly

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engaged in we should constantly be in an attitude of repentance so yeah you're right this isn't just

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an event this you know and there are events included we've talked about that but just doing

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repentance is not just an event it's an attitude it's a way of life it's a constant you know we

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talk about repentance and as we define it as a turning away from anything that's not of god and

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turning towards the sun so that through his power we can be redeemed and claimed um through our

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repentance you know that's an ongoing daily process uh elder president nelson's made that clear

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all of the other prophets have made that clear actually throughout time uh and so we know that

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it's definitely a process it's definitely that something that needs to be and should be on our

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mind and in our lives on pretty constant basis dave well daily yeah daily and and such a good

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point i'm glad you're bringing it up scott that it's a process not an event and it's really

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important in that regard to see repentance not it's not a sequential thing it's not uh these these uh

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foundations uh actions manifestations i don't want that to seem complicated or or too

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prescriptive repentance is not prescriptive and it's these sequins it's not in this necessarily

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sequences even as we're teaching it i mean somebody may cry out to god and that may be the first thing

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that they do right i mean be the very first thing and then they build them they build a foundation

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underneath that that's right you know and then um maybe maybe for some people maybe the first thing

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they do is they they go to their bishop and confess their sins and maybe that causes them to build a

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foundation maybe that causes a a broken heart contrite spirit scott i don't i just don't want any of

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our listeners to see repentance as a sequential process yeah even it is a process but i don't

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want them to see it as being a sequential one well and it's and it's something that's can't even really

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be prescribed i mean there's certain parts of it that will be long in the prescription there's no

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question there's certain crying out for example recognize recognition of our own nothing i think

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these are all essential parts but they may not come exactly in the same order for every single

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person they absolutely and it's important that we understand that because because i think so often

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in the church i'll honestly just so often in the church i feel like that things become prescribed

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and it's not because of the church it's because we're humans in the church and as humans we

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want prescriptions we want checklists we want a step by step process we want owner's manuals we want

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all that stuff even men right we want all that stuff and and if we don't and if we can have that

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stuff if we can kind of put that stuff together from the teachings of the doctrine of the restoration

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and of jesus christ himself we put those things together and you know they become they appear

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as though they are a prescription or a checklist but they can't be that right absolutely scott and

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again that last week we talked about that i the absolute essential part of repentance i believe

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scott which again some skip which is crying out that crying out to god that asking for forgiveness

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and willing to put everything on the altar and ultimately one has to get to that point

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now whether they confess and forsake and make restitution and do all that first

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everybody's different yeah their their experience everybody's experience will be different well

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in their experiences on certain things will be different it may be one way with this certain

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and favorite sin and it may be another way with another character defect or sin or transgression

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or whatever you want to call it but it we may approach one set one way and another set a completely

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different way depending on a lot of things but while their experience is different these are all

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pretty essential elements yeah i mean you can't you cannot repent if you don't have adequate faith

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in the lord jesus christ understand his atonement and to acknowledge your nothingness before god

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i mean those are all just foundational yeah and and then the actions i just you have to get to all

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of this you have to come to an understanding and to feel these these principles in order to i think

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uh sometimes even start and for sure to complete one's repentance but it must it it we need to

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become converted this is elder anerson we need to become converted to daily repentance this should

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be a daily thanks god too many of us see repentance as being some uh as a result of a serious effect

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in or a serious event or mistake in our life that president iring uh in a b y u i'd ho devotional

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let's see i even have the date here 21st september 1993 so a long time and call it's a

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wonderful talk i recommend to our listeners called surrender to christ and he said don't think of

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repentance as something you do after you've made a serious mistake think of repentance is something

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you do every day so ultimately scott we should be living in a spirit or attitude of repentance

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which is uh the result of deep humility deep uh uh you know can really repentance is the deepest

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form scott of worship and we should be worshiping daily and that should be to acknowledge our

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nothingness our need for jesus christ this is all part of i think of just basic worship and we should

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see repentance as a part of our daily worship and to acknowledge the atonement of jesus christ and

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to express our sorrow for our sins which caused him such immense incomprehensible suffering

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you know to to be able to really confess our sins to him and acknowledge our acknowledge that and then

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to seek to forsake and pray for the grace and the enabling power of christ to be in our life

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it's to strengthen us to ask for forgiveness to worship ultimately scott is and and this is

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repentance i think worship and repentance are almost synonymous with me but ultimately it is a

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yearning a reaching a striving to become closer to heaven that's that's ultimately what repentance

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i think is and uh so as we talk about confessing and forsaking today based on that scripture you

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read in doctrine come that's 58 42 and 43 by this you will know if a man repent of his sins he will

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confess them and forsake them now i want to just um maybe talk about something that elder renland

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said um six seven years ago on uh in a conference talk he said that there are four impediments to

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repentance we haven't talked about these before and they seem to fit here the four impediments

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to repentance scott are blaming others turning ourselves into hapless victims that's number one

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that really shuts us down if we don't if we don't take responsibility for our for our behaviors and

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our actions i mean we're all victims let's just get that out of the way we're all victims but if we

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blame if we blame others or we blame uh actions that have been forced upon us or blame being

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acted upon as the result of our sins then it's really hard to repent second minimizing our mistakes

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well this is a big one to try to you know we we too often compromise uh our mistakes and minimize

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them and not really see them for what they really are or to sometimes see ourselves for who we really

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are as as humans sinners um on this mortal earth being tainted by sin every day we minimize we

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said just sometimes minimize that scott third thinking our sins don't matter because god loves us no

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matter what thinking our sins don't matter because god loves us no matter what oh i don't want to go

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too much off that but that's i think a really that's a really that's a problem in our culture scott that

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everybody wants to believe god is love and they don't want to acknowledge his laws they want to

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think of him as a god of love and they throw out the his title as a god of laws and think that just

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he loves all of his children it's kind of like c.s. louis said about he said uh you know people don't

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want to think of god as a father who would discipline them he wants everybody wants to think of god

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as a grandfather who just wants to go out and play on the beach and and uh play with the kitties i

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think he used the word play with the play with his grandkitties and uh and just let him go home

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and do whatever they want let somebody else take care of the problem or eventually he'll just go away

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well god is a father and he's a father of laws and he disciplines us and that's for our growth

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and for our progression uh the fourth one discounting sin by dismissing god's authorship of commandments

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so um even the very definition of sin is minimized by individuals as uh you know they don't want to

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think that they're breaking god's commandments or that he is the author of those commandments

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they may think well that's just kind of a that's just kind of a a good thing to do of course i

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shouldn't murder anybody of course i wouldn't do that and they sometimes see certain laws as being

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man made or for the good of the community or the good of society not as commandments it is a

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commandments it is a commandments cut it's never going to change because god is the author of it

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that you only have sexual relations with your husband or wife god's not going to change that

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commandment that has not changed it hasn't for six thousand years and it won't for another six million

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years that's not going to change god is the author of those commandments if if we minimize any of

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those four points if we blame others if we minimize our mistakes if we don't see god is just being a

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god of love but a god of laws if we discount his authorship of commandments and those are huge

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impediments to repentance but the one that stands out in our discussion today is minimizing our

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mistakes and they're just too too often scott that minimizing our mistakes keeps us from confessing

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i think i think it just really shuts us down from really taking the necessary um i refuse to

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use the word steps from taking the necessary actions needed that will help us to uh to make

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things right we're about halfway through the year about halfway through the uh in the course so to

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speak and here we are we're talking about repentance but we didn't start talking about

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repentance in the very beginning we talked about other things in the very beginning we talked about

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the fall and and how we should be greater our identity we talked about our identity and how

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our identity determines and our eternity you know how we see ourselves and how we understand

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our pre-existence and our relationship right and our connection with Jesus Christ even in the

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beginning you know and and then we critical and then we recognize our own nothingness in his everything

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as we go to the garden as of Gethsemane and as we go to the cross and as we go to the the tomb

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and the tomb's empty and it's because of his atonement that all of these things are able to

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happen now we're talking about repentance we didn't start talking about repentance in the very

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beginning we're halfway in and now we talk about repentance and the reason for that i believe

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is is that we need to establish this connection with deity we need to understand and feel his love

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and understand not just his love but his laws and understand that even those laws are out of his love

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and and once we come to that understanding and we really recognize hey our real true own

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nothingness we can all be great you know and and we can help each other and build each other up but

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let's not confuse that with our own nothingness compared to his greatness because there's nothing

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we can do to merit our return right we are meritless how do we get that return then is we do it

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through a qualification process and that qualification process is a turning to him and away from things

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that aren't him or in other words repentance and you know i had a conversation when we did this uh

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this um this this episode so to speak last set last season and it was with somebody who had been

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in the church for all their lives and this person was in their later season of life 70s and 80s

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and this person told me um she said scott i just didn't know how to repent every day i keep track

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i try to pay attention to my life i try to pay attention to the things that i'm doing wrong

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i try to pay attention to but the problem is is i don't really feel like i'm doing all that much

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wrong and and i and i can see that i can see that that can be a problem for people when we say

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sure we get daily repentance is is an important part of our worship process i can see how that

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can be but when we understand that you know it's through our own nothingness and because of that

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and when we take a good and this would be an invitation early invitation elder rendlin just

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gave us four barriers to repentance or impediments you call them i think he called it actually uh

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four impediments to repentance and i love these i love the ones that elder anderson talks about

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two in the book the roadblocks the roadblocks or the bear or the twin bullies right but here we have

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you know these four barriers and if we go through these four barriers to repentance in our daily

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lives and take a real honest deep searching moral inventory of ourselves and how all of these things

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relate to us in our own lives i think every single one of us find reason and uh to be repenting or

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to be repentant you know so blaming others minimizing our mistakes i okay i'm guilty already

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right right i'm both of those we all are i'm guilty already but then we continue on thinking

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there are sins don't matter because god loves us i have i have bought into that i don't today but i

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have bought into that you know oh he loves me i know a lot of great people uh who have been in

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the church who are not participating in the church today through covenantal um relationship etc

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and one of these in particular that a man that i have loved all my life but has said you know

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i just don't see a loving god keeping me out of heaven because i drink i drink alcohol sometimes i

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just can't see a loving god won't let me be with my family because you know or whatever and and we

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and we see all of those things it just god i can't see a loving god being that way we hear that even

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though that's a direct contradiction to the word of god the enemy can construe this stuff in our

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minds make them work for us we see it in society right our culture is really just look at your

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just look on any social media turn on the news turn on you don't have to look very far cultural

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culture right now scott's really confused about this that they they just refuse to see the authority

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or the the uh the part of god that requires him to enforce laws well and then this fourth one

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dismissing sin by discounting god's authorship of the commandments i don't get that because i mean

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i understand that that's out there right i just don't understand how somebody can buy into that

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because either god is or he isn't yeah and if god is then those commandments i mean come on yeah

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yeah right yeah so and again referring back to your your experience with an older woman who

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just doesn't think that she's sinning part of the problem is that she sees and and all of us

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and all of us see repentance there's something we do after we have done something really bad right

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but we do things bad every day and it's not just it's not just things that we do right scott really

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repentance it repentance should include things we feel inappropriate feelings inappropriate

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thoughts yeah it's really repentance is the acknowledging or confessing that we're just human

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let's dial this in a little bit too because sometimes when we talk about inappropriate

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feelings and inappropriate thoughts i think just by nature a lot of us go to okay i'm having a

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thought that's inappropriate in a sexual matter manner for example that's not all we're talking

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about inappropriate thoughts can be driving down the road somebody cuts you off and the assassination

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that you just committed in your own mind towards that person those can also be there and it's

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almost impossible to separate thoughts from feelings our feelings come from those inappropriate

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thoughts cause inappropriate emotions right it's really impossible to separate those yeah

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yeah but i know saint puts inappropriate thoughts in her mind and we're not guilty of anything when

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that happens no but because we're human because we're fallen he does have power over us we are all

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fallen we are all carnal we are all sensual and devilish because he has some power over the flesh

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he just does that's who we are we're humans and we should not ignore that and we we don't need to

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cry about it and we don't need to beat ourselves up over it it's part of the plan it was part of

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god's plan that we come out come down here and that we be tempted and that we be tried and we

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are every day yeah every day we're tempted with inappropriate thoughts but how long you choose

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to let them stay or if you at all feed them and i think that most of us do every day then we sin

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and we also if we allow those thoughts scott to become inappropriate emotions and affect our hearts

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because that's the center of our emotions at least in the in the word of the lord that if our hearts

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become now hardened or influenced in negative ways by negative thoughts if we allow the thoughts

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in our mind to go to the center of our heart we've sinned yeah we have sinned and we all do every

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day yeah i think i think i think inappropriate fear inappropriate pride uh there's just so many

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all of the not just the sins of commission that we need to repent of but the sins of omission

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yeah did we do what we were prompted to do did we read our scriptures as we've been asked to

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did we say our prayers morning evening and night as amulet exhorts us to did we do everything that

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the prophets have asked us to do have you ever at one day in your life done that scott no and here's

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the other thing a lot of times we will be thinking of okay in my daily inventory process and i know

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that's more formal for some than others but as i go through this daily inventory process and i reflect

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on my day at the end of the day for example if i reflect on my day and if i'm just really having a

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hard time seeing where those sins are that i need to repent for here's here's a way to do it if i go

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back and i can identify any part of my day where the spirit was not with me or was not allowed to

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be with me because of my attitude because of my actions because of my speech because of whatever

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well then i know because that's how we know if the spirit is you know we when we take the sacrament

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that his spirit might always be with them you know if our if his spirit is not with us on a constant

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basis then we know that there's sin that needs to be repented of or or there's worship that needs to

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be fine-tuned and we need to turn even with more intent and a greater degree to face the sun so that

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those things that are in our lives feelings attitudes whatever that we we can't control but he can

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remove from our lives is by turning to him that that can finally happen yeah and it's got just kind

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of as a matter of doctrine and my own feeling an opinion on this i when we say that the holy

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ghosts are constant companion i i believe that for the most part right i really do i believe that he

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he is largely most days uh almost always he's my constant companion but when i don't feel him

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that's the point when i don't acknowledge him when i'm not when i'm not uh being receptive

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or i'm not responding appropriately to his uh promptings and inspiration that comes to me

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if he prompts me hey hey go go help your wife with the crying baby if i don't respond to that

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i've sinned and we all do that every day if if i if i if i don't respond to the prompting turn

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off the television get off your phone if if i don't respond to those promptings i have sinned

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and now i don't think any of those would qualify me to lose the holy ghost as my companion right

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because i really believe the holy ghost is our constant companion if we're striving

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then we're not committing any major major sins in our life but confessing scott is an important

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manifestation that we are striving that we are repenting that we are worshiping and i think

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we should be confessing daily and if you really want to find power in the confessing of sin

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and we're talking mostly right now confessing to god we'll talk about confessing to a church

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priesthood leader or uh to the church in a minute but if i really want to find power in confessing

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to god i should i should try to be as specific as possible not just confessing my sins in the general

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but i should i should really take an inventory of my daily life and if i really do want to change

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something i think it can be really powerful when we confess that we are dealing with certain habitual

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erroneous thinking or allowing certain thoughts to dominate our life or certain fears certain

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emotions that dominate our life and confess those to god and to ask him to forgive us and to help

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and strengthen us to overcome not just our sins but our weakness as well and to acknowledge those

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in some specificity if we can not just in the generality um a little golf analogy i know that

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as much as i love golf and as the many many years i've been at the driving range and and i'm trying

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to practice to be better like we do in life that if i if i if i just go through the motions if i

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just go to the driving range to hit balls i mean that that can be i love that and it is a great

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release in my life and it it releases tension and stress and i've really feel i really feel pretty

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good about that but i could go hit a hundred balls a day and not necessarily become much better

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if i haven't really focused on what is the purpose of my practice and what are where is my weakness

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and how can i get better even even specifically scott uh focus on one club at a time maybe a

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weakness or a sin at a time or to focus even when i even when you look at the ball i just got to tell

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you from my own experience and everything i've learned when when people look at the ball to hit

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the ball if they don't focus on a dot on the ball they're not really looking at the ball

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they're just kind of seeing it generally they're not really focused on it and i just think focus

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is a really important part of our maybe improving becoming better which is a lifetime

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uh experience again we should never shame ourselves for all of our imperfections we

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god knew we would we would never would be perfect god knew that we would sin every day the profits

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sin every day we all sin every day uh so there's there shouldn't be any shaming in all of this

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but we can choose to change how we focus and how we see our lives and to develop a a plan of

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improvement and progression by by focusing uh on some of our weakness and some of our sins and that

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it helps us to do that by confessing them to god and asking for help in those specific things

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when we talk about focusing on our sins and focusing on our worship through repentance to

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eliminate the sins in our lives you know our focus isn't on our sin our focus is on Jesus Christ

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yeah i love that and it's important that we understand that and and you know it's it is

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important that we pay attention and we give specific attention to whatever it is that we're

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trying to eradicate from our lives but it's also important for us to realize there's no amount of

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personal focus that will do that but if we focus on him then then all of that can be eliminated

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and then so it's also important that as we're going through the repentance process that we

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realize and and and we maintain that focus on Jesus Christ and his power that comes to us

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through his atonement as we go through the entire repentance process that's where our focus needs

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to be thank you scott and true amen and it kind of goes back to the original idea when we start

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talking about repentance is do we believe that i can change or do we believe that we can be changed

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there's a big difference in that perspective scott do i think i can change me well i there is

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power this is in doctrine covenants there is power within ourselves we know that as sons and

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daughters of god we are innately celestial material we have the spirit of god in our lives

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the offspring of god we there is power within us to make changes in our lives but there is

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a certain amount of humility when we when we think of the perspective it's not so much that

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i can change i want to focus on jesus christ that i can be changed through him through his

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atoning blood through his suffering i can be changed i can tap in if i can tap in to the

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to the power of jesus christ through his atonement there is so much more power in that approach

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in perspective than in the approach in perspective that there's power within me and i just got i just

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got a kind of buck up here right i got a toughen it out and i can change and i know i can do this i

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i there's no real humility in that scott so so that you're right the focus always should be on

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jesus christ in this process and there's not only no real humility there but it's erroneous it's an

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erroneous um act he has false it's completely wrong for us to try and do that way because there's no

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power in that well now i we've said this too before scott people can change yeah atheists can

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change sure agnostics can change sure we're talking about muslims buddhas all them can change

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there is power within man to make changes positive changes absolutely in their lives

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but we're not just talking about changes we're not we're talking about redemption

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we're talking about reconciliation we're talking about a relationship with heaven

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and we we cannot do that just by gritting our teeth and and hang and enduring to the end

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yeah much to the chagrin of a lot of us right i mean because we we grow up and let's you know you

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and i were kind of raised the same and you know and it's not wrong but we were raised in a way

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that's you know what just buck up go toughen it out toughen it out you know go make it different

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you're it's up to you you know if it's going to be it's up to me that's right and and there's

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and there's certain power in that don't get me wrong and it's important you know there's there

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is power in positive thinking there is power in commitment there is power in trying to make our

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own lives right but we're you're talking about worship through repentance here yeah and so if

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if we're if we're really going to approach worship through repentance or repentance as a

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process of worship if we're really going to do that then we really really we really need to

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understand that it's through his power not our own power right that this worship and that this

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repentance process and remember too that you know again repentance is a full turning to him

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and in our full turning to him completely in our full turning to him we need him to help us

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precipitate that full turning to him absolutely yeah i mean we need his help all along the way

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yeah from the beginning to the end and that's part of that enabling power that comes to us

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because of his atonement and and that's that is all part of i think humility and humility plays

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such an important role in all this well let's turn to confession to the church

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and talk about that scott because i think what people think confession that's what they think of

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and i think that's wrong but that's that's kind of where their mind goes sure and i hope that

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that for ever for the rest of our lives that we won't just think of confessing to the church but

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we'll can we'll think of confessing to god and confessing our needs so in mosaic chapter 26 god

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speaking to alma you know who now the high priest of the church and is struggling to know how to

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help the church progress knowing that there's lots of sinners in verse 29 of mosaic chapter 26

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if you want to read that please therefore i say unto you go and who so ever to transgress

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sith against me him shall ye judge according to the sins which he has committed and if he confess

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his sins before the and me and repenteth in the sincerity of his heart him shall you forgive

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and i will forgive him also in verse 30 is also great yay and as often as my people

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will repent i will forgive them of their trespasses against the great truth so hopeful

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such a great hopeful doctrine that as often as people repent him will i god forgive them their

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trespasses against me i mean i mean there's a god of love and a god of law right yeah that

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repentance is a law it is a commandment and he is a god of love because as often as we keep that

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commandment and as often as we repent he will he will forgive so i i really love that and

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uh when it comes to confession into the church there are certain men who have been set apart

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who have been given certain keys and and powers and gifts rights and privileges uh responsibility

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to hear sin i've been i've been blessed to be able to be in that position from time to time

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throughout my life where others have confessed to me which is i i think such a miraculous process

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because it's it's really amazing scott how many times i receive confessions at the missionary

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training center and and how those things there would there's a certain mantle about that and uh

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the the bishop is called the common judge in israel i mean he has the keys uh to be able to hear

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certain confessions to hear confessions from from uh all kinds of confessions but it has to be to

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either the bishop or the stake president it can't be it can't be to the young man's president

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can't be to the young woman's president it can't be to the elders corn president uh it can't be

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to the relief site president it has to be the bishop and why why so scott well this is a great

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question so you know in my in my it's not a position but in my involvement with recovery

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circles alcoholics anonymous and others you know there's there's a process that we go through

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12 steps that we go through one of those steps is the fifth step and so we do a fourth step which

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is we take a personal inventory we write it out and we you know everything and then the fifth step

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is as we share that inventory and these are the things that we've done wrong and these are the

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resentments that we have and these are the things that have been done wrong to us and this can be

388
00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:57,760
quite extensive it's semi-frequent that as you're as i go through this process and this is not a

389
00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:05,280
confession process this has nothing to do with it actually has indirect a lot to do indirectly

390
00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:10,720
with their progression spiritually but this is really just about the steps of alcoholics

391
00:46:10,720 --> 00:46:16,800
anonymous etc but when we go through that step or that process there's been more than one occasion

392
00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:21,760
when you know i'm doing that with people who are members of the church who subscribe to the same

393
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:26,800
belief system that we do who because of that and because of their it's important that we

394
00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:32,080
maintain that we have integrity as we do that it's important that they go through the the

395
00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:38,800
repentance process as well and it's been asked of me on many occasions more than i can probably

396
00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:43,200
count why do i need to go talk to my bishop about this now and it's a really important question

397
00:46:43,200 --> 00:46:48,320
because i've asked that same thing you know why do i need to go through this humiliation process

398
00:46:48,320 --> 00:46:54,400
why do i have to and we see it wrong when we see it that way because you know there are certain

399
00:46:54,400 --> 00:47:01,040
things as we have gone through so far this part of the course and we've talked about the atonement

400
00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:06,640
of Jesus Christ and the many powers but three main ones that come to us because of his atonement

401
00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:13,600
one of those is in the enabling or strengthening power for me there's just certain sins Dave that

402
00:47:13,600 --> 00:47:19,760
i can't i could not i you know i'm weak i'm the natural man but there's no way that i could

403
00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:26,800
resist certain things if it wasn't through that enabling power if i didn't have the power to

404
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:31,440
keep certain commandments the power that was given to me through his atonement then i wouldn't be able

405
00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:36,400
to keep certain commandments i just wouldn't that's the natural man in me and maybe many of us are the

406
00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:44,320
same way well when the bishop is set apart as a bishop and ordained to that office which is a

407
00:47:44,320 --> 00:47:50,320
priesthood office there are certain keys that he gets and and some of those priesthood keys that he

408
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:56,880
has is the key to turn the power of the enabling power of Jesus Christ through his atonement in

409
00:47:56,880 --> 00:48:03,120
our lives to help us better keep the commandments so sometimes that confession probably more times

410
00:48:03,120 --> 00:48:09,680
than we realize that confession isn't just to go in there and you know spew our problems and spew

411
00:48:09,680 --> 00:48:16,400
our mistakes but it's to go in there seeking for strength to help to overcome those problems to

412
00:48:16,400 --> 00:48:23,120
seek for priesthood power that the bishop has the ability to turn that key in our behalf

413
00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:28,000
through that confession process to give us more power to keep the commandments from heavenly

414
00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:37,040
father well i love that scott priesthood keys is power yep there is power in those priesthood keys

415
00:48:37,040 --> 00:48:47,680
and and there's another part of this that's so important and that is that the bishop has keys

416
00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:57,760
to determine one's worthiness to participate in the ordinances of the gospel and in the ordinances

417
00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:07,280
this is dnc dr and covenants section 88 verses 20 through 22 and it's in the ordinances of the gospel

418
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:15,520
that the powers of godliness are manifest so if the bishop has keys over the ordinances of the

419
00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:23,040
gospel bishops and stake presidents and apostles and prophets that they have given them keys and

420
00:49:23,040 --> 00:49:29,760
they have keys to administer over the ordinances of the gospel and it's in the ordinances that the

421
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:36,480
power of godliness is manifest which elder bennar has said that the powers of godliness is the

422
00:49:36,480 --> 00:49:43,760
atonement of jesus christ that we've talked about this before scott that whenever anyone participates

423
00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:52,000
in any ordinance of the gospel whether it's one of the five saving ordinances of the gospel baptism

424
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:59,520
holy ghost temple blessings and ordinances or if it's being healed from the sick or participating

425
00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:05,200
in the in the giving a priesthood blessing or receiving a priesthood blessing or receiving

426
00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:10,240
a patriarchal blessing or giving a patriarchal blessing or even taking the sacrament taking

427
00:50:10,240 --> 00:50:18,720
the sacrament for sure is is critical whenever we participate in any ordinance of the gospel

428
00:50:18,720 --> 00:50:29,200
we receive the blessings and powers of the atonement of jesus christ in our life if we do so

429
00:50:29,200 --> 00:50:36,880
worthily if we were an out extent that doesn't mean we're without sin right there were i don't

430
00:50:36,880 --> 00:50:44,640
think we're quite ever free in this world as humans from sin but if we are worthy enough and

431
00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:51,440
that's what a bishop and a stake president who has keys is able to discern that if we are worthy

432
00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:58,320
enough to participate in the ordinances of the gospel and we do receive the ordinances of the

433
00:50:58,320 --> 00:51:06,960
gospel or participate in the ordinances we then experience the powers of godliness in our life

434
00:51:06,960 --> 00:51:15,680
which is the atonement of jesus christ in our life which is the forgiveness of sin and all of the

435
00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:24,560
redemptive not just enabling powers but all of the redemptive powers because of the atonement of

436
00:51:24,560 --> 00:51:33,200
jesus christ flowing to our life so that's why we need to confess to a bishop or a stake president

437
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:41,040
who has priesthood keys that's the order god of the church that's the order of god's church his

438
00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:51,200
kingdom so we've established that we need to confess to now confess to proper church authority but

439
00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:57,520
what sins do we need to confess when i was at the missionary training center that was always

440
00:51:57,520 --> 00:52:06,960
a discussion a topic and uh they would always go back to a statement made many many years ago

441
00:52:06,960 --> 00:52:13,920
by president marion g romney counselor in the first presidency counselor to president kimball

442
00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:21,440
and they would always go back to a quote by president romney which was that if anyone commits

443
00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:32,560
any criminal behavior if anyone commits a crime or if anyone commits any moral transgressions that would

444
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:40,560
put them in a position where they were not worthy to receive the ordinances of the gospel

445
00:52:40,560 --> 00:52:49,280
or where their membership in the church may be in question those were the sins that had to be

446
00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:55,840
confessed to the proper priesthood authority to determine one's worthiness to participate in the

447
00:52:55,840 --> 00:53:05,840
ordinance of the gospel so i i think sometimes scott we can understate sometimes may we overstate

448
00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:14,320
what we need to confess to the proper priesthood authority most sins can just be confessed to

449
00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:21,920
the lord and if we do that in some specific manner accepting full responsibility being

450
00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:28,320
blameless not blaming others taking full responsibility for our mistakes our sins our

451
00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:35,760
weakness and then confess to him and ask for his forgiveness usually that's sufficient

452
00:53:36,560 --> 00:53:43,600
but if one does anything breaks any crimes breaks any moral laws that may put their membership

453
00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:52,080
in question or that if if publicly became known then would cause damage even to the church

454
00:53:52,720 --> 00:53:58,800
ultimately scott the church is concerned about the salvation and redemption of the individual right

455
00:53:59,520 --> 00:54:05,680
they're concerned about the victims there that that's a critical part of what goes into

456
00:54:06,240 --> 00:54:11,920
whether there's going to be a membership council or not you know how's how does it affect the

457
00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:18,560
salvation or redemption of an individual how are victims are there any victims in this and

458
00:54:18,560 --> 00:54:26,080
are victims going to be affected and the integrity of the church and if any three of those right

459
00:54:26,080 --> 00:54:38,080
are in question then one has to needs to should run to the bishop to confess them and i think that's

460
00:54:38,080 --> 00:54:46,400
a this is an important truth that we understand what confession is and kind of what it's not

461
00:54:47,440 --> 00:54:53,920
and scott the the last thing is that the lord going back to the scripture we began with doctor

462
00:54:53,920 --> 00:55:03,200
and come to section 58 42 and 43 by this in other words the sign of one's repentance manifestation

463
00:55:03,200 --> 00:55:10,880
of one's repentance is that he will confess them hopefully out of a broken heart and country spirit

464
00:55:10,880 --> 00:55:19,840
and he will forsake them and we we will get to the forsaking maybe i'll end today with just a story

465
00:55:19,840 --> 00:55:28,240
from it's in elder anderson's book quote from elder david a bednor about understanding a

466
00:55:28,240 --> 00:55:31,920
little bit about confession a lot of our listeners have the book what page are you going to be on

467
00:55:31,920 --> 00:55:43,360
here page 136 okay um elder bednar says when i was president of byu i'daho i spoke with a bishop

468
00:55:43,360 --> 00:55:49,280
and he shared this experience he had received a confession from a young person who said quote

469
00:55:49,920 --> 00:55:56,000
i was involved in immorality friday night you were the last thing on my list now that i have

470
00:55:56,000 --> 00:56:06,880
confessed to you i feel great elder bednar then explained that is not repentance it cannot really

471
00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:16,320
be repentance unless it involves the redeemer even if a person confesses this was a confession

472
00:56:16,320 --> 00:56:25,040
with no regard for the redeemer so again as we kind of conclude our discussion of what confession is

473
00:56:25,040 --> 00:56:34,160
and what it's not the focus has to be on the redeemer and our relationship with him that's

474
00:56:34,160 --> 00:56:40,960
why we do it we don't we don't confess our sins ultimately to make the church better or to even

475
00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:51,120
to to make me feel better uh confession should be because i want to be better in my relationship

476
00:56:51,120 --> 00:56:56,240
with jesus christ and draw closer to him that's that should be the focus and that's what repentance is

477
00:56:58,640 --> 00:57:04,880
well when uh when each of us approaches the worship process we call repentance i love how the

478
00:57:04,880 --> 00:57:10,960
the davie kind of positioned that for us today is a worship process too but as you know as we

479
00:57:10,960 --> 00:57:15,760
approach this worship process that we call repentance one of the things that can be scary

480
00:57:15,760 --> 00:57:23,200
and it just can be for some people and for those who don't really understand can be this confession

481
00:57:23,200 --> 00:57:31,920
process and and so i i'm going to invite us all this week that as we consider our lives as we

482
00:57:31,920 --> 00:57:37,600
consider our worship through repentance as we consider how are we coming to him through

483
00:57:37,600 --> 00:57:44,240
repentance are we really putting him at the center of it as dav just mentioned there but also

484
00:57:44,240 --> 00:57:52,560
so are we are we really seeing it as jesus christ as the center of it because if we are

485
00:57:53,200 --> 00:57:59,200
you know then the confession just helps us draw closer to him we some of the barriers again that

486
00:57:59,200 --> 00:58:04,800
i'll add that you know we'll we'll sometimes see that that will keep us from confession is what will

487
00:58:04,800 --> 00:58:10,720
other people think of me you know we really in our society in our culture we really have a and i

488
00:58:10,720 --> 00:58:14,720
think it's been that way in all cultures and societies throughout the history of the world and

489
00:58:14,720 --> 00:58:21,200
will be forever and ever until the until that glorious day of the ushering in of the millennium

490
00:58:21,200 --> 00:58:29,360
but until then you know we will struggle against that let's let's take this week let's change our

491
00:58:29,360 --> 00:58:36,560
focus on repentance to worship through repentance worship through repentance to draw us closer to

492
00:58:36,560 --> 00:58:41,760
him and putting him in the center of all that we do and as we do that i promise us and and i and i

493
00:58:41,760 --> 00:58:47,840
can make this promise because it's been doctrinally given to us through our prophets and apostles and

494
00:58:47,840 --> 00:58:54,160
the lord jesus christ himself in the doctrine of covenants that as we do this he'll draw closer to us

495
00:58:54,160 --> 00:59:00,640
and we will fill his redeeming powers dav amen scott and that's a daily choice thanks so much for

496
00:59:00,640 --> 00:59:06,720
being with us again today i love i i know that many of you love also the things that we're talking

497
00:59:06,720 --> 00:59:12,240
about here and how i feel the spirit now it draws me closer to him may we focus on that this week

498
00:59:12,240 --> 00:59:17,680
as we focus on our worship through repentance that'd be our prayer we look forward to being with you

499
00:59:17,680 --> 00:59:33,600
again next week and until then have a great week everybody