Hey there everybody and welcome back to another podcast of Redeemed Through His Blood. Scott
or Monday. I didn't know you did that. I don't but I'd love to. It's kind of like, you know,
hunt for Easter eggs. Yeah. And I went to, there's a wonder stone. Did you know that
there's a rock called a wonder stone? And just the name kind of got my mind and imagination
going. And they have a quarry out by Vernon. And so I got on a map and found the dirt road
and went out and found a quarry and Chris and I were walking around picking up wonder
stones. I have no idea what that even looks like. Well, everybody should Google and look
those up. I'll have to Google that. Yeah. If they want to buy some, I have a. You've
got some for sale. That's awesome. That's good to know. I've had a great week. I had
an experience this week, Dave, that really kind of relates to, you know, what we do
here. I was, you know, as my one of my responsibilities and my calling is to conduct interviews. And
I had an interview, I guess it was a little over a week ago. And this is a common theme.
I hear it with people quite frequently. I know you do too. People who have been in the
church a long time and and for whatever reason, they're at a season in their life when their
service is just not as intense serving and knowing callings and stuff like that. So as
it may be a once used to be and I mean lots of reasons for that. Yeah. And you know, these
are people who have been bishops and in state presidencies, you know, and all kinds of different
things like that. So I'm having this conversation and you know, we're just talking about how
we what are we doing to maintain a spiritual relationship and having the Holy Ghost present
in our life all the time. And anyway, it was just brought up that this person is just like,
you know, I used to study the scriptures all the time and I used to read and I but now
that I just I don't really have a reason to he says I'm not teaching any classes. I'm
I'm just I just yeah, there's some truth just don't really have a don't feel needed. That's
right. You don't have a need to but there's a but there's a gap here and that here's the
gap. The gap is and this is you know, this is the conversation and this is the thing
we need to know. We're not necessarily at some points in our life, you know, obviously
we're studying the scripture so that we can teach them. Obviously at points in our life,
we're studying the conference talks so that we can give a lesson on it to you know, and
very or participate in a lesson and things like that. But the real reason we do that
that we've been talking about and we've really spent a lot of time about this over the last
several episodes, recent episodes, is so that we can have the administrator of the Atonement
of Jesus Christ in our lives. If at any point in our lives, we want the effects of the Atonement
of Jesus Christ to be working in our life, then we need the administrator to be present
in our life and those are some of the ways that we get those. And so you know, I think
we need to expand our vision on why we do certain things in the church. You know, I
think it's correct. I think it's the most important thing perhaps that we can do when
we do those things is to allow the Holy Ghost to be at work in our lives. Yeah, to be alive
in the spirit and to walk with the spirit to live in the spirit. Yeah, Paul, Paul was
so good at expressing the importance and glations about living in the spirit, walking in the
spirit and living with the fruits of the spirit. Yeah, that's that's really critical. And
we all need to be intentional about that, Scott. I know, we all need to be more intentional
and the question we should all be asking ourselves, whether we have a calling in the church or
not, whether we feel needed or not is what can I stop doing? Or what can I start doing
to enjoy as a constant companion, the gift of the Holy Ghost? Yeah. Honestly, that that's
probably I think the most important question we can ask ourselves because the Holy Ghost
is the administrator of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our life. And in all that we've
been talking about for the last several weeks here in season two is how can we access the
Atonement of Jesus Christ and draw closer to him? And the answer to that is to live
with the spirit of the Holy Ghost in our life to be worthy enough to have the spirit. And
you know, I used to think this, Scott, when I was on my mission, I used to think, wow,
it's really hard to get the spirit and it's so easy to lose the spirit. You know, if I
slept in one of the three mornings that I slept in on my mission, I would lose the spirit
and I would feel guilty and feel like I was going to hell. And I used to think, ah, it's
so easy to lose the spirit. And it really takes a lot of work to keep the spirit. I
thought that I remember distinctly thinking that if I didn't write it or say it out loud.
And and now 40, 50 years later, I am completely reversed on that. It is so hard for me to
lose the spirit. And it is really pretty simple to obtain the spirit by just simply
asking, desiring, striving. You know, it's so easy really to get the spirit. The spirit
I know wants to be with us. Right. The spirit's not. And if we arbitrarily, if we make a mistake
or we sin, going to leave us. Yeah. If we're in the covenant and our desires are to do good,
then we may not be keeping all the commandments. But if we desire to do good, the spirit's
not going to leave us. It's really, it's really pretty easy, simple, maybe is a better word
to get the spirit. And it's pretty difficult for us to really lose the spirit and become
past feeling. So I am I'm really grateful for the willingness and the generosity of
the Holy Ghost to be with us always. Yeah, me too. Me too. I you know, I've heard you
say that before, you know, and I think I heard have heard Elder Bednar say that, you know,
that it's kind of difficult to lose the spirit, you know, but I wonder how many of our listeners
have experienced that or have that experience in their own lives. And so, you know, maybe
we start with a super early invitation today. And I would just invite all of us to just
take a self assessment on what is our relationship with the spirit? What does it look like? Where
could it be better? But and and and maybe this is the most important part of that. What
am I doing? Or what do I need to stop doing? Or or what do I need to start doing better
to have it as a better to have the spirit more noticeable? I think to be more intentional
about it, to be more mindful about it. You know, Scott, I think that a lot of people
think that the spirit has left them when in fact, the spirit has not left them. They're
just not paying attention. Yeah, probably they're just not living an intentional life.
They're not being mindful and they're not paying attention because I really believe
the spirit almost has to be driven away. I don't think it's it's not the spirit is
not so delicate that he that he will leave us at every arbitrary sin or mistake or bad
thought that we think or acts that we commit, you know, I we have to almost leave him before
he will leave us. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Great perspective. We I take that pretty
seriously and we're going to talk about the covenant relationship that we have by partaking
of the sacrament, Scott, and when we always remember Christ, the spirit will always be
with us. Even if it's remembering him in our effort to repent of sin, the Holy Ghost will
be with us. The Holy Ghost, I think the Holy Ghost comforts us not just when we lose a
loved one or when we're mourning over some some loss or tragedy. The Holy Ghost comforts
us and strengthens us in our sins that he should give us encouragement if we're listening
and seeking for his companionship. The Holy Ghost will encourage us to he'll walk us through
the process of repentance. There will be grace at the beginning of the repentance process,
not just at the end. Yeah. And all throughout it. That would that would that's been my experience.
You know, when I I'm still constantly repenting, but when I went through a big repentance process,
you know, as I was working my way back into membership of the church, you know, and things
of that nature, I had the opposite mindset that you just described. I had the mindset
of what I described earlier, you know, that it is hard to to happen. And I had that mindset
and that belief. But somebody and I don't remember who or how or maybe I was maybe I talked to you
throughout. I don't remember how or where this took place. But at some point, there was kind
of a capitulation for me around all of that. And I began to feel that grace and I began to feel
I don't know that I had ever and it's hard to say because we don't know how to quantify and
measure, you know, and create metrics around feelings. But I don't know that I had ever felt
a more direct direction from the Spirit than I did during that process in my life, even before I
was rebaptized. Well, I think any loving parent would be the, you know, be the, you know, the first
to give us attention. Yeah, I agree. When he knows when we're when he knows we're in need,
if there's any desire on our part to receive that help and attention. Yeah. And he's going to send
us the Holy Ghost and give us all that he can give us and all that we need in order to come back and
to repair and to be healed by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We'd all do well by modeling our
parenting after him. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Anyway, that was important. Run to our aid. He'll sucker
us. Run to our aid. That's right. Yeah. Well, last week, Scott, we were talking about covenants.
We spoke a lot about the covenant relationship we read from President Nelson's training to
General Authorities, excerpt of which was in the the Leona magazine and how he talks about
covenants and covenant making and how the covenant gives us a special endowment of love
and care from our loving Heavenly Father. And I want to continue, I guess, in kind of that vein
and talk about, I think we introduced the idea that the sacrament is the renewing of all
of all covenants that we make, not just our baptismal covenant, Scott, but all covenants that we make.
We've talked about on this podcast the difference of different degrees in which we
take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, the difference in our standing with him and
how when we're baptized, we are adopted by Jesus Christ and he becomes the father of our spiritual
life, not the father of our spirits, but the father of our spiritual lives. And he becomes
to us like a father and we take upon ourselves his name when we're baptized. And then when we go to
the temple, we become joint heirs. We receive a new name there and we have standing and we become
joint heirs. I think that, you know, one of the great talks or not talks, it's actually a well
researched article, it's been in different sources. And I think our listeners could just
probably Google it and find it. But I've always loved it. It's called The Lord Will Redeem His
People, Adoptive Covenant and Redemption in the Old Testament in Book of Mormon. That's the name
of the article. And it's written by Jennifer Clark Lane. Jennifer is a professor and I think she's
been a vice president or different positions at BYU at Hawaii. That's actually available.
If you'll just go to byu.edu. Actually, if you just do a Google search with all that,
it'll come up. It's under Religious Study Center from Brigham Young University.
I really recommend our listeners, if they want to really study more about this topic,
to go to this article and to read it carefully. I think it will really give them an increased
vision and an increased sense of gratitude for the covenants of the restored gospel of Jesus
Christ. And that they'll see the patterns that go all the way back into the Old Testament,
Adam and Eve and Abraham and Sarah. And she talks about the importance of a new name.
How important a new name was as a symbol of entering into a covenant, the higher covenant
with God and how when we're baptized, we get a new name. We become known as the children of Christ,
Messiah 5-7. And in the temples, we receive a new name and we receive a new standing as joint
heirs with Jesus Christ. And anyway, she discusses some of the symbols and the doctrine of making
and keeping covenants. So I really recommend that to our listeners. That's been helpful to me over
the years. And I go back to it and probably reread it. I don't know, a couple times a year,
probably. I just think, Scott, we are a covenant people. The gospel of Jesus Christ has always
been that way. It hasn't just, it's never been Old Testament with Jehovah through, even through
before the law of Moses and through the law of Moses and into the New Testament. Jesus has always
been a covenant God with us. Goel, he is our Redeemer. He's our Mediator. He's the Messiah.
He's the Christ. He's the anointed one and he wants us to be anointed and we make covenants
with him when we do that. You know, when we go to the temple, we're washed. There's so much symbolism
in that. And it's throughout the Bible, it's throughout the scriptures. We're anointed.
Messiah literally means anointed, the anointed one. We're anointed as his. I think we've talked
about that, you know, the horn of oil in the temple is one of the most sacred symbols and emblems
within the temple itself is the horn of oil, which is another symbol of Christ. And we're anointed
with this horn of oil and we take upon ourselves Jesus Christ as we're washed clean and as we are
anointed become kings and queens and as we're clothed in the holy garment, which is symbolic of
the skins given to Adam and Eve with markings that are symbolic of, again, our relationship with
Jesus Christ, which are also part of the the the bell ceremony. I mean, there's just so much in
that there's probably not more I can say, but everything about the temple, Scott, is about us
drawing closer to Jesus Christ in a more personal familial covenantal relationship.
We're family, we're joint heirs, we're in the covenant. I am grateful that all of that has been
restored in these in these latter days. I know there's been a lot of talk about
some of the changes that have been made in the temple. You know, recently, I've, I'm a little
older than you, Scott, but I remember, wow, there's been so many changes in my lifetime.
And there were changes before that. And the language, I mean, the ordinances themselves
haven't changed, but the language has changed over time. And a little bit the process of how we
do the ordinances, but the ordinances and the covenants are still there.
Yeah, it's just the presentation that's presentation. It's changed. Yeah, the language.
Yeah. Some of the language. Yeah, you're not that much older than me. I remember those
early days when I first took out my endowment, which is so kind of Heavenly Father. Oh, yeah.
That he that he teaches us according to our language and our culture. In fact, when it went,
Scott turned to 2 Nephi 31 really quick, then I think it's verse three. And read verse three,
which I think for those who are interested in the changes of the ordinance of the temple,
not not the ordinance, but the language of the temple. This is maybe helpful.
2 Nephi 31 verse three. Yeah, for my soul delighteth in plainness.
Yeah. For after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God
giveth light unto the understanding, for he speaketh unto men according to their language,
unto their understanding. And we could say language and culture. Right.
Right. The Lord, the Lord works with us according to our language of our time,
culture of our time, understanding our understanding. He he wants us to understand
and he'll change language and maybe a little bit the the process in order to help us to better
understand. So I'm grateful. I'm grateful for the changes. And I think that it just makes it
more plain and Nephi starts that verse out with how he glories, right, he glories in plainness.
Well, Scott, one of the more significant chapters in Elder Anderson's book on the divine called
the divine gift of forgiveness, which was we both knew in working together on the book that
this would be the last chapter. It really is to understand the significance of the
doctrine of Christ and the gift of repentance and forgiveness,
the importance of the role of the sacrament. The sacrament really is the holiest ordinance
in the restored gospel. By the way, Scott, it's been so sweet last week I
participated in live ceilings, did my first live ceilings and sealed a couple together for time
and for all eternity. And oh, Scott, it's it just amazes me. I know I'm just I'm nothing in that
process or in that event. It just amazes me the authority and the power that you feel
when you perform that ordinance. Really, it overwhelmed me, completely overwhelmed me to think
who am I? I am nobody, I'm nothing. But I have been given the authority by President Nelson
to seal this couple by the power and priesthood of God for time and for all eternity with a covenant
and promise. I'm going, oh, man, the power, the priesthood, the keys under which that power is
bestowed. Anyway, it was overwhelming for me. It was just so sweet. I'll never forget it.
And look forward to hopefully enjoying that experience weekly now as the Saratoga Springs
Temple is now open and operating to anyone who wants to come. And we hope that everyone will
want to come. And I'm a functioning patriarch. Hi. Yeah, we were talking about our stake president
again and our new stake president to is now informed me that I he wants me to continue
to give patriarchal blessings. So little less some important events in my life. But the point of all
of that is Scott, the power of the of the priesthood and the importance of ordinances and the
Holy Spirit of promise that seals these ordinances. And then to think about every time we partake of
the sacrament, yeah, we renew every covenant we have made. I told the couple that I married,
I guess that's why I was thinking of this. I told the couple that that we're married the
during Celeste last Friday that when they partake of the sacrament, they should think about kneeling
at this altar. You're renewing this covenant of celestial marriage. When you partake of the
sacrament, now you should think of Jesus. And you think you should think that because of him,
all of these blessings and all these powers and gifts are available to us because of the atonement
of Jesus Christ. And you should think of his torn flesh as you take a piece of that torn bread.
And you should think of his blood as you take that little cup that came from every poor.
And you should think about all of that. But you should also think about this altar.
As you kneel here at the altar, every time you partake of the sacrament, I hope you'll think of
this covenant and that you're making with each other and with God all possible because of Jesus
Christ. Anyway, when we partake of the sacrament, we are not only repenting of our sins and again
and again receiving all the application and the accessing the power of the atonement of Jesus
Christ in our life by participating in a holy ordinance. But we are renewing all the covenants
of washing and nointing all of the temple ordinances and covenants in our life.
You know, the sacrament points us to the temple. Well, as we do that, Scott, I hope that our
listeners can use the sacrament to be the culmination in some ways of all the covenants that
they participate in. And I think Elder Holland and other brethren have said that it should be
the most important hour in our week. Yeah. I've taken that pretty seriously. I know Deb has too.
From Sunday to Sunday, sacrament to sacrament, I'm thinking of the next opportunity I'll have to
partake of the sacrament and to continue to receive a remission of my sins to retain that
forgiveness. Right. Right. The most important hour of our week is to participate in a sacrament
meeting and the most important few minutes or moments of our life is to sit there and ponder
the sacrament. I was grateful for our bishop who last Sunday stood up before the sacrament,
before we sang the sacrament hymn and began the ordinance. I think that for me, it almost begins
the ordinance the minute we begin to sing the sacrament hymn. I hope that everyone really
sings and thinks about the words of those sacrament hymns would have been carefully chosen by the
brethren in that one little section of about 20 or 30 hymns in our hymn book that all point us to
Jesus Christ and we begin to think about him. I really believe it begins with that hymn.
I know that when Jesus right before he went to Gethsemane, what did he do? They sang a hymn.
That was kind of the beginning. Yeah. And so we, before we sang the hymn,
our sweet bishop got up and asked us, just said, I felt impressed to ask you to put your phones
on the airplane mode or turn them off. He said, I've used my phone during the sacrament to read
scriptures. Sure. And I've done that myself, Scott. So have I. But he said, I'm asking you to turn it
off. And I've also opened my phone to read scriptures and get a text in the middle of that
because I haven't put it on exactly. And that distracts me. Yeah. Exactly. And I've seen members
and I'm not I'm not judging or condemning, but I've seen members, you know, who are looking at
different things on their phone during the sacrament. And I just think it's inappropriate.
I don't know if we understand really, Scott, how sacred the sacrament is in our worship.
Joseph Fielding Smith. I almost looked this up and brought the book with me today. It's in his
volume of five books called the answers to gospel questions. But there's a part in there where somebody
asked a question about the sacrament and the significance of the sacrament in our worship.
And he he says, quote, whispering during the sacrament is a sin.
That was Joseph Fielding Smith. Yeah. I think there's an exclamation mark at the end of that sentence.
Knowing him there probably is. Whispering during the sacrament is a sin. Yeah. Now,
I'm glad he felt that way. And I've no doubt whispered and all of us have during the sacrament.
And we've sinned and hopefully we're forgiven right after we take the bread and water. Right.
Yeah. But I do notice that there are sometimes communication going on that doesn't really need
to be taking place. I do notice with some small children that that maybe maybe instead of doing
certain activities, maybe maybe they could be taught, you know, when they're when they're as
young as two or three or four years old, maybe they can be taught that, hey, this is a time when
we don't read just any book. This is when we focus on the book that you have for them to read about
Jesus. This is when we just focus on Jesus for 15, 20 minutes here. We're going to focus on
Jesus and we're not going to be able to whisper or talk. I remember trying to teach that to my
children and I'm sure I wasn't as successful as I wanted to be. But I had a desire to try to get
them to understand that. And if they asked me a question or something, I would say, I'll tell you
after the sacrament. We'll talk about it after the sacrament. We can't. We're, let's not talk
during the sacrament. I just think that's really important that we just really focus, laser focus
on the Savior, His suffering and Scott, our covenants. Right. Yeah. Our covenants are our name
that we are called after Christ, that we have faith in the name of Jesus Christ, that we have
received a standing, that we have this covenantal familial relationship with Jesus and we're renewing
that covenant relationship every time we partake of the sacrament. So in Elder Anderson's book,
he, he quotes some things here by Elder Oaks. And I wanted to share that with our listeners
this morning, Scott. He's talking about always having His Spirit to be with us, the promise,
the great promise of the sacrament is to always have His Spirit, which we've been talking about,
the importance of having the Holy Ghost in our life. And I'm on page 269 in Elder Anderson's
book, The Divine Gift of Forgiveness. Always have His Spirit to be with us. President Dalene
Oaks said, I believe that the promise to always have His Spirit to be with us, not only refers
to the Holy Ghost, but also to the ministering of angels. Those who worthily partake of the
sacrament enjoy the companionship of the Spirit of the Lord and the ministering of angels.
I'm sure that he bases that on, I remember that talk, he bases that upon what the keys of the
Aaronic priesthood, who have the keys of administering the sacrament, and that they have the keys of
the ministering of angels. So when the sacrament is passed, we not only are signifying that we
desire to have the Holy Spirit to always be with us, but we also receive the blessing of the ministering
of angels, which is also such sweet as part of my temple assignment, Scott, because I know that
there are angels who come into those. I mentioned that in the live ceiling that there were others
there from the other side of the veil who were interested in this ordinance and who were participating
in it, observing it. On page 269, continuing, as we partake of the sacrament, we reflect on our
own personal needs and concerns, because it is broken and torn. President Dallin H. Oakes explains,
each piece of bread is unique, just as the individuals who partake of it are unique.
We all have different sins to repent of. We all have different needs to be strengthened
through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we remember. I think that's one of the
powerful symbols that individuals can focus on as they partake of that little piece of bread.
They could focus on the torn, how it's been torn, the uneven. It's not perfectly symmetrical.
It's broken. It's been broken. We're all broken, in a sense, Scott, when we sin.
To partake of that little piece of bread, they should think about that important symbol and how
Jesus allowed himself to be broken and torn and his heart ruptured, all of that for the pains and
sicknesses and sins of his people. So there are just so many symbols in the sacrament.
I don't know that there's anything more important than we can be discussing than our experience
of partaking of the sacrament. Here's why. We began this entire podcast with who we are and
whose we are and our identity. We talked about gratitude as the beginning of desire.
Eventually, as we learn more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how the effects of the Atonement
of Jesus Christ in our lives take away the effects of the fall, the spiritual and the physical death.
We all have things that as we approach the sacrament table each week, we all have things
in our lives, regardless of our level of worthiness or unworthiness. We all have things in our lives
that we need to have the Spirit of the Holy Ghost with us. And among them, probably top among them,
is to retain that remission of our sins. When we talk about retaining a remission of sins,
we are obviously talking about the whole purpose or one of the main purposes of putting on the
Atonement of Jesus Christ so that we can have that. We've also talked about over the last
several weeks the importance of having the Holy Ghost with us as a companion. Well, in a talk
given in April of 2016 by Elder Bednar, where he talks about the name of the talk is always retain
a remission of your sins. We have one of the most amazing Relief Society presidents in our
ward. And a couple of weeks ago, she gave a talk in sacrament meeting about the sacrament,
and she referenced this talk quite a bit. And I tell you, this is one time when I really felt
the administration of the Holy Ghost, even as somebody was talking in sacrament meeting,
is when she was talking about this, and I was talking to her about it afterwards,
she happens to be my next door neighbor. So we have an opportunity to converse her husband and I
are really close friends as well. And anyway, this is one of the things that he says to
comprehend in referencing the talk from Elder Bednar always retain a remission of your sins
from April 2016. And this is under the heading obtaining and retaining a remission of sins
through ordinances to comprehend. This is what he says to comprehend more fully the process
whereby we may obtain and always retain a remission of our sins. We need first to understand the
inseparable relationship among three sacred ordinances that provide access to the powers
of heaven. Those powers of heaven specifically are the effects of the Atonement of Jesus Christ
in our lives. And they are this baptism by immersion, the lane on of hands for the gift of
the Holy Ghost, and the sacrament. He puts that right there with the baptism by immersion and
the lane on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. He puts that right next to those for
taking of the sacrament in in some of the most important to more fully he says again to more
fully comprehend the process whereby we may obtain and always retain a remission of our sins
is to first understand the inseparable relationship among these three ordinances.
So they're important, you know, and this is a time when we don't necessarily as we
partake of the sacrament do that to receive a remission of our sins. We receive the remission
of our sins as we're putting on the Atonement of Jesus Christ on an everyday effort by effort
minute by minute approach. But this is where we can receive a deeper remission. And definitely
this is where the retention or that retaining power is in our lives. And again, of what of
having his spirit to always be with us as we take his name upon us.
It's really significant that the first thing Jesus wanted to do
when he appeared to the people in the Americas in 35 chapter 11. And then he teaches them in
12 13 and 14. And then in 15 was he, you know, 16 17 18 19. The very first things he wants to
accomplish Scott is to make sure the people are baptized, that they receive the Holy Ghost,
and they partake of the Holy Sacrament. And in speaking of the sacrament in 3rd Nephi chapter
18, he talks about he compares it to a rock. And I just want to maybe in chapter 18, Scott,
30 if I 18, I just want to read a few verses here. He's talking about partaking of the bread,
break and break the bread and blessed it. And he had taken the water and blessed it. And this
shall ye always observe to do this is verse six, even as I have done, even as I have broken bread,
it's got to be broken. It's got I think maybe even crackers for whatever. But when people,
it should be broken. It probably shouldn't be a whole wafer. It probably should be a broken wafer.
I don't know that that's a handbook item, that that's official. But I think the broken part of
this is really important. I think leaders in in ward councils should talk about this. Shouldn't
just be a little wafer given for somebody who is what are the needs gluten intolerant. Yeah,
yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. But that it should be a broken crack, right? Yeah, or it should be a
broken wafer. Yeah, or whatever it is, it should be broken. Yeah. I think that's really important.
He said it even as I have broken bread and blessed it and given unto you. And this she shall do in
remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you. Because then it was right. It had been broken.
Which I have shown unto you and it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always
remember me. And if you do always remember me, ye shall have my spirit to be with you.
Notice the connection there. If you remember me, I'll remember you. You will always have his spirit.
And then he goes on and he says over in verse 11, and this she shall always do to those who
repent and are baptized in my name. And ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood,
which I have shed for you, that ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always remember me.
And if ye do always remember me, ye shall have my spirit to be with you.
He repeats that. Now that would seem pretty significant to me. If you're there in the
Savior repeats the same thing twice. And that it's recorded here in the Nephite record.
And then verse 12, this is always impressed me, Scott. I give unto you a commandment,
that ye shall do these things. And if ye shall always do these things, blessed are ye, for ye
are built upon my rock. You know, a lot of favorite to a lot of people have is a favorite
scripture, Helaman 512, right? Or is it, I'm sorry? No, it's 512. I just turned to it.
Yeah, okay. Yeah. About the rock, right? That you're built upon my rock. Yep. Well,
how are we built upon the rock? By partaking of his sacrament, by receiving the tokens of his
atoning sacrifice. Again, he says, if ye always do these things, partake of the sacrament,
blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock. So I don't know, everybody should cross reference.
Helaman 512 with the third Nephi 1812. That's the rock, Scott. If we want to build upon the
rock of Jesus Christ, we need to be partaking of the holy sacrament weekly. And if we will always
strive to remember him, we will always have his spirit to be with us. I don't know the process,
maybe we can talk about the actual sacrament experience for just a minute for folks. But
when I partake of the sacrament, and I think we should all try to arrive early, I know that's
not easy or always possible, especially for those who have small children,
or sometimes even harder with teenagers. But we should try to go early. We shouldn't be rushed.
We should go with a repentant heart, broken heart, contrite spirit, Scott. We should try to repent
before we go to this meeting. We should maybe kneel down in the morning before sacrament meeting
on the Sabbath, and we should review our week with the Lord and ask for his forgiveness.
And so we go repenting. And then we participate with all our heart and mind as we sing the
hymn. And we think about Jesus singing a hymn, right, before he went to Gethsemane. And then we
listen to the words of the prayer. We recite those words in our mind. Maybe we even try to
memorize those words that are in the scriptures. And then as maybe even before the priests uncover
the sacred linen, we look at that table and the linen, and we think about Jesus' body being covered
by linen. We look at that sacrament table, and if you look at it, you could almost picture someone
laying underneath that linen. And we think of that sacred experience. I think about that.
And then as soon as they finish the prayer on the bread and begin to pass it, I begin to pray in
however manner I can pray. That may be with my eyes closed or my eyes open. But I begin with a prayer
in my heart to try to remember our Savior. When the bread is broken, I think I got this idea from
Elder Holland again that I think about his physical suffering. I think about his body, his torn flesh
and the nails and all of that. And I ponder that. And then after they finish passing the bread and
they bless the water and they pass the water, I think of his blood. And I think of Gethsemane
bleeding from every pore and the effects of Gethsemane and the suffering of Gethsemane
reoccurring on the cross at 12 noon to 3 p.m. And I just think of his spiritual death, suffering
and turmoil that he suffered in Gethsemane and especially on the cross. And all of that time
Scott, I'm praying. And then I like to think about the covenants I've made. I like to think about my
eternal marriage. I like to think about the personal covenants. I like to kind of review those,
my baptism and the Alpine Tabernacle and all that experience I had. And the first time I went to
the temple and some of the symbolism of the temple may go through my mind. And often Scott,
I think of something that J Jensen, Elder J Jensen told me when he partakes of the sacrament,
he said that he would always recite a verse of Scripture found in Dr. and Covenants section 110.
And I've I've tried to adopt this as a practice in my life. Whenever he partakes of the sacrament,
he recites the Scripture to himself. This is section 110 verse five. Behold. And this is the
voice of the Lord. This is Jesus speaking to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland
Temple. Behold, your sins are forgiven you. You are clean before me. Therefore, lift up your heads
and rejoice. I really recommend that to our listeners to maybe just memorize those few lines.
And every time they take the sacrament to recite it and hear the voice of the Lord when they when
they recited it in their mind that you are clean before me. Right. Rejoice. Lift up your head and
rejoice. The sacrament should be a time of of great repenting and great rejoicing. Scott.
Yeah, I when we did this episode or whatever in last season, you brought that up about what Elder
Jensen, Dr. and Covenants 110 five. And ever since then, I don't know that I've missed a Sunday,
when that is actually has been part of my sacrament experience, for sure. In addition to that,
there's a couple of things to I love everything. What difference does that make when you do it?
It reminds me. It helps me to remember. And then during the week when the accuser gets loud,
I can remember, go back to that experience and remember that I can lift my head up. My sins
have been forgiven. Yeah. And and and I get to feel the administration of the Holy Ghost to remind
me of that because that's also the promise that is given to me that his spirit will always,
always be with me. Dave, that's become so important to me and and to Deb that we begin our sacrament
pro preparation Saturday night. Awesome. We kneel together. And each Saturday night, we pray
that Heavenly Father spirit will begin to prepare us even in our sleep. Yeah. For the
preparation for the partaking of the sacrament the next day. And as we do so, to help us to
remember the importance of the covenants that we have made to remember the importance of the
saving ordinance is how they bind us, not just to him, but how they bind him to us as well.
Yeah, important. So important. The covenant. So important. And that's the whole purpose
behind the partaking of the sacrament is the renewal of our covenants. Yeah. And and and then
as I do that, I love I look over often. Deb sits to my left. She's the primary president so soon
as before the closing prayer, she's got to go get the primary room ready. So she sits by the aisle.
I think that's maybe an effort to keep me in my seat throughout as well. But
I'll look over at her often to my left during the sacrament and she always does this. She always has
the hymn book. She's very musical as you well know. Right. She always has the hymn book and she'll
be reading sacramental hymns or hymns that are important to it. And it's not uncommon that I'll
see a little tear grip down her face. You know, she's communing. And I and I've learned also to
gain gain a lot of comfort from doing that. There's a few hymns that
for sure. They just absolutely take me to that spot. You know, one of the ones that have become
really important to me as of late is as now we take the sacrament. I never thought that's a
as a wonderful hymn, but I never really paid that close of attention. You know, they I know that my
Redeemer lives and that there's a few that have been very popular and been very important to me.
And I don't be their popularity does not diminish their importance. You know, I'm not saying that
at all. But there's just this one verse as verse three of as now we take the sacrament and I'll try
to say it without incorporating the tune. But as now we praise thy name was song the blessings
of this day, you know, think of the blessings of this day, the blessings of this day, the blessings
of this day will linger in our thankful hearts and silently we pray for courage to accept thy will.
And it does sometimes require courage to accept his will. You know, and I love that we're
acknowledging that here for courage to accept thy will to listen and obey. We love thee, Lord,
our hearts are full. And then we make a promise will walk thy chosen way. Yeah, that that is just
so it is that a powerful experience for a powerful, quiet, peaceful experience for me every Sunday,
if I will do that. And I've been pretty good at it. Yeah, I mean, I'm not perfect at it. But there
are but but there are more Sundays than not more sacramental experiences in my life over the last
several years, more than not that I have literally felt the redeeming love of my Savior as I've prepared
for and partaken the sacrament. But I think that preparation, David, is extremely important. You
know, you talk about going early, we have a lot of people I have a sister in our word sister,
Ridge sits on the back row the minute I walk in and I get there 15 minutes early, I feel like I
want to to go around and shake people's hands in my quorum and you know, welcome and and fellowship
and sister Ridge there every week before I am and she's quiet and it's quiet for her. It's
time for preparation if we'll all accept that that attitude of preparation or experience will
be enhanced greatly. Well, all of these things got covenants ordinances should give us a greater
sense of peace, security and confidence in our relationship with our Heavenly Father
with Jesus Christ and with the Holy Ghost. I mean, that's that's really the purpose of
covenants and ordinances and it has been the pattern since Adam and Eve. There was an altar,
they nailed it the altar, then they made covenants and it was to it was to assure them.
It you know, so many times we think of of covenants as a burden. Covenants are not a burden.
Covenants are a blessing. They they connect us to God and he and he will not break his word.
Oh, unless we just totally leave him and walk away and go after other gods and love others
more than we love him. A covenant is something that all of us can really hold on to and it
should give us such a peace of mind knowing that we are in a covenantal familial relationship with
God. We all know that we're sons and daughters of God, spirit sons and daughters of God that we were
created as sons and daughters as spirits before we were ever born that that through the creation
of Adam and Eve that we become his sons and daughters in a physical sense really. But
when it's all said and done, Scott, after the resurrection in the final judgment,
the sons and daughters or the children of God will be the ones who have made and kept covenants
with him. And everything about a covenant is to have a sweeter relationship with God to receive
a special endowment of grace, mercy, of peace, of joy, than to be able to in the end enter into his
rest. That's what covenants are all about. So I hope that all of us can appreciate more
the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the ordinances and the covenants have been restored. You know,
one of the first things Jesus said to the prophet Joseph Smith in the sacred grove is
they've broken my ordinances. They haven't kept the ordinances. The new and everlasting covenant,
Scott, I testify has been restored new and everlasting. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
those all those blessings have been restored. And we made covenants before we came to this life
in the premoral existence. I know we made covenants and that we understood there that that
would be the pattern here. And it will continue to be so that we are going to be in a covenant
relationship with God, new and everlasting forever and ever. And I'm grateful for that knowledge.
Great day. I love this topic. I love what it provides and the opportunity to fill of our
Heavenly Father's love to be cleansed, to be purified, to be justified and to more fully put
on the Atonement of Jesus Christ as we participate in these most holy, sacred ordinances and renewing
our covenants and considering the importance of all of those. Thanks for being with us this week.
Remember that you can reach out to us via email at redeemed. No, he redeems us at gmail.com. That's
he redeems us at gmail.com. Thanks for being with us, everybody. We look forward to being with you
again next week. Until then, be well.