Well, hello everybody and welcome out to our podcast. My name is Scott Durfee. Join today
as always by our good friend and teacher, Mr. Dave Durfee. Say hi Dave.
Good to be here Scott. That's good to have you with us too as always. So listen gang, let's take
care of a couple of real quick housekeeping items before we dive into our topic today. First off,
we want to just say thank you so much for those who have been engaged and in listening to the
podcast and a special thanks to those of you who have responded and sent notes of encouragement and
construction and criticism and everything. We're just really grateful for your participation. We
sense that you're really enjoying the things that we're talking about and finding real life
application and that's really kind of one of our many goals as we set out to do this. So he redeems
us at gmail.com. Send us your comments, send us your thoughts. Remember as you're listening to us
on the various podcast outlets that you're liking and maybe even commenting and leaving a review,
those things help a great deal and we appreciate it very much. So last week and over the last few
weeks now we've been talking about an important topic that will certainly find its way surfacing
into I think most all of our discussions going forward and that of course is who we really are.
We began by talking about who we are a couple of weeks on that, at least a couple of sessions,
and then we move into who's we are as we begin to establish a relationship with our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, our higher power for those in recovery or whoever. And you know as we do this
and as we started to identify who we are and learn who we are and learn our origin, learn about a
family name and why that's important. While this is intended to do is to help us understand that
who we are is really the essence of everything going forward because that helps us know that I,
because of who I am, I can face all things that are placed before me and I can do it successfully
and that helps us to establish that faith. So today we move into a topic that isn't challenging by
any means but it is certainly misunderstood I think or mistaught even sometimes and that is the
fall. We're going to be moving in now to why our humanness, why are we the way we are, why do we face
what we face and why even when we face of all of our efforts and everything else do we sometimes
come up short of our spiritual quests or other things that we're trying to do. Over the last
couple of days Dave, I've had an opportunity to be in a situation like I often am because of my
association in the recovery community with a young man who at one point had a few years of
being sober from drugs and alcohol and but since then has just really been facing a lot of difficulty
and it doesn't fully or hasn't fully by his own admission understood who he completely is.
Long story short we've spent some pretty hellish hours over the last 24 hours in some pretty dark
places with this young man who is just struggling. Brief background raised by a good family has had
plenty of challenges in his life like anybody else but it was raised by a good family, decided to
go on a mission and was a great missionary, did a fantastic job serving the Lord on his mission,
came home and it's kind of a similar story to mine, came home and began to struggle and he's
in his 30s now, he's got a couple of kids, two or three kids and his just life has finally caught up
and one of the things Dave and maybe we can move into it from here but one of the things that he
mentioned to me, it was either last night or super early this morning when I was talking to him about
this but one of the things that he mentioned was is that he said to me, he says, you know what I
just need God in my life again, I just need to figure out how to get God back in my life
and he even said it, he says I guess I just need to kind of remember, he didn't say who I am but
he said I just need to remember what I was created for, what this is all about. True words but nonetheless
Dave in spite of his struggle, in spite of all of our struggles no matter how good we are, how good
we try to be, there are times in our lives when the fallen man just absolutely has the ability,
if we let it and if our faith and if our knowledge of who we are is waning at all just really has
the ability, these kinds of things to tip our lives over so let's talk about that today shall we?
Well Scott it's the great test of life is to decide you know where we're going to spend
our time in this world feeding the wolf of the flesh or feeding the wolf of the spirit.
I think we all know that Native American parable about which the grandfather teaching his grandson
you know that he has two dogs or two wolves inside of him and one is good and one is evil
and that they're always fighting against each other and the grandson thinking about this
finally asks well who wins and the grandfather wisely answers the one you feed and that's the
great test of life is that do we spend time taking care of our spiritual needs are always
always focused upon the things of the flesh and I appreciate your introduction Scott and again
we're talking really about identity here in a way today we've talked about that we're sons and
daughters of God we've talked about who's we are that we belong to Jesus Christ through covenant
that we become his sons and daughters we've talked about being the sons and daughters of
Abraham and Sarah through covenant and now we talk about being sons and daughters of Adam and Eve
and it's it's not you're right it's not always comfortable to talk about it and it seems as though
it's somewhat pushed aside oftentimes we don't really understand the significance of it so I'm
hoping that today that we can help you and I and help others to understand the the positive aspects
of this part of the plan of redemption you know it's one of the elder mcconkey said three pillars
I've always kind of seen it as one of the three hinges of a door that is so critical in the plan
of redemption which we again fought for in the premortal existence before we were born so I think
understanding the fall and understanding our true identity identities everything identity determines
eternity and understanding that we are human and that we should celebrate our humanness that the
plan of happiness included celebrating our humanness and teaching us to rely upon the Atonement of
Jesus Christ is critical in this spiritual quest that we all have in this most important test who
are we going to choose gods of the flesh or god of our spirit comes right down to that doesn't
I mean that's basically you know the bottom line gods of the flesh or gods of the spirit and there's
no question that the difficulty is for me it has been and I don't think I'm alone in this is being
able to put enough energy or momentum behind my quest to really tune into my life as gods of the
spirit with gods of the spirit and it can and the natural man really makes that even difficult
sometimes too I so what I'm kind of relating to and I had this with this young man that I'm talking
to when I say young man he's in his late 30s but with this young man that I talked to last night
you know one of the things that you know we think about is you know I just keep making a mistake I
just keep screwing up I just keep making a mistake and so people think and I've been there uh two
you know where you think at some point is it all natural man and and the reason we think that is
because it is easy to get clouded it is easy for that god of the flesh of you as or however you
put that it's easy for us because we are natural man to kind of incline ourselves towards that
and it seems like sometimes when that happens that that really has the ability to kind of override
everything else in our lives and it can be a real problematic avalanche spiritual avalanche if you
will that just kind of gains momentum the wrong way if we don't interrupt that or remember and
we get back to that word again from a couple of episodes ago but you know we'll get back to
remembering really who we are and who he is and remembering that the fall Dave may have actually
been put there and I say that tongue-in-cheek because I know it was put there for our ability
to progress not just in the life to come but also in this life right yeah definitely it's part of
our progression but it is it is critical Scott that we confess that we are natural men it's so
critical in our progress that we we confess it and that we accept it yeah that it is part of the
plan I love this I love this amazing scripture in mosaic 319 which I think most members of the
church know and for non-members it's something for them to really consider king benjamin says
writes for the natural man is an enemy to god and has been from the fall of adam the truth is
Scott we are all natural men right and then and we are all part of nature and we isaia said this
and then amulet quotes isaia in mosaic 14 all we like sheep have gone astray at times in our life
we are all we have been enemies to god we are every time that we sin every time that we that we
mess up and then he goes on and has been from the fall of adam and will be forever and ever
and last he does really two things he yells to the enticings of the holy spirit and become a
saint through the atonement of christ the lord I just really think Scott that identifying the
the the nature of humanness in all of us is critical in understanding the importance of the
atonement of Jesus Christ in our life and learning to rely upon him and also upon the holy spirit
upon the comforter I every person that's ever been born Scott was born with the light of christ
not only were they valiant spirits everyone that has a body was a valiant spirit and and fought
and defended the plan of redemption and accepted Jesus as their savior before they were born
but they were also promised that they would receive the light of christ and that the light
of christ would be with them to identify good from evil and every person in this world Scott
is entitled from time to time to have the holy spirit with them in times to protect them to
comfort them I every day I pray recently for people in Ukraine that they would be comforted
by the holy spirit God has given us these gifts to help us to not just get by not just to get
get through this world but to actually to thrive and to learn to learn lessons by experiencing
the fall as we turn to him and rely upon the holy spirit and the atonement of christ you know I
it occurs to me a lot of times I think about the fall in terms of my own life right in terms of
why are things so struggle for me why do I keep revisiting the same whatever challenge it is that's
in my life right and it comes up again and again and again or they come up whatever and I'm not
talking about anything specific I'm trying to make a general point because at the end of this
general point here's what I really my observation has become quite acute to this over the last
several years especially when I say several maybe over the last 24 years now as I've been engaged in
my recovery process as you know a member of an active an active member of a recovery program 12
step program but you know the thing that it occurs to me there too is is it's like this natural man
thing can affect me not just because of my actions but because of the actions of others in other words
you know I have kids you have kids and you know and I have great kids and so do you but those great
kids sometimes yeah it can be difficult watching kids be adults and you know and sometimes I think
I think parents and and my experience has been this with parents and spouses and everything else
in these situations parents a lot of times have a really difficult time seeing this as any kind of
a blessing any kind in fact I've heard a lot of parents say it's my fault you know what did I do
wrong to have a kid mess up like this you know and stuff like that well not only not only is it hard
to watch them sometimes grow up and become adults but sometimes it's hard to watch them
as children and what happens to them as children that's right you know we're the world has become so
so far to the to the extreme in its in its evil leanings that it's just hard to watch sometimes
even your children your small children go through the things that they go through
the abuse that they might suffer or the bullying that they go through or the the things that they're
taught I mean the Scott the world is just so influential on each of our lives but especially
children if we're not careful about how we how we teach them and and the things that they view
and the things that they watch and and sometimes even doing that you can't you can't protect them
we now live I heard an apostle say this in a meeting that I attended when I was a branch
president the MTC he said we now live in a world that is more wicked than it is righteous
and if you try to raise your children in this world and you don't do a better job teaching the
atonement of Jesus Christ than you do teaching the commandments of God you're going to lose your
children because they're not going to keep all the commandments and and that's not only true
but people are going to sin against them yeah and uh meaning against the kids yes against the
children and if we don't if we don't teach them the importance of relying upon the atonement
of Jesus Christ and how he covers them unconditionally for the sins committed against them and conditionally
by through repentance based on the sins they commit yeah wow that's the that's the most important
thing we can teach our children but we also need to teach them that this that's this fall in this
wicked world that we live in was something that we chose and fought over to to come down into experience
so you're telling me that we chose to come to this life and I'm saying this tongue in cheek I know
it's true but you know we chose to come to this life we knew it would be difficult we probably
didn't have a clear concise depiction of what it would be like we had to conceptualize all this
right we didn't have bodies to have any kind of relation to you know what it is that we were told
that we were going to be experiencing but then we well we we cognitively understood but we couldn't
have possibly experientially uh understood until we experienced it so what what would what would
put us in a situation like that there to have enough trust to be like okay I'm going to take your
word on it we obviously had a extremely clear concise glimpse of who we were or who we are we
obviously had a complete understanding of who he was at that point right we didn't understand what
was about to take place not fully cognitively we did but it hadn't taken place yet and but you know
and we get back to a couple weeks ago and I and I don't and I don't want to digress to this but
you know we get back to a couple weeks ago and we were talking about how the atonement how the
how the atonement was covered retroactively and ahead of us as well right and so all of this is
covered but you know we still struggle sometimes with our own relationship with that fall yeah
for sure Scott and I think the advantage that we had there was that we could get a glimpse yeah
of the beginning to the end and then we understood that maybe not everyone would experience the full
blessings of the atonement of Jesus Christ here but they would experience the atonement of Jesus
Christ here every person that is born on this earth Scott is blessed by the atonement of Jesus
Christ I don't care where they're born I don't care who they're born to or what religion or not
religion that they that they identify with every person that's born this earth is blessed by the
atonement of Jesus Christ and we understood that and we understood that he would suffer for what we
would suffer not only suffer for our sins but suffer for our pains and our sicknesses and we
understood that that the atonement would cover us and if in this life if if we went through this
life and we never had the opportunity to accept the fullness of the Jesus of Jesus Christ or if
we did and we failed in it that it wasn't the end that there would still be opportunities in the
spirit world that there would be opportunities perhaps even beyond that I don't know but that
we would have every opportunity to accept all of the blessings and the full effects of the atonement
of Jesus Christ by making and keeping covenants with him and so we we we understood that and
and we were we were willing to say okay we'll experience hell in order to gain heaven this is
a celestial world and God God was willing not not only willing but it was a necessary part of the
plan of redemption that we that we experienced some pretty terrible things and the Adam and Eve
we won't we won't talk about necessarily the events of the fall and their decision and to
partake and how Eve was beguiled and and Adam persuaded and and all of that we won't we won't
go into that so much in this in this podcast but Adam and Eve did a great favor for all of us and
that we understood that because of what they did that it allowed us great blessings and experiences
here that would help us to become more like our Heavenly Father yeah kind of hard to understand
though you know sometimes when when people and I've seen this and I've had this in my own life too
it's it's hard sometimes to it's difficult to make the decision to embrace that what you just said
because when we are in the I don't know how else to put it but when we are in the throes of addiction
when we are in the throes of depression or whatever it is whatever it is that the atonement and it
doesn't matter doesn't have to be extreme it can be a something that seems big but may not seem big
to others too I mean whatever it is inside of our souls that's going on you know the atonement is
there for us to to help us heal and and and that's you know what you said about the atonement
has effect on every single person that's living is so evident in to me and to those that understand
I think and I'm not proclaiming that I understand this completely or wholly but those that have
some understanding it's even it's even sometimes even sometimes when when all hell has broke loose
when the world seems to be raging against us when there seems to be little hope for peace
or clarity in our lives even then even then the atonement is working in our lives and sometimes
it's just a matter of acknowledging that and you know getting back again and we talked about I've
talked about these steps from the 12 step programs you know getting back to those steps you know being
willing to turn our well in our life over to the care of God as we understand him and you know and
I might add parenthetically having a desire to understand him more you know one of the things
that we face in life and you know and I'm just going to read a little tiny bit out of a book
called the big book of alcoholics anonymous one of the things that we sometimes struggle with in life
is you know finding a solution and how that works right how these things work and you know part of
all of this this goes through and talks about how it works and then it says our description of the
alcoholic the chapter to the agnostic and our personal adventures before and after make clear
three pertinent ideas a that we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives we talk about that
right and that's that's out of the scripture all of this actually by the way anecdotally comes
most of it from the beatitudes taught by the savior b that probably no human power could have
relieved our alcoholism and you can really move that word alcoholism and put anything
any care of the world you can put my depression you can put my victim you know what happened to me
when I was a little kid you can put my divorce you can put my challenge at work you can even put
things in there is seemingly insignificant to some as you know how am I going to handle getting my
kids to school and grocery shopping and all of those other things done done in one day it doesn't
have to be some magnanimous problem you know huge problem and then b as c this is the point
that God could and would if he were sought and you know and I think that's the problem with
sometimes you know this fall creates not just in alcoholics not just in addicts but in every
fallen person so that excludes nobody that is completely inclusive of everybody that's ever
lived but you know but what that sometimes do is I sometimes know I have faith that God can
and I have faith that God will but for me not sometimes you know sometimes that I know he
would and I know he could for you but I just don't know if he would for me because I screwed
up so bad I've made this mistake over and over and over again and when at what point is God
going to be so mad at me when it's like you know what Scott you're taking this fall thing too far
and I think we see that a lot you know with just just because of our human nature sometimes
well the fall has no favorites Scott the fall has no favorites and and even even prophets
are fallen they see themselves as fallen they've seen themselves as natural men enemies to God
they see themselves as as having evil natures through the flesh it's so interesting I think
this is my favorite prayer in the scriptures is the brother of Jared in ether chapter three when
he's praying when he's after he's been asked by the Lord what do you what do you want me to do
so that you'll have light in your ships and your barges yeah and he he he offers this prayer
it's so powerful to hear him and I and he means it he's sincere and and I believe he really means
everywhere this Scott he prays oh Lord thou has said that we must be encompassed about by the floods
now behold oh Lord and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness
before thee the fall made all of us weak and then he says for we know that thou art holy
and dwell us in the heavens and that we are unworthy before thee because of the fall this
is the brother of Jared who in a moment is going to see the Lord Jesus Christ in the spirit in
his premortal state yeah so I mean how how faithful how much faith how much how good is he to be able
to have this experience but he confesses that he is unworthy and then he says because of the fall
our natures have become evil continually Scott he doesn't say that he's evil
he says that our natures in the flesh are evil continually we are never going to be free
in this life of the temptations and polls that we face every day through the flesh
we're never going to be free from it no every day we're going to experience this
Nephi when he cries out in 2nd Nephi chapter 4 oh wretched man that I am
wow if Nephi's wretched I know who are you right yeah who am I yeah yeah yeah you got that right
and you know and I think though that sometimes as we see words like unworthy and wretched and you
know like I stand unworthy before God and I'm a wretched man and you know those those things start
taking on a connotation that I think gets a little bit misconstrued right we when we say and when
when he's saying I stand unworthy before they that doesn't mean he's not saying I don't I don't
believe that you'll be able to help me I don't what he's saying is he's recognizing his own
powerlessness in a situation and recognizing the Lord's powerfulness or his ability his all
his complete power in order to to rectify or fix any situation whether that's lights in a boat or
a messed up psyche or brain or addiction or whatever he has the ability to change all those
things and so when we go before him and we and when either say or when he when he's saying the
brother of Jared when he's saying I'm unworthy when we stand before you unworthy I think sometimes
we misconstrue that is unworthy is unacceptable yeah yeah good point and again I want to emphasize
we are dual beings we're dual beings and when he says because of the fall my nature or our
nature all of our natures are evil continually he's not saying we're evil not at all no and I
know Nephi from times of times feels wretched and and and so do I and so do you and so do we all
but it's important to understand that in our spirit that our spirits are inherently good
it's it's important to understand that we are naturally evil because of the flesh but we are
inherently righteous and good because of our spirits yeah and that inherently component
at some point when it begins to override the natural component exactly when you feed that yeah
when you feed that wolf instead of the other yeah it makes all the difference in our life Scott
but so many people don't for example maybe this is a place to share this this experience the man
who comes in to me when I was serving as a bishop and confesses a long addiction of pornography
and I know this man he's a he's a wonderful man he's served in wonderful important positions
in our ward and he confesses the sin of pornography and as he's confessing this God he keeps
he keeps saying I desire I desire this I desire that sometimes I anyway he's describing this and
I'm going who who is this person I thought I knew him I I do know him he's been this he's been that
he has this beautiful family and finally I put up my hand and I stopped him and I said so so just
a minute you keep using the word desire to describe your your addictions and your behaviors
what if you use the word temptation instead of using the word desire I was just uncomfortable
the way he was describing his his sin and the way he was describing himself I didn't know really
what I was asking Scott but as he sat there and I watched him ponder this the lights I could see the
lights come on and his lights got a little bigger and he set up a little straighter and he said
so what you're saying is I'm not a scumbag and I said yeah yeah that's right that's what I'm saying
yeah you are not a scumbag tell me what is the deepest desires of your heart what's the deepest
desires of your heart and he described beautifully he got really emotional and described beautifully
that he wanted to have a forever family and I said okay so that's what I thought
and then he said so what you're saying is that this is coming from an outside source
and I said yeah it's a temptation it's a it's coming from an outside source for sure
and then he said so what you're saying is I can beat this I can overcome this
and I said well no that's not what I'm saying you can never overcome this until you learn to
rely upon Jesus Christ and his atonement yeah and as he said that he shrunk a little bit lower
and we could then begin to discuss you know how he could become a saint by relying upon the atonement
Jesus Christ and it was a changing point for him and I'm happy to to tell you he was about lost his
family but he was able to to overcome that and and and still has his beautiful family and and I trust
they'll be together forever so uh what a powerful story and and you know and we all have stories
we've all heard stories or been that guy ourselves you know the names are different the circumstances
are different but we all have those experiences in our lives it's how we approach those experiences
I'm so glad he approached it the way you know you you you debonai um my wife uh my angel wife and I
have the opportunity to teach an institute class uh at a young single adults ward at b y u every
wednesday night and and that's been uh kind of the highlight of my life I just love being there
with those young bright minds and hearing you know when we sing hymns it's like it's belted out you
know you've been around it more than I have it's just such an awesome wonderful spiritual experience
all right you know and and one of the things that as I heard you tell that story you know when the
guy says and and I'm not laughing because it's funny I'm laughing because I can relate I think
all of us can you know when he said so you're saying I'm not a scumbag is that way is that what
he said something along those lines so you're saying I'm not a scumbag it's funny it's not funny
ha ha it's really interesting it's peculiar how sometimes we we think that we're a scumbag
you know because of something that's going on or not going on in our lives you know we we uh we
talk about this very thing in our institute class uh this very topic in fact we use a book uh you
know from elder anderson the divine gift of forgiveness that is the curriculum that we use
and it's it's wholly dependent I mean it wholly focuses on the atonement on redemption on healing
on all of that and I've seen lives change literally lives change because of their reading and applying
the principles in that book but when we talk about this stuff and we say you know it's just a matter
and and we say it as we say it like that sometimes I know I do hey it's just a matter of applying
the atonement it's just a matter of getting God in your life it's just a matter of whatever
and when I put that word just there it's like I had a guy say to me you make it sound easy when
you say you just have to do it that way and you know so I have to be careful not to make it seem
that way because I know it feels big and that's one of the questions that comes up in our class
constantly you know you say apply it you say bring you know and the question comes up well how do I
do that let me let me respond to that because I got that question a lot when I was teaching Scott and
and I this is what I've learned uh President Eyring has said whenever you feel the Holy Ghost in your
life you know the atonement of Jesus Christ is doing its work so I've asked my students that
instead of just focusing on the abstract of you just got to apply the atonement of Christ in your
life I've told them focus more on getting the Holy Spirit in your life because if you have the Holy
Ghost in your life the atonement is being applied you are being forgiven you are being strengthened
and enabled you are receiving mercy just focus on getting the Spirit and the influence of the Holy
Ghost in your life focus on that now I know there's more to getting the atonement of Jesus Christ in
our life by accessing it through repentance through ordinances and covenants and all of all of that so
many other ways but I think I think our students and our children would be better served than
instead of saying uh you just got to get the atonement in your life yeah we need to start saying
we need to live by the Holy Spirit in our lives we need to walk in the spirit we need to talk in
the spirit we need to think with the spirit and act more in the spirit of the Holy Ghost
that's how we get the atonement in our life yeah and you know that Comforter and that's what it's
called right we go to the book of John and the Comforter which will come you know uh the Comforter
will bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I've said to you yeah and one of the things he
said to us is come unto me another thing that he has said to us is I have paid for these things
so you would not have to right if you come to me and so on so you know we we we have all this but
I think that's wise wise wise direction Dave is you know when we are and this is one of the things
that I've really been focusing on too you know there's a couple things in my life that I'd like
to get better and you know focusing on my relationship with the Savior would certainly make those things
better and I know that and we've been taught I teach this I mean you know when I do public
speaking sometimes I teach that what we focus on expands right and if we focus on I'm fallen if we
focus on I'm a screw-up if we focus on all those things then naturally that focus draws our attention
to that but if we focus on our relationship with our Heavenly Father through the Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ and what that meaning has in our lives is interesting how that just that you know and
one of the descriptions of repentance is turning our back on or away from I should say turning
away from something you know and if as we turn away from that and stop focusing on the problem stop
focusing on the fallen and I start focusing on the solution in other words the Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ and what he's done and I get that comfort through the Holy Spirit and I know that
God's in charge of all of it it helps absolutely Scott so I I'm thinking right now again of a
scripture in Mosiah chapter four when you know here is a whole group of people who as a result of
King Benjamin's address have been forgiven of their sins have received a piece of conscience
that's all described in Mosiah chapter four verse two and they I would say that they've been not
only justified but they've probably been sanctified I don't know but these are these are people who
have repented who have become worthy and who who have really accessed the power of Christ in their
life and received the spirit and it describes that in verse three and then over in verse five
King Benjamin begins to speak unto them and it says for behold if the knowledge of the goodness
of God at this time has awakened you to a sense of your nothingness we could say your fallen nature
your fallen state if if the goodness of God has awakened you to a sense of your nothingness
and you're worthless and fallen state then I say to you you have come to a knowledge of the goodness
of God and his matchless power and his wisdom and his patience and his long suffering towards the
children of men and also the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world
and then later in verse 11 he encourages them he says commands them that I would that you should
remember and always retain in remembrance the greatness of God and your own nothingness there
it is again and the goodness and long suffering towards you get this unworthy creatures yeah
they've just been justified sanctified for giving of their sins and he's calling them
unworthy creatures and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility calling on the name
of the Lord daily and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come well which was
the atonement of Jesus Christ yeah the birth and the suffering of Christ so I even when we're you
know I used to have students all the time come in Scott into my office and while I was teaching the
repentance and forgiveness class and they would come in and they would say I think I've repented
and I think I've been forgiven but I just can't quit thinking about it and and I can't believe I
was tempted by that same sin yesterday I thought I was forgiven and I thought I was behind me and
I thought I had overcome it but I was just tempted with that same sin yesterday what is wrong with
me I must be terrible and I would look at them and kind of smile and and feel their pain and say
you know welcome to the club yeah welcome to the club a saint will never well now it's a blessing
that we don't forget our sins so that we don't make the same mistakes sure so that's a good thing
sure but saint can also use the sins of the past against us and saint saint can use the flesh
and he continually tempts us Scott and just because we're tempted doesn't mean that we're evil no
it means that we're fallen it means that we are in a celestial world and we need to kind of celebrate
that more and accept that and I think it would take a lot of pressure off of us thinking that we are
just bad people yeah instead of instead of kind of celebrating the idea that heavenly father knew
I was going to sin heavenly father knew I was going to be surrounded by sin this is all part of
the plan and if I do experience sin or if I think about sinning and I'm tempted by sinning or I mess
up God's not surprised by that he has given me a savior and a redeemer yeah not only is he not
surprised by that but he hasn't changed in his attitude towards me or you or anybody else because
of it period he just doesn't he loves us exactly perfectly before after enduring all of the stuff
that we're going through you know one of the things David we're getting close to wrap up time but
you know what I just want to share this real quick I think one of the things that really can rob us
of our serenity of our peace of our connection with our heavenly father actually can even rob us
rob us sometimes of our understanding our concept of who we really are spiritually is comparison
right yeah I mean because we see we judge ourselves against other people and we judge ourselves
our worst selves against everybody else's imagined best self because we don't have any idea
in most cases what other people are going through so we may see somebody you know who's telling us
the things that you just said you know they may they may say hey you know we need to celebrate it's
okay heavenly father knew you know and all that stuff and we think that of course he did and even
we see that work in other people's life but again getting back to one of the very first things I
started this discussion with today is but we are comparing our of course he would for you
but he's not going to for me because I'm screwing up worse than you and we're judging
ourselves according to and benchmarking ourselves against a misconception that we have of other
people's greatness it's got not only is that natural man us yeah doing that but this again
comes from an outside source the accuser the accuser the accuser puts that in our mind yeah
we we are in a natural state that has allowed satan to put temptation and thoughts into our
minds so I know that I know that we do that but I I actually believe that much of that comparison
and misjudgment comes again from an outside source the accuser which we talked about 100
being the title one of the titles of satan we talked about that yeah yep so I think that
celebrating our humaness and accepting it can help us to do two things number number one be a
little more kind and merciful yeah when we understand that we are the children of adam and eve
that we are fallen lost carnal sensual and devilish and you can't believe how many prophets teach
that in the book of Mormon and how many living prophets have taught that we're all fallen
that should make us more kind and merciful second we need to learn how to rely more
upon the atonement of Jesus Christ knowing that as natural men and women as fallen beings
that we can merit nothing of ourselves that we are completely utterly totally dependent upon
upon Jesus Christ for our salvation and exaltation and isn't that awesome that is the best news ever
that's the good news that I don't have to work it all out I have to put my part right but it's not
all up to me in fact it's all up to him all I have to do is make a decision I have to make a choice
and when I make that choice obviously my life will align with the choice otherwise it wasn't
really a choice right that's the test exactly and that's all the test is that's the test which is
just seeing if we'll align because he loves us he loves us perfectly he's given us everything
that we have now and in the future and for some of you that are thinking well I don't want what I
have now well that's good you're on the right path because turning it over to him will get us right
to where all of those things will start to feel more I loved your thoughts Scott it really struck me
struck me you said what I choose to focus on expands I love that and I think I thought about a
magnifying glass and that if I choose to focus upon the natural man that's going to expand in my life
and I'm I'm going to naturally lean that way and that's more of the natural things of life and the
sins and temptations of flesh are going to fill in the gaps of my life or I can I can choose to
focus upon Jesus Christ in his atonement and we've been commanded to do so look unto me he said in
every thought doubt not fear not if we focus if we choose to focus on him I know that that will
expand in our life and that some of the things of the natural world and natural man things
will just kind of fall out of our life as Christ in his atonement expands in our life
that's a hundred percent 100 accurate I agree with that completely we're out of time while these
these this time that we get together goes fast doesn't it it's such important stuff that we're
talking about I I hope that there's been a couple of takeaways for everybody today I think one of
the main takeaways that I'm going to put back into my life or refocus or re-emphasize in my life
is just that focus right just just focusing on my relationship with him and you know I'll put I'm
going to put off focusing on all of the changes I need to make in my life I'm going to put those
off till tomorrow I think today I'm going to focus on my relationship with him and and I'll probably
end up doing that tomorrow too and you know and I say that kind of as a pattern or a directive
because you know as we do it that way what happens is you know we talked a couple of weeks ago at
some point when we're in the the natural man and it's totally consumed us sometimes it's not
uncommon for us to look in the mirror in those empty eyes and say who are you where did you come
how did you get here but if we focus change our focus and focus on him especially in light of
our fallenness you know it gives us the opportunity and I've had this opportunity too to look in the
mirror like what I see and say you know what Scott I love you because I know he does too
what a great time it's been to be with you we're grateful for you we're grateful for your
engagement for your participation remember to send us emails at he redeems us at gmail.com
thanks for being with us look forward to being with you again Dave how about you yeah god bless
everyone hope you have a blessed day thank you all right thanks we'll see you all next week thanks
for being with us and once again don't forget to send us emails don't forget to like don't forget
to tell your friends and if you are so inclined we sure would love a review from you as well
have a great and blessed day everybody god bless