Here we are, David, one more podcast episode in front of us.
Oh, so great.
Thank you by the way, for our list to our listeners for all the great
suggestions we got on how to spend the winter, how I can spend the winter
and how I can replace my golf addiction.
Uh, I really appreciate it.
Um, I don't know if any of it's going to be possible, but, but I'm grateful
for those that are, are trying to, to help me out.
Yeah.
We got a email the other day, uh, Dave, from somebody encouraging
us to work out a little more too.
Did you get, I don't understand.
Well, this is a podcast.
We're not like on TV.
They can't see our bodies.
Well, they can't see us on our treadmills right here.
They don't see, they don't see how, uh, how fit and trim I am.
And I can tell you, ladies and gentlemen, this is a wonder to
behold to see how fit Dave is.
He really is.
I'm not just, I can do better.
I can do better.
I appreciate it, John, but I can do better and I will.
I'll do a little better.
I have my routine.
I kind of go through my, my little exercise in the morning, try
to strengthen my core and do my little stretches and do some of that
because of some back problems that I had.
I still, uh, many years ago, I still go to the gym every morning.
Uh, David knows I was into power lifting and bodybuilding many years ago.
And that's still something that, uh, I do to keep my head right.
Uh, I was at the gym this morning at, uh, 6 30 AM, like I am most every morning.
I did legs and abdomen cordon.
Yeah.
So ski season's coming.
Need to do that.
My core work is, is just on the carpet.
Yeah.
And planks.
Yeah.
Well that's, Hey, that's probably more effective, right?
I don't know.
My other core work has to do with hostess donuts, but we won't go there.
All right.
So, uh, you know, we had a great, uh, time last week talking about some
keys, some principles that were really important components of the, uh,
repentance and forgiveness, um, class that Dave authored and has become part
of the curriculum for seminaries and institutes also was kind of the foundation
for the book, uh, the divine gift of forgiveness.
Yeah.
The elder Anderson.
And I was just kind of a consultant there and helped in some of the
organization and some of the ideas in there, but, uh, yeah, that was sweet.
And, uh, last week, Scott, we reviewed, we started to
review what I consider.
I remember when elder Anderson, uh, first kind of was interested in, uh,
in, in me working with him on that, that book, he sent me an email and he asked
me to kind of summarize maybe the key points of the course, and I replied in a
kind of a long email about what I considered to be the four key points to
the entire course that I had designed and Todd at Utah Valley Institute called
entitled repentance and forgiveness.
And the key points were, which we talked about two of them last week was to
really understand the fall.
I mean, really understand it and to be thankful for it, to rejoice in it
because redeemed humanity is greater than unfallen humanity could have ever been.
I love that quote by CS Lewis.
Redeemed humanity is greater than unfallen humanity could have ever been
because we have a savior without the fall.
There would be no savior.
We wouldn't need a redeemer.
It was all part of God's plan from the very beginning.
The fall is a doctrine that we just don't embrace.
We don't sing about it.
We don't, we don't talk about it.
We don't, we just, we just seem like we want to, I mean, the temple spends.
A good amount of time.
How much time on the fall?
A good amount of time.
And I think that's the pattern.
Right.
We need to really embrace and understand the fall, Scott, to really see the need
for and to fully embrace the atonement and redemption of Jesus Christ.
You know, when we talk about the fall, the fall of Adam and Eve, which creates
the fall of all of us, there's, there's a certain amount, you know, we talked,
you use that quote from CS Lewis, that how redeemed man is much better than
they could have ever been without the, without the fall or the redemption.
And without the fall, there is no need for redemption.
And think about this and it's a bit of a paradox, but think about this.
If there hadn't have been the fall, then we would have been damned from the beginning.
There would be no progress for us.
So, and we're, we're really, I think the only organized religion that believes that
everybody else, Christian churches, especially, I'm not real sure how the
Jews and other biblical churches see the fall, but, but most other churches
are still mad at Adam and Eve.
Yeah.
Believe Adam and Eve caused all of this pain and all of this sin and, and as
really as a result of that, I have done some research on this is that that's one
reason why women were so frowned upon.
Really, if you go all the way back in history, Catholicism was that Eve is the
one who really caused the fall.
She's the one that talked Adam into it.
And therefore women were somehow less valuable than men.
And it's really awful that Satan used the fall to cause the fall.
And it's really awful that Satan uses the fall to, to damn women because of Eve's
progress that she made in the, in the Garden of Eden.
And when she finally realized, Hey, we've got to keep that first commandment.
Yeah.
We've got to multiply and replenish the earth and we, we want to become like God
and we can't do it here.
And I know, I know she was beguiled.
It says that in the temple and in the Bible.
I know that, but she was so spiritually further ahead and more insightful.
And I love her, the words that she speaks, which is quoted now in the endowment about
how she rejoices after they have fallen, how she rejoices that they have a Savior
and how they can experience mortality.
And anyway, so we, we talked about that.
It's really such a key and such a key for, I think our overall general spiritual
health, Scott, is that we know that we're human.
We know that we're sinners.
We know that we're, we're sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, not just sons
and daughters of heavenly parents, but that we are spiritual beings having a human
experience and we are human beings having a spiritual experience and spiritual
beings having a human experience.
We, we know that we understand what that means and we should embrace both sides of that.
So, we talked also last week, once you know that, then you have to, and you
feel this need for the atonement of Jesus Christ, that to really meet the
conditions of repentance, a broken heart and a contrite spirit, we need to be
filled with understanding and gratitude for the atonement of Jesus Christ.
And if we, if we really study it, ponder it, and get a good understanding of
it, get a glimpse of it, and we go to Gethsemane and He beckons us to come unto
Him and to behold the wounds in His side and the prints of the nails in His hands
and feet, and if we go to Gethsemane and we go to the cross and we, we have that
experience, similar somewhat to the experience that I think the, the righteous
in 3 Nephi chapter 11 where He invites them not only to behold them and not only
to see them, but to thrust their hands into His side and to feel the prints of
the nails in His hands and feet. Why? So that they, I mean, I, we've talked about
this, but can you imagine touching those, those wounds and thrusting your hand
into His side and, and you're going, ah, you know, I don't, you know, is that gonna
hurt? Is that what the pain, the suffering, that I, that we caused Him, that He was
willing to suffer for us? And when we really get a glimpse of that, Scott, and
we see it, we get a, we feel it, we are so humble, we're so grateful, our hearts
are broken, our spirits come trite, then repentance just kind of, really the
process flows, the process just flows within us when we understand and feel
sufficient gratitude for the atonement of Jesus Christ. These things, when we
embrace them, when they come into our soul, creates a desire within us to be
closer to Him, which requires us to do things that will enable us to do that.
In, back in episodes 5 and 6, Dave, we spend two full episodes on the fall of
Adam and Eve and embracing and celebrating our own humanists. And then,
and then, you know, subsequent from that, we go into 7 and 8, and specifically in
8, we talk about He will take upon Him the pains and sicknesses of His people.
And, you know, that's really, you know, you're talking about repentance and in
these keys, and that's really one of those, is really gratitude for Christ's
suffering for us, right? Well, then we move into the next... Yeah, so that's, that's
the first two keys. Yep. And then the second keys, which I wrote about,
summarized in a long email to Elder Anderson, was understanding the power of
faith in Jesus Christ and that faith in Jesus Christ is the power behind
repentance. And so that'll be episode 15. We spend an entire episode, go back to
episode 15 for a deep dive into that, but go ahead, Dave. And we'll summarize
some of that today. And then the fourth key is to understand that the
Holy Ghost, the role of the Holy Ghost in the redemption process and in the
repentance process, is really key that whenever we feel the Holy Ghost,
that we should understand that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is working in
our life and that we're being forgiven. I just think that is so important to
members of the Church, understand that that truth, which was been taught by
President Eyring and others. So if they feel the Spirit, they should know that
they're being forgiven, or that they've been forgiven. So I, let's talk about
those keys, those last two keys. Faith is the power behind repentance, faith
in Jesus Christ, faith in His Atonement. I know that we talked about when we did a
whole episode on faith, Scott, that we talked about kind of faith in the
general, faith in kind of the general religious principle that it is, that of
course it means that we believe things to be true that we can't see. That's the
definition given by Naaman, Naaman 32, 21. But the faith of, that's just
general faith, but the faith of power, Scott, described in Jacob chapter 4 verse
6 and other verses, the faith of power is that we see things happening and that
they happen. That our will is swallowed up in the will of God. That we have the
faith to be healed, or that we have the faith to not be healed. Faith is seeking,
knowing, seeing, and seeking the will of God in our lives. And when it comes to
repentance, it's seeing Jesus Christ suffering for our sins. This is the power
of faith. It's to have an eye of faith, to look, to look backward and see, but to
also, as Elder Holland speaks about faith, is looking to the future and seeing that
we're being forgiven of our sins, and seeing who we can become through Jesus
Christ as we exercise faith in Him and His atonement, and in His name. Faith in
His name is a different level of faith than even faith in Jesus Christ. So,
faith in His name and crying upon the name of Christ means that we participate
in the ordinances, and we know with an eye of faith that we are bound to Him,
that we have made covenants with Him, that we are recipients of the blessings
of the atonement. We see it. We know it. You know, faith and knowledge, Scott, are
not, they're not antonyms. I believe faith of power is knowledge. The faith of
power is that when you see things, you know them, and the cognitive knowledge
becomes even greater because of our faith. You can't have faith without
knowledge, and you can't have perfect knowledge without faith. So, it's a deep
subject, faith. It's lectures on faith. I recommended, I think when we did the
episode on it, it's an incredible work and treatise on that subject. I know the
brethren still use quotes from it, and it's powerful. I want to just reference
it briefly today by saying that the lectures on faith, Scott, talk about three
things about how to obtain faith. That we need to know that God exists. Then, if you
want to increase your faith, you need to know the character, attributes, and
perfections of God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. We talked about, you know,
we're in the Temple Recommend question, Scott, we're asked, do you have faith in
God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost? We don't talk
enough about faith in the Spirit and in the Holy Ghost, but we need faith in all
three. And in order to have faith in all three, we need to understand their
character, attributes, and perfections. And then fourth, or third, we need to know
that the course that we are pursuing is pleasing to God. Now this is
where it gets difficult, because so many times we don't have adequate faith in
Jesus Christ and His Atonement. We don't have adequate power that we can be
forgiven. We don't have, we just, because we lack faith in Jesus Christ, not
knowing whether or not the course that we are pursuing is pleasing to Him, we
doubt ourselves, we doubt our abilities, we feel as though maybe we are
victims and that we are powerless, and as a result we never have the faith to
really call upon Jesus Christ and His Atonement and really believe that
we're worthy of forgiveness, and that really holds us back. So that, and in the
lectures on faith, Scott, it talks about, to get to that point where you know that
the course that you are pursuing is pleasing to God, you have to be willing
to make sacrifice. The key to have the faith of power, and especially the power
of repentance, to be forgiven, which I believe is the highest level of faith, to
know that we're forgiven and that we are redeemed. This is the highest level of
faith in Christ and His Atonement. We need to be willing to sacrifice to obtain
that faith, and I'm not talking just about a sacrifice of time and effort and
a sacrifice of our will. I'm talking about sacrificing our sins, like King
Lamoni's father, taught by Aaron in Alma 18 through 22, and King Lamoni's father
crying out in prayer, I will give away, I will sacrifice all my sins to know Thee.
This is the sacrifice of placing the animal in all of us on the altar of the
Lord's house and offering our sins as a sacrifice to Him. When we're
willing to sacrifice, we can obtain the power and level of faith necessary in
Jesus Christ and His Atonement to know, receive the knowledge that not only did
He die for me and suffer for me, but He has forgiven me. Yeah. I think sometimes
it's through those sacrifices that we make that we come to know and have a
deeper understanding of the sacrifice that was made for us. That tunes us
into the Spirit. It gives us a body learning, a feeling of, you know, what
that could have been like. I mean, just a tiny, tiny glimpse of what that could
have been like for Him. But then it also, by so doing, puts us on the
same path that He was on towards His Father. And that alone can help us in
this whole plan, this whole walk with Jesus towards our Heavenly Father, David.
Well, maybe I can just read one verse from the lectures on faith. You know,
these lectures were, at one time, part of the Doctrine and Covenants. And then
after some long discussions, and not until about the 1880s were they taken
out, because it was decided that they were never taught as being revelations. It
was a treatise, but they weren't revelations given through the Prophet
Joseph Smith, but more writings. Sidney Rigdon, Parley Pratt, and others, I'm sure,
had a huge influence on these. But here's this from lecture on faith number
6, verse 11. And I remember Elder Christopherson reading this in a Mission
Presidents seminar, telling mission presidents their responsibility was to
help convert their missionaries, and help their missionaries to obtain the power
of faith, or the faith of power. Not just the lowest level of faith that they
believe, but the faith where they could say they know. And he read this verse as
an example to mission presidents of how to obtain that level of faith. So, lecture
6, verse 11 reads, all of the saints of whom we have account in all the
revelations of God which are extant, meaning we still have a record of,
obtained the knowledge which they had of their acceptance in His sight through
the sacrifice which they offered unto Him. There it is, right? They obtained
the knowledge which they had of their acceptance in His sight through the
sacrifice which they offered unto Him. And through the knowledge thus obtained,
their faith became sufficiently strong to lay hold upon the promise of eternal
life, ultimate redemption, and to endure as seeing Him who is invisible. And we're
enabled through faith to combat the powers of darkness, contend against the
wiles of the adversary, and overcome the world. Wow, we just had a great talk on
that by President Nelson. And obtain the end of their faith, even the salvation or
redemption of their souls. And that sacrifice which this lecture is
referencing goes back to verse 5, which says, for a man to lay down his all, his
character and reputation, his honor and applause, his good name among men, his
houses, his lands, his brothers and sisters, his wife and children, and even
his own life, counting all things but filth and dross for the excellency of
the knowledge of Jesus Christ requires more than mere belief or supposition
that He is doing the will of God, but the actual knowledge realizing that when
these sufferings are ended, He will enter into eternal rest. Just had a great talk
about that by President Nelson. And be a partaker of the glory of God. So when it
comes to this power of faith or faith of power in Jesus Christ to obtain
redemption and forgiveness and eventually God's rest and eternal life,
Scott, it requires great sacrifice. And you know we kind of live in a culture
right now. I just had an interesting conversation with a sweet family member
who is losing some of her children and her husband's children are struggling.
This is kind of a second marriage in a yours, mine and ours situation,
and they're kind of struggling. And you know I've just kind of felt impressed to
talk about this with her, that we live in a culture that doesn't believe too much
anymore in the principle of sacrifice or the law of sacrifice, and that a lot of
members of the church don't see sacrifice as a serious law or covenant
that we make in the house of the Lord. And even some of our youth are growing
up in a culture where the goal is to be comfortable and to go or do
those things that are easy and just you know we're entitled to this and we're
entitled to that. And it's not about making sacrifice, it's about
receiving more and more pleasure and ease and comforts in life. And it
makes it harder for us, I think, in this type of a culture of
prosperity to be willing to really understand what sacrifice is and make
those sacrifices. I agree. As a matter of fact, you know, even in, within the
church sometimes, I know and I've got to be careful because I don't want to expose
anything personal to anybody, but you know we sometimes get a little
over worried, in my opinion, we get a little over worried in making things too
comfortable for people in the church. And I'm specifically talking about the youth.
You know, for our own kids and grandkids. Yeah, and that's
enough right there. We'll just say our own kids and grandkids, but sometimes
when the goal is, for example, to create an experience for a youth group, and this
is the kind of the overarching idea is to just create a situation where they
feel pampered, where they feel taken care of, where they feel spoiled, where they
feel... and that's great. I mean, it's a good that we help each other feel
important and comfortable and things like that. But I often think that, you
know, sometimes we need to learn how to work for those things that are important
too. We need to understand sacrifice. We can't understand sacrifice if we're just
focusing on all of the good life. The good life, you know, I'm going to
just put this out there, but the good life isn't what we think the good life
is, or what the world thinks the good life is. The good life isn't comfort. The
good life isn't pampering. The good life isn't all things are coming to me with
ease, you know, and all of that. The good life is sacrificing so that we can have
His Spirit with us, so that we can feel His peace even in the times of
turmoil, because here's the thing. So those of us that are taught how to be
pampered, how to be coddled, and again, nurtured, all those things are
important, but when that's the focus and then life comes, which it will and it
always does, but when life comes and presents its varying and sundry
challenges to us, we find ourselves ill-equipped to deal with those because
we haven't had the opportunity to participate in sacrifice so that our
faith can be made whole. Yeah, I remember Heber C. Kimball, President Heber C.
Kimball, counselor to Brigham Young, said many years ago, this is recorded in the
Journal of Discourses, a test, a test, a test is coming. And he talks about this
great test that's going to come to the Saints, and you know, you think about all
the hardships the Saints went through, all the trials, all the hard things
that they went through, going from going from state to state to all the suffering
that they experienced, and then he says that a greater test is coming, and he
identifies that test as being the test of prosperity, that the greatest test the
Saints will face is the test or state of prosperity. And I know these are hard
times, and I know you're not, and I know I'm not being critical. It just
happens to be the culture that we live in, that we have so much prosperity, we
have so many great things in life, and it's really hard, I think, for us to find
ways to really sacrifice in service, to really sacrifice to the Lord, to really
be willed to know what it means, to be willing to give our all, and I, you know,
I don't know this, the current statistics in the church, but I know one priesthood
leader, stake president, who expressed to me his real concern about his stake and
the the fewer number of young men going on missions, and I think that's probably
a real concern. I know that we had a few talks on that in general conference, the
last few conferences. I think it must be a real concern, and I think it's just
really hard. It's always been hard. It's always been hard, but I think it's a
little harder now for the youth, the rising generation, to understand what it
means to make the sacrifice, and those who go on missions, wow, they understand
what sacrifice is, and it's not easy. Those who do it right, it's
not easy, and there is real sacrifice involved in that, and anything that we
can do, I think, in the church and in our families personally, in our own personal
lives, to make sacrifice, to live our life with real intention, Scott, that takes a
lot of thought and a lot of work, and we need to, if we want the level of faith of
the ancients, if we want the level of faith or the faith of power to repent
and be forgiven and be redeemed, we need to learn and embrace the law of sacrifice.
I think a lot of us look at the law of sacrifice in the wrong way. I think
when we look at the law of sacrifice, we see it as a removal of something.
Yeah, giving up. Yeah, giving up something, something gets taken away from me, but what if, what if
we saw sacrifice, and I believe this is what really what sacrifice is, what if
sacrifice was an investment? What if through sacrifice we are now, because of
that sacrifice, because of the investment of that sacrifice, we are now qualified
for greater blessings, blessings that are so big that, you know, Malachi tells us so
big that we can't even receive them, right? Right, the key word, the key word,
it's sacred. Sacrifice comes from the key word in Latin, sacrum, or to make
sacred. Same root as sacred. And President Nelson taught that years ago, that to make
sacrifice or to live the law of sacrifice is to make something sacred in
our life. I think it's really closely related to consecration. The law of
sacrifice and the law of consecration are very similar and they're, they're tied
together. So I just, I guess we need to move on to the fourth and final
principle, but to have the faith in Jesus Christ that we need, which is the power
behind repentance and forgiveness. Faith in Christ is the power. Christ is the
power, and our faith in Him is what makes that power in Christ come
forth. For the atonement, for the power of Christ and His atonement to become
efficacious, operative, and available to us in our life, we need to learn the law
of sacrifice and the principle of sacrifice to obtain the faith to be
forgiven. Faith without works and faith without sacrifice is dead. There is
no faith without sacrifice and works. And I, I know that just recently, Scott, I've
been thinking about this in my own life, about what do I need to sacrifice?
What do I need to start doing? That's also sacrifice, right? What do I need to
make holy in my life? How can I make my time, my life more holy? And sacrifice my
life to God, sacrifice my time to God, and what do I need to give up? You know,
what do I need to let go of in my life to be able to really live a life of
intention and purpose and to obtain the faith and increase my testimony and
knowledge and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And to fill the
forgiveness that comes because of His power. And when we do that, forgiveness
always comes. Yeah. And that leads us to the fourth key, which is it always comes
through the gift of the Holy Ghost or the power of the Holy Ghost. I believe
there are lots of people who aren't members of the church who have felt some
degree of the atonement of Jesus Christ in their life and have felt forgiven in
their life, have felt some level of redemption and salvation in their life.
There's no doubt about that. I know people who have told me, I know a
minister, a Presbyterian minister who joined the church, he and his wife, and they
they expressed, we knew we were forgiven of our sins before we were baptized.
Baptism is an ordinance which they, when they went through it and were baptized
by a general authority, that they knew that that ordinance had been recognized
and that it was binding and that it had a sacred role in their life. And when
they received the Holy Ghost, they knew that, or the gift of the Holy Ghost, when
they received the gift of the Holy Ghost, they knew they had felt that spirit
before, when He had forgiven them of their sins before they were ever
baptized. I believe that. I'm not a convert, but I believe their
experience, and I believe I have another friend or friends that have experienced
that. The Holy Ghost, the power and the gift of the Holy Ghost, is to administer
the atonement of Jesus Christ in our life according to our conditions. We have had
several, and when we have several yet to come, interviews where we've talked about
people, and this has happened in both yours and mine life too, David, and in
the lives of probably many of our listeners. But you know, as we go
through life and as things get difficult for me, as I was kind of at my rock
bottom prior to my getting sober in 1998, there was just a lot of really yucky
things in my life. You know, it was just not comfortable. I was just
never content. I was never really happy. I definitely had forefooted the feeling
of joy long, long in advance of any of this. But then when the process begins,
you know, and even though the administration of the Holy Ghost is the
fourth principle that we're talking about, it doesn't have to wait till
number four. I mean, we, you know, these things, these first few
things do definitely help expand it and amplify it. But we are not
eliminated the ability or the blessing of having the Holy Ghost administer the
Atonement in our lives, even prior sometimes to our deepest repentance. And
when we feel that, when we feel that, we talked to a lady today, David, that
when she felt that, she said she... When she was in prison. Yeah, she felt rest. When
she was in prison. Yeah. Before she was excommunicated from the church. A great,
great podcast interview that will be coming out with a great lady named
Daphne in a couple of weeks from now. But that's it. That's the blessing that
comes, and that's why when we talk about sacrifice, man, if I could... I think, and I
don't speak just for me, I know that when people get in the depths of despair, when
we've lost hope, when things feel dark and foreboding, when we feel like the
whole world's against us and coming down around us, that when we get that glimpse
of light, when we get that glimpse of the Holy Ghost in our lives, that feeling of
happiness and joy, once we taste that, once we feel that, those sacrifices may
not feel like such sacrifices. They may feel like just a small investment, a
change in my life. And that's what happens when the atonement, when the
power of the atonement takes over our lives. That's what happens is we feel
changed. We no longer have desire to be separated from our Heavenly Father. We
think to sing the song of redeeming love, you know. We know all those things that
are going on inside of us that have been just terrible, that as they dissipate and
as they go away, man, those sacrifices that we talked about a few minutes ago
begin to really be those investments into having the sweetest of all gifts
that we could potentially have in this life. And that sweetest of all gifts that
we could potentially have in this life is a promise that's given to us as we
partake of the sacrament and renew covenants. That is the promise that we
may always have His Spirit to be with us. That's what it is.
Yes, absolutely, Scott. And you know, I think it's just really helpful when we
understand the role of the Holy Ghost as a member of the Godhead. Here we have, can
you imagine, Scott? I mean, Heavenly Father has sacrificed for us. He sacrificed His
Son for us. The Son, Jesus Christ, has sacrificed His all, given His life,
suffered spiritual death, bled from every poor, you know, we can't speak enough or
even begin to comprehend the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And then we have
this third member of the Godhead. We only have a title, we don't even
have a name, the title, the Holy Ghost. An individual, a spirit being, who has
sacrificed not taking upon Himself a body for now. I know Joseph Smith said
that he inquired where the Holy Ghost would ever have a body. He inquired to
God to know the answer to that question, which I think such a great question, but
more of a question of curiosity than an inspired question. And he said that
God did not give him an answer, told him He didn't need to know that, if the Holy
Ghost would ever have a body or not. But you know, Scott, I think about this
sometimes when I pray and I try to thank Heavenly Father for the Holy Ghost. I
thank Him for the sacrifice that the Holy Ghost was willing to make so that
He could be my constant companion and your constant companion, that He could
have the power and could be everywhere at once, administering the love of
God in our life, the mercy of God in our life, the grace of God in our life.
All that the Holy Ghost does, Scott, giving us our testimonies and
everything that He does for us, the knowledge bearing witness of the Father
and the Son and of all truth. Oh my goodness. Yeah, I mean, comforting us in
our times of trial, giving us direction when we seek it, giving us protection as
we sleep. Yeah, comforter and protector, sanctifier. It really puts an
emphasis in bold italic neon lights, constant companionship. But that
constant companionship does come, does require sacrifice, does require on our
parts effort, on our parts... Desire....intention, desire and all those things. It
does. I remember Bruce R. McConkie many years ago, you know, saying, you know, if
you're ever gonna err in a relationship, I mean, he was kind of talking about
people had gone too far, having, seeking a close or too close of a personal
relationship with Jesus. And Elder McConkie found that to be somewhat
offensive and talked about how we needed a relationship with the Father and not
just Jesus, and that we didn't pray to Jesus, we prayed, we didn't even pray
through Jesus. We prayed to the Father directly to the Father in the name of
Jesus. And then after kind of talking about this, he said, you know, if you're
if you're gonna err in having a too close of a relationship with a member of the
Godhead, and I don't even know if that's possible, but if you're gonna err in the
relationship with the Godhead, then you should err in your relationship with the
Holy Ghost, because the Holy Ghost reveals to us the Father. The Holy Ghost
can reveal to us the Son. The Holy Ghost is the administrator of all of
their, all of the gifts of the Spirit, all of their love, all of their forgiveness.
Anyway, I just, we need to be really intentional about living by the
Spirit, walking in the Spirit, Paul says. We need to do all that we can and avoid
as many distractions as possible, Scott, to really identify and feel, receive the
gift and power of the Holy Ghost in our life. Because ultimately, this is the
final key to identifying, receiving, and identifying forgiveness in our life, is
that when we feel the Holy Ghost, and when He is our companion, and we know
that He's with us, and I'm so glad that you tied the sacrament with that
promise, and when we keep those covenants, and the Spirit, I believe, can always be
with us, we are redeemed through the blood of Christ, and it's the Holy Ghost
who administers it into our life. So, the keys of repentance and forgiveness, the
keys of accessing the power and blessings, and all the promises of the
Atonement of Jesus Christ, Scott, are understand and be grateful for the Fall.
Understand and be grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Understand
what it takes to develop the power of faith in Christ needed, which is also the
power behind repentance, to be forgiven of our sins and redeemed. And fourth and
finally, to receive the Holy Ghost and allow the Holy Ghost into our lives by
the intentional, simple choices that we make daily. Those are the
keys, I think, of repentance and forgiveness. When we put these keys in
action in our lives, and we're focusing on these keys, what that really does to
us, it does the most important thing that it does, is it does enable
the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power of that Atonement to be in our
lives, but it also ennobles us in that it helps us to understand who we are, right?
And it helps us to understand who He is, who they are. Identity is
everything. Identity is our eternity. And when we understand who we are, when we
understand who they are, and whose we are, then we understand whose we are. And it's
through that whose we are, where the redemption of Jesus Christ for us, where
our redemption, where the redemptive powers come to life in our lives. And we
don't have to wait till we die to feel redeemed, David. We can have
redemption in our lives now. Covenant relationship. And as we're doing that,
it changes who we are. It changes how we act. It changes how we react. In fact, in
fact, if we're really dialed into this, and if we're really yoked up with the
Spirit and with the Savior on this, then those challenges that we have become
more opportunities for us to grow and become close to Him. And we start seeing
it that way. What a gift. What a gift. Yes. So thanks be to God, Scott, for the
restoration of the fullness of the gospel. I don't have the words. I'm so
inadequate to express my gratitude for all of that. The doctrine, the
principles, the ordinances, covenants, powers, blessings that have all been
restored to the earth, and for priesthood and prophets. Oh Scott, we're so
we're so blessed, and we're hoping that all of you, our listeners, can take
something from what we've said and draw closer to your Heavenly Father in prayer,
that you can draw closer to your Savior Jesus Christ through repentance, and that
you can draw closer to the Holy Ghost and influence of the Spirit of the Lord
in your life through the daily choices and decisions that we make. I'm grateful
when we talk about these things. You know, I can't help but, and I think this is
one of the gifts of memory in this mortal world that comes to us, but I look
back and you know there's a lot of things in my life in the past, and there's
still things today too that I'm not extremely proud of, you know, that I just
try. I just try and I fail, and I try and I do my best, but because of my human
condition today, though they are not always, usually not even intentional, but
back in the day when they were definitely intentional, you know, there
was such a chasm between me and the Spirit. I would get visitations from
the Spirit. I would get feelings of comfort and hope and encouragement, but
once I understood, and I think that this is a pattern for all of us, but once I
understood these keys, David, the fall, the understanding the fall, gratitude for
Christ's suffering, faith in Christ is the power of repentance, the Holy Ghost
administering the repentance, and the power of the atonement, which is the
repentance in our lives, that we get that glimpse. We understand
who we are. We understand who they are. We understand whose we are, and with that
knowledge and with that feeling within us, there's just very few things in this
life, I think, that can overcome us to the point that will really separate us from
His Spirit. Elder Holland, several years ago, I think it's been more than ten
years ago now, back in 2009, gave this amazing BYU devotional address
calling, or called, titled, Remembering Lot's Wife, and I just wanted to share
some thoughts about that in terms of looking back to the past. We're kind of
coming near to the end of another year, and going to be beginning a new year
soon, and this also applies to faith. He says, as a new year begins, this was in
January 2009, as a new year begins, and we try to benefit from proper view of
what has gone on before. Elder Holland says, I plead with you not to dwell on
days now gone, nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those
yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from, but not lived in. We
look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences, but not the ashes.
And when we have learned what we need to learn, and have brought with us the best
that we have experienced, then we look ahead and we remember that faith is
always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and
truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives. So, a more
theological way to talk about Lot's wife, remember she was told not to look back
at Sodom and Gomorrah, and she did as they were fleeing the city, probably with
a little longing in her heart, wanting to go back to the comforts of her life, not
wanting to sacrifice her all, her city, and her home, and everything she was
leaving behind. She looks back and she turns to a pillar of salt, that's all
recorded in Genesis 19. So, a more theological way to talk about Lot's
wife, Elder Holland says, is to say that she did not have faith, or she wasn't
willing to make the sacrifice. She doubted the Lord's ability to give her
something better than she already had received. Apparently, she thought that
nothing that lay ahead could possibly be as good as what she was leaving behind.
To yearn to go back to a world that cannot be lived in now, to be perennial
dissatisfied, perennially dissatisfied with present circumstances, and have
only dismal views of the future, and to miss the here and now and tomorrow,
because we are so trapped in the there and then, and yesterday's are some of the
sins of Lot's wife. I think that's so good for us. Yeah, that's pretty
indicting on, I can't say everybody because I don't know everybody, but you
know, that's pretty, I feel like that's probably pretty universal. Oh, we
need to look forward with faith. Faith looks forward. We have so much to look
forward to. For those who are struggling in the midst of great trials, and I
understand some of those, I look forward to such great faith, with, to be with my
family forever, to even be forgiven of my sins. I know that I've been forgiven
in the past, and I want to remember that, and I look forward to the future
when I can be forgiven again. I've been redeemed. I know I will be redeemed.
We need to look forward with hope, and faith, and the spirit of
optimism to receive all that the Lord has, all the promises He's given us, and
all the blessings that He's promised us in the future. Amen. Well, you
know, here we are. We are in a time of year. The holidays are near nigh upon us.
They're close, and we know that during this time of year, there
are many among us who this time of year may feel like a amplifier to the
trials that we have in our lives. If we're lonely, we feel extra lonely. If
we're struggling financially, or physically, or health-wise, because of the
holidays and all the activities around us, sometimes that can amplify that pain,
that loneliness, and all those other things. We see this a great deal. In
January, the rooms of recovery will be bursting at the doors, just like a gym
membership in January almost. Because of the pain and all the trials
that comes through this time of life, we just expect that. So I'm going to start
an early invitation. Here we are. We're still a bit out, maybe a couple of, well
actually, I think Thanksgiving's next week. So this will probably be released
the week of Thanksgiving. So as these things are coming upon us, it's
important, and I would invite, in fact, I would probably go even a little further
and actually exhort us all during this period of time to just step up our game
when it comes to our relationship, and the things that we do to enhance, to
maintain, and keep that relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
through the administration of the Holy Ghost, as we draw nigh unto the Father
through Him, because no man cometh to the Father but by me, says He. And as we
do these things, I know that we will have that peace. We will have the ability to
know who we are, to know who they are, and by so doing know whose we are. And that
changes everything. Once we see that, it can have the ability to change
everything. So I'm going to invite us to do that throughout this holiday season.
Thank you, Scott. Happy Thanksgiving to you and all of our good listeners.
Yep. Happy Thanksgiving. We are grateful for you. We're grateful for your
communication. Invite you to keep that up. We just love so much the opportunity
that we have to talk about these things that are so, so vitally, eternally important
to David, to myself, and to actually the entire human race, and whether we know it
or not. May God bless you. May you know that you have been redeemed through His
blood. May this be one of the many, many wonderful things that you have
to be thankful for during this Thanksgiving season. Thanks, everybody.
Look forward to being with you next week. Until then, take care.