Come Follow Me (Insights into Mosiah 25–28, May 18-24)

I'm Taylor and I'm Tyler this is come follow me insights from Book of Mormon central lots of extra great resources are found on our Scripture Plus app and online at Book of Mormon central org today Mosiah chapters 25 to 28 one of the central features of today's scripture block is the conversion of Alma the younger and the four sons of Mosiah a man Aaron Tom nur and him night to set the stage for that kind of isn't an overview for for the main element that we're gonna cover in this particular insight episode I want to share with you a a nursery rhyme now this isn't a particularly insightful or entertaining nursery rhyme in fact when I was a kid I used to think it was really dumb so here you go Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again there you go there's the nursery rhyme so all growing up here's me thinking that's a dumb rhyme like most other nursery rhymes are didn't didn't have a lot of meaning to me until one day when I was sitting in a fireside setting listening to elder Van J Featherstone and he proposed a little a little tweak to this Nursery Rhyme and since that day this has become my favorite of all the nursery rhymes here's his version of it Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again but the king could and the king would and the king will brothers and sisters as we jump in we wanted to begin with this idea that we live in a fallen world we live in mortal fallen Tabernacles of clay we have opposition in all things we have opposition to us as well and and life is hard and there are a lot of us and a lot of our loved ones who are struggling who experience Great Falls and the reality is is none of us can put us back put ourselves back together or put our children back together our grandchildren are our neighbors our friends our ward members but the king can and the king will and that is to us that is kind of the central message of the the scripture block this week is even when all hope seems lost there's still hope in Christ and that's our only only chance now let's begin go back with us to Mosiah chapter 25 and in here to make sense and to get everybody up to speed and onto the same page keep in mind Mormon is as the editor here he's trying to pull everything together and make sense of what's happened with these different groups of people as we now prepare to move forward into the rest of the narrative so just to keep things straight we brought limb highs group back to Zarahemla and following that we brought almas group back to Zarahemla and he describes in in chapter 25 those first you know five six all the way down to verse 13 the different groups of people and Zarahemla we have the mule ax kites these are descendants of mule ik the people of Zarahemla we have the Nephites with king Mosiah as their leader and it was from this group that these two different groups of people had left 80 years in the past and have now rejoined so they're now combined here and then Mormon gives us some demographic information that is kind of helpful as we move forward into this book to make sense of the lay of the land and the different populations he says look the mulac heights are bigger in number than the Nephites it's a smaller group even when you add Elma and Lim highs group in the Nephites are still outnumbered by the mule kites but then he says you have the Lamanites that outnumber all of them combined by more than double so the Lamanite population is much much bigger than the combined population and Zarahemla even after you add all these in here's the interesting point to all of this this random number stuff the smallest group of all these these Nephites that they have the ruling power they have the record-keeping they seem to be the literate portion of the population it's almost as if he who rules the pen rules history and rules the governing of the people in a lot of ways look at verse so you're in chapter 25 look at verse 13 and now all the people of Zarahemla were numbered with the Nephites and this because the kingdom had been conferred upon none but those who were descendants of Nephi so Nephi's children and descendants are the kings can you see the interesting setup from a from a biblical perspective here because all of these all these people came out of the lands of the Bible in 600 BC and the mule okay it's probably around right before the conquest of Babylon so 587 586 when the siege is taking place sometime mulac the son of Zedekiah leaves here the irony you ready mulac is the son of Zedekiah who was the King of Jerusalem he's from the tribe of Judah the tribe of Judah they're the kings for the most part in this time period of ancient Israel the Nephites they come from the tribe of Manasseh Manasseh is not a kingly tribe they're not a priestly tribe they're none of that and now all of a sudden all the priests the prophets the Kings the leadership it's all coming from this lesser tribe so to speak can you see how later on in the Book of Mormon there could be some dispute ations and dissensions among the people of the Nephites because of a natural break that's that already exists before we even get underway we don't know this for sure so this is not doctrine but there's at least a chance that the king men later on in the book Worman are going to be saying hey we're of noble birth what are you knee fights doing on the throne we we as the chief judges we want to be the king because we have the right inside the kingship in in the law of Moses under the house of Israel framework we should be the ones in charge what's going on so you can and we don't know if that's what's going on for sure but at least that strong possibility is happening here and Mormon is setting up this this dynamic with all these different groups of people saying this is hard for these leaders to try to pull these people together and get them to become one and unified and anybody who's worked with with disparate groups and trying to work on unity can can say amen to that so what Tyler's pointing out is actually really important for us the Book of Mormon was not written as a political text it wasn't written as a demographic or a geographical text those details are in there Mormon wrote this to lead us to Jesus Christ was want to make sure we always remind ourselves that so it's interesting the mullah kites in ancient Hebrew and even Hebrew today the base word the basic word for King is based on these three letters M LK and depending on how the vowels work we'll change the definition a bit but I always have to do with kingship so the word mule ik means little king or a prince and mule ik was the little king or the son or the Prince of Zedekiah the word melech itself just means king and Mamluk ah means kingdom notice that in the book of alma you have several groups that are fighting to become Kings you have a group called the Amla sites notice that it seems that the Hebrew word for king is right in the middle of their name the word Kingman could simply be the English translation of the word Amla sites or even the word Amalekites might be a variation of this and then there's an interesting one one of the worst me fight apostates and defectors who wanted kingship and he didn't want anyone to be king but himself he took over the Lamanites and then brought the layman dice to fight the Nephites and there's like 40 chapters of warfare kind of started by this guy and his name is a Malik kya and it seems that he has in the base of his name the word melech or King so there's been proposals by those who study these ancient languages that these names in the Book of Mormon are representing what these people care about and as Nephi has as Tyler has laid out I think of you as Nephi as Tyler is laid out this may have been baked into the Nephi political order because of the descendancy of these people that the people the mule kites like words should be the king because we're the disturbances that Kyuubi the king in the descendants of Judah even the Lamanites laman and lemuel were mad at Nephi because he took rulership so one of the big driving force is going on in the narrative the Book of Mormon is who's to be the king and this is answered in the Book of Mormon Jacob the brother of Nephi says the Lord God is the king that is that is profound for all of us to not only see in the Book of Mormon but in our own life that regardless of what's going on wherever you live whatever the the situation you're in look to Christ as the ultimate king for us okay so he's he's setting up other details about how elma now becomes the head of the church the first time where we actually establish widespread this church and he tells you that he had seven different churches but they were all one Church kind of like stakes or Ward's however you want to look at that so for the first time we're looking at this structure in the Book of Mormon of how God is now spreading his gospel through an official organization led by Christ through Alma his prophet now if you turn over to chapter 26 where we're introduced to a very very powerful concept when it comes to parenting and leading in the in the gospel of Jesus Christ so it's been a few years since King Benjamin gave his his landmark address on the tower and look at how he describes the situation what we're gonna look for in chapter 26 at the beginning here is words that precede nots and watch the watch the progression of ideas as they unfold here look at verse 1 now it came to pass that there were many of the rising generation that could not understand the words of King Benjamin why because they were little children at the time that he spake them and so notice they did not believe in the tradition of their fathers because they couldn't understand King Benjamin's words they didn't believe them so we don't know the full detail here of of how little or how much their parents instilled the words King Benjamin we just know that there's an issue going on look at verse 2 they did not believe what had been said concerning the resurrection of the Dead neither did they believe concerning the coming of Christ couldn't understand it didn't believe verse 2 repeats did not believe now look at verse 3 and now because of their unbelief they could not understand the Word of God brothers and sisters there's a difference between that could not and that could not they were they didn't really have a choice when they were little children about being able to focus on and understand the words of the Prophet King upon the tower they were too young but because they chose then not to engage with those words and understand them now that they're of age where they could have understood them and had the Holy Ghost verify them now you'll notice they could not understand the Word of God and their hearts were hardened it's as if they've allowed their spirits to be filled with darkness rather than light with deception rather than truth so they couldn't understand somebody would come and talk to them about the gospel they couldn't understand it verse 4 they would not be baptized neither would they join the church and they were a separate people as to their faith remains so ever after even in their carnal and sinful state for they would not call upon the name of the Lord their God so you're noticing what happens often is this this difficult it's not a progression it's a digression from circumstances that you have no control over but eventually once your agency kicks in if you don't use it appropriately it leads to further and further wood knots and cut knots that will prevent you from walking in the light so it's a powerful principle to consider as we move forward as individual individuals and as families nobody is better equipped to teach these principles than parents in a home no no bishop and no leader no teacher in a church or a religious education setting is going to be better helping to prevent this from happening than mom and dad at home you don't have to have a PhD or a graduate degree in any kind of biblical studies to be able to know what heaven once done with heavens child that's been given to you as parents or or as grandparents so bless you in that effort now notice the shift here look at verse eight King Messiah had given Alma the authority over the church and it came to pass that Alma did not know concerning them the them is these people who are doing all these bad things so here's Alma he's the head of the church and he had no idea what to do concerning them but there were many witnesses against them now there had not any such thing happened before in the church therefore Alma was troubled in his spirit and he caused that they should be brought before the king Alma's troubles he's never seen this situation before in his life brothers and sisters there's a there's a phenomenon in our church where sometimes we get this idea that when God calls a prophet or prophets that when they're when they're picked as a prophet then he now gives them all knowledge and all ability and there they're going to be perfect the reality is is when God calls prophets he I love how how president Boyd Cape hacker worded this he said were just normal people who have been called to do extraordinary things and on another occasion one of my favorite stories along these lines is one that was told by Elder Neil L Andersen when in General Conference he shared one of his first it may have even been his first experience as a general authority and the person he was assigned to go with was president Packer and he said the president Packer stood up in one of these settings and said to this congregation he said I know who I am now most of us would sit there and think he's going to say I am an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ but he didn't say that president Packer said I am a nobody and then elder Anderson said president Packer turned to him and said an elder Anderson yura nobody to and don't you ever forget it welcome to the Apostleship to me it's refreshing when you hear stuff like that and when you see stuff like this it it makes my raising my hand to sustain the prophets seers and Revelator's to leaders of the church it makes it more meaningful to realize that this sustaining hand isn't to say yes I expect them to be absolutely perfect uns and never get anything wrong ever ever ever it's gonna be flawless but rather to realize there are some things that we're gonna experience as a group collectively that are troubling and they don't have all the answers just instantaneously now there are times when they come for specific needs but the sustaining hand from the from the Saints at large is to say we've got your back we'll support you we're in this together let's work through this ongoing restoration as God reveals things line upon line precept precept here a little there a little and if we get revelation that changes something that's been done in the church a certain way for decades wonderful hallelujah right let's move forward and I love that here where you see you see this process unfolding with Alma wrestling with God to say what do we need to do with this problem that I've never never experienced before let's let's look closely at verse 13 now the spirit of Alma was again troubled and he went and inquired of the Lord what he should do concerning this matter for he feared that he should do wrong in the sight of God you'll notice there's a beautiful little truth in their prophets aren't called to be popular among people they're not trying to get the most likes or the most followers in in a social media context they want to be right with God they want to let this be the Church of Jesus Christ not the Church of men not the Church of public opinion not the Church of the latest social media craze to sweep through the world and so that's their concern and I hope we can we can sustain better than we ever have before as a collective group of body of Saints the prophets seers and Revelator's as we know that they're on their knees pleading to know God's will knowing what he would would have taught to us and let's let's work through this process of an ongoing restoration together it's beautiful these are these are our days this is our time to be here and experience these things that we're watching now something fun for you to do in your scriptures here is in chapter 26 you can mark in whatever way works for you and if you don't want to mark it that's totally fine but from verse 15 through 32 verse 15 through 32 is the first edition of the church handbook of instructions in the Book of Mormon because Alma for the first time has has organized things into these church hierarchical structures and he's going to the Lord with these formal problems and God is starting to to give that specific guidance and direction so if you look at these verses in chapter 26 you you can pay really close attention to the personal pronouns it would be a fascinating exercise for some of you to pause and pause the video and just work your way through all of these verses 15 through 32 and mark all of the I my Me Mine by the time you get done with these verses there should be no question in anybody's mind whose church this is he isn't saying Elma in your church you should do this he never once does that it's all about Jesus it's his church and he's saying here's what I want done in my church at this time now there's there's huge applicability to not just the church but if you can see your life as an individual or your family in this same light to say we don't we don't want I don't want my life to be an isolation of the Savior I actually want to give my life to him to the greatest degree I can so that he can guide it so that it it can become his not because he's taken it from me but because I've given it to him it was elder Neal a Maxwell who said that when we surrender our will and surrender our soul our agency basically it's the only total surrender the results in a complete victory and that is true at whatever level were able to put our life or our offering on the altar and give it to him I love this Tyler let's let me grab both those pens so building off of this I encourage you to look at the early verses here 15 16 17 18 actually look throughout these verses for the word blessed or blessed or bless and it turns out if you go back to Matthew chapter 5 we have what are called the Beatitudes Jesus as the new Moses has gotten onto mountain deliver the higher law that defines for us to covenant path of living and he gives people a whole series of blessings and in Latin the word be at us actually means to be blessed and so in some ways we have Beatitudes here and so you can circle all the ways all the times you see the word blessed or blessed and you see all the power inherent in God's love of what he wants to offer those who take his name upon them and that's the other word I want you to look at as you look through these verses look at the use of the word name it's very interesting verse 18 blessed is this people who are willing to bear my name for in my name shall they be called and they are mine so this ties right back into the baptismal covenant that Alma delivered to the people at the waters of Mormon and there's actually a lot of power in naming it turns out if we return back to the Old Testament to Genesis when Adam was created God asked Adam to name everything in creation and I use this as an example because naming is power and responsibility when you have a name you have power and responsibility and authority and it's interesting that what God truly wants is to put his name on us he wants to be responsible for us he wants to have power for us in a authority on our behalf now of course he already has all those things but we can only fully and truly access it if we're willing to allow him to name us and I want you to think about in our world today they want all the naming it happens the branding the marketing I happen to be wearing some shoes that are brand name and so I'm actually representing some company right now I'm not going to put those shoes on camera because they actually aren't paying me to do this but the real name that I should try to be bearing is the name of Jesus Christ but our world today tries to insert themselves in the work of God and name us with their brand with their stories with their purposes no I'm not saying that it's actually a bad thing that businesses are out there doing their work but ultimately we want to think about the person who ultimately defines who we are and gives us power and authority is Jesus and as we join with him in his church we get his name and as we move on to the next life and we are admitted into his presence is because we are like him and we have his name if you look at this taking his name bearing my name upon us that starts off this section this priesthood handbook of instructions then he tells you that once you do that now you you don't just sit back and take his name but you go forth and serve you become more like him so you look at what missionaries do they literally take his name and put it upon them outwardly it's sitting right here over their hearts their name combined with the the name of Jesus Christ on their heart my son Jacob who we just got home from his mission and in Ecuador last week when he was released he shared something with us where he said for for his full-time missionary service he was given the opportunity to wear the name of Christ over his heart and now that he's released the invitation is for the name of Christ to be written forever and ever and ever in his heart and for him to go forth and serve in in beautiful ways as he emulates the the life of the Savior so to speak in trying to become more like him in that process individually as well as collectively as a group we're gonna struggle at times we're gonna get some things wrong and it's okay as long as we learn from it and we grow and repent and move forward look at verse 30 yay and as often as my people will repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me and you shall also forgive one another your trespasses for various into you he that forgive us not his neighbor's trespasses when he says that he repents the same has brought himself under condemnation so there's another invitation for us to become more like Jesus if you if you want to be more like the Savior then exercise the principle of mercy it was Joseph Smith in his journal who once wrote ever keep in exercise the principle of mercy and he went on to say even if we would get to the point where we could forgive our brother before he asks for forgiveness Joseph said our Heavenly Father would be equally as merciful to us if you want to be more like Jesus be willing to forgive others be willing to forgive yourself and continually repent as oft as you as you have struggled and trespassed against him that's a beautiful promise now let's go into the the the big chapter where you see major change chapter 27 this is Elma and the four sons of Mosiah now notice a trend here you have Elma we don't call him this but Alma the elder it never calls him that in the scriptures then you get Alma's son we call him Alma the younger so here you have the father the Prophet he is doing everything he can to build up faith and build up the church and spread the gospel and it's his own son who who happens to be one of the biggest enemies of that process of what he's trying to do ironically in his youth he struggles as a one of the priests of King Noah he had a pretty rough period of time in his life that caused him some sort entance so it's interesting how he looks at the struggles of his son and how he he pleads with God in behalf of his son his past experience has to shape his parenting experience here and ironically nearly the same thing the same pattern is going to occur in a future lesson when Elma the younger is going to be dealing with the son during a mission who falls into some pretty serious transgression and it's just fascinating to see the kind gentle repentance for them is not this punitive I'm gonna I'm gonna make sure that justice comes hammered down onto your head rather let me help you see who God is who you are what you've done here to sever that relationship and how you can restore that so you see a beautiful pattern played out here and I wonder if there's also a message in the meaning of the name Alma in Hebrew Alma means young man and all these stories are about young people who have wandered but eventually found their way back and isn't that the whole plan of salvation were sent down to this earth we're young and we make a bunch of mistakes and God loves us and has provided a pathway that we can return to him and these stories all indicate that all of us at some point in our young lives in our it doesn't mean that we're like aged young but this even spiritually young lives were all developing that like Alma the elder Alma the younger and even Cory Anton if we've made mistakes if we've had family members of may mistakes just have faith keep pursuing that path a piece that God has laid out and like these young men we too can find salvation now there's there is a false notion that is pretty enticing in the world and it's this idea that D'Arnot why did I have to be born in the church why couldn't I have lived out in the world and enjoy all of the things of the world and then maybe it yeah I don't know aged 80 find the missionaries be taught the gospel accept the gospel get baptized and a year later go to the temple and then maybe a year after that died so then I get the best of both worlds right I I can enjoy life and then be saved in the end if Alma or Alma the younger we're standing here today I don't think I don't believe for a moment that either of them would say it was awesome we got to enjoy all of the pleasures of the world and of the flesh and it was it was delightful and then afterwards yeah then then we found the gospel and got on the Covenant path and now we're gonna be saved it's all good I don't think they would say that it's a lie it's a major deception to think that keeping the commandments or being on the Covenant path is somehow the slog the hard the miserable life and we look at all the fun that's going on out there thinking oh yeah but we can't have any fun because we've got to be covenant keeping members of this church brothers and sisters this is a plan of happiness the Lord's plan is a plan of peace it's it's not a plan of being yoked down with the the the bondage that the world offers us through these fleeting pleasures that quickly pass and leave behind a wake of sore repentance it is not the ideal to get to the end of a life of sin and raucous living and then find the gospel now it's always a wonderful thing when anybody finds the gospel don't get me wrong that's not what I'm trying to say my my wife's grandmother she got baptized at age 89 and went to the temple for the first time at age 90 and on one occasion I was talking to her my wife and I were talking to her and she didn't make a big deal of it but we were asking her how she felt about about her newfound faith my mother-in-law being an only child had found the gospel years earlier and now here was her mother who at age 1991 said very gently very kindly I wish I wish I would have found this gospel earlier I wish I would have found all of these things when I was younger when I could have enjoyed what this what this church and this gospel offered to me before I was this old on that foundation here's Alma the younger he's going around living living it up so to speak in a worldly context his parents and many of the members of the church are fasting and praying for him when God sends a very very unique answer to that prayer sends the angel to visit these these boys Alma the son of Elma who's the head of the church and a manera nam nirn him knight who are the four sons of the King King Mose so your your rising generation of the the biggest leaders in the Nephites civilization our our biggest problem so the angel comes to them and you'll notice how the angel addresses them pay close attention as you read in chapter 27 the words of the angel and how he's validating the faith and the prayers of the righteous Saints at that time as well as how he is validating the agency of Ammon Aaron amna and him Knight and especially Alma notice verse 16 now I say unto thee go and remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of Heilmann in the land of Nephi and remember how great things he has done for them for they were in bondage and he has delivered them sisters I don't think he's just saying go and read the history books of your family to know everything that happened to them so you can have great conversations of family reunions I think what he might be saying here is your family has had serious struggles with bondage in the past take-home message Elma you have serious struggles with bondage right now God released your family from bondage he'll release you from bondage if you're willing look at this now ice and the elma go thy way and seek to destroy the church no more that their prayers may be answered and this even if thou wilt of thy self be cast off if you want to choose to be cast off that's fine but stop fighting against the work of God and then Elma fell to the earth and there's this huge change that's taking place and we're going to cover that in depth when we get to Elma chapter 36 when he's recounting the the inside story of what's occurring during those three days he gives you a little flavor of it here and when he wakes up in verse twenty four twenty five all the way down through verse 31 beautiful his his final statement in verse 29 my soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity I was in the darkest abyss but now I behold the marvelous light of God my soul was wracked with eternal torment but I am snatched and my soul is pained no more and we're gonna talk a lot more about this now bringing this home to the latter days we are aware of the fact that there are many many families today who have parents grandparents siblings aunts and uncles who who pour their heart out to God in behalf of loved ones who are struggling who have who have either left the faith or left the church or have strayed from their own families and it's painful it's painful to watch knowing that wickedness never was happiness and there won't be any any lasting joy for these people in that lifestyle and so we pray for miracles most of the time you're going to find that as we look through history that the process of change is just that it's a process it's not an event usually in this case it's a glorious exception it's an event sometimes God will we'll work with this on this path of once once a loved one has hit rock bottom then they'll have experiences that will bring them out but occasionally there will be these these defining events these defining moments that the bring them back in a much much quicker quicker way I wanted to share an experience like this that my my dear friend my mentor my former bishop that I served with when we lived in Brigham City Ron France and shared with me on multiple occasions and with with different congregations I love this experience it was somebody that he knew whose father named brother Jennings lived in a small town in in central Utah many many years ago back early 1900s and brother Jennings was not active in the church he smoked he drank he he just spent his time providing for the needs of his family in in rural Utah back in that day but at that time he had the calling as the branch financial clerk so his son remembers him every Sunday sitting in the front room with the donations of the church laid out in front of him that the bishop had dropped off earlier and a ledger he would be keeping track of it with a cup of coffee and a and a cigarette ashtray smoking right there as he's balancing the the records of the church the finances of the church the day came when that little branch was big enough that it was now going to be turned into a ward and the state president called a bishop and then that's that Bishop to perfectly consider who his counselors should be when that bishop came to the state president and gave two names one of the names was brother Jennings the stake president said this doesn't work and the bishop said I know but that's the name that keeps coming to mind so stake president said okay I'll extend the call let's see what happens now you can picture this moment I I don't know because you're getting this story now third fourth hand I don't know the exact order of the wording but it went something like this as bishop Frandsen told it the state president informed him that this little branch was going to be turned into a ward brother Jennings was excited he told him who the new bishop was going to be he's oh wonderful he's a good man this will be a good blessing these people and then the state president informed him and Bishop so-and-so has asked that you be his counsel one of his counselors at which point brother Jennings probably chuckles Oh president you don't understand I can't be his counselor because I smoke I drink I don't pay my tithing and I don't go to church at which point a very very inspired state president chuckled back and said oh no brother Jennings it's you who are mistaken you see you used to smoke you used to drink you used to not pay your tithing and you used to not go to church and in a moment of silence a heart was literally touched and changed and brother Jennings in that moment said you're right I don't drink and I don't smoke and I am a full tithe payer and I will take that calling and He fulfilled that faithfully and was faithful to the end of his life it doesn't mean he didn't face temptations it doesn't mean that he didn't have struggles it just means that he got on the covenant path in a moment now this doesn't happen for most people I get that I understand that but sometimes brothers and sisters we stretch out our gospel improvement longer than it needs to be because we assume that God can't change our heart in in moments of time when in fact he can he can if we'll have faith and if we'll pray not just for ourselves but for our loved ones for experiences to a to occur where these mighty changes of heart can can come to pass to finish off today's lesson in chapter 28 as you study this notice notice the contrasts that we've come from a manera nam nur and him nye so 27 is mostly about Alma 28 mostly about the four sons of Mosiah we've seen Alma's huge change of heart well the four sons of Mosiah had a major change of heart to these four young men or however old they are their heirs to the Nephites throne they could have a life of ease and comfort and power and it's it they were born into this but you'll notice the change of heart that they've had where they they are at the point where they can't imagine what it would be like to have anyone endure torment look at chapter 28 verse 3 now they were desires that salvation should be declared to every creature for they could not bear that any human soul should perish yeah even the very thought that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble and thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon them and they were the very vilest of sinners and the Lord saw fit isn't it in his infinite mercy to spare them from Heaven's perspective they they go from the very vilest of sinners to now saying we want to go and serve a mission and they pick the most awful place that a knee fight could pick which is we want to go serve among the Lamanites we want to go serve in a place where they would rather kill us than listen to us because they can't bear the thought of these people suffering eternally what they've experienced in a very short period of torment through their repenting that they've experienced and so Mosiah their father the king is going to have to get heavens direction on this and my favorite part of this is this this mission that they're going on makes no logical sense but the Spirit of the Lord inspired it and then the Spirit of the Lord in spires King Messiah to see absolutely let your boys go I will protect them and for those of you who have had missionary children or grandchildren or relatives were close friends in places or in situations where they were in harm's way you know somewhat of that feeling of saying Lord I'm giving my son into your hands I'll never forget the day we send our first son Benjamin our oldest on his mission to Guatemala and he was going to go to the Guatemala MTC so my wife and I took him to the airport at Salt Lake International and we watched as he went through the line of TSA and finished with all of that and headed out to go towards his gate and here's our boy that we've raised as he clears that process and before he turns to go out of sight he turned around and waved at us and here my wife and I waving back at him and there was a deep sense of of love for that boy and for our Heavenly Father who entrusted that boy into our care and it literally felt like we were putting him back in the hands of the Lord to say he's yours he was yours long before he was ours we know we're not losing him but we're giving him back to you keep him safe and used him as an instrument in my hands brothers and sisters we're involved in a great work in this latter-day it's hard life is difficult there are people who are struggling who are wrestling with things who are messing up but we have a God in heaven who loves us who didn't send his Son into the world to condemn us he sent his son into the world to save us and if we'll just repent and if will keep trusting and having faith in him he will forgive us and he will cleanse us and he will cleanse our loved ones who are struggling and it may take years it may take decades it might not happen until the next life but the Lord loves you and He loves us and he's gonna work with us and he's gonna honor agency I get that but he'll put us in situations where we can finally have our hearts softened and opened to come back to him now to come full circle I'm Humpty Dumpty and you're Humpty Dumpty we sat on a wall we've experienced a great fall and all the world's horses and all the world's men can't put us together again but the Lord can't and the Lord will and that's my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ amen you

Channel: Book of Mormon Central

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Id: Njkj_AWu4jg

Length: 52min 3sec (3123 seconds)

Published: Mon May 11 2020