Talk Of Him - EP 27 - Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20–21

foreign on today's episode of talk of him we'll talk about how the resurrection of Jesus Christ and understanding its reality can increase our quality of life now and forever and we talk about how intentionally we can abide with Christ and invite him to walk with us each day all that and more this week [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello everybody and welcome back to talk of him I'm John fossum here with the inimitable gainalyn Conde do you know what that word means um something cool yeah very cool you cannot be mimicked you cannot there's not equal you are yeah that's right welcome to the first episode of July which kicks off sadly our farewell tour as you uh we've already announced in a previous announcement this is our final month of filming for talk of him we're just so grateful for everybody when you want to be in a space of gratitude all month with all of these episodes and a lot of Grace yes as we try to share content and still laugh a little and yeah and have the spirit be in charge we want to celebrate one thing before we jump into the come follow me readings and that is we recently celebrated our 1 millionth download on the podcast platform only right yeah that's a tremendous success for the show and it's all because of you our audience and our listeners so thank you thank you thank you I just want to blow you all kisses I love you all so much yeah especially in a space of so many podcasts and come follow me resources our audience is the best you're the best so we're going to keep it going for July and we're going to start with the readings in Matthew 28 Mark 16 Luke 24 and John 20 and 21. and we're going to try to focus on the resurrection of Jesus Christ I'm so grateful we get to get to this at least yeah yeah I mean I would have loved to go to the writings of Paul with you guys but you know but you got Isaiah West yeah yeah that's right yeah I'm spoiled um I have a question I want you to think about this what does the resurrection mean for each of us it's it's a question I want to ask myself originally I I wasn't I didn't really have a super definitive answer other than like oh I'll be resurrected too or whatever you know like all that's important and awesome but I just feel like there's a lot more there that we can that we can um glean yeah what are the implications of Jesus Christ's Resurrection on my immediate and future Eternal quality of life and so uh starting Luke 24 39 very famous verse where Jesus appears to his Apostles after he's been resurrected and he says behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself handle me like come touch me and see for a spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as you see me have so he was really intent on making his Apostles come and experience the reality like guys I have been resurrected and and it's it's it's more it's like cooler than just the fact that I'm standing here before you you need to touch me and know that my atonement is complete because the implications of me standing here in front of you are Eternal and profound and anyone that's grieved the loss of someone they've loved right right they've gone through these disciples they've gone through this grieving process where they've questioned and wondered and what was it all for right and so that tactile intimate connection can you imagine no I I can't I I must have been trying to like process as they're like it's sinking in and I'm not sure they could have processed it right completely until they literally like touch the text and then they ate remember they ate with him and he's just like I see I'm I'm literally back which I totally get like emotionally I wonder if he was like hungry emotionally oh yeah all right that's a new angle I've never considered it well that was one of the infallible proofs uh that the the apostles needed another infallible proof of Jesus's literal Resurrection came when Jesus uh sorry uh Stephen was being uh martyred he was being stoned to death and right before he dies he looks up into heaven and in Acts 7 55 and he says I see Jesus Christ standing on the right hand of God right he's resurrected and ascended now into heaven John 20 31 and this week's reading says but these things are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God so that believing you might have life through his name and I just keep asking myself how can believing these things give me life um the completion of Jesus Christ is atoning sacrifice which the resurrection signals guarantees that what it says in Revelation or Isaiah one of my favorite verses says the Lord shall wipe away tears from all faces and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off the Earth in the words of the famous hymn death is conquered man is free Christ has won the victory now we've talked about this before yeah it's one of my favorite things that you've shared on the show I was like it's our last month yeah I just want to make sure we give this one more disorder we really have her at home um speaking in something like it's past tense um it's done in this case it truly was past tense when they wrote the hymn right like he has won the victory you know a couple thousand years ago right but that's still an important perspective because some of us feel like or act like our future salvation and exaltation is still like oh I I don't know I don't know but I mean it's a type a tightrope walk it's done like Jesus did it and if I love Jesus and I'm committed to stay connected to Jesus my future salvation and exaltation is a guarantee it's inevitable sooner or later he's going to help me get to where God wants me to be I just got to stay Tethered to him now the prophets in the before Jesus was was on the earth they would still speak about his sacrifice as though it was already done I got an example Isaiah 52 9 which chronologically it happened right so this is this is 600 years before Jesus right Isaiah says this Break Forth into Joy sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem signifying us our loved ones our lives for the Lord hath comforted his people he hath redeemed Jerusalem it hadn't happened yet but he's speaking about it as though it has I love that you squeezed into Isaiah I love Isaiah you guys know how to sucker yeah recently uh I know such as we think I'm so bad you're good recently I had a conversation with a woman named Jennifer Hagee an old family friend she was visiting my mother in the hospital and I got to talk to her and she said you and gain a Lynch treatment of Isaiah last year healed my soul I believe those are her words and it just meant so much to me to hear that we helped at least one person capture sort of the power and influence of Isaiah and one last thing I'd like to just emphasize around this that again a concept we've mentioned before but I just want to hit it one more time with this related to this um I I always get this question it comes up all the time teaching teenagers but also adults strangely enough you know they say how do I know if I've been forgiven and again it's the worry of our souls right yeah and when I think again that like Jesus did it already it's done the perfect I just don't know that we are understanding or representing God's character accurately when we say when do I know if he has forgiven me so I just want you to thank our listeners think about the last time you went to God with like a heavy heart for your weaknesses and you got on your knees and you were like please forgive me have you ever encountered a God that was like well it's good thing you asked because I was ticked and I've been waiting it's an even day yeah but today's an odd day I've been waiting for you I have not been forgiving you I'm like I'll forgive him when they come ask me but not until then right that is not God that's not that's not even close to God every time I go to God and I say I'm sorry for the things I've done I encounter the same response and it is it's okay thank you for saying sorry I'm glad you're sorry for those things because I mean you should be look what it did to your life right it carries with it its own consequence of course I forgive you I never held it against you in the first place I'm here to help you learn from that heal from it uh I love you and I've never I've never been like sure good thing I asked him because boy he was about to light me up right that's that's not God and so my question is you know what what might be a better way to frame coming to God when we're in sin other than please forgive me oh I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me we talked about this in our prep session no it was so good because I don't think I have told anyone on the planet that I have kind of felt awkward yeah in those kinds of prayers until you shared something and I was like wait we can talk about this and I thought it was such a powerful like clarifying fact that helps me now want to joyfully repent every day yeah and so instead of like we talked about language that we would use in prayer of repentance right instead of like please will you find it in your heart to forgive me for me it feels more natural to say I'm so sorry for the things I've done I truly am right like it hurts me it hurts others yeah that feels genuine right yeah that feels like natural and then instead of saying like dude can you find it in your heart to forgive me like you know naturally not knowing right I feel more natural saying thank you so much for forgiveness that you freely Grant through the atoning grace of thy son that is the gift already given and I accept that gift yes wholeheartedly and I commit to use that gift to try to be better John like if there's no other like last lesson to teach on this show if our audience really gets that and parents and grandparents get it and then teach that to children and teenagers especially that can swim in the shame not just teenagers but sure obviously all of all of us just if we joyfully repent as the prophetess said and and make those repentance prayers be about gratitude and receiving yes yes of course we won't be like hiding from a wall just be running to our bedside every day like guess what I get to say I'm so sorry I messed up and thank you so grateful and So my answer to the question how do I know if I've been forgiven is that's the wrong question God forgives you the question is have you experienced the reality of that forgiveness and that's a very important question for each of us to answer because not many people have and if I'm sitting there thinking oh I hope I make it I hope I make it I hope I make it I clearly have not fully experienced the reality of my forgiven state which maybe is the Book of Mormon question have you experienced that change yeah yeah maybe it's an alma 5 question of like have you had a change of heart about what it looks like to repent is is there a joyfulness in your repenting is there a confidence in God that he is excited and and eager to offer you even more grace not withhold it yep and if we approach the throne that way it is a difference it changes things it changes your heart it does gratitude uh increases for me so I kind of want to add to this witness from Stephen and a conversation that I had as I Was preparing for this episode I was just like I was I don't know I just was thinking about how these Apostles and and disciples had been with the Savior and yet they had wondered even when he said to them you're one of you is going to betray me they were all like wait is it me is it me is it me right and I thought wait so a few weeks ago when we were talking about that part in the scriptures what was it about their relationship they had witnessed all these Miracles they were hanging out with the savior they they knew and yet they were on a in a place in their hearts of like I don't know is it is it me how are we which brings me to you know here we are in this position where Stephen is witness to the godhead right right and here we are where the savior is is showing himself and they're touching him but if we go back just a little bit Luke 24 16 they didn't recognize him it says but their eyes were Holden that they should not know him if you jump to verse 29 but they constrained him saying abide with us for it is toward evening and the day is far spent and he went to Terry with them so here they are they meet him on the road right and they're like they don't know it's him and I think sometimes we're like wait you didn't know if you were gonna betray him and then you see him and you don't recognize him and then they invite him over to this meal right and we see if you pick up on verse 31 that they finally have their eyes opened and it says they knew him and then he vanished out of their sight and he was like you've been with me the whole time I didn't even know right and so then they're sitting around like wait a minute can we just process what just happened here in verse 32 they said and they said one to another did not our heart burn with us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures so there would they see him on the street right they invite him to the house they eat with him yeah then they read scripture obviously right they reflect back and then they recognize that their heart felt something yeah that collection of interactions for some reason this time around felt very validating to me that that my own relationship with God at any given moment I try to teach my kids this that to abide with him and invite him to abide with you is a daily Choice it is not a one or a done because you have a great experience in the temple or you get called on a mission and you preach the gospel like sister Brooklyn Conde is doing for 18 months right it is a choice in every day and I feel like these collections of verses have invited me to consider that I need to choose into literally intentionally asking him to bind with me and that I can't just rest on my Laurels and I and for some reason I just feels super validating that the people that were with him every day yeah that they didn't wobbled yeah yeah they too wondered am I going to betray you and oh wait I didn't even recognize you and that for me helps me feel like it's okay you do know a lot you do have a strong relationship with God and it's growing it's the end it's not the either or and so I asked a few of my faith friends what they do to intentionally recognize the savior in their life work on that conversion relationship process with God and how you invite him to abide with you and they shared some really sacred things I have one friend that especially when she's having hard conversations with kids or people she loves she processes those conversations first in prayer and so God kind of helps her practice that's cool through the like what are you going to say to your teenager that you're worried about or your spouse that you're arguing with I have another friend that is and I've shared this before is so brilliant at meditating and so she literally visualizes these walking on the road to Emmaus moments or on the road to Damascus or sitting and having a meal with the Savior or sharing scriptures like she has a very beautiful spiritual gift of being able to meditate on abiding with the Savior I have another friend that has a lot of kids and and they're from college to baby and not a lot of sleep yeah and she shared with me that like there's always sound so if there's this moment of Stillness that's when she tries to abide yeah and and she tries to use those Quiet Moments that are few and far between to really she's like so music's not necessarily playing my house I always have music playing but she tries to keep it still and when it's still in the car or still in the house that's when it's like a signal to her as a mom of a lot of kids to try to invite the a savior to abide with her and abide with him recently in May I had the opportunity to speak at Women's Conference in the Marriott Center and it was a little overwhelming I was the closing address and there's 10 000 people in the Merit Center and and I had practiced with a Podium and then they had decided at the break to remove it completely and I was sitting in the Velvet chairs with Rob so we kept going on the jumper Tron and so I was just like like wobbling it had been a long day of like dress rehearsals and and I just was to the point where like I just need to get done with this message and the theme of BYU Women's Conference included this beautiful picture of the savior and they kept flashing it up on the screens behind the the round stage in the Marriott Center and so where I was sitting I I just through the previous talks kept seeing this picture of the savior and I was going to give a talk about keeping Eyes On Jesus and so I thought well girl if you're gonna get up there and preach it you better be doing it and I literally prayed through the whole previous talks because I was the closing one to have Christ abide with me and I had this visual of this picture of him that kept flashing up and every time I would just try to keep eyes on him and in a very literal way I felt him just hold me and say like like my fear was am I gonna trip on the stage and there's no Podium for me to study myself and it's getting late or is everyone going to just want to go home and you know I was having all this fear and doubt and I just had to keep returning to that and that may seem like a simple thing but I think many of our audience have a picture of the savior in their home yeah and I think whether it's accurate or it's your favorite version of him or whatever I practice that and I'll just witness that he was there and he steadied me and I didn't fall and and I felt his spirit with me in that space in doing something I hadn't done before and so I guess I just I love the the apostles show us in a very personal way that they weren't sure that they were questioning that they were doubting how do you invite God to abide with you yeah I appreciate the question because uh something just happened today okay that I'd like to quickly share and it was uh recently I've I've reconnected with one of my brother in law Andy and his wife talane up in Idaho love you both and they have their three beautiful little girls that anyway we recently went to visit them and uh Andy and I we differ in our faith practices and our beliefs somewhat but we both love the Savior Jesus Christ and we both love uh Christian music uh and so um he's been sending me things about the you know which songs he likes the most that helps him feel the most uh connected to the Savior and just today he sent me just a quick little video of just the stereo in his truck you know he's just filming a stereo with the music in the background this great Christian song about uh I love the Savior and he is my Jesus he's my Jesus and he says man I just love this song so so much would you send it to me because Gloria my Jesus is my favorite and I love that you said worship music and he just texted me and he was like I just love how it says my Jesus and how we each have sort of different ways to connect with him and abide with him but but he's mine and and and and it's all about me and how I connect with him and and he's with me and I just said Amen to that I just love it so much and so uh he and I despite our our differences like in faith practices and things like that we both share very much in common the ability to abide find the savior in in certain songs and certain music and I would say just coming back to this what you're talking about with the apostles a lot of the times when we're like oh my gosh it's you we also realize oh my gosh you've been with me the whole time the whole time yeah so I had the same experience driving in the studio today knowing that this was our last the beginning of our last and a song came on that was just like okay this is my Anthem to do I need your grace okay good I was like pumping up with my Jesus music that's hilarious so thank you for that in our invitation this week we want you to consider what aspects of Jesus Christ's atonement are you most grateful for um some of the examples because of him we can learn about how our mistakes aren't condemning to us and because of him we can receive Grace that we need eventually to become like our Heavenly parents and because of him we get to live again with those that we love and that we've maybe lost so maybe take time this week to ponder a journal about why Jesus Christ atonement means so much to you and how you have experienced his grace and we'll see you again next week on talk of him [Music] talk of him is brought to you by Covenant Communications make sure you follow us on social media and pick up a copy of find him study guide at Seagull Book or online [Music]

Channel: Seagull Book

Views: 6,673

Keywords: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, LDS, Seagull Book, Covenant Communications

Id: EQ8BiP5GLbM

Length: 21min 55sec (1315 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 23 2023