hi y'all I'm Dave Butler I'm Grace Freeman welcome to don't miss this scripture study class y'all we are so happy we're starting a new book of scriptures today Helman chapter 1 if you're new with us we moved through the Book of Mormon this year the scriptures following the come follow me and we point out things we think you don't want to miss and things you want to think about and maybe teach about and talk about and um all the above so um tomorrow school starts like on the day recording this at least we don't know when I bet you already in school by the time you watch this school has begun so we're in this new it's a new era fall time which so many things to be excited about oh including I forgot I brought these to show you everybody um over the good news brand um you may know you may have had these before or if not they're new to you we have conference journals they're just a way to kind of elevate the weekend they are a way to just keep track of your notes they're made so well there's a couple versions there's like this version it's got this really pretty art by Dan Wilson this year and just spots that are cool that here's the promptings I had here are some of the promises I heard and then other notes that you want and then you just it just becomes a Keepsake from conference or people who don't take as many notes want just a a smaller mini version of that there are those and then there's a kid version that I forgot to bring with me I can maybe show you that next week so um FYI those are available over at goodnews brandco tocom if you want to jump on that before those sell out and just get ready it's weird the conference is coming but it's coming I know that feels fake but it really did when I just said that but you're just like you should have to be on your game you get all your candies ready and you have to get like you just got to get them ready so H we're getting you we're getting you a little ahead of the game but not that far ahead of the game cuz like they they're they're available right now so um there was that what made me think of that fall the fact that we're starting school and when I was teaching seminary I had the biggest stomach ache the day before cool so am I is this PTSD or whatever for you yeah you're like wait a minute I really it was like oh it made me so nervous and excited it's so sad to see somewhere go I've been mourning it all day today like I'm like wait I did love it it it really is sad but then everyone will come tomorrow and you'll you'll remember you're like I forgot yes this is fun and there is something about me that's so excited for fall to come because it feels like routine again like I'm like okay I need like it feels like I get a chance right now to like restructure my life be like to me fall the start of school feels more like what I think January 1st is supposed to feel like yes like because maybe because it's schoolish you know and it's just like okay I'm going to get new pencils and planners too like I'm going to like just I'm going to be you're back to school kid so it's cool it's a good time also to think about like your personal you know scripture study like summer was going to look way different and then your family scripture study what is that going to look like and and it's not a weird time to like start restart it feels very natural so if you're like okay wait I haven't been doing anything for the last 3 months oh no problem this is a really good excuse to just be like hey I'm diving back in right I feel like even with my kids like I like this week can say all right you guys we're getting back into our nightly scripture study because it's been a minute Summer's hard for that so anyways all right helan let's jump in helan one hopefully everyone was encouraged by all that talk and it was worth the minut taken um Helman one what happened oh we're started a new book so we have the tippens y'all so these remember kind of turn your Book of Mormon into a steady Book of Mormon they're an overview of the book a table of contents and then a table of people and you can glue those in so we have Alum was such a long book we haven't seen one of these in a while so slide those into your margin there I think these still might be available at Deseret Book I maybe I don't know so if you're in that mood of like oh okay I'm going to like finish strong in the Book of Mormon and I want to have some of these debts where you can get something that's where you can get these but um when you look at this overview we've got some really cool stuff you know ahead Gad an robers being introduced um today some of like the experience in the prison that's so good that's on here we're going to get Nephi on the tower that little scene that happens and then Samuel the lonite too so a lot of cool stuff that happens in the book of hel and it's also a book that I feel like people study in comparison to the last days we we've you know more when he puts together the book says I I I I saw your day and I put things in there for the day that this would come forth um president Benson compared The Book of Mormon to a kind of Second Coming preparation book and sometimes you can read the book of hel and kind of start to see you know well you might see patterns or things that you hope aren't patterns you know for the world you know that you live in but in addition to that um there is in there just the the book of healing feel super overwhelming and depressing you know like out of control and yet when I was like reading it again yesterday there's the chapters that you'll see the verses that you're like the sanctification among the people thousands are uniting to the church and I just think that would be important that sometimes when we talk about oh what are the what are the patterns that perceive the second coming we want to talk about the out of control which exists but also don't bypass the the beautiful and wonderful miraculous things that happen as well and I was so reminded this time reading through the first five chapters How gentle the heart of God is and that seems very contradictory to the world that exists in helan 5 and the world that we live in right now and as I looked for that who like the character of God his heart what it felt like I think it changed the way I saw the environment in this in these chapters and it made made me want to think about right now and be like okay I can look at all of this disaster I can look at God's heart and how would that change my perspective yeah and I think there's an invitation in these chapters to to change your perspective or to get out of a destructive cycle that you might see yourself in so for sure we call today's lesson yield your heart because there is a choice that we make our heart we let our heart yield to to some enticing whatever it may be and um so that's that's why we called it that so let's start in Helman chapter 1 this is interesting when I was in the MTC our district um MTC District went we divided up the Book of Mormon and we went through and we found how often you saw the name of Jesus in different chapters throughout the book and if I remember right and I just did sort of a 70% relook at helan 1 helan 1 was one of the chapters that didn't mention the name of Jesus by any name um by any pro down by any reference um in the entire chapter and it sort of made me start thinking about how I don't think this was intentional but it is interesting that the one chapter with no Jesus sort of Begins the problem that will be the takeown of the entire nephite civilization and I just thought like oh that's ironic that the that the chapter that does not mention his name is the beginning of the most devastating problem that you find in the entire book super interesting and at the beginning you have these sons of pooran and and you you'll read this about these boys that are battling for power which seems to be a theme in the book of Helm and just this this power grab from people and and how that obsession with power um is such a is such a downfall for people but uh if you remember back at the end of the book of Alma this is the same pin who gets reamed by Moroni false accused for things and writes that that forgiving and tenderhearted letter back to him and I just read these in chapter one thinking about Bor and these are his boys that I'm just like oh man some of them missed that lesson from their dad some of them missed what to do in in situations of contention and this contention is going to lead to a big problem and I thought oh man it's too bad that they didn't learn that lesson from their father one of them seems to and when there's a contention he kind of backs away from this but this fight but there are these these two brothers who are it says verse four contending for the the Judgment seat and I know this is almost if you've been around um Sunday School classes or whatever for a while like this is a these are common things that we hear about like just the rise of contention and Jesus is going to be one of the first things he teaches about when he comes Among the Nephites which is really really interesting and we'll talk about that when we get there but just um the danger of just this turmoil and contention and one thing I think you learn from chapter one of the book of hel is they were so um they were having so much of this inner turmoil that they were unaware of the outward attack that was coming they were they were just so focused on this fight that was happening in their own City that they were unaware of this outside attack that then happens in hel in chapter one I think there's a great lesson there about um just almost being we talked about in the book of Elma being battle ready and just this idea of when there's like a when there's a contention in a home for example like that home is just like vulnerable to some sort of outward attack I I just started thinking about I can remember like this time where I got so mad at my parents it was right before I went into the MTC and I was in the wrong okay I wasn't always in the wrong but on this particular occasion I your mom's going to love this yeah I she's going to love this one right I was in the wrong I really was and I remember thinking I had already been set apart as a missionary and I remember deciding I'm not going on a mission like we had flown up to you UT for them to drop me off with the MTC and I got so mad about something so stupid looking back now right um almost like you would say to these boys for real you want you wanted the Judgment seat why did you want that like what were you going to get out you know like looking back it was like it was so stupid it was this like I wanted to be right and I wanted you know and I was so mad that I genuinely said to myself I'm I'm not going and and it's going to be a way to stick it everybody they'll be so mad they'll be so disappointed I didn't go and good you know and and I and legit like I was like throwing away what will then become one of the foundational and formative times of My Life One of the most miraculous two years of my entire life because of like this contention that I had in inside of me and I just think that's really interesting that the decisions that we make when we have that contention in us you know that um I was super vulnerable to make a really stupid mistake right and you just think about like um everybody probably has an example of something like that where they're like oh I made I was super vulnerable to an outside attack because I wasn't settled on the inside well and I think it's really interesting because it starts out in verse number one and it says that it begins with it like to be a serious difficulty that's how the whole thing starts it's just with a serious difficulty and then leads to the contention and the fighting and it's I think really important to remember that you can't avoid difficult things but you do get to choose to be contentious and there really was going to be a difficulty for those Brothers to figure out who was going to take the Judgment seat that is a difficult decision for sure you get to choose how to face the difficult decision and how to shape that narrative you know and then all of a sudden they could have walked away and been stronger from the inside right after that difficulty when rather they became contentious and I think part of the contentious and this going to come up is is pride and one element of pride is being so focused on you like the one brother who backs out sees oh there's a majority voice happening right uh in verse six Pac-Man is what I call him pacum manyi whatever when he saw that like oh that everything was going he United with the voice of the people he was just like oh I see a bigger picture here right um and I think the other brother whatever the opposite of unite is he just like that's like what contention is there and I just think that's that's an interesting thought too because there's this idea of are are what are you going for the greater good you know or for my personal gain and good and that's a hard question to ask ourselves but Verse 18 is that verse that I was talking about because of so much contention and so much difficulty in the government they did not keep sufficient guards around the city of zerem and it's going to be attacked their Central City the one that they didn't think was could be taken over uh Falls um and then there's a takeback story and there's one really cool lesson here that I just want to share from chapter one that I don't want you to miss is morona is this um warrior in the Nephi Army who's going to lead back the takeback and so the lamanites do take over like these cities in nephite territory because of the fight that was going on um and there's a part of this takeback story in verse 28 this line when morona had discovered this he immediately sent forth Lehi with an army roundabout to head them before they should come to the land of Bountiful and I love that principle that moronai teaches us that when he noticed something was wrong he immediately did something about it and I think that works for situations that we might be involved in right where somebody says sees a situation and says someone should do something about it okay I'm going to you know but maybe more often we'll see a problem that starts to arise in ourselves and maybe we can be like Maro Iha and when we discover it we immediately send forth an army we immediately do something to head it off before it spins out of control and what if someone in the beginning verses had applied that principle right it's like what if the brother who was noticing that contention in him the second he noticed it immediately does something to head that off so that principle I think is a really cool dual principle one for myself like just my own self-reflection but also another one for because I I really like the the whole concept and idea of I saw a problem and I immediately did something about it you know because we can hum and haw about things like I don't know what to do is it going to be that helpful is it going to be you know like we went when we were in Uganda on our hxp trip we went to this orphanage of this man who who rescued kids from dangerous situations there in Uganda and when I was there I just thought to myself there wasn't just an independent little orphanage and it all and I met the owner and it all started because this owner um had a neighbor who you know was involved in a in a terrible crime and thought and said this can't happen someone's got to do something about this and I just like that he like IA immediately did something for that so anyways kind of a double principle there that you could think about or teach in Helman one for sure um what happens in Helman 2 well this also happens in Helman one let's go there first because pin gets murdered by a guy that is named Kish kumin all right that happens in chapter 1 and then once again they're looking for someone to take take the Judgment seat and chapter 2 begin borin was voted in yes but then the other brother didn't like it so they like hired a Hitman essentially kman and he just kind of came up out of nowhere and he was just going to be the Hitman and then he murdered him and then now we need a new now we're back now we're back to exactly where chapter one started but with new people because all the other ones fell apart so what happens is Helman decides he is going to take well he doesn't the voice of the people decides Helman is going to take the Judgment seat but the problem is Kish kumin the guy who murdered um pin didn't really love that plan and he also had a group of people that also didn't really love that plan and so they kind of all gathered together and um they kind of formed this group and um there was one um Gad Anon that kind of came up and he was kind of the guy for the group boss guy yeah and everyone respected him and was like yeah and he could like talk nice you can tell because he convinced everyone he's like you just got to get me in the Judgment seat this is we can take care of it like I will take care of you guys like it was like a lot of flattery for the people and they're kind of all on board and so they decide to send the hit guy Kish Kuman back and he's going to murder helan and that's their plan and they're feeling really good about it and so is crazy it's crazy that this stuff happened and I you know this is so drama chapter 2 is a movie it is not real like it is actually insane because yeah well then I was just going to say like what I was saying earlier like this the the crazy things that people do when like Pride or the seeking of power has taken over their heart like you just like do you know it's like we how many years later now I don't even know where's the date usually they have the dates to the bottom but whatever 50 BC okay we're however many years later do you think they're in heaven looking down and being like a little shame you know feel a little shame for the way that they acted you just like this is what happens when you let those things grab and take over your heart you actually end up doing stuff you thought that's wild that's straight wildness no and chapter 2 this story really is it is a movie you can't even believe it's real because it's scary that that's in any of us by the way I did hear this one Pastor talking about like we read the story of like Caine and Abel and we we think you're you are straight crazy Kane you're straight crazy and then he was just like but the seeds of that great evil exist in all of us yeah they have either you snuff them out or they are nurtured and the things that you read where you're like it is wild to think this is possible for a human being we are as human as they were yeah just it's a warning cry right for sure and it gets even crazier because when they're making this plan one of helman's servants is like it's like night time and he is like spying on them and like getting this entire plan and he's like okay and now he's like formulating this thing and whoever wrote chapter 2 is so so sneaky because it really does read like a story yeah I was just going to say if you teach like the 17-year-old Sunday school class for sure this is it because what's going to happen is he goes through and it says that the servant in verse number eight um the servant knows the whole heart of Kish kumin and then in the rest of chapter 8 in verse eight of chapter 2 you begin to learn what his heart was like and it is a heart that murders and robs and gains power and has secret PL hands and that's what the servant is learning and he's the guy all of a sudden that's like wait this is what's going to be in the Judgment seat is the murder and the robbery and the secret plans and all of this stuff and so what happens is the servant and Kish kumin the servant finds Kish kumin and you don't really know what's going to happen because you can't really tell if the servant is going to like him and like band together or not like if you don't know the end of the story and what happens is they kind of like start talking and it's fine whatever and then the servant stabs Kish kumin the this is crazy and um he dies instantly and then what happens is the servant runs and he runs to helan to say everything that happened and he says this was their plan this is who was there this is what just happened with me and I cannot imagine after that the night that that servant just had what his heart was feeling that was an intense moment a moment of a big decision he had to decide what to do with Kish kumin like that was a moment that was probably really intense he was probably really afraid he was probably nervous he probably was uncertain there was a lot of unknown in that whole entire situation and his instinct is to run to helan to run to someone who could help but then what happens after is Gad Anon figured out what that Kish kumin had died and they have this whole group of people and they also run in verse number 11 and they took their flight out of the land by a secret way into the Wilderness and it's so interesting to me that in both of these situations there are two people that have to decide what to do and both decide to run which is very human of us when something happens when there's a big decision when we're not exactly sure what's going to happen we do have that human nature to run and I think it's such a powerful lesson to realize where are you going to run when you're not sure what to do when you're not sure what the outcome is are you going to run to someone who can help or are you going to run into secrecy and you'll see what happens to both of those people throughout the next few chapters but I do think there's something powerful to realize that maybe the problem isn't that you're running that's human nature it's fine just run that's great but you do not need to run into secrecy When Things Fall Apart you don't need to run and hide you can run and find someone who will help yeah and I think that's exactly the lesson that we were that I was just saying like oh if I'm teaching a 17-year-old Sunday school class that's the principle I'm going to teach with this one is the difference between those that one of them runs for help and one of them runs into secrecy and then you read verse 13 and 14 at the end of chapter two and you're like that's where the secrecy leads to that's where like this problem unchecked and most problems unchecked lead and lead to what it's it's going to say the the overthrow and the entire destruction of the people of of Nephi and that's such a powerful lesson it's powerful too to teach it in connection with these other chapters that we're going to look at because they provide an alternative because sometimes we think when things are falling apart or we've made a mistake that our only option is to run into secrecy but what if there's a better option and a better alternative and I think chapter 3 starts to teach us what that better option is for sure right if we run away from I I I can't help but go back to the Garden of Eden and go back to Adam and Eve who are told to run into secrecy and they to and they do and they run from God because they have this wrong idea about him and it's like but what if you had the right one maybe you would have run to him because he's the one who's going to solve the problem what if they never come out from behind the tree right what if they try to solve all of these things on their own what if they never learn that there is a solution that there is a Redemption that there is a there is one who came to solve problems and you start to see that in chapter 3 it starts off by talking really interestingly about like just the way that they built houses that they were just like we used to build them out of woods but now we build them out of cement you know and it's just like I thought that was like oh great there's just like a really really long dialogue about the different ways and and then the shipping industries that they started because like well we couldn't get trees so we started shipping them in and two things I thought about this as I was reading it one is it was just like if I were Jose of Smith making up the Book of Mormon I certainly wouldn't have included these hearts in here where you're just like why did you tell us about the how you shipped the logs down the river I was like no one cared about who cares and that you built your the new materials that you built your your your stuff out of but another thing I thought of is just like so much was changing so much people were moving the new places and so much was changing and in the midst of all of this change that's happening you read verse 20 and this is one that I would highlight it says hel and did feel that nevertheless there was contention and there was moving and there was this and there was that and there was all these things going on nevertheless I love that word despite all the stuff going on hel and Phil that judgment seat with Justice and Equity he observed to keep the statutes and the judgments and the Commandments of God and this is the part I underlined and loved and he did do that which was right in the sight of God continually and did walk after the ways of his father in so much that he did prosper in the land and I just love that idea of whatever the changes may be I've moved to a new school I've moved to a new house I've moved to a new job things are different this year than they were last year whatever however much the conditions around me may be changing I started a new shipping business you know nevertheless despite all of those despite the contention that is happening in the neighborhood I live in right um I can choose to do what that which is right in the sight of God continually through it all right one thing is going to be constant in my life and that's that I'm going to try and do what's right in the sight of God and we find out what happens um that's that's the story of one man but then we find out from there what happen s if many people in a society do that or in a community together and you start to get the the fruits of doing that which is right in the sight of God continually a little list that I've I should have put this on the board what was I thinking I like love lists okay starting in verse 25 just some things to mark this is the best verse of all time in the history of the world just so you know it became my new favorite you love it yes you do 25 then and then I'll do the rest because you guys and so great was the posterity Pro prosperity of the church and so many the blessings which were poured upon the people that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure and don't you love that they got introduced to a God who exceeds expectations amen that even the greatest thing they could ever imagine God said I could do one better yeah right that is like if you need a blessing don't just ask for one because verse 25 promises you way more than you could ever dream up yeah yeah and that's the definition of prosperity right is watching what God will do and and I love two parts of that too one um we worship a God that's going to shock the high priests yes it's going to shock the teachers who've been around the block you know they think they know they thought they know how good God could be right right right kind of like you know like the high priests are kind of like our let's say they're just like the corm of the 12 today or something right let's just make that equivalent and say like we would assume in their age in their experience you've seen some pretty cool things you know but but to believe in a God that can shock even them that can shock the teacher you know what I mean like the teacher knows it all yes it's just like but but but in this instance you will be astonished beyond measure and I love this beyond measure it it go it goes it gets that part in the tape measure that runs out you know where it's like he gets all you know it's a terrible noise that it makes when it happens but it's just like like you actually don't have enough tape measure to measure the goodness of God it's impossible right so keep this in mind that we're making a list here you're things that you're going to Mark here are just here are the here's what happens as a person continually does that which is follows the ways of God that's what it is the pattern that God has set forth this is what happens when people do that this is the alternative to secrecy right it's the alternative to what we're going to see in the next chapter you know spinning in this destructive cycle okay uh look in 26 so many people United themselves to the Church of God for some reason I loved that so much more than they joined the Church of God um I looked at the definition of unite and went down this little path of that and I'll just let you do that on your own but just why why did you choose that word unite to the Church of God I'm so intrigued by it um 27 thus we may see the Lord is merciful unto all and I want you to Circle all in verse 27 and I want you to Circle all in verse 28 and I want you to Circle whosoever in verse 29 we find out that all who will anybody who wants is what it says right anybody who wants Mercy may have it by calling upon His holy name that's simple and and so good 28 we see here's a phrase the Gate of Heaven is open unto all and all it requires is that we believe in the name of Jesus Christ look at 29 whosoever May will whosoever wants you are allowed to lay hold of the word of God and the word of God is quick and Powerful quick means alive like lightning right it's alive it's powerful it makes a difference it divides um it it it burns out like the the cunning and snares of the devil and it leads um the person of Christ into a straight and narrow course across that Gulf of misery and it lands their souls verse 30 at the right hand of God in the Kingdom of Heaven to sit down and first of all I do love to this to sit down because there are some people here who are just weary they are weary with life and the promise of our God is oh I I I have a you can sit down it's done when you're when you're seated it's like oh that means it's you know I I just ah and in context of the Old Testament which this book is we're also talking about to be seated on a throne is is some imagery there what were you going to say and with such good company that's my favorite part of the end of verse 30 is that it says Abraham Isaac and Jacob and with all our holy fathers and I love that you get to be included in that company that the people that you have looked up to your entire life that's who you get to sit next to right and that's the thing is you would read that and you think oh I actually don't belong with Abraham Isaac and Jacob but that's how powerful our God is where he just said you know like there's some like you almost found yourself with the box seats and you're just like this is this I not be my seat you know or the front row where you're like you actually have to have special connections you got to know somebody lanyard you right you got to know somebody to get these seats you know like you got and that's that's the thing that's the thing about um our God is what it's saying is like he is your connection and I I'll get you the the tickets to those seats to the box seats to the front row seats to sit down with they to a place that you never would have dreamed of going on your own is the beauty that's here and I'm just so captured by this other words in there continue rejoicing peace and joy in verse 32 um even though there's persecution in verse 34 you find 35 that says nevertheless they did wax stronger and stronger and firmer and firmer in their faith until the filling their souls with joy and consolation even in the midst of persecution against them like there is this un like this Joy this thrill this Majesty of living in the ways of God that you just can't find anywhere else and I I am a kind of person who wants to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ as good news I I don't want to teach the I I I appreciate the warning voice in the book but I also appreciate more that there is an invitation in the book it's not just don't it doesn't just say avoid evil avoid destruction that's nice but then that leaves me at neutral and the book doesn't leave me a neutral and it says you or you could be this is what you could run to this is what you could be experiencing these are the truths that draw you away something's if if if you're in a pride cycle which we're going to do in the next chapter what's going to pull my heart out of it and its verses like these well and I love comparing it to where we even just were and where we're going to be and that line of they are just as human as we are and you get to choose like Abraham Isaac Jacob the people that lived this had experienced the gospel this way on the moments when you say that's not for me that is too good for me those people were just as human as you oh yeah the only reason that we admire Abraham Isaac and Jacob is because of what God did with them yeah like the before God came into their story there's no reason that you would think you can't sit next to them you know yeah you would just be like oh yeah but but the reason we admire them is because of what God does with them so really when we admire Abraham Isaac and Jacob or Heroes of the scripture or anyone that you admire spiritually who you're admiring is God what you're admiring is the work of God upon a human heart and upon a human life that is what you're admiring and that's the invitation that Thrills me yeah and it's an invitation for all Circle it in 27 and 28 and 29 and then underline the phrase it says the Gate of Heaven which is not don't think future heaven think present Heaven the Gate of Heaven even in the midst of persecution even in a world that's falling apart like heaven can be now and that Gate of Heaven is open unto all anybody who feels like the Walk of this life is precarious and and dangerous and you're just like oh my gosh I'm so nervous for myself I'm nervous for my kids the promise there is it will divide us under the cunning and the snares and the Ws of the devil and it will lead you in a straight course across that Gulf of misery and and you on the right hand side of God if life the Walk of Life feels dangerous prar and here this these verses these promises are are for you and you're going to love it yeah okay now I will tell you the sad part and four at least you know but so hope you love you start with the good news so if you're just like good news first or bad news first hopefully you're a good news first kind of personality cuz that's how this book actually it goes good bad good so this is for the sandwich personal people out there like a PB&J you're going to love for you we don't know what that means because what's going to happen is the contention comes again and I actually think it's really interesting to start chapter 4 by Looking Back to the very beginning of chapter 3 and what happens is it says that among the people of Nephi there was a little pride everything was going really well save it were a little pride and you don't even remember remember that that happened in chapter 3 like it's like so tiny and small and doesn't even matter and then you're going to see what happened to that all the way in chapter 4 and I think that's a really interesting thing to think is that if that beginning of chapter 3:1 mattered a little bit more would chapter 4 even exist and if that was paid a little bit more attention to what would have happened in chapter 4 because what happens in chapter 4 is they try to get rid of all the bad people and they're like okay there's a big fight they try to get rid of all the problems and then those people leave and they join themselves together um with the lonit to like get them all fired up at the Nephites again and then they come together to fight the Nephites and everything sort of falls apart for the Nephites and they lose um zarahemla and everything that they care about and they lose and lose and lose and lose and it just seems like defeat after defeat after defeat after defeat and it almost feels wrong like you're like what is even happening right now and then verse 11 kind of gives you like the game film and they're like oh you wonder what happened let's go back and see and it starts and it says this great loss would not have happened had it were have been for fill in the blank and this is when you're going to begin to see well I guess we already started the pride cycle and that's the worksheet for this entire week because it starts in chapter um three with David that you can see like prosperity and good things are happening I always start there everyone it's a circle you can start wherever you want um I start there cuz it feels good um but then you're all of a sudden going to start seeing the pride and the fall and that is where chapter 4 takes place and it's going to go through and you are going to see so many things and we kind of listed them right here it starts in chapter in verse number 12 honestly even 11: I would maybe start in and it goes through 13 and then it's going to come again at 22 through 25 that you can kind of see all the trails of this and we wrote a few things right here Pride contention breaking Commandments Deni the spirit of Revelation mocking the sacred oppression of the poor but and oh I'm so sorry I just just this says heal in 13 and it should be three I'm so sorry everybody on your little worksheet just cross out that one in front of the I didn't want to speak to it because I was afraid that I WR oh no no just like I was just like looking at that was like oh I meant to tell everybody whoops I accidentally printed a little one there so FYI get to this yeah don't be shocked about that or when you're teaching this if you like put this up on the board and you're moving through verses I just want you to have the right verse there that you'll see and I think it's really interesting and this is kind of what the worksheet shows is rather than sometimes we just get stuck in the pride fall repentance Prosperity I think chapter 4 kind of goes through and it really deep dives into what that looks like and why sometimes we get stuck in the fall and the pride and why it's a little bit hard even to get out of that ever and when you read it you can see it so clearly and something that I noticed this time more than any other um was kind of the effect of the pride and the thing that seemed to hurt the most was how they began to treat each other and they treated each other so poorly and they didn't care about each other and they didn't try to help each other and they didn't think that they needed to help each other because they said we don't need each other at all we don't need help from you and we can't help you and we don't care about helping you and then that leads to the lying and the stealing and breaking all this command and things like that but I just think their relationship with each other really formulated their relationship with God because in verse number 12 you can see that they didn't feel like they needed each other they didn't need to help each other out I can do this by myself you figure it out for yourself if I can do it by myself you can do it by yourself and then all of a sudden in verse 13 there's a line that I think really clearly states the effect of that mindset they were left in their own strength therefore they did not prosper and how true is that that when we begin to think we don't even need another human why on Earth would we need God and that maybe those two are so much more connected than we ever realized that being humble enough to say and that is so hard for me and maybe for you too to say I need help right now and that help can be human like I need help from each other we're in big neighborhood God said love your neighbor we are all on this neighborhood of Earth together and when you start getting in our like when we start getting in our heads we don't need our neighbors I think it just slips over for us to begin to think that we don't need God either we can do this by oursel and that was a big Pitfall for them I was just looking up to make sure I had the right reference there but I would put next to those verses the opposite which is and and I think we ought to remember when like chapter 3 says when you lay hold of the word of God and what you're going to see in chapter 5 like what's that mean the opposite of what you're seeing in 4:12 is this verse in here but if you want a new testament reference it's that Matthew 22 37-40 right to love God with all your heart and to love people like as you're just teaching I was just like oh that's 412 is a complete opposite of the simple way that Jesus taught the people to live for sure right right and and even as you're teaching about like I don't need God I don't need people like just to remember so often in scripture those are equated with each other that we find God through other people right like the hand of God comes into our life through a neighbor and we find God as we love other people as well like you like you're this it's a complete opposite I've never actually thought of that before that it was just say oh you're going against the two crucial Central golden Commandments that the Lord has given and I think usually when we think of Pride we don't connect that that that's what you're choosing to not believe and do and act and live it's the opposite of love God love people is what pride is yeah 100% And it is so I think important to realize that what happens in verse number 15 and you can see it again in the end of verse 25 is that the corre ction is they say repent and I love um thinking about repentance and we've talked about this on here before is just turning back to Christ and turning back to Jesus and I think that's such an interesting comparison when you're turning back to someone you're admitting to needing them to wanting to be with them and that's the difference he said I need you to repent let's change Pride to thinking I can do this by myself and let's change repentance to saying hey I need you in this with me I do not want to do this by myself I can't do this by myself anymore repentance is turning back you see that in the end of verse 25 I drew a line in my scriptures um connecting 15 and the end of verse 25 except they should cleave unto the Lord their God cleave is desperate to me it is grabbing on knowing you cannot do it by yourself cleaving is a connection with someone and pride is doing something in solidarity and I also think this one's just interesting to me and you'll find this when you fill out the chart I think verse number 22 is really fascinating to me um how they reacted to the Commandments that they had altered and Trampled Under their feet the laws of mosiah they wanted to change them to make it more fitting with the life they wanted to live and if they didn't care like if you are trampling something under your feet it is garbage to you it's worthless to you you are walking all over it they did not care about them that they like I just think sometimes when we think breaking the Commandments it's like choosing not to do it and then that's like all we can imagine in our heads but I think 22 gives us a very deeper image of what maybe we say breaking the Commandments is and all of a sudden it's not just like choosing to break it once and then fixing it it's not caring about them yeah and not seeing the value I I just am we were talking about this earlier but the picture that comes in my head is just like the state fair or something you know when you just imagine somebody who comes and cleans up or after like a football game like everything that's left on the ground are the things the things that were trampled or the things that people saw has having no value like I I don't want it it's not it doesn't add to my life at all and it's just oh when somebody does that to the Commandments of God when you see him as an empty popcorn bag you're just hold on somebody hasn't taught you about his character and somebody hasn't taught you about his what his word can do and the pattern of his life the thrill it can me be obviously because you've treated it like you know like you don't find on the ground like a $50 bill yeah right well and that's what I was thinking when I read it is that if the Commandments are a gift to you think about when you give someone a gift like it does kind of hurt your feelings if they change it like if you give someone a shirt and they like go exchange it yes David you're guilty and I can see it on your face see but like if you give someone a gift and they change it that breaks your heart or like if you give someone something and then you just like see it on the floor on your way out you're like hey wait like I cared about that that mattered to me well and I gave it to you for a reason like I like it was it was tailored to you it was suited to you like it was like customized for you so why did you just throw it on the floor and I think comparing that to when we're getting we get told to keep the Commandments and I think keep sometimes we just imagine as like follow or obey but I love the word keep because if someone gives you something to keep you treasure it and we've and we've done a um a a foul thing here by separating Commandments from The Giver of them yep like as just these arbitrary sets of rules rather than gifts from this merciful generous Giver you know it's 100% if you disconnect Commandments from he who gave them then they they kind they've lost their significance yeah and you can dive in like that was like um baby study onto one of these things and you'll want to do that by yourself and find the ones that like kind of like grab at your heart but what's going to happen is in this next chapter there's a really famous verse you might know it Helman 512 that talks about building your life on him and what I think is even more fascinating is that um it's just one chapter before that the exact same verse 412 um that shows you the life that you can choose without him and I don't think like it was necessarily purposely done like that I think it might have been an accident but it just makes me want to think that every time I think of heum in 512 maybe I start remembering Helm in 412 and thinking to myself do I want to live life without him or do I want to make him the center of it because Helman 412 is all about doing it all by yourself and you can see that in chapter 4 and Helman 512 is all about doing life with him and you can see that in chapter 5 yeah I'm if we just jump right there I just cheated I love that you did because 12 is just that that promise 12 is This Promise verse in 512 and it's helem and talking to his boys and I'm so drawn to this just because I've got a boy who's a senior this year and I it's just putting my mind and my heart in this spot of what lessons is he going to walk away from my home with which things do I want him to remember most of all and one of the things that helan wanted them to remember remember um is in verse 11 he just says this power is given to us from uh was given to the son to from the father to redeem us all from our sins so he has sent angels to declare these Tidings and the conditions of repentance that bring unto the power of the Redeemer un the salvation of their souls what a Rebrand of the word repentance it's the gateway to the power of the Redeemer and to the Salvation of Souls and because of that power that's available unto all um he says he sent angels with these Tidings and to teach people this it's the reason um I'm Jack's out on a mission right now go tell people that they can um experience and live in the power of the Redeemer and in Salvation of their souls remember he says in 12 it's upon the rock of Our Redeemer who is Christ the son of of God that we must build your foundation that when that's a word I've often been taught to Circle in verse 12 the devil will send forth his mighty winds and the shafts in the Whirlwind when all his hail and his mighty storm shall be upon you it will have no power over you to drag you down to the Gulf of misery and endless woe because of this rock upon which you are built a sure Foundation where on if men build they cannot fall the the those are those are powerful words to Circle cannot it's impossible to fall whatever may come right um no power over you like what whatever the devil can throw at you it will have no power over you I I was kind of like obsessed with that word foundation a little bit and just kind of looking it up and I wrote down this line um that I want to transfer over into my scriptures that a strong Foundation handles the weight that's that's what it's meant to do it handles the it can handle the weight of the building and that's the that's the promise of of Jesus he can handle the weight of whatever it is you have in your life he can handle it he can he can um I I was uh when we were in Uganda on this hxp trip we were building this roof and I was um on this spot on on the roof and I was um noticing that there were just a there was just a single nail in all these spots that was holding like my weight onto this roof and I was just like and there was you know the professional roofer guy who was there and I was like this is is this okay right can I step onto this you know and he just says oh yeah it these will hold you know is what he said and I was looking at those nails and I just thought woo these you know I was like well I hope they hold because I'm like putting all my weight onto this you know and and I sat there and I just um you know I was just sitting there kind of waiting for something to get passed up to me and all my weight was hinging on on these nails that weren't budging and I was just thinking of that line that Paul teaches in the New Testament about a nail in a sure place where he just says um that's fixed and that's secure your and that's a phrase that means you can hang anything on that and it won't collapse uh all the weight of of whatever problem sin depression anxiety whirlwinds shafts whatever they may be he can handle the weight of it it's a sure Foundation where if you build you you cannot fall and I think we saw and are seeing okay how do I build on on that Foundation well it's the words his words lay hold it says unto his words which are his promises and his patterns of living his gifts his his Commandments to all of us and and I just like that this Dad um if you go backwards from verse 12 wanted those boys to remember that knew you were going to live in a world where it's so easy to forget that and and things can be so distracting and so I want you to remember it and that's a word that's repeated again and again in here is a word to remember and he says I named you what I named you so that every time you signed at Chick-fil-A on the little credit card thing that you would remember Nephi and Le I named y Nephi and the every time you say your name you would remember them and you would remember the good that they did and you would remember the god that they trusted in so you'd have this consistant reminder of those things and and I it makes me just think about that you know as we were leaving that school that we were building and um in Uganda the um the kids who were there would put these bracelets on our wrists and they call they didn't call them bracelets they called the memories like this is so you can we can remember each other and I just keep wondering do you have those reminders do you have them in your house do you wear them on your wrists do you have them hanging somewhere in your room or in your car the reminder of of the promises of Jesus the kind of um forgiveness and mercy of Jesus and and I just think this is a great time and it's a great lesson and a great way to like give an invitation people to to remember that and our our word for the week is and then also this tender Mercy they kind of go hand in hand with this same verse the one is the foundation and the promise of like you can hang and build your life on me in the way I showed you and it will be everything that that chapter 3 describes and it will also protect you from chapter 4 you know and then this tender Mercy to remember uh remember to remember that Foundation remember those promises so put this on the board and then that's the reminder of of that one and then I'll let Grace take over for the last story which is the um prison story that's so so good like first Nei and lei are remembering what their dad taught them and then they go to jail and it really is which is interesting because like oh you you're you're about to experience right these don't just they they don't just work on paper right you really will experience like persecution and the unfair and the unexpected of this world and what I'm telling you is it works in real life not just it's not theological it plays out on a Wednesday afternoon well and something that I think is really important to realize and we're going to start the second half of the story in verse 21 when they get sent to prison and it's so interesting because obviously they dad when he named them those two names and he said I need you to remember them that they were good he obviously knew something about the importance of remembering you can feel it again in verse 12 when he says it over and over word you want to Circle in verse f chapter five in your study like it just keeps showing up that word to remember he knew the importance and he said use it with your name use it when you live use it all of the time remember remember and I wonder if that is a lesson that that Dad learned from his Heavenly dad because you're going to see um a heavenly father in verse 21 that also seemed to whisper remember remember who I am and who I always have been because the prison that they get cast into which is just like you're just like come on for real is like he says even the same prison in which Ammon and his Brethren were cast by the servants of limh high and all of a sudden even the place they were in God was whispering down you remember remember who I am and who I was for them and you remember that you are not alone in this fight and that I have broken Prison Walls before and I have gotten people humans just as human as you out of Prisons before and so there they are and it's just the beauty because you see that several times in chapter five the dad saying don't you remember amu's story and don't you remember zzam story and do you remember King Benjamin's story these aren't these aren't fairy tales these are stories of a God who intervened and a God who is mighty and a God who can do the things that the paper says he can do but they they can come alive in a re in in someone's you know experiences in someone else's stories and it almost feels like the preface or like the prologue of like these are their stories you remember that and then it's all of a sudden like they get to write their own in the rest of the chapter yeah and can I just slide this into is this idea you're talking about like I we don't need each other you know and they didn't know each other like Ammon and limhi and then Nephi and Lehi they live too many years apart yeah from each other but sometimes we're right down the street from each other and I can remember in our neighborhood several years ago a um a mom had complications with her little baby in the hospital and and uh and then dealing with the you know the death of that baby and just the tragedy and um and then several several months later another person in our Ward dealing with a similar tragedy and that first mom came to the second mom and essentially said I've been in this prison before and I've seen what God can do and the Miracles uh that that he can in a time that you know her story's over like like limh high and ammon's story was over and being able to there just one other way that we need each other just like we have the story of scriptures and then we also have each other's stories and that we can be a witness to other people of the God of this same prison 100% 100% and their prison story isn't nice already in verse 22 that they've gone several days without food they are on the brink of death already and then they people go forth guards and they are going to go take them to kill them they're like this is it this is the end and when they come what happens is Nephi and Lehi are encircled about as if by fire absolutely consumed by this thing that is seemingly fire which already at the beginning of that verse 23 you learn something about the gentle Heart Of God that he will encircle you with his love and with goodness he will wrap you up in it especially in the prison moments especially when you think it's the end of your story and all of the guards are looking at them and they're so afraid that they're going to get burned and they're like what do we even do now we've never even encountered this this is a disaster and then all of a sudden um when Nephi and Lehi see this they're getting like couraged like all of a sudden they're like wait this is our like this is going better than we thought it was two days ago and we were St and now at least we have God and what happens is as The Story Goes On um they start to get courage and they stand up and they say listen don't be afraid this is God that's who this story is about that's what's happening right now God is here and he is protecting us and when they say that then an earthquake comes which imagine those guards they're terrified like it's getting worse and worse every natural disaster they can imagine is happening right now they're ter terrified they are so so afraid and then a voice comes and what I think is the most interesting part is that after fire and after an earthquake you can imagine what they imagined God's voice to sound like angry and scary and full of Destruction I bet that's what they were expecting from a God who brought fire and earthquakes and instead the voice that came was a still voice of perfect mildness as if it had been a whisper and it did Pierce even to the very Soul just a reminder that God might speak to you in unexpected ways but his voice is gentle mhm and it is kind something that I am sure they didn't expect but maybe is the reason that it touched their heart because God was better than they expected him to be and then what happens is God speaks again and again which is another really good lesson on trying to hear the voice of God that he is not afraid to try three times and when you don't understand don't worry there's another time coming and what happen here and can I just say one thing about what he says in verse 32 like um you can see in verse 29 right where he just I love that good tidings he would just say hold on I sent them with good news and and you haven't let them say it so let them say it and then that good news in 32 is repent ye repent ye it's an option number one but this line for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand meaning it's close by so like if you're those lonit and you hear repent ye repent ye you may think that is it that is uphill both ways I am too far gone and I love that in connection with the invitation to turn back he's says it's not very far away don't worry like Heaven's not not like you this is not going to it might take you a while to get your life back together okay you're in jail but God and Heaven are not very far away this is a quick change 100% 100% And what happens is this is the best part of the whole entire story you guys just so you know it might be my favorite story in the whole book of Mormon because what's going to happen you made me love this story it's so good it is so good because they get stuck and there's darkness that is just absolutely surrounding them which is very interesting to me how different that is in contrast to Fire and circling the other two they got fire and they got Darkness fire brings light and darkness just was absolutely sitting upon them and they couldn't get out of it they were stuck they were so so afraid and then verse 35 now there was one among them who was a nephite by birth who had once belonged to the church but no more and I just have to pause right there for a second because he's going to be the hero of the story that you didn't know he is going to be the one that makes the difference and that's really interesting because you really did expect it to be Nephi and Lehi and they did and they were important but the one among them who I bet believed that God had given up on who I am sure said I chose to walk away from you God there is no way that you would bet on me now there is no reason there's no reason for me to make a difference I am not he it didn't even like he was at this part he still did not belong to the church like he still walked away it was in the middle of that he didn't like it wasn't fixed yet like he didn't resolve any of his concerns but God does not give up on people period not people but people who not people comma God does not give up on people period That's Just true and he is evidence because that one who once belonged started to remember which is very interesting from the beginning of this chapter the importance of remembering it all of a sudden he starts saying wait this is familiar to me I know what this is I know who they come from and I know the God speaking to us and his name's a minut aadab well that was a little tricky for me to say and he starts answering the questions and the people are asking who is this and what's happening right now and he is going to answer and answer and answer and answer and he's like okay this is how the darkness is going to be removed these people are sent from God they are good the message is really really good and then by verse 43 all of a sudden the people look the darkness is gone at the end of verse 42 and they saw that they were encircled about yay Every Soul by a pillar of fire and Nephi and Lehi were in the midst of them and they were circled about as well and I just cannot help but think about the goodness of God to protect Nephi and Lehi in the prison but the even better goodness which doesn't even make sense but just pretend that it does in your heart that came because one boy who remembered one boy who probably felt like God had given up on him got to remember and bring light and goodness to every single other person in that prison and all of a sudden the whole story changes because then in the middle of the prison they were filled up with that Joy which is unspeakable and full of Glory unspeakable joy is is a two-word sermon in and of itself especially when it's in a prison and they start going and everyone starts talking and Angels come out of heaven and Minister unto them and then they go and they Minister unto the people and everything starts changing because of the greatness of the evidences which they had received at the end of verse 50 and they walked away from that prison and it became evidence of a God who was good not just good to Nephi high but good to every single person inside of those Prison Walls and good to a boy who gave up on God once but not a God who gave up on him yeah and I just think if I were teaching this that I would just use that verse 50 because of the evidences which they had received and and I was like what sto what evidences of God did you see in this a God who encircles with fire uh the fa their faces lit up you know and these things and and a and and a madb that wasn't given up on like there's so many things that it just makes you think like I just love that they looked over at them and their faces were glowing in a minute I was like oh yeah you know like something reminded him of the goodness of God or the power of God or the mercy of God and I just I think it might be a cool like discussion or question it's like when have you seen you know when have you experienced that when have you seen something that reminded you and it's almost almost like what we were talking about earlier where like aminadab is like wait I've been in this Darkness I forgot what it was like to live a life of God I forgot it included fire and faces of angels I forgot it included the tender Whisper of his voice coming again and again and I just think that's that's so awesome that that story's in there to just say like if we've been away or if we're our trajectory is in this direction that we can have these moments we're like oh yeah I forgot like what God can do in somebody's life you know super cool all right y'all hope you love these chapters so much and we will see you next week