3 Nephi 12 - 16

[00:00:16] Speaker A: Welcome to the weekly Deep Dive podcast on the add on Education network. The podcast where we take a look at the weekly come follow me discussion and try to add a little insight and unique perspective. I am your host, Jason Lloyd, here in my studio with our friend and this show's producer, Nate Pfeiffer. [00:00:33] Speaker B: And pizzazz, we try to add a little pizzazz to what? Whose dogs are those? [00:00:40] Speaker A: Oh, see, I got my window open again. I don't know, random dogs in the city. Here's the, here's, here's something I didn't know about Spain. Yeah. It is against the law to have your dogs cooped up for too long. [00:00:54] Speaker B: Okay, well, what's too long? And who gets to decide that you. [00:00:58] Speaker A: Have to walk your dog at least once a day. It's a requirement. And so everybody, in the early morning or late at night, you'll see people out there walking the dogs, because if not, somebody can call the police on you and the police can come and. [00:01:12] Speaker B: Oh, you live around tattletales. [00:01:15] Speaker A: Yeah, it's kind of interesting. You, you can stay rent free if you don't pay your mortgage because the police don't care and they won't pull you out of your apartment. But if you don't walk your dog, you get in trouble. Right? So everyone has to go walk their dogs in the mornings, go walk their dogs at night. [00:01:31] Speaker B: And I'm proud to be an American. [00:01:34] Speaker A: Where at least I know I'm free. So sorry for the occasional dog. I can close my window. [00:01:43] Speaker B: Nah, don't close your window, dude. Let those, let those dogs yell, let them be free. [00:01:49] Speaker A: Let them be free. [00:01:50] Speaker B: What are we talking about tonight, buddy? [00:01:52] Speaker A: Dude, it is third Nephi, chapters twelve through 16. This is Christ kind of laying down his teachings on his people here. [00:02:02] Speaker B: Love it. [00:02:04] Speaker A: This is going to be corresponding with a lot of what we have and covered in the New Testament, and we're going to come right back at Christ's teachings and try to find some unique perspective once again. In fact, I'm just kind of rolling through some of these things, looking at. He did a lot on this first visit. [00:02:26] Speaker B: I would say so. [00:02:30] Speaker A: Yeah. And you consider, like, he doesn't even have his entire multitude sit around him, right. He does the sermon on the mount. I said in multitude. He hasn't, he hasn't sent them away for the next day where they outgoing and rounding everybody up. Right. That's going to happen after this. He's, he's actually quite productive on this first trip. [00:02:55] Speaker B: Let's do it. [00:02:57] Speaker A: Let's dive in. Let's dive in. Okay. Chapter twelve, sermon on the mountain. On the mountainous mountain. Sermon on the mount. Why do we, uh, why do we abbreviate it? [00:03:13] Speaker B: I don't know why we abbreviate. That's a great, I mean, maybe it's. [00:03:16] Speaker A: Not that tall on the mountain. [00:03:18] Speaker B: Maybe it's only half a mountain, maybe. [00:03:22] Speaker A: More of a hill. The temple mount. Because he is, he is coming to the temple mount. [00:03:27] Speaker B: So it's like something mounted on a wall. You've never thought through this all the way, have you? [00:03:35] Speaker A: Mounted on a horse? [00:03:37] Speaker B: I mean, yeah. I mean, maybe. I think it's just because it's more of a hill than like a full scale mountain. [00:03:45] Speaker A: Maybe so. [00:03:46] Speaker B: All right. That doesn't matter. Let's keep going. [00:03:51] Speaker A: This is going nowhere fast. [00:03:53] Speaker B: No, it started off great. Buddy, you're crushing this. I'm crushing this. This is going really good. All right. [00:04:01] Speaker A: Okay. So as we get into the beatitudes, there's one, there's one that stood out to me, that has stood out to me in context of Abraham and his blessings. When we get to blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, to me, that's the one that kind of stands out because of the language. And heres the deal. When Abraham, we talked about this, weve actually brought this up a lot because of the covenant that he makes and how that covenant, the ramifications it has with baptism, with us today, with becoming Israel, going back to that first night when God has the conversation with Abraham and God says, go out and look at the stars in the sky and see if you can count them. Thats what your seed is going to be. And we recall Abraham is old, his wife is old, and they think they're past the years. They've been trying to have a kid for years and years and years. And so to be promised that they're going to have a child at this stage of the game seems pretty impossible. Yet Abraham believes God and it's counted as him for righteous. Then the lord says, and you're going to inherit the land, right? And he talks about, you know, how he brought them out of the land of the Chaldeans, and he's going to inherit the land that he's living in. And then Abraham has a hard time believing him. And he's like, I don't know, I need a sign for this one. And that seems so weird to me. Like, if God tells me, you're going to have something impossible happen in having a child, when I've tried for 50 years to have a child or longer, and my wife 100 years old, and we don't think we've given up on that prospect to just believe him outright on something like that, and then to say, oh, and by the way, you're going to live in the land that you're already living in? And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I need a sign. How in the world do I know that I get to stay where I'm already living? That that seems weird to me. Why is that so hard for Abraham to believe that he's going to inherit the land? And so the word that they use in the Abraham language in Genesis is, you shall inherit the land. That land, in Hebrew, edits, is earth. And it's the same word that we hear in these beatitudes when he says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And so when you look at the prospect of not just inheriting the land that you're already living in, or this covenant that your seed will be established in this area, but to inherit the entire earth, and what does it mean to inherit the earth? And why is, you know, when Christ is, is going back? I wonder if this isn't a tip to that abrahamic covenant. When he talks to the meek and says, you, like, abraham, will inherit the earth, what does it mean to inherit the earth? And I don't think it's just, I think. I think this promise is twofold. One, when we're talking about an inheritance, it's something that you receive by birth, your birthright, something that, that's going to be passed on to you. And I think about God's children to inherit the earth. And those are the two thirds of the children that were obedient, and. And they were able to receive a physical body and to inherit the earth as the gift that God gives us is the ability to be born here on earth in this physical world. Inherit it literally. And so, in one sense, I think blessed are the meek, or blessed are those that inherit the earth are the ones that were not so proud and rebelled against goddess that they lost the ability to receive bodies, to come here into this earth and to have this place. So, in one sense, to promise that your posterity is going to be those of the two thirds that are coming here, that you are going to receive spirits that are coming to hear that you'll have a continuation of your line, and they're going to receive bodies and they're going to be born here. I think that's part of the promise with Abraham is that you're going to have a child, there's going to be a continuation, and there's going to be growth. As Brigham young said, the reason why we'll be called God of gods is because we'll be fathers of fathers or king of kings, is because we'll be a father of fathers. This line, this continuation, I think that's part of the covenant. I think the other part of the covenant is that the earth, we believe, will receive its paradisical glory. The earth will become a celestial kingdom, and. And when the earth receives its glory and. And becomes celestial, those who will be inhabitants on the earth will be celestial beings. So to inherit the earth is not just to inherit the earth, just as we inherited it, were born here in the first place. It's the idea that being baptized or born again will be able to be born to these kingdom as a celestial kingdom. I view this as a promise of salvation, future blessings to come, that you will inherit the earth again as you did the first time, but now into the presence of God, into the celestial glory, into the kingdom of God. I feel like this is a promise of salvation, a promise that you'll be saved in God's kingdom. That's where I see it. And so I think that's where Abraham was looking and saying, let's have a sign that ties this all together. And so I think Christ, by mentioning it here, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. I think that's a tip to Abraham, to the abrahamic covenant, and to the promise that if we trust him and we look at it, we're born here, right? We received this earth. It was created. This is the sign and the promise of what's to come. I will give you this as a down payment so that you know that it's possible that you can receive the other subsequently as well. So I've. I've had a lot of thoughts around that, and. And that was kind of the. One of the beatitudes that I looked at and said, you know what? It's maybe worth kind of visiting this again and offering a. A little bit of perspective, too. Let's go to the end of this chapter. Unless there's anything else in the beatitude you want to talk about, Nate, I don't want to rush out. [00:10:52] Speaker B: I want to talk about the end of this chapter. I want to talk about salt of the earth and lights under bushels and stuff. [00:11:00] Speaker A: Well, let's get to. I'm missing a page of my scripture, so if I. If I. If I pass that section by, let me. Let me know, wave your hand, throw something. [00:11:11] Speaker B: Why are you ripping out pages in your scriptures, dude? Especially good ones. [00:11:14] Speaker A: These are my favorite scriptures. These are the ones that my family bought when I went to go serve a mission. And they are old and they survived having six kids. And when they have six kids and you're reading scripture, sometimes kids, and they're little, you know, they go through that stage when they have, like, these little octopus hands that just kind of sneak out and, like, grab things and just pull. Yeah, that's what happened to some of my pages. They. They do that, though, those little hands, so slow but so persistent. They just. [00:11:44] Speaker B: Okay, well, let's get to what you're getting to, and then if we skip it, I'll talk about my thing. [00:11:49] Speaker A: All right. All right. Verse 48. And I think everybody is familiar with this and the difference here. When Christ says, therefore I would that ye be perfect, even as I. And that's a big change from what we see in the New Testament. And it's a very different tone in the New Testament when people say, good master, and Christ says, no one is good but your father. And he keeps deflecting everything to the father and talking about how he is not perfect. And when we get to the end of this, this is chapter five. Um, interesting enough. Also verse 48. Right. Therefore I would that you should be perfect even as your father who is in heaven. He leaves himself out of the story. He. He's constantly leaving himself out of that discussion as somebody who is good, somebody who is perfect, as somebody everything. He keeps deflecting to his father. And. And he. He says, I. I haven't done anything except for what God has. Right? All the credit goes to him. And here you have this interesting shift where. Where he has arrived. Right? It's. It's almost like he has been making this point. I'm not perfect. I'm not perfect. I'm not perfect. And then he. He dies and he becomes resurrected, and. And I. I would assume maybe even a stage of judgment, maybe that's what's going on. When. When he runs across Mary and says, touch me. Not until I ascend to my father and ascending to his father and being judged and found perfect, he receives his inheritance. He gets to the point where it is finished. And when it is finished, then he says, therefore I would that you be perfect even as I or your father, who is in heaven. And he puts himself on par with the Father, which is something that he has been hesitant to do through the entirety of the New Testament, knowing that there was still a gap between him and God. And I think that's the point. Christ came to span that gap, to fill that gap. And so hearing him come and preach to the Nephites post resurrection to show that that gap has filled, I love it. I love it. This is the atonement. And if Christ was able to do it and to fill that gap, this is him fulfilling that promise, completing the atonement, and saying, it is possible for us as well to go through and fill that gap. And this commandment to us, it's not directed to say, I am the only one that can be perfect. God the Father is the only one that can be perfect. In both instances, the invitation is there. Therefore, I would that you. In fact, that's what he's stating, my work. I would. That's what I am setting out to do. I would that you. That is my desire that. I mean, this verse encapsulates what we read in second Nephi, or, excuse me, in Moses. So, second Nephi, you have men are that they might have joy, or Adam felt that men might be. Men are they might have joy. And then to Moses, you get, this is the work in the glory to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. And that's encapsulated in here. That's what Christ has set out to do. And he would that we should do that, because he has made it possible to bridge that gap and through him, come to the presence of God. Not just come to the presence of goddess, but be ourselves like God when we get there. And I think. I think we've talked a lot about that recently, Nate. Transformative process of the atonement and what it means to repent, and that Christ is allowing us to change and that it's not that he saved us where we're at, that in our sins, we become into the presence of God as flawed beings, but he gives us the ability to change who we are, to shift what we're doing, to become better people, and. And to learn to be like him. And salvation. He says, I am the way, the light and the truth. No man comes to the father except through him. And as we go through him, we remember him. Each week in the sacrament, we take that covenant to take his name and try to be like him. It's transformative. And we're becoming more and more like him and more and more like the father. And so the atonement makes us better people, allows us to have the freedom to. To make those choices we want to make, but have been weak willed in the past, as we are working on these things to become more like God. So that, to me, becomes a very powerful verse and filling that gap and putting an exclamation point on the atonement and saying, it is possible. [00:16:50] Speaker B: Are you missing the page that has verse 19 on it? [00:16:55] Speaker A: Is it in chapter twelve? Yeah, 100% I am. [00:16:59] Speaker B: Okay. This is good stuff where he basically says, if you keep my commandments, believe in me repenting your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, that that's the only way that you'll be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is one of the ones that kind of popped out once again to me, because we talk about the sacrament and the breaking of the bread. We talk about, we've talked a lot about cleaving and separating. What is, I wonder, just specifically if you maybe have some thoughts on how we have talked about repentance as a change or becoming something else. Why is that back to back against a broken heart and a contrite spirit? I wonder. [00:17:53] Speaker A: And I like the language of a broken heart because instantly, to me, it reminds me of being at that sacrament altar, right, the table and tearing the bread and that breaking process. [00:18:09] Speaker B: And so it's, I'm with you. I think that that's maybe kind of what I wanted to see, if I'm reaching too much here, if you kind of see the same thing as me when we talk about a broken heart, you know, for me, when I'm writing songs with young adults, they're talking about a broken heart because their boyfriend or their girlfriend dumped them. And don't tell my heart, my achy breaky heart type of thing. There's very much kind of the sadness of losing a relationship with somebody else, and you're like, oh, okay. And so I think for a long time, I kind of have not been able to really see that phrase outside of that context, where I think that maybe a better way to think of that is in context of what does it mean to repent, if nothing, pulling your heart away from the things of the world and turning it to the spirit. Right. Or separation or some of those things. So instead of just using the phrases like getting bummed out because you got dumped, I wonder if it really is more of a tearing away or a separating or a breaking of something. Breaking it away from the desires that are holding you back from becoming better. And, you know, it's hard sometimes, because when you think of it, the broken heart, as in relationships and whatnot, you know, you could say, okay, cool. When you sin. You have to feel really bad about it. Like, that's a whole part of it, is that inside you have to have a broken heart, the way that you feel, like when you get dumped by, you know, your girlfriend in high school. Right? But I don't. I don't. I don't feel like that. That's not the emotion that I feel when I know that I'm doing something that I'm not supposed to. I do feel other things, like embarrassment and, you know, kind of like a weight, but I don't feel like, oh, man, I just got dumped, you know? So it's. Sometimes I think I've had kind of a hard time reconciling those things when I'm doing something wrong. It doesn't mean that I don't know that I'm doing something that I'm not acknowledging that I'm doing something wrong. Do you see what I'm saying? I just don't feel the, oh, man, now what am I gonna do that I feel? I think when I'm associating things with a broken heart, so for me, it makes a lot more sense to go. Maybe Jesus isn't saying that he requires us to come before him and be, you know, like, mopey and, you know, like, oh, man, what am I gonna do? But instead come and go, okay. Yep. I can absolutely see where I'm blowing this, and I'm committing to change. I know the things that I need to separate myself from. Please forgive me. I'm doing my best. You know, my weaknesses and my strengths. Support me as I'm trying to become a better person. You know what I mean? Like, maybe not just necessarily, like, associate it so much with the idea of it's hard for me because I also taught high school, and you did two for a time. And, you know, when high school kids are having their hearts broken, they're kind of insufferable, and you feel bad for them on some level, but also on some level, you're like, buck up, young one. It's gonna be okay. That doesn't mean, though, that it isn't nice, though, when a young person has the maturity to come after they've blown it, maybe on an assignment that they didn't do or a responsibility that you gave them. I don't need them to come to me, mopey. I do need them to come to me and go, okay, you're right. I've learned my lesson. I want to change. I want to make it up to you. I want to do better next time. And then it's way easier for me to go, like, sweet, great. Go and go and be better. Your mic's muted. [00:22:41] Speaker A: There was a car driving by. Yeah. So, yeah. When you and I both been in that high school scene, I know what you're talking about. And sometimes when you look at it and you realize that the real tragedy behind Romeo and Juliet is the fact that these kids fell in love way too young and committed to a serious relationship before they were ready. Right. And the things that fall out from that level of commitment. And so I see what you're saying with as far as the difference between a broken heart and being mopey and versus what does it mean to actually be broken. Right. And maybe there's some crossover. Maybe there's some. [00:23:20] Speaker B: Oh, I think there's definitely crossover in certain circumstances. I'm not trying to dismiss the natural feelings of that. I do think that when you were taught this in primary, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I know that when I was in primary and when I taught primary, even as a young married adult, you know, they teach you the steps of repentance. And one of the steps is you have to feel bad for what you did. And I guess I'm saying like, that just mean that can mean so many things to so many different people, but there's almost a maybe a misunderstanding sometimes of what that should mean. And sometimes it's like, again, like, I don't necessarily do when I'm disciplining my kids. I don't necessarily need them to feel bad for what they did. I need them to acknowledge what they did. Right. I need them to acknowledge and go, yes, I do see how that's wrong. I do see how that's irresponsible. Let's make a change so that we don't have this problem in the future. You know what I mean? It's like that, to me, is good enough, but maybe I'm not, I don't know, expecting them to be. I don't know. Do you see what I mean? It's like, it's just sometimes it's hard for me to really understand what the boundaries of that mean. [00:24:37] Speaker A: I love that this is included in a discussion that Christ finishes with be that be therefore perfect, even as I am, because in one sense, one sentence he's saying broken, and the other he's saying complete. And that's the other thing, right? The word in Hebrew for perfect is Tom Tamim. It's perfections. It means whole, complete, finished. And. And I think that's part of the point of him waiting till he is finished to apply that term to himself is he is finished. And. And to say, I want you to be complete, yet I want you to be broken. And those two don't fit together. They don't. They don't seem to fit it at all. And. And I think people. People look at it and think that being broken only applies to a certain small subset of people. Like, you don't get it. We're the ones that are broken. You guys are fine. You guys are perfect. You guys are. I I don't think that's the case. I think that the whole point of it is that we become broken in order to be fixed, and it creates this catch 22. How do you become perfect without becoming broken? And is this an embracement of sin? And I. And I don't think so. But think. Think of how it must have broken Abraham when God asked him to sacrifice the one thing that he waited his whole life for, that man had to have been broken. Taking his son up to the altar and preparing to sacrifice him. I think that broke him. And how would Isaac have felt knowing that his father, who loved him so much, was willing to sacrifice him? And he's like, how can he love me and yet do this to me? I think it breaks a person, and. [00:26:31] Speaker B: So more like breaking a horse or something. You break something. It's like an animal that learns to submit. [00:26:39] Speaker A: Learning to submit, that's the. And that's the contrite spirit, right? I think the spirit being contrite is. Is in line with the Lord. And it's a breaking down of yourself. It's a breaking down of your pride. It's a breaking down of your will and willing to become one with the father, one with Christ. And Christ isn't hesitant to say, even as I or your father, because they are one. In fact, in here, do we not get. You cannot serve two masters, for you will either love the one and hate the other, or you will hate the one and love the other. Right? And if you say, no man can serve two masters, I think it comes to the same. That alignment, that one, to say, well, how do you listen to what a prophet says and God and Christ and. And your parents and your. Well, aren't there a lot of different masters? And how come I can't have all sorts of different masters? And the idea is, if you can put yourself, breaking yourself away from. From. From who you are and becoming aligned with Christ, then there's really only one. One master in that whole chain of command. And you don't have to decide between serving multiple different masters. But I think I've taken this away from where you were going and what you were saying. This idea of being broken, it's part of the process. I mean, Adam and Eve were broken when they took that fruit. Joseph Smith, when the 116 pages were lost. And what did he exclaim? What did he exclaim to God or to his parents? When. What does he say? Joseph Smith, when the pages are lost? [00:28:29] Speaker B: Something about a wretched soul or something. Right? [00:28:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm ruined. I'm done. It's over. It's lost, and he's nothing. He's worried in one hand that he's sent his own soul to hell, because think about the charge. Taking five years to go back to the place where the plates were and from when he was very young and eager and ready to just jump in and take everything out, and he's rebuked by the Lord and says, not until you're ready. These are very sacred. And then when he's actually able to take them and set him down, and then he turns around to look into the box, and then the Lord takes the plates away from him again. He turns the plates, and they're not there. And he says, you took your eyes off of him, and. And I need you to understand how important this is. Don't ever take your eyes off. You go through that learning process of how important this is, and. And he gets it drilled into his head over five years of preparation. And then to have 116 pages, which he was told not to give away to. To Martin Harrison. He sends them to him, and they become lost. He thought he lost his soul. And not only does he worry that he lost his soul, but because he lost his soul. What about the other people? And not being able to get that, he blew this chance for not just him, but millions of people, to come to know the gospel or to come to know God. Like, maybe the. The whole work of God has been frustrated by his single inability to do what was right at that moment. He thought he was damned, and he was worried who else he damned in that process? That boy became broken, and he was terrified. And then the Lord says, like, don't think that. That my plans can be frustrated by one mistake, right? But the Lord doesn't deliver him from his sorrow, from his heartache, from his broken heart, because that broken heart is part of the process of being healed, of being changed, of becoming who he is. Like you said, Nate, breaking a horse, I think, is a good example of this. Right? And he becomes a better person because of it, and he becomes more in line with God. And I think that's all of us. We all go through that moment of shock, that moment of grief, that moment of pain, and realizing that we just didn't quite get there. And as much as we look at it and think the plan is frustrated, I think the greatest beauty of the Bible, starting with the story of Adam and Eve, is to show that the fall is just as intentional as the salvation. And all that to say, it's not that we have to go and fall. We shouldn't be running outside to go find the next drug dealer and do whatever we can do to try to break ourselves. That's not being broken. Being broken is when you're trying so hard to do the right thing and. And. And you can't quite get it there. And your desire to be good, your desire to be right, your desire to be whole, comes to the realization that you, of yourself, can't do it, and you're broken. And. And God steps in. And because you have that desire, because you're like a child, because you're workable, because your spirit is contrite, he can rebuild your heart in a way that makes it work, that fills that gap and brings us back into that, is that it's just as much. The doorway to the atonement. I mean, we talked about the song Hallelujah, the minor fall and the major lift. Those weren't minor falls, but. But there's, you know, it says, was when David played the secret chord, it pleased the Lord. And you're like, why would the Lord be pleased that he was doing that? He was having that side business with Bathsheba. It's not that he was doing that. That pleased the Lord. What pleased the Lord is the atonement. That's for. That's the reason he said, here am I, send me. That's the reason why he can come. And it's the major lift that pleases the Lord. It's not that the fall ever pleases him, but there's value to the fall. It's interesting, and I don't know that I can fully explain it or give it justice. I'm glad you brought it up. [00:32:44] Speaker B: Yeah, no, let's just keep going. So did yours. Did your page. Was it also missing the. [00:32:51] Speaker A: I've got it pulled up now. [00:32:52] Speaker B: Okay. I was gonna ask if it was also missing the. Let your light shine. Salt. [00:32:58] Speaker A: Salt of the earth. [00:32:59] Speaker B: Yes. [00:32:59] Speaker A: Verse 13. Verily said, given to you to be the salt of the earth. [00:33:03] Speaker B: Great. [00:33:03] Speaker A: If it's all shall lose its savor. And I know, I know you've got a lot of thoughts on. We also have the candle on the hill. Right. [00:33:10] Speaker B: That's what I'm saying is, like, I do love these scriptures, though. Yeah. The only thing that I liked was the dual nature of salt and the kind of the play on the words with savor in there. It's always a little. It's always a little subtle thing that I've liked, because what does salt do, literally, and that is add, like, you know, it helps things taste better, right? So it's like, it makes, it makes, it makes something more savory. And so you're like, okay, I wonder what that. I wonder if there's like a. I wonder if there's a connection there, but then also the saving or the preservative purposes of it as well. So I was like, I just. I guess I just, I enjoy the idea of, by the way, he's not saying that that's what he is doing. He's. That's his charge to us. And so I guess I like the charge or the responsibility that is given to us to be the salt of the earth in both of those different contexts. That's all. That's all I really want to say about it. [00:34:22] Speaker A: And maybe I can even add a little bit of perspective on the, what it says. The salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing but be cast out and be trodden underfoot of men, right? [00:34:31] Speaker B: Yep. [00:34:32] Speaker A: When, when armies went to war and, and they destroyed an area and, and, and they were angry enough that they didn't ever want to see that area reinhabited, come back or have any chance of. Of rebelling down the road, they, they salted it. And, and what they would do is literally that they'd throw salt all over their fields where they would grow and. And tromple it under their feet. And. And salting the earth makes it so that nothing can grow. Uh, you look at. You look at this. The great salt lake, right? You don't have this wild variety of fish life living in the lake because the, the high salinity makes it hard for life to survive. You. You look at, it's. It's interesting in history, if you look at the Euphrates river and civilization, and you go back to 4000 years BC and the city of Ur and some of the early establishments, they're right up next to the river. And as you go forward through the timeline, the civilizations start to get further and further and further away from the river and the reason for that is they used the river to water their crops, and so they would build their canals and they would flood their fields. And one thing about water, if you have an inlet for the water to come in, but you don't have an outlet for the water to go, the only way that the water leaves is through evaporation. So if you have water that just sits on the fields and waters the ground of the earth, the water evaporates. But the mineral deposits that are in the water, such as salt, stays behind. And to where, if you keep doing that long enough, what happens is the salinity increases. And they ended up salting their own fields over a process of time, just in how they were watering, their watering techniques. And so the land became less and less fertile because of the effects of salting it from the water. And so they would have to move further away and branch out further from the water because they were salting their own, their own lands. [00:36:45] Speaker B: Does that still happen? Or if we figured out ways for people that are doing big time, like irrigation, watering of their farms and stuff, I wonder if we figured out a way that we're not getting all those weird mineral deposits. [00:37:01] Speaker A: As long as the water has a place to run and it doesn't just stop and sit and evaporate if you've got inlet, outlet. And that's the problem with the salt lake, right? If you call it a problem, right? Maybe it's not a problem. But the reason why it's a salty lake is it doesn't have an outlet, it's moving. So as long as the water can keep flowing and it runs, if you just have it come in, sit there and just stay out in the sun and some of it sinks into the ground and some of it evaporates and you're just going to have that effect. But, yeah, it's interesting to see that impact over time. And so the reason why I bring it up is this dichotomy, this dual nature that we keep going back to, right. It's the water that saves us, but sometimes it's also the water that's representative as the chaos, the storms, the sea that we go through. The, the sea is also death and chaos. The salt that loses its savor. This. This salt can be what preserves life. The salt, like you say, it's used as a preservative because back then they don't have refrigeration. How do you keep the meat from going bad is you salt it and you preserve it and you cure it and, and this curing process over time makes it so that you can preserve this meat and. And have food down the road, and it. It's saving. But at the same time, is it not also that salt that becomes so destructive to the fields that when someone's conquered and they literally pour salt all over it and make it so that nothing can grow? It's that same salt that can also destroy. It's interesting, the dual nature that you see that. And so when he brings it up, the salt, you were the salt of the earth. [00:38:39] Speaker B: You are both the saving and destructing do. [00:38:44] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:45] Speaker B: Could it be both? Is that kind of what you're saying? [00:38:48] Speaker A: Both the destroying angel. [00:38:51] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I'm doing. That's what I'm saying is, I guess there is kind of the dual. The dual nature is in there. I choose to look at the positives, man. I choose to look at it as we are given the opportunity. We're given the opportunity to add joy and happiness and flavor to people's lives. And that's really what it's about. Right. You already talked about the scripture earlier about how men are, that they might have joy. It's like, yeah, dude, this life should be joy and have happiness in it. But so I like that aspect. And then I like, we get the opportunity to be saviors of men as well. [00:39:30] Speaker A: But when you talk about salt losing its savor and becoming destructive, think about it. Think about who killed Joseph Smith and its apostates, right? It's people that left the church that were angry, that sought to tear down and destroy the church. And I'm not saying that everybody leaves the church necessarily becomes this negative, destructive force that works against it. But. But I think that there are parallels with when you lose your testimony, having been the salt of the earth, that losses loses its savor and. And people that actively fight against the church or try to turn people away from the church or try to discourage people, people from. From joining the church or try to post negative things about the church or are very, very literally salting the earth. They're making it so that other people can't grow. They're making it so other people can't progress. If you're actively discouraging people from investigating or trying to find the truth, and there is a source of truth out there that's going to offer them salvation, light, hope, and you're doing the best you can to discourage them from finding it, you are having that destructive characteristic of salt. You're making it so life can't grow. [00:40:42] Speaker B: Potentially on a lot of future generations as well. Kind of to your analogy there. Like, you could. You could be. You could be doing a lot more damage than to just that person. [00:40:52] Speaker A: Yes. [00:40:53] Speaker B: All right. I like it. All right. Those are really the only things in twelve I wanted to bring up. So, anything else you want to talk about in twelve? [00:41:00] Speaker A: Um, you know, verse 18. Verily I say unto you, one jot nor one tittle hath passed away from the law, but in me it all hath been fulfilled. Yeah, jots and tittles, the. The hebrew letter R and D, the resh and the dalit, they look identical with one minor difference. And. And it's almost like a. It's. It's a. It's almost like a hangman's noose. You know, you play the game hangman as kids in primary, and, you know, growing up, and you draw the horizontal line bar, and then you draw a vertical line coming straight down off of it. Yep, that's. That's like the resh and the dalit. The only difference is in. In the dalit, the horizontal line that goes across extends a smidgen just a tiny bit past the vertical line that goes down in the dalit. And in the resh, it doesn't extend past it, it just curves down into the line. And so it's a difference of a. Of a tiny little bit. But that difference of a tiny little bit changes the letter from a d to an r or an r to a d, which can change the meaning of the word or how the words pronounced, or the whole. Everything. Right? So when. When he talks about jots and tittles, it's the small differences, the details. [00:42:22] Speaker B: I like that. [00:42:23] Speaker A: And the closest comparison that we would have in English would be dotting your I's and crossing your t's. But it's the small little details that makes the letter complete or that changes the meaning of a letter if it's not done just right. So he's fulfilled all the prophets, down to the small details. And I think God is a God of details. And I love the story, again, where Christ tells Peter to go find the fish with the coins in his mouth. I mean, think about the details of what he was aware of, to know what fish wallowed, what coins at what time, to be able to take care of Peter's specific situation. And I think as we build our relationship with the Lord, we find that he is a lord of details. And we find that he speaks to us in ways that comfort us and are intimate to us. The jots and tittles are the tender mercies that I have, that maybe you wouldn't understand or that the tender mercies that you have, Nate, that maybe would mean nothing to me. You find something and pick it up, and it means the world to you at a time when you were looking for it or didn't realize you were looking for it. Whereas to me, it might not have made any difference at all. Those to me are the jots and the tittles. [00:43:36] Speaker B: Love it, man. Anything else in this chapter you want to hit? [00:43:42] Speaker A: I mean, it's the teachings of Christ. You're right. There's a lot of wonderful things, a. [00:43:48] Speaker B: Lot of good stuff. A lot of this stuff we probably covered when we did New Testament. [00:43:53] Speaker A: Yes, sir. Went on the mount. We could talk about the light on the hill or the candle, or maybe we. [00:44:00] Speaker B: As a kid, I always thought, like, why wouldn't you want to put your candle under a bushel? It'll light the bushel on fire and make it even huge. It'll be like a bonfire. Maybe I was right. Maybe I was right as a child. [00:44:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Chapter. Chapter 13. We have the Lord's prayer, which I think is powerful. We don't recite prayers and say the same prayers over. We look at this as a pattern. Some we do and some we do, and some we do. I like his prayers, and so much of it is trying to align himself with the father. And that's one of my biggest takeaways from Christ's example of prayer, is when I'm praying. And I keep praying to do what? I keep praying to remove every little challenge out of my life, like, please make this go away, and please bless me that I don't have to deal with this anymore, or please fix this for me. And what are we trying to do? We're trying to make it so that we're not broken. What if it is the will of the Lord that we experience some of these things? Is it always meet or sufficient or right in the eyes of the Lord to heal the sickness, to remove the broken aspects of us? If those broken aspects are what helped bring us to him, do we always want to just heal everything that comes our way? Ever since I was a kid, I've always wanted to have great eye vision, and I've never had great eye vision. I've had the terrible eyesight. I wear contacts glasses, and that's something I prayed like, oh, can you just heal my eyes and make it so I can see perfectly again? And I look back and hasn't he done that through providing me with glasses? Providing me with contacts has he not brought the miracle not just to one individual boy who wanted to be able to see, right? But to millions of people all over the world, he has multiplied the miracle to where we can all see and correct some of these things. And so, as we approach all of the little things that we. That we ask for, how do we learn to not be selfish in our prayers? And you, Nate, you've talked about your prayers, and you feel like, yeah, you know, I don't want to put this in the wrong way. You say you don't want to ask anything from God. [00:46:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I've probably told the story a couple times, but it is worth repeating because I luckily had a friend that cared enough to tell me to stop being prideful and a knucklehead and all of those things. But, yeah, to your point, there's been multiple occasions in my life because, again, I'm so very aware of my own weaknesses and things that I should be doing better, that sometimes you just feel guilty almost asking for anything. Cause you're just like, man, I actually consider my life really great. And I'm usually more worried that these awesome things that I love in my life are gonna get taken away. And so I'm like, oh, man. I shouldn't be asking anything because then it's just gonna look. It's gonna be a bad look, right? And luckily, I had a friend that was just like, oh, man. If you don't feel like there's things that you shouldn't be asking for, you need to pray about what the things you should be asking for are, because you're blowing it. And it was a good chance to kind of re. Or, you know, kind of reevaluate and try to approach that better. And I have sense, for whatever it's worth. One of the things that, again, has I kind of pulled from that is there's probably somebody in this world that needs your help or that needs you to be doing something. And so even if you might feel guilty about asking for a bunch of things, the first, best, and easiest place to start is asking to know who to go and help and to ask to know who to go and serve. And that there will be, there is always somebody. And why on earth wouldn't God want us to know how to better go and help? [00:48:40] Speaker A: That last line really resonates with me, and I'm looking at my scriptures right now. Verse eleven, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. [00:48:47] Speaker B: Yes. [00:48:49] Speaker A: So many times I've needed help in life, opportunities pop up all over the place for me. To serve. And it makes me happy because I know that's the Lord opening the way for me to get the help I need. Oftentimes when I am desperate or I need help, the opportunity arises for me to see beyond myself, to help other people and to lose myself a little bit in that. And in that process, I end up finding or getting the help that I needed to begin with. And so that becomes kind of dual for me. Serves as we need to be served, but also forgiving. You know, if. If we have a hard time forgiving somebody else, how are we going to get the forgiveness that we're looking for? And I think we get to dive into that a little bit more in chapter 14. But I. A lot of what the Lord is saying, right? Be willing to align yourself with the Lord to look for opportunities to serve, to look for opportunities to love, and a lot of that's going to come and help us and bring us what we need as well and make us whole. Yep. [00:49:53] Speaker B: Love it. [00:49:54] Speaker A: All right, I'm gonna. I'm gonna sneak into. Well, I mean, this. This is where we get the. No man can serve two masters for either love the one and hate the other. You cannot serve God and mammon this. Here's the thing. So much of what Christ said we could take and. And build a whole sermon on and just dive into each one. And it's hard that you have so many hard hitting, powerful things that he says. I don't know. It's rich. It's very rich. And it's hard to look at it and say, well, you know, maybe we could even just plug one verse and end up making a whole episode on that. Verse 19. Lay up not for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And this is coming in light of the Nephites, who literally were burying their stuff in the dirt to keep people from stealing it and sleeping on their swords at night. And then what happens? They'd still lost it. It was still getting stolen, or the earth was swallowing it up and they could never retrieve it. We come from time in today where you have identity theft, and people will take your identity and run lines of credit and steal who you are. And we try to put as many measures as we can to protect it. And I think even, you know, the old fashioned bank robberies, and they'd go, still, you know, you have a safe box or something strong, you deposit it. And then the bank robbers would come in and clean out the place. There's always a chance that you're going to lose it, or there's always a chance that something's going to slip away from you. And yet God is offering a perfectly strong fail proof way to store our treasure in heaven. If we lay up our treasures where your treasure, there is your heart. [00:51:47] Speaker B: And therefore, then that begs the question is, what then is your treasure? Right? I mean, and I'm not going to answer that because I'm sure it's different for everybody. But I mean, that's, that's, I love what you said, but then it begs the next question to be then, okay, cool. Well, then what are the things that you, if you treasure most, that you treasure most and would want to be securing the most? So it's like, well, I'm sure, I'm sure a lot of people might have different answers, but I bet there's some, probably some common themes about there, too. Then if that's, if you take those things, then the next question is, how do you treasure those things up in heaven? So that's what I like about that scripture, is that it actually gives you a chance to kind of ask some follow up questions that hopefully are thought provoking. [00:52:35] Speaker A: Well, in Christ, I mean, he's the master teacher. He smoothly transitions that right for where you're, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And he talks about the light of the body. Right after that. The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be filled with darkness. If therefore the light that is in there be darkness, how great is the darkness? And then he transitions that no man can serve two masters. And the scriptures on light and darkness are powerful. And we've seen that in film, we've seen it in how people portray it in art. Light and darkness. And light is how we come to have knowledge of the world around us. And if our eye be single to the Lord, it fills with light until the perfect day when you know all things. And I love these scriptures. I love where it talks about doctrine, covenants 88. The same discussion is powerful, but I'm just going to keep moving forward rather than get lost on it. Verse 33, even capping this, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And take these things that we're talking about back in context of the prayer that he starts the sermon with, right, that aligning his will to God. And then he goes through and explains all of these things that fit into that. And that's kind of the context I want to take us into chapter 14 when he says in verse one, verily, verily, I say unto you, judge not, that ye be not judged. And right here Christ is saying, judge not, literally, judge not. And I think a lot of people look at that and they see a period instead of a comma. And the second half of that phrase. That ye be not judged, I think is important to understanding the context of what he means by judge not. Because we go into the very next verse. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with which measure you meet, you shall be measured to you again. And, and then he starts going into all of the ways that you should judge. And he talks about the moat and the beam. And he says, pull out the beam. Why does he say pull out the beam? So that you can see more clearly to correct the moat. So, so is he still saying, ignore the moat? Or is he saying, look back onto yourself first, make sure that you are right and that you're square and that you're in a position. And then you can help remove the mold. He's going to, he's going to go through all of these measurements and examples for how someone should judge. For example, verse nine. Or what man is there of you who if his son ask bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will give him a serpent? And if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your father, which is in heaven, know to give good gifts? Is that not a form of judgment? Knowing what you should give your son? The whole chapter starts to revolve around how to judge properly for turning the pages. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing. And then by your fruits, you shall know them. This whole chapter is instructing them on how to be good judges. And so if he's saying, judge this and judge that by your fruits you shall judge it. Or what man knowing to give good gifts. Judging and discerning between what he should do for his son. Judging. Discernment between what is a good gift, uh, between what is the fruits, between all of these things. Then the point was never about not judging. It was, be careful with the judgment you give. Judge with the same way that you yourself would be judged. Look at people and extend to them the same courtesy, the same leniency, and apply the same standard to yourself so that you can do it. And. And this is a and you've got thoughts. [00:57:02] Speaker B: Yes, I do. And don't. I was. I told a story. I was teaching elders quorum a couple weeks ago. I have a. About that tree. I have that. Were you there that week? I was talking about my peach tree. That just sucks. [00:57:15] Speaker A: I was. [00:57:17] Speaker B: This peach tree just sucks, man. And I can tell you that it sucks. I can make a judgment call that this peach tree sucks. And that is because every year it starts to grow and it pretends like it's going to grow these awesome peaches. And then it grows one peach. And that peach looks like, man, this is going to be a good peach. And it is hard as a rock and tastes like crap. And every year I go, you know what? Next year is going to be the year that this tree is going to give me good peaches. And it doesn't. And this has gone on for years and years and years and years. I think that my stubbornness is that I've spent so much time trying to force this tree to be a good tree, makes it so I don't just chop the tree out, but now I can tell that it's crowding out and getting in the way of my apple tree, which produces grapefruit, my apricot tree, which produces fantastic fruit. In fact, it produces too much fruit. I need to prune that sucker back. And so now it's actually affecting my trees that I know are good trees. And I've thought a lot about this, and I. I understand why it can sometimes be hard or frustrating to admit that a tree was planted. You saw if it was good, you saw that it wasn't good. And then you put time just to really make sure that it wasn't good, and it's not good. But then you spent even more time making sure that it wasn't good until finally you're just like, this is a bad tree. But you've spent so much time that sometimes it's hard to rip that tree out, even when you know it's a bad tree. All I'm saying is, is that I know that that peach tree sucks. It produces bad fruit. And I need to stop being so stubborn as to think that I might be able to continue to just do something that makes it a good tree when it's just not. And I think that this is, this is potentially a lot more profound of a thought when I also think of the things in my life that I give time and attention to and let have fertile ground within my heart. And I see the process and I go through with the process and then when that process is over, I see the fruit of those things, of those ideas, of those beliefs, of whatever that is, and they produce bad fruit. I just need to start being a lot more okay with going cool, then chop it out. To do that, we need to be honest and make judgment calls. And I think that it's. I think it's an incredibly amazing and important thing to plant seeds and see how they grow and for the things that, that grow up and bring us in our lives and bring us happiness, and we're told what the fruit of the spirit is. Peace, calmness, happiness, joy, light, knowledge, charity, all these things. Right. Okay, great. Well, then those are the signs. And then we should make some judgment calls on the things and the ideas that we plant and see to a place. And if those things are the opposite of all of those things, then prune them out. Make a judgment call. Those trees suck. Clear out that space for other, better trees. See where I'm going with this? [01:00:51] Speaker A: Yep. [01:00:52] Speaker B: I am. I am the biggest. Make judgment calls all of the time advocate. And I'm glad that the scriptures, I feel like, back me up completely. And I'm so tired of hearing the Jesus said that we shouldn't judge each other. No, no, he didn't. He didn't. Unless you can show me in the scriptures in context where he says that I haven't been able to find it. Every commandment that I recognize from the Garden of Eden until the restoration is very much judge the situation you're in. Judge the people that you're taking advice from. Judge between the spirit of light and the spirit of deception. Go around judging all of the time. Be judging always. And know that the judgment that you're judging with is going to be the same standard to which you're held to. Okay, great. Fantastic. Those are parameters that I can make work. [01:01:56] Speaker A: And it's an echo of psalm 88. This was taught in the Old Testament. It's kind of cool that you see it in the Old Testament, you see it in the New Testament, you see it in the Book of Mormon. Psalms 88 is when God stands among the Elohim, the gods, and says, how long will you be unrighteous judges? How long will you keep favoring the wealthy or the powerful or the people that give you something for your efforts and show leniency to the people that are going to be rewarding you when you ignore the people that need you most, the widows and the fatherless, the ones that are struggling, be righteous judges. Go out and meet justice. And I think that's a big part of what it means to be therefore perfect, even as I or your father are, because what are they? God and Christ are standing up for the downtrodden, standing up for those who are beaten and afflicted, and they're making judgment calls all the time to try to rescue and help and save, and. And that's the kind of judgment that we want reflected back to us. [01:02:59] Speaker B: Nailed it. Let's keep going. Anything else you want to hit? Yeah, in this chapter. [01:03:05] Speaker A: Um. [01:03:06] Speaker B: Or I'm going to rest of the chapters. [01:03:08] Speaker A: I mean, we could. We could literally get stuck on all sorts of these things, right? And I. And I don't want to keep you up all night, and I don't want to. I don't want to just sit there and rehash everything that Christ says. But I think it's important that we look at Christ and the message that he's bringing to the Nephites so many times today. If we try to look at what is the lesson that we're learning from this repeat lesson, why is Christ giving us the same content on literally, word for word from what we have in the New Testament? I think there is a. What's the word for it? A parallel to today's world in general conference. We got conference coming up, and sometimes we hear the prophet stand up and say the same exact thing, and like, well, why do we always keep getting taught the same things over and over and over again? And Christ, like, why couldn't he be original? Why couldn't we thought of new ways to say it? Why is hedehethere? And. And I think that Christ says it himself really well, it's in 13, verse 25. Remember the words which I have spoken, and don't we remember them a lot better when he keeps repeating them, when he repeats the same message? There's something about the repeating, the remembering. This is important. And. And we see this and we read it, and rather than look at it and say, oh, I remember this, I've already read it, and just skip past it. Let's go back and reread it and sink into it and really remember what he's saying, a few things that I want to also point out, and I promise I'll be quiet. Chapter 14, something that's. That stood out to me that I even kind of touched on already. What manner of man is there? Who, if his son asked for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will it give him a serpenthe? We remember that the original context of this, of this sermon, that he delivered to the Israelites in the New Testament world, was coming out of fasting 40 days in the wilderness. And when he was fasting 40 days in the wilderness, what happened? Satan approached him and offered him stones instead of bread. And he said, if thou be the son of God, then you can command these stones to be made to bread. And so when Christ is saying that what manner of Menta asks, when his son asked for bread will give him a stone, he's, he's referencing literally what the devil did to him in the wilderness. He was a son of God. He was starving. And, and, and this man who's coming to offer salvation and says, see all of these kingdoms, see all of these things? I will give it all to you if you will bow down and worship me, is offering him stones instead of bread to, to nourish him. And then the tip again in verse ten. And if he asked for a fish, we'll give him a serpent. The fish was a symbol of Christ. And, and look at the, how he fed the multitude and multiplied that fish. And, and the setting when they were teaching the people also was not just the multiple, the miracle of the fishes being multiplied, but the bread being multiplied. Christ is the bread of life. He is the fish that was eat my body, drink my blood, and I will offer you salvation. Versus the serpent which beguiles, which is a symbol of Satan. And God was presented with the option, whom shall I send? And a fish who was going to come and try to give his life so that all might be fed, versus a serpent who was going to be giving stones instead of bread or trying to bite and suck the life and energy, I will be it. I will take the credit. I will nourish myself. And being chosen between, or having to choose between sending a fish or sending a serpent, God knew well enough to send his children what they needed, and he chose the savior. I like the savior's words because there's layers within layers within layers. And it's so simple that anyone can understand, and yet there's such complexity and beauty in there that as you go back and you remember his words and you reread his words and you study his words, you find different levels of complexity, richness, depth, and you find what you're looking for. For those who are seeking him for your whole life, there will always still be something rewarding about it and something calming in the spirit and something to learn that you find satisfaction in those. I think the last thing here I can't get out of this chapter without talking about the other sheep I have that are not of my fold. And that's kind of where it ends in 15 and 16, when Christ says, I need to go now because there's other sheep that I need to visit. And I find it fascinating. Chapter 16, verse four. And I commanded you that ye shall write these things, saying that after I am gone, that if it so be that my people at Jerusalem, they who have seen me and been with me in their ministries, do not ask the father in my name that they are able to receive a knowledge of you or by the Holy Ghost, and also by the other tribes whom they know not of, that these things which ye shall write shall be kept and shall be manifest unto the Gentiles. But through the fullness of the Gentiles, the remnant of their seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of the unbelief, may be brought in or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their redeemer. And there's something fascinating about that to me. I'm commanding you to write these things down and these sayings down just in case. In the New Testament, nobody bothers asking me about this so that you can have the context that there's more sheep than just Jerusalem and the Nephites. Here in the Americas, there are other sheep. And I want that to be recorded. And so there's two different things that I want to say with this one. There are other sheep, there are other records. There are other people outside of just the Bible and the book of mormonization that Christ appeared to. And we have legends of this with Quetzalcoatl in the Americas, in Hawaii, you have the legend of Lono coming and visiting the people and promising that he would return. And when James Cook shows up, they're like, oh, here's Christ. Because it fulfills what they thought was coming, right? We have these interesting stories. There are other people that Christ visited, but I think the other more chilling one to me is, I want you to write these down just in case nobody asks me about this in Jerusalem. Christ was willing to tell them all about the people in America and all about the other lost tribes if they simply asked him about it. But just in case they don't ask me, I still think it's important enough that we write this down. So write this down to cover our bases. And what's chilling to me is, what other things is the Lord willing to show me if I was just willing to ask? And it's an interesting game. And you say, well, how come you didn't teach me about this? Well, you never asked. So. So what is the Lord willing to show me or teach me or help me understand? But I was never willing to come to him and ask him about that. So as I read my scriptures and I come up with curiosities and I say, oh, man, what does this mean? Or why is it saying this? Or where did this come from? I don't want to be caught in the trap of like, well, I don't ask the Lord because he doesn't make these things known to me. I'm not a prophet, that the Lord just shows everything. I'm waiting for a prophet to tell me what that is one day. No, I try to come to the Lord and say, this is interesting. This is what I read and this is what I'm seeing and this is what I don't understand. What does this mean? Who are these people? What are those other tribes? What are they having that curiosity and taking that to the Lord and knowing that the Lord is going to reveal it in his due time, as long as I'm doing my part and asking. I think that helps me build that personal relationship with the Lord because he does go and answer those prayers and he does give to me little bits of pieces of truth and those little jots and those little tittles and those tender mercies. And that builds that relationship to where I know that he is. I know that he lives.