D&C 60 - 62 (2020 Repost)

[00:00:16] Speaker A: Welcome to the weekly Deep Dive podcast on the Add On Education Network. The podcast where we explore the weekly Come follow me discussion and try to add a little insight, unique perspective. I am your host, Nate the Great Pifer, here in studio with my good friend and this show's producer, Jason Lloyd. [00:00:37] Speaker B: What's up, Jack? No, Bugs Bunny dropping little bugs. How's it going, Nate? [00:00:42] Speaker A: Dude, do we need to film Bugs Bunny? Dude, you had such a moment and that's what you hit me with. [00:00:47] Speaker B: I know, it's sad. It's sad, man. [00:00:50] Speaker A: I thought for sure we were going back to the old what's up? Like the old Budweiser commercials or something. Come on, man, it's Bugs Bunny. [00:00:59] Speaker B: It wasn't the frogs. What? [00:01:01] Speaker A: It was just a bunch of people sitting around. And then they had the one where it was like the. Is like all the superheroes from, like the cartoon superheroes doing it. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen. [00:01:10] Speaker B: You know, I guess it was better than going with the. The. What's up with that? Saturday Night Live. [00:01:14] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's true. No, that's. I mean, you could have hit me with that too. All right, whatever, Bugs Bunny. So anybody that has listened to this podcast before is probably wondering why. Why we have flip flopped our roles so far in this show and why. Why I'm talking a lot already. And why Jason, our usual host, hasn't said anything. Well, it's because we're doing it a little different this time. We're recording this podcast actually a week early because I'm gonna be going out of town and I didn't want to straddle Jason with having to do it all again by himself like he did when I was trying to die from COVID And so I did. I offered my services. I said, hey, let me help, at least. Let me help. At least prepare or help you out here so that you don't have to do all the preparation by yourself. And so here we are. Luckily, Jason, though, you're still going to help me out, right? [00:02:09] Speaker B: Yeah, no, definitely. We got this. [00:02:12] Speaker A: Well, I am going to be talking about Doctrine and covenants, section 60 through 62, is that right? [00:02:19] Speaker B: Yes, sir. [00:02:20] Speaker A: I prepared a few notes. How about that, Jason? [00:02:23] Speaker B: There we go. [00:02:24] Speaker A: The first thing I'm going to want to talk about here is something that I actually really love to talk about. Let me dive into this and see if you know what I mean. [00:02:34] Speaker B: Begetting. Is it the begatting? [00:02:35] Speaker A: No, that's what I love the most of everything. But this Is what I love. Pretty close. Pretty close to that. So Joseph Smith had sent some of the saints to Jackson County, Missouri, to kind of get things prepped and going or whatever. But he said that along the way, he needed them to open their mouths and share the gospel, right? [00:02:57] Speaker B: Yes, sir. [00:02:58] Speaker A: Am I wrong in any of that? [00:03:00] Speaker B: No, sir. [00:03:01] Speaker A: So they went. Some people, some of the. Let's just call them missionaries for the sake of discussion. Along the way did their job, opened their mouths. God was stoked. Some of the dudes did not do as good of a job and did not open their mouths. And the Lord was not pleased. Let me see if I can read exactly the scripture, because there's some language in here that. Let's see. Let me see if I can find my notes here. [00:03:32] Speaker B: He does have a way of speaking. The Lord's language is always impressive. [00:03:37] Speaker A: It's always impressive. Here we go. Let me see if I can find. You're better at this. But with some. I am not well pleased. Okay. This is Doctrine and Covenant, section 62, verse 2. But with some. I am not well pleased. For they will not open their mouths, but they will hide the talent which I have given them. What? Jason? [00:04:00] Speaker B: It's the talents. [00:04:01] Speaker A: It's the talents. [00:04:03] Speaker B: It's the talents. [00:04:04] Speaker A: Because of the fear of man. Woe unto such. Let's go. [00:04:11] Speaker B: Nate's been waiting for this day for a while. [00:04:12] Speaker A: I've been waiting for this day for my whole life. Now, I know that some of you out there right now that have maybe listened to some of the past podcasts are saying, oh, Nate, is this going to go against what you've been telling us this whole time, that a talent has something to do with money and it doesn't have to do with singing in primary so that you don't lose your singing voice and go to hell or get kicked out of the choir? And I'm here to say. Not so fast, my friends. [00:04:37] Speaker B: Not so fast. [00:04:39] Speaker A: What I've done is I've decided just to go straight to the Old Testament. [00:04:44] Speaker B: I like that. [00:04:45] Speaker A: We're going to. We're gonna. We're gonna talk a little bit about the actual parable of the talents. [00:04:52] Speaker B: That's gonna be New Testament, right? [00:04:53] Speaker A: A New Testament. I'm sorry. No, dude. Old Testament. I just got you so stoked. [00:04:56] Speaker B: You got me up or not. You got me excited. [00:05:00] Speaker A: I know I got you excited. I'm sorry. The New Testament. The New Testament. So we're going to talk about this a little bit in the parable of the talents. I just want to Dig into this a little bit more. You have the master that gives three of his servants responsibilities. Let's just not even call it talents for a minute. Right? Let's just call it responsibilities, things of worth. Now, something that I'd like to point out in this is that there has to be something that the servants have done before this situation to earn this responsibility. Am I right? [00:05:30] Speaker B: You would think so. I mean, they're called servants for a reason, Right? They've probably been serving them for a while. [00:05:35] Speaker A: And in this case, you're not just going to give money to just anybody. Right? Anybody that just happens to be working. It's. If somebody's out taking care of your sheep, you're not going to give them, hey, while I'm gone for this long period of time, you do a great job of taking care of my sheep. But here's also a large sum of money that I want you to go and do something with and to be responsible for. I look at this and I go, okay, clearly the people involved in this story would have at least some understanding of what their responsibility would be with the task that they're given. [00:06:05] Speaker B: And on the flip side, I would even say the servants have some understanding of the master and the expectation. [00:06:14] Speaker A: Right. Of what their job is. Yeah, I completely agree. So one is clearly responsible enough to have five pieces of money talents. He has a large responsibility. One who still knows what he's doing is given a lesser responsibility. And to one is given the least amount of responsibility, but still a responsibility. And we can still at least try to draw the conclusion that he knows that he's supposed to be doing something with this money. Right? [00:06:44] Speaker B: Yes. [00:06:44] Speaker A: So then let me just read. I'm in Matthew 25 right now. And unto one he gave five talents, unto one two, and to another one. Every man according to his, to his several ability and straightway took his journey. He that received five talents went and traded with the same and made them another five. Likewise, he who had received two also gained the other two. But he who had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. Okay, the wording of this is, this is kind of important. And this is how I'm gonna eventually get all. Get back into what we've been talking about with the other thing and help everybody realize that this isn't about singing in primary. And after a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh, and he reckoned with them. And so he that had delivered five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, lord, thou hast Delivered unto me five talents. Behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over few things. I will make thee a ruler over many things. Thou enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. And he that had also received two talents came and said, lord, thou deliverest me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two besides them. And the Lord said unto him the same thing, well done, my good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over a few things. I will make thee a ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of the Lord. So first, I just want to make note those two were given very different responsibilities, but received the same reward in the end. [00:08:10] Speaker B: Yes. [00:08:10] Speaker A: Okay. He that received the one talent came and said, and this is very important, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where there, where thou hast not strawed. Here's some of the wording. And I was afraid and I went and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, there has there thou hast, that is thine. It's interesting, the projection that just happened right there. Right. Listen to what he just said to the master or to the Lord. I, I was you. I knew you were a hard man, Reaping where thou has not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed. Look in the mirror, dog. Literally. Isn't it so funny that that his excuse to try to get out of this was to. Was an immediately, oh, it's not anything I did. It's, it's, it's you, it's you that made me not want to go and work and do and use this thing because, oh, I didn't think that it was cool that you would get something from my work. It's very interesting. And then he says, and I was afraid and I went and hid thy talent. What was he afraid of? Well, he says, I'm genuinely asking because I think that this comes back to what we're talking about in Doctrine and Covenants. [00:09:38] Speaker B: I, I, if you're asking me, I think, I mean first, to your point, when he says, I knew thee like you said, these are people that have a relationship with completely great. And, and when he says that thou art a hard man, I think he's, I think he's saying here that he's afraid of failure, that he's afraid of disappointing him, or he's afraid of, of losing the money. [00:10:03] Speaker A: I love it. I think that that could be part of it. I also think that part of it. [00:10:07] Speaker B: Is. [00:10:10] Speaker A: I think that he, he knows now the situation that he's in. I agree with you. I think he may have been afraid of doing something with it before, but now I think he's afraid of the consequences. And I think both, I think both would actually be scary. His Lord answered and said unto him, thou wicked and slothful servant, Thou newest. Thou newest. Like you said that I reap where I sowed not and gathered where I have not strawed. Thou artest therefore have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming, I should have received mine own with usury. Here's what's so funny about this is that he even just said, had you still just been a terrible person and done a terrible job, like actually doing something with the responsibility I gave you, you literally just had to go and just put it in, in a, in a savings account, basically. At least go let it be put to use in the community and let it earn the most minimal amount of interest. But instead you went and you hid it in the earth where it just could literally do nothing. It now is. It. You're now just bringing it back to me dirty. Like not, not even to be used for something and potentially for good for somebody else, but. But just dirty. It's interesting. And again, like I try to. I want to take this away from money for one second. I know this is going to shock everybody for a minute, but think about this, think about this in three, maybe it's three different things. So the first thing I want to look at this is the obvious one, which is stewardship or responsibility. And this is where I kind of want to throw it to you. Like from that standpoint, how could these things relate to you? And I like just kind of boots to the ground, like day to day type of a thing. Like what responsibilities would. If you hear this thing, if you hear this parable, how would you relate this to you as far as like a day to day responsibility? [00:12:08] Speaker B: Well, I'm still thinking about this. The idea that he communicates to his master saying, I knew that you reaped where you didn't sow. In other words, he's saying, I knew you wanted me to return more than what you gave me. Like it was clear. And then the master returning and saying, yes, absolutely, you knew I wanted more than what I gave you. I mean there's no. [00:12:39] Speaker A: I didn't lie to you. There was no misunderstanding. [00:12:41] Speaker B: There was no misunderstanding. I. You said it yourself, you knew what I was after. And yes, that's exactly what I was after, why didn't you do it? He didn't give him that money just so he could give it back. [00:12:58] Speaker A: Completely agree. [00:12:59] Speaker B: And so when you say, how do we apply this to ourselves? I look at it and sometimes we interpret what the Lord says and we know what he wants us to do, but maybe we write a way around it saying, I knew you were after this, but that's hard. And so I decided to do it my way differently. [00:13:21] Speaker A: Well, it's. To your point, and I think that you're nailing this and you're actually, you're right there at the point that I was hoping you'd make too, is that like you said, we know what our responsibilities are. And I do think that sometimes it's easy to. To try to make ourselves feel better by projecting our own. Not laziness, but our own disinterest in some of those things. Right? Things. Things such as? Like, I mean, I guess it's. For most of us, it's probably easy to do the obvious ones. Like, we need to have a place for our family to live, right? We're responsible to take care of children. We're responsible to. To provide in one way or another for the family. We have responsibilities at work. Maybe some of us have some money. There's responsibility that comes with that, whatever that may be, right? But then I look at this too, and then I just go, there are things that I know that I struggle with, and that is okay. But I also have, like, a church calling that sometimes I may, like, grumble about. Like, I don't even know if I'm really doing anything. Like. Like, I wish I knew what to do with this, right? But it's really easy for me to go, oh, I'm just in the wrong. I'm just in the wrong calling. Like, I need to be. I need to be somewhere where, where my strengths are being. My. My talents are being used to take it back to the primary application. I know, there you go. I need to be somewhere where, where I'm being utilized the correct way, right? And it's. And then that's. Then now being used in this excuse to not do something or to not, you know what I mean? To not actually, like, maximize the thing that I'm. I'm doing, right? And again, like. Or say, like our ministering assignments. Here's. Here's things as simple as, like, if you are getting a prompting on your way home to go visit somebody or maybe call somebody that you haven't talked to in a while, you know, I mean, there's so many other things that I feel like would technically qualify as things that would be things within our stewardship that we've been given or responsibilities that we've been given. And human nature. And we just read it again. Human nature is to go, well, I was afraid and I was able to say, well, I mean, you could in theory do all of that stuff, right? God, in theory, you could. I mean, if somebody needs something, you can bless them or somebody that's already responsible for that. Why aren't they taking care of it? Why am I being. I don't have time anyways. [00:15:48] Speaker B: The whole plan can't lynch on me. It's going to go on. [00:15:52] Speaker A: So there's the first. The first way that I want to look at it. And then I want to read Doctrine and Covenants again about our friends that did not open their mouths and kind of apply this to that part of the responsibility. But with some, I am not well pleased for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given them because of the fear of man. Woe unto such, for my anger is kindled against them. Okay, so in this case, I guess I just want to ask then, well, then, what is that talent which he has given them? Because it doesn't sound like it's a talent of public speaking. You know what I mean? It doesn't sound like it's a talent of like, wow, you're really good at speaking. No, no, no, no. That's not what he's saying. [00:16:33] Speaker B: Responsibility. [00:16:34] Speaker A: That's exactly right. That's exactly right. That's my point of ability. That's exactly my point is that I don't read this and say they hid the talent which I've given them. It's like, clearly, clearly these people aren't the most thrilled to be speaking because of the fear of man. They're shirking. They're using fear to bury their responsibility. Now, this also has some wording in it that also relates to some other scriptures that I want to bring out too, or kind of talk about too, because I think it actually is very applicable in this. When he says, for they will not open their mouths, but they will hide the talent which I have given them. Off the top of your head. Do you know where I'm going with this? Where they hide the talent that I'm. [00:17:18] Speaker B: Giving them, where they hide responsibility? I'm not sure. [00:17:22] Speaker A: Okay, I'm going to jump into third Nephi, chapter 12 real quick, okay. Because a lot of the same words are being used here, and I love the Surrounding context with this. And I feel like, again, this gives us a perfect. This illustrates perfectly the lesson that we need to be learning from this. Right. Behold, do men light a candle to put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick. And it giveth light to all the house. There's something. There's something that I feel like is just dead on the nose here. Right. These men are being sent across, are on a journey to go to a county to kind of help set up shop for the saints. They're told to preach the gospel along the way. They're told very specifically, open your mouth. And what do they do? They hide their responsibility, right? [00:18:15] Speaker B: Yes. [00:18:16] Speaker A: What is the specific responsibility, that talent that they are hiding? [00:18:23] Speaker B: To preach the gospel? [00:18:24] Speaker A: To testify of Jesus Christ. That's exactly right. To testify of Jesus. [00:18:28] Speaker B: Light on the hill. [00:18:29] Speaker A: That's exactly right. To be a light on the hill. Right. And again, like a lot of the surrounding context of this, I love that it says, let your light so shine before people that they may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. I love that even in that scripture, we're told how to let our light shine good works. Right. And then specifically we know what that light is because Jesus himself says, I am the light. I need to be what you need to be testifying about. I need to be that thing that you're putting on the candlestick and not hiding your testimony of me. Right. This comes full circle. If you're. If you're in a new church being sent across not necessarily the most friendly of places, There would be a fear of man that I feel like would kind of be baked into that. [00:19:21] Speaker B: Absolutely. Especially talking about some boy seeing visions and golden plate, golden Bible. I mean, it's all brand new. And you just fell sucker to this. I mean, there's. There's a lot of social pressure in a situation like that. [00:19:33] Speaker A: Okay, so now here's where I'm bringing this back to last week because you asked a very important question. And this is. This is where I kind of want to. This is where I kind of want to, like, wrap this all up. Is it easier to live for God or die for God? And you noticed last week I had a really quick answer. [00:19:51] Speaker B: Yes, yes. [00:19:52] Speaker A: This is why. This is why. Because what we've seen within this one scripture is truly kind of the. The. Maybe the hardest thing that we're. We're expected and responsible to do. Because with great knowledge comes great responsibility. With. With. With. With. With power comes responsibility. With the testimony comes responsibility. Right. Yes, all of these things. And it's funny because we've talked about this in the past when we say, when we, when we bear a testimony. You've, you've done a great job of kind of exploring the, the kind of the way that the words translate specifically and about the idea of being naked or being exposed or that it leaves you vulnerable. Right. I look at it like a weight sometimes that you have to bear, like a heaviness cargo or a. Because there's responsibility that comes with that. Right? Because Jesus Christ told his disciples, his servants, the ones that he's giving this responsibility to. And, and in this, in this parable, and I believe this is right, he was talking to his disciples when he was giving this parable. I may be wrong about this, but, but I think it would still apply either way that, that he's talking specifically to those who know their master, like you said, he's talking specifically to those that have received some sort of confirmation that they're working for the right person, that they're representing the right person. With that comes the responsibility of, then, you know, what I expect you to do. [00:21:34] Speaker B: And I'd even add to that. Not just people that know him, but people that warrant an elevation from what they were doing. No longer just being simple servants, but now being put over a certain responsibility or given additional responsibility to where they have. [00:21:51] Speaker A: Completely agree. Completely agree. Thank you. With that, I do want to add too, that one of the things that are responsible for, like we talk about a lot and you emphasize a lot, is our knowledge and gaining more knowledge and gaining things that add to our testimony. And it's interesting because as we gain those things, I feel like that's a very boots to the ground way of adding to those talents that we've been given. Because that would be. My last question is with that weight that we have, with that responsibility, with the value, by the way, with that gift that we're given, right? With that valuable thing that we're given responsibility over. What are some of the ways that we can applicably read this and go, oh, this is how I, this is how I increase those responsibilities that I've been given. And for me, and I'll throw this to you, but I wanted to take the easy one first because I knew you would take this one. But to me, one of those is take the testimony you have and learn more about it and ask more questions and like we've talked about, seek out the mysteries, right? Seek. Seek the mysteries of God and try to find those things which by the way he invites us to figure out, right? Over and over, over and over. Ask knock as a commandment and not. And not a. Well, if you do this, I guess I'll do this too. But as a commandment, right? [00:23:20] Speaker B: Seek me and you shall find me. [00:23:21] Speaker A: What are some. Am I missing? Am I missing some obvious ones? What are some ways. I'm going to throw this to you, Jason? What are some ways, just as. As we're kind of talking about this, that it would make sense to go, oh, yeah, that's. That's applicable in adding or increasing the responsibility that you've been given? [00:23:37] Speaker B: Well, you've covered knowledge really well. And I think absolutely we have that responsibility. A man cannot be saved in ignorance. Joseph Smith says it. He says, you were saved as fast as you gain knowledge. And that through knowledge is how God gained his power. And he subjects everything under his feet because of what he knows. But as I was thinking about how this applies, my mind almost went to a different situation where what responsibility do we have when we take upon us the name of Christ? And when we're sitting in a setting with our friends and all of our friends decide to go watch a movie that's inappropriate. As followers of Christ, do we have a responsibility to open our mouth and say, this is something that I'm not going to do? And you look at that return on investment right from that talent, that roi, if you have the courage to tell your friends, this is something that I'm not going to do, what other people in that group are now going to have the courage because of what you said to stand with you, or what kind of impact are you going to have on them to where that responsibility grows, to where somebody else is now accepting that responsibility and you're returning to the Lord even more invested people or even more fruit for what he asked you to do. When I look at soccer team, for example, that if you go to the next level, it requires you playing on Sunday. And that's a very personal decision for people to make. And I can't tell you what the right decision is or what the wrong decision is. But I can tell you that I have seen firsthand when a goalie stands up and says, I am not going to play on Sunday, and then the whole team rallies behind him and says, if he is going to stay at this level, we are going to stay at this level too. That makes me wonder, is he taking his responsibility of being that light on a hill serious? And is he returning now all of these other people that are following in his footsteps that are growing that light, that now the Lord is giving them talents, giving them responsibility, because they are awakened to the responsibility that they have. And that that investment grows. [00:25:55] Speaker A: I love that. I think that's. That's way better than how I said thank you. I wanted to. As I was, as you were saying that and I was thinking about this, I was thinking, okay, we can't just beat these dudes up though, right? Like, there actually has to be. There has to be a. There has to be. I feel like, what's the word I'm looking for? Resolution. There has to be. I don't. Redemption. Redemption is the word I'm looking for, right? [00:26:27] Speaker B: Every story loves a redemption. [00:26:28] Speaker A: And this is, and this is, this is for me how I am. Here's the redemptive part of this, right? Is that in this story, God doesn't say, okay, I'm mad at you. And like he does to the, to the, to the slothful servant in the parable of the talents, cast him to, in his words, outer darkness, which is. That's a little heavy handed. Okay, whatever. Luckily, in this story you use extremes and stories though. [00:26:55] Speaker B: They illustrate points. [00:26:56] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah, it fully illustrated that point. I guess what I love is that in this story Jesus says, fix it, right? He basically says, hey, look, I'm not stoked. Clearly we can assume that there were opportunities if the Lord's mad that they didn't open their mouths, clearly, maybe even I provided you opportunities to open your mouth and you didn't. And if you continue to do this, we're going to have problems. If you continue to do this, woe unto you, right? With the idea that, like, but you can be better. And then what I love is that a little bit later in the verse, he. He goes back to an image that we've kind of talked a little bit about before where he says, he says that, that rely on me, basically, open your mouth and I'll put the words in your mouth. Open your mouth. Rely on me. And he uses, he uses the, the phrase all flesh is in my hands, right? I kind of, I kind of. That. That was one of the things that jumped out at me a little bit. So again, like, this is where, again, I'll probably rely on you to stop me if I'm missing the mark a little bit on this. Because again, I know that this is a little bit more in your territory, but I looked at that kind of through three different lenses. Right. The most obvious one, I think is kind of what we've talked about in the past and that the idea that there's power in the arm of the Lord or there's power in the hand of the Lord, right? [00:28:25] Speaker B: Yes. [00:28:26] Speaker A: It's the way that we pass God's power from one person to another is through the hand, right? With the hand. The hand that can smite, the hand that can lift up. You know, I mean, there's the hand. The arm is used. Is used so often, especially through the scriptures, as a. As a power move, right? [00:28:47] Speaker B: Yes. Might power. Yes. [00:28:48] Speaker A: Okay. I think that's. I think that's the. I think we can apply that obviously already to this story easily. Right? You. You have. You have these people that are coming across that. That because of the fear of man, are shirking their responsibilities of specifically testifying of Jesus Christ, I think is kind of where we ended up with that. Right. If we looked at that. Open your mouth. Because God has the power to easily put words in your mouth. Especially if we've done what he's commanded to us and first learned the word or sought the word. Once we. Once we put in our work, trying to learn it, open our mouths and we'll know what to say in those situations. Right. God, power in his hand to deliver us. If people are gonna. If people don't like what you say and are gonna try to. I'm assuming that's why you'd be afraid to talk to these hostile people across us, because you're probably worried about getting beat up, killed, tarred and feathered. Right? [00:29:40] Speaker B: Yes. [00:29:41] Speaker A: But. But God is saying, first of all, all flesh is in my hand. I have power to control that situation, literally. Right. So that's comforting. Right. The second I feel like is also probably, if you think about it for two seconds, when he says, all flesh is in my hand, what else is in his hand, literally, physically? The wounds from a cross, the wounds from nails. Right. So then I think of it when he says, all flesh is in my hands, and think of it on that spiritual level. When he goes, then that makes me think, open your mouth and don't be afraid, because what if they do kill you? I have the power to save you. I have saved you. I have atoned. If you're doing what I have asked you to do, I have paid that price. Literally, all of humankind is engraven in my hand. [00:30:39] Speaker B: And because of those marks, because of the atonement, that's why all flesh is in his hands to begin with. [00:30:45] Speaker A: That's exactly right. Right. And so then I look at that and I apply that to that situation and to our situations like you said on a daily basis where we do have, hopefully, opportunities provided to us to be a good example, to open our mouths, to let that light shine, right? Because one, God has control, God has power, and he's told us that. Two, we, We. He has engraven us in his hands. He has paid for our sins. We. We have the opportunity to, even if we blow it like these dudes did in the story, to repent and to have the chance to go in, to make that right. And then the last thing. And again, this, this might be too much of a stretch, but the last thing, it actually reminded me of a talk by Elder Uchtdorf where he talked about the statue that got tore up in the storm, where the hands got broken off. Do you remember this talk? [00:31:32] Speaker B: I'm not sure if I do. [00:31:33] Speaker A: It's a great talk. But, but, but they, when the, when the village talked about rebuilding the statue, they were like, well, the hands are too damaged that we can't just put them back on. So what do we do? Do we rebuild them? And everybody in the village said, no, leave the hands off, because we want to be the hands of God, right? And then I started thinking about the idea or the symbolism of that talk of God has power in his hands. God, with the prince in his hands, has saved us from both spiritual death and physical death. And now God is providing the opportunity for all flesh to be his hands. Right? [00:32:13] Speaker B: I love it. [00:32:13] Speaker A: And the idea that we can be the ones ministering, administering. And if we want to go back to third Nephi, chapter 12, he calls us to be the salt of the earth, because wherefore, if the salt loses its savor, if the earth loses its salt, then it loses its savor, right? But then if you just take a look at that word savor, I know we immediately think, oh yeah, salt makes things taste good. Which I do think, by the way, that this is kind of the double meaning that we talk about with all these things. But then when you just look at the word itself to save a savor something that saves somebody else as a preservative, right? As the salt of the earth and quite literally the saviors of men, right? God has given all flesh, all man, the opportunity to be like him in his mission, in his calling. He, He. He continually tells us to be one with him. And what a better way to do that than to open your mouth, than to do then to not be afraid of man. Because we are already engraven in the hands of Jesus, right? We don't. There's nothing that we need to fear that man might do to us. Right, right. And. And this. And this. This simple verse, I feel like, so beautifully visually encapsulates kind of all. All of those things along the way with the charge to go out and. And be his hands and to serve and to. And to. And to truly magnify the responsibilities, talents, the. The. The. The most valuable things. And even later, he talks about valuable things. He. He says, until he comes and gathers his jewels. Right. Or his gems. Until he comes and gathers his gems. And then, you know, a little bit of digging. It's like, oh, yeah, the. The gems that will fit into the crown of the king, right? Like, he. He wants us to be elevated with him. We're. We're those precious things, right? [00:34:09] Speaker B: Yes. [00:34:09] Speaker A: We're those valuable things. By the way, that. That may be somebody else's responsibility. Like, we're the value. We're the talents, potentially. Right. That, that, that, that. That are being exalted by. By. By magnifying our efforts, what it is that we can do. So, anyways, that's where I'm at on that. [00:34:30] Speaker B: Wow. That's. Wow. That's amazing. [00:34:35] Speaker A: Hopefully I didn't let you down, Jason. I actually prepared this one. [00:34:37] Speaker B: No, no, no, no. [00:34:38] Speaker A: See, I don't know anything about some. I don't know anything about where a lot of these words actually get their meaning from, but at this point, I. [00:34:46] Speaker B: Think I stand with most of our listeners here on this, that. Why are you not doing this show? [00:34:51] Speaker A: Because I'm the knucklehead, man. Trust me. [00:34:53] Speaker B: Oh, no. [00:34:54] Speaker A: I'm the knucklehead. It took me all afternoon with, like, crying kids to even get this much written down. [00:34:59] Speaker B: Amazing. I love the insight. I love where you went with that. It's just. That's powerful. It's good. [00:35:06] Speaker A: Well, thank you. What do you got to add to this? I know I missed out on a lot. I kind of got hung up on literally those two. I got hung up 35, 30 minutes later. [00:35:16] Speaker B: I don't know if there's anything I can add because it's such a powerful message and really a great focus. I mean, you talk about in the book of Revelation when it talks about the harvest, and I know we've hashed harvesting over and over again because it shows. No, this shows up. [00:35:34] Speaker A: Bring it up again, though. We've given it a break for a minute. [00:35:36] Speaker B: It shows up so often in Doctrine and Covenants, but in the book of Revelation, it says that you will be my hands to harvest. You are the ones that are going to be doing this. And I. I think it just fits with what you're talking about. This idea that he is asking us to do this for him. Not because he's lazy, but as you said, he's trying to exalt us. And how can we come follow him? And by saying come follow him, this idea that we're following him all the way up to the right side of the right hand of God to the throne. How can we follow him if he's not giving us the opportunity to do what he did? [00:36:16] Speaker A: And you said something too, that I kind of just want to highlight. I don't think I did probably a good enough job of highlighting, but when I asked what are some of those talents that we've been given or those responsibilities that we've been given, I think you just nailed the most important one, which is the saving is the harvest. Right? The saving of another soul, which is why the Lord was so upset that they didn't magnify that talent that he had given them or that charge that he had given them, quite literally and specifically to let their light shine, to testify to people. For what purpose? To save a soul of another person. Right. Which we're told is. Is the greatest thing that we can do is to save a soul. Right. And. And like you said, I'm glad you brought this back up again because that's kind of actually how I would really like to really kind of cap that off is, Is that we know. We know what our responsibilities are. And yes, it's our family, it's our. It's our jobs. It's. It's. It's the, it's the wealth that we have or the wealth that we don't have. It's the knowledge that we have. But most importantly, it's the charge to open our mouths because you never know the soul that you might save by doing so. And to not be afraid of man because. Because the. What you're working for is more important than being afraid of something that man could do. [00:37:36] Speaker B: Yeah. To have God become a sinner, if you will. Not that he sinned, but that he was treated as a sinner. Right. He was perfect, but he descended below everything and he became the least of anyone. Born in a manger, scourged, unclean, treated by Gentiles, and did so so that the sinner could become the God. That idea. And how does the sinner become the God if we are not involved in following him in exalting? We are the sinner and he put ourselves in our shoes so that we could Put ourselves in his shoes. And we put ourselves in his shoes because as a sinner and feeling that joy, that redemptive joy, to be able to extend that to somebody else and share that joy, all of a sudden we become the savior. We become like the savior and we're able to bring them back. And you said earlier that every story needs a good redemptive story. And maybe I could put just a little spin on this with Corianton, right? You've got three brothers, Helaman, Shiblon and Corianton in the Book of Alma. And Helaman stays home from the mission. And Shiblon does really good in the mission. But Corianton goes to a prostitute, right, Instead. And actually, not only is he not opening his mouth, but because of the actions of what he did, he was leading others astray. And this is something. Maybe it's just a coincidence, maybe it doesn't have any bearing in any of this. But in the Book of Mormon you have this introduction of Greek names. Laconius means somebody from Laconia, a Spartan. You've got Timothy showing up. You have all of these Greek names starting to show up in the later end of the Book of Mormon, which I find fascinating. It's kind of weird. If you're writing a history, why would you do something? I don't know, it's just kind of interesting. But we also know that in Hebrew stories, names have a very significant place in things. We've talked about this before. The example of, what is it? Ruth marrying weakly and sickly and then later she turns to marrying strength. Right, Boaz. Well, do you know the name of the place where Corianton turned aside from his role, instead of shining a light, was actually misleading people, was Siren. And you think of Odysseus and the Greek sirens and this idea that they would sing and appeal to the pleasure of man and lead them astray. I don't know, it's kind of interesting. But he is the missionary that is not letting his light shine. In fact, she is shining a very different light that is taking people down a different channel. And it would be a sad story indeed if that is where it ended. But his father, being a loving father, takes him aside and finds out what some of those doubts are, what some of those underlying issues are to help correct that course and get his light shining. And we find out later on in the Book of Mormon that he ends up being a very righteous person, that there is change indeed, that the Lord might come down and say, hey, I need to call you on this but that's not the end of the story. It's not outer darkness, as it was in the parable. It's this idea that Christ redeemed us. And that is the most powerful message. And you bet this guy, having gone through this experience and understanding it firsthand, is probably the best testimony that anyone else could see his light. That. That first tasting it himself, tasting that redemptive fruit, to know that you were lost and now you're saved. What better way to shine your light than to having gone through that yourself? [00:41:30] Speaker A: It's true. It's true. And again, it's funny because I know we kind of talked about this a little bit too, is that when we talked about the. The wine, the filtered wine over the. [00:41:41] Speaker B: The le. [00:41:42] Speaker A: And you kind of said, like, look, there's some imperfections in there, but, like, that kind of adds what it is to this. It's funny because, like, I look at that and I say, I. I look at sometimes those experiences or those imperfections or whatever, and I look at it like the salt and the savor, right? Like the. The actual taste of things, right? And it's interesting because sometimes. Sometimes those things where we're struggling are good for us in the long run because, like, we learned that, you know, we can take those things and make them become strong. But like you said, like, there's. There's so many times that from like, an experience standpoint, you can relate to somebody that might not. That you would. Might not otherwise be able to relate to other than you have dealt with similar things or you've gone through similar experience. [00:42:26] Speaker B: And. [00:42:26] Speaker A: And. And so I look at that like the lees or like the salt and. And the savor, not as a preserver, but as something to add goodness. You know what I mean? Something to add a flavor to life. And it's like, yeah, there's eternity to become perfected, right? Like, in this life, let's just gain knowledge. Let's learn. Let's try to continually be moving in the right direction. But I know for me, sometimes I look at that and I just go like, yeah, of course he was able to have. He was able to have a stronger, deeper conviction of. Of redemption and the atonement, because he quite literally needed to rely on that to be saved because of his mistakes and things like that. [00:43:08] Speaker B: And Christ said it himself when he said, it's not the 99 that know where they're at. It's the one that's lost that he came for. And it's not the healthy that need the doctor. It's the one that's sick. Right? And the trick is we are sick. [00:43:22] Speaker A: Yes, we are lost. [00:43:23] Speaker B: It's whether or not we recognize that we're lost. And not to. Not to excuse or dismiss the behavior and say it's okay, but being aware of that and working to change that is what drives that love and that relationship and puts us in a position that we can follow him and that we are able to really have that savor. [00:43:50] Speaker A: Cool, man. Anything else you want to add to this? [00:43:56] Speaker B: I had some stuff in 62 that talked a little bit or 61, talking about the water and the earth. [00:44:02] Speaker A: Let's do it. [00:44:03] Speaker B: But I hate taining a lesson like this. Maybe we should just push it into the next one and keep this one whole intact. [00:44:12] Speaker A: All right, whatever. I mean, there's plenty of time left. You're making me feel good that I actually spent some time preparing. Dude, I'm glad. I'm glad it was. I'm glad you're stoked it to me. [00:44:23] Speaker B: This was amazing. I'd hate to take anything away from what. What you've already. [00:44:29] Speaker A: Let's roll it into the next one. [00:44:30] Speaker B: Let's do this. [00:44:30] Speaker A: Roll into the next one. Especially because little, little production secret. A little production magic. We're about ready to record the next one right now because I'm going to be gone the week after that, too, but we're going to totally talk about it like it's next week. So next week, a little production. A little production. [00:44:48] Speaker B: A little production trick to whet your appetite. [00:44:52] Speaker A: What are we talking about next week, Jason? In five minutes, after we go to the bathroom and get a drink of water. [00:45:00] Speaker B: In our next episode, which you'll be listening to in a week after this, we're going to take a look at Doctrine and Covenants, Section 61. Just the tail end of this come follow me lesson right now. And we are going to build it into doctrine and covenants 63. And in 63, at the very beginning, we are talking about the signs, asking for signs. When is it appropriate to ask for signs, and the Lord's displeasure or pleasure with signs. But then we are also going to hit a little bit talking about the importance of well water, the role it plays symbolically when God says that he has blessed the earth at the beginning and he has cursed the waters at the end, what in the world is he talking about? So we'll roll those together in this next episode that we're about to record in about five minutes. [00:45:46] Speaker A: A little production magic, a little behind the curtain. Wizard of Oz. Anyways, all right, well, until next week. [00:45:52] Speaker B: See ya.