0:00:00 - 0:00:17 So we're going to talk about some ways to get more out of scripture study. The other day, I was researching, I was looking for a specific quote and I didn't find that quote, but I found this one instead and it struck me even though it had nothing to do with what I was looking for. Uh Bruce R mcconkie 0:00:17 - 0:00:39 said, I firmly believe that the Bible as we now have, it is a sealed book. So what he meant by that is that there is tremendous value in the Bible that goes unused, that there's a lot of confusion about uh what it, what is said in the Bible. And uh a lot of the value of what is said is, is, is not used 0:00:39 - 0:01:01 because it's not understood correctly. Um And I couldn't agree more and I would actually extend this to all scripture, not just the Bible. And so this is something that I've, I experience on a daily basis. I uh notice tremendous value in scriptures that people take for granted or meanings that exceed 0:01:01 - 0:01:26 the value of what is commonly understood. So I was curious when I saw this quote, what his reasons were and he said the two reasons that these things are not more highly valued and better understood our ignorance and intellectualism. I couldn't agree more with the uh cause of ignorance, intellectualism 0:01:24 - 0:01:53 . I understand where he was going with that. And it is a big problem. But I thought, what would my list look like? So here's my list. Uh my first cause of limits to understanding in scripture, limits to perceived value would be disobedience and laziness. So if you wanted to, you could search the scriptures 0:01:52 - 0:02:13 for the phrase heed and diligence. There are variants of these words and concepts, but that would get you started. Here's just one, there are many the Lord said and I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life. Now, there's not 0:02:13 - 0:02:39 a one for one relationship between the words of eternal life and the scriptures. So uh for those of you who operate at that level of detail, please don't dock me points for using this. But the point I think is clear that uh when we want to seek for further light and truth, we need to be diligent and 0:02:39 - 0:03:06 he'd the resources that we have and those certainly include the scriptures. And uh it's always weird to think about folks who have questions on gospel topics that they sincerely would like to know the answer to and yet they have either never read through the scriptures or uh, they don't do so regularly 0:03:05 - 0:03:29 , they don't spend time regularly in the scriptures and they don't spend a specific time looking for the, the answer to the, the question that concerns them at the moment. It's very strange because it seems logically like that's exactly what you do. If, what you were interested in was more information 0:03:29 - 0:03:51 from God. Why wouldn't you make use of what you have right in front of your face? especially with all the whiz bang tools that we have now in terms of being able to use computers to search through things, including your own past notes. So if you had a habit of regularly studying the scriptures and you 0:03:51 - 0:04:17 took notes and you had those files available to you, you, you'd compile um a repository of previous information, previous learning that you'd experienced over time. And uh that is a wonderful thing. It's very powerful. And so if you haven't done that, I highly encourage you to. So that's kind of step 0:04:17 - 0:04:42 one, the baseline, the next thing because I do think that uh I didn't make this plain, but these three bullets are sequential. The, the easiest thing to do is to exercise heed and diligence, which means effort and obedience. So if you're not obeying and you're not interested in obeying what God's going 0:04:42 - 0:05:03 to tell you, I'm not sure why you'd ever ask him a question in the first place. Now again, that's according to my logic, but uh my experience differs greatly because I interact with people all the time who, uh, they feign interest in knowing what God wants. But actually what they want to do is justify 0:05:02 - 0:05:23 what they already believe. And to me that's kind of, it's kind of crazy. I don't know what other word to use if you're not like God. Um, why would you expect that? What he has to say to you is gonna match what you already think, right? I, that's just common sense to me, but I guess most people in religion 0:05:23 - 0:05:43 , uh they're not after new information, they're after confirmation, new confirmation, not new information. They just want uh more reasons to believe what they already do and or to make the pain go away when they hit things in life that they're not prepared for. And that's bonkers. What we ought to be 0:05:43 - 0:06:08 doing is seeking God to learn more about him because that is the solution to overcome as he has anyway. Bullet two unbelief. What's this is another fancy scriptural word that no normal person uses um unbelief. It just means that you're not, you do not act according to what you have sufficient reason 0:06:08 - 0:00:00 to believe. Now, unbelief is a word like faith where if you use it in normal situations, people presume they understand what it means, religious people and they also presume that it doesn't affect them, that they're 100% in the right place when it comes to those words. Because they, it's gospel 101. 0:00:00 - 0:06:52 They've heard him a billion times and they are convinced that they're doing what they need to do in that regard. But like faith unbelief is a word that is, it's very easy to unravel or reveal the ways in which we could do better just by using a word that's a little less familiar in this context, but 0:06:51 - 0:07:12 very familiar in terms of understanding. So not acting according to what you have sufficient reason to believe. We have a word for that. It's called delusional. It's called delusional, right? Um Maybe you could say this is the inverse of delusional because delusion is continuing to act according to what 0:07:12 - 0:07:32 you have sufficient reason not to believe. So, unbelief is like it's really close neighbor, I guess it's, it's kind of an inverted meaning, but it's really close. And when you say unbelief, everyone's like, oh, I never, I that's not. And you say delusional and they get mad just like if you call someone 0:07:31 - 0:07:52 a liar, you, you could call the most evil person in the world, self proclaimed a liar and they will get so mad at you. It's, it's like you can call him a murderer, but don't call him a liar. Um So unbelief is like that, but it turns out that this is extraordinarily common. It's extraordinarily common 0:07:52 - 0:08:19 to find someone who reacts accordingly to evidence is the hardest thing in the world. It's human nature to not be that way, unbelief is a human property and the only people you'll find it um subdued in or, or not present in subdued sufficiently to not be characteristic of the person is holy people. Those 0:08:19 - 0:08:43 are the only people that you'll find don't have unbelief and their lives are full of miracles. It's that simple. Uh And you can define the word how you want miracles. Their lives are stand in defiance to the ways of the world because they act according to everything God gives them sufficient reason to 0:08:43 - 0:09:04 believe. And when you do that, it's not like you flip a light switch, it's a track. You're on a road where he just gives you more and more and more and more. You live in a state that could be described. And now I'm using scriptural words. Don't define these with Webster's regular old dictionary of common 0:09:03 - 0:09:38 usage today. Um But you, you enter into and proceed in a road that could be qualified with the following scriptural terms, prosperity, um blessing, exultation, and so forth. Uh Switching to regular English words, uh growth, improvement benefit from better to best. So uh here's a scripture for that. These 0:09:37 - 0:10:02 are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus, wherefore they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God. And uh in case the connection there is not obvious. So what does it mean to be valiant um to be valiant is uh I I it's related to concepts of bravery and courage. But um I don't think 0:10:02 - 0:10:25 those words are necessarily the best suited because in this case, because we tend to think with those words, we tend to think of something um extraordinary, something unusual, something that uh normal people would not do and maybe normal people are not capable of doing. But we're all made in the image 0:10:24 - 0:10:47 of God. And so to live according to the testimony of Jesus, which uh I'll just throw out a massively valuable mystery here. And if you don't know what that means, the word testimony, if you, if you look at it, uh Greek Hebrew, it's much bigger than the English word. And if you had to condense it down 0:10:46 - 0:11:08 to one English word testimony wouldn't be the one I'd use, I'd use demonstration. So to be valiant in the demonstration of Jesus means to valiantly live according to your understanding of how he is all the time, that's what it means. No matter what the cost is, it means your highest priority is replicating 0:11:07 - 0:11:29 what you understand about Jesus. And that's where the, no matter what the cost comes in, everything else subordinates to what you understand, Jesus would want or do in your situation. And that is the qualification to obtain quote the crown over the kingdom of our God. So uh you have to know everything 0:11:29 - 0:11:51 there is to know about Jesus and do everything you know. And of course, that lies on a gradient from where you stand now to that point. And that is the, the path that is the way. So unbelief will stop you in your tracks on the way. And so as you're reading, we'll get this applied now to the topic as 0:11:51 - 0:12:14 you're reading the scriptures and you're not being lazy and you are willing to be obedient. You're gonna read all kinds of stuff and you're gonna think to yourself. Oh, there's no way that means what it seems to me. There's no way that that's literal. Let me do things with my understanding to uh sort 0:12:14 - 0:12:40 of writhe around this and avoid this to weasel out of it. But if that's what it says, that's what it says and you better have a damn good reason to not believe it if that's what it says. So a fantastic example of this is found in DNC 93 1 and it says, I don't have that on the screen here. But when it 0:12:40 - 0:13:02 says, the Lord says every soul who forsake his sins and cometh unto me and call on my name and obey my voice and keepeth my commandments shall see my face and know that I am. And so when I read that scripture for the first time, uh about 20 years ago, I thought this is amazing. It's just right there 0:13:02 - 0:13:22 and I can see the Lord's face and here's a recipe and all I have to do is follow it. But then I went to church and people told me that's not what that means. And so I lost a couple of years of my spiritual life because people told me and I believe that this didn't mean exactly what it says. And then 0:13:22 - 0:13:48 uh I read a book that said no, actually it does mean that and I didn't about face and guess what, when you forsake your sins and you come to God and you call on his name and you obey his voice and you keep his commandments, you will see his face and you will know that I am. Now, that's a part that maybe 0:13:48 - 0:14:12 no one's explained to you, but you will come to know more about the character of Christ. So there's that, that's unbelief. Now, let's go on to trust in God. Ok? This is a big one. And, and you know, none of what I'm doing right here is gonna do justice to any of these topics, but I'm just doing this 0:14:12 - 0:14:37 quickly and I'm gonna go move on and maybe there's something here that uh will benefit you or at least a launching point for your own endeavors. So trust in God huge topic. Um One I will be speaking a lot more about, I think that I've covered disobedience and laziness uh with my book Repentance and I've 0:14:37 - 0:15:00 covered unbelief in my book through faith. Although I'll be returning to that in greater detail in some future books. Trusting God is one that I have spoken about. You'll see that in, for example. Um It's funny how sometimes I can't remember the titles of my own books. Um The Glory Of God is Intelligence 0:14:59 - 0:15:26 . Um And maybe men are that they might have joy. You'll see some of that in there, but I'll be diving into this uh much deeper in a future book or two. But here's a little list of some things that are helpful to think about and how you can limit yourself in studying the scriptures, even when you exercise 0:15:25 - 0:15:52 effort and you're obedient to what the Lord teaches you and you're willing to believe what he gives you sufficient reason to believe. That's all faith is folks. It's not anything magical in the sense of uh I don't know, some ultra elite uh hard to find superhuman talent. It's, it's just believing what 0:15:51 - 0:16:16 you have reason to believe. Um Anyway, trust in God. That's, that's harder. And maybe it sounds weird for me to say that because maybe you are of the opinion that that's, you know, that's the easy thing on this list. I don't know. Um However, I, I mean, I guess it's characterized that way entering into 0:16:16 - 0:00:00 the gate and you make a covenant of baptism. But um you know, promise to God that you're gonna do his will. But this is actually something that takes a long chain of experiences to really um maybe the best way of putting this is to expose how you're not actually there, even if you think you are. So, 0:00:00 - 0:17:14 um, just some highlights as you're studying the scriptures, you ought to prepare your heart to be willing to suffer. And what do I mean by that, uh, specifically for others and by others? So for others, this one's probably talked about more often. Um, what I mean by that is, well, well, I'll, I'll treat 0:17:14 - 0:17:43 them together here um, before others is in what you do for other people and by others is what they do to you. So you need to develop a willingness to suffer um in living and sharing what you know, so living what you know, that's that obedience part. And you say, well, you already talked about that. Yes 0:17:42 - 0:18:04 . But as you commit yourself to God, you're going to, your mind is going to range over all these situations and you're gonna think. Yeah. OK. I'm ready. I'll do it. Lord, I'm submitting. I'm just, I'm gonna do your will in all things. The second you do that boom, out of left field comes some situation 0:18:03 - 0:18:29 . You did not anticipate or it's gonna hit you in a time where your willpower or attitude or just energy is just raked over the coals. Like you haven't slept in a week because you have some random illness and boom, that's when it hits you or um I don't know you get in a car accident and then the very 0:18:29 - 0:00:00 next moment you're faced with this situation and normally you, you'd be able to overcome and do the right thing easily. And now all of a sudden you're exposed to these corners of your heart that you haven't quite yielded to God. And so there's some suffering in there for sure. Um But I, I think the, 0:00:00 - 0:19:23 the greater portion of this, what I mean is uh persecution and also expanding the self harm that comes through extending lies and truth to others. So let me dive into that because these are the definitely the greater portion of what I'm trying to get at. So um in terms of um persecution uh as you live 0:19:22 - 0:19:42 , what you understand, you're going to attract a lot of negative attention because there are more and more situations where certain things just aren't allowed uh by society and they don't have to be big things and they don't have to be you waving a flag around like, you know, let me rip up my T shirt 0:19:41 - 0:20:10 and make a standard of liberty and wave it at work in people's faces. That's not what I'm talking about. Um You know, I actually got uh fired once. It's, it's the only time I've been fired from a job. Um Officially um I was uh working for someone at a company who was um who was a uh he was homosexual 0:20:09 - 0:20:35 , but he was also very much an activist about that and which is fine. I don't care. Uh It was a great job. I loved the work I was doing and the people I worked with were fantastic. But, um, I never once brought up my religion at work, uh, with anyone. And, uh, he asked me questions all the time about 0:20:34 - 0:20:57 my faith and I would tell him, look, um, you know, it's cool that you're interested, but this is a job and I don't really think those topics are appropriate for work and all the time, he was trying to bring up his, uh, his lifestyle choices and, um, which is fine. I never said anything uh, to him that 0:20:57 - 0:21:23 was negative except, um, I'm not really comfortable talking about my religion at work. So, um, you know, let's just stick to work topics. And uh one day out of the blue, he fired me and, uh, I am pretty sure it's because he didn't like the fact this was back when the I was very L DS and there was a lot 0:21:22 - 0:21:52 of news about the church's, uh public support proposition eight in California. And, um, again, it's like not my, not, not anything I was bringing up at work. Um, but it's interesting because, um, in the moment it happened, actually, I, I had just uh completed an insane goal that I had set at work to 0:21:51 - 0:22:11 really um advance the project I was working on and it was a resounding success. And so I thought I was at the top of my game and then I got fired the next day. And so, you know, I moved on, I didn't go on unemployment. I didn't make a scene. I, it was, it was quite a rough moment in my life because it 0:22:11 - 0:22:38 is the first time something like that had hit me, uh, out of that field in that specific slice of life, I guess. But my point with this is that, um, I wasn't doing anything that could have been questionable in any way regarding work and religion. And yet I got fired for my religion. And so, um, that's 0:22:38 - 0:23:04 just one random example. But the point is don't think that, um, there are ways of living valiantly for Christ that will not offend people who are not doing that because they are going to come for you. And if they haven't, it's more likely that it's because you're not living that way then that you found 0:23:03 - 0:23:26 some exception to the rule. And with all this, I don't mean to say this to say, you know, if you're not getting your pants kicked, you're doing something wrong. Although I think that's a wonderful thing for you to think through, you'll have to be the judge of that. I think I'd rather make the stronger 0:23:25 - 0:23:57 , um, emphasis on another facet of this, which is Satan is very patient. And don't think that because something's not getting to you yet that you've overcome it. Those are not the same thing. He will launch his attack at the best possible time for the greatest potential misery of humans. And um sometimes 0:23:56 - 0:00:00 that misery is gonna be focused in you and on you. And sometimes he's going, a lot of times he's got a more collective view because he's trying to maximize all damage, not just for you. And so this is why he prioritizes people that can do the most harm to his program. Uh But it's also why, you know, 0:00:00 - 0:24:44 when, when he's got folks who do his bidding, he'll take it easy on them because he wants to keep them around doing what he needs them to do. He won't pull the rug until the time is right for his purposes. But he always does pull the rug and it's not even something he does. It's just his system. It's 0:24:43 - 0:25:04 , it's the way of death. It's self defeating. It can't go on forever. It's corruption. It's um you know, all these words, it's dissociation, it's self defeating. It has to be because there is no other way. But God's way. If you wanna go eternal, that's, that's the only thing that keeps going and keeps 0:25:03 - 0:25:26 growing. So, um no matter what, in that path, it's going to come for you. So that's suffer for living. Now, let's talk about suffering for sharing what, you know, this is one I'm gonna come down pretty hard. People are terrible at this, including people that watch my stuff and it's pathetic. It really 0:25:25 - 0:25:48 is. That's the only way I can say it. I know that people don't have a lens on what I do or what it costs me to do it. But the ratio of other people's willingness to reach out to other folks just with the slightest gestures of, here's a quote, here's a link. It's really bad and I don't say this to complain 0:25:48 - 0:26:11 about those of you who are not doing it. I'm just saying this to be frank about the fact that, that you're not the ones I'm doing this for because you can sort of put on the costume and pretend that you care about the Lord and what he's all about. But at the end of the day, uh it's real clear that all 0:26:11 - 0:26:34 you're in it for is to feel good about yourself how you are right now. And, um, I guess one good thing about how offensive I tend to be is that these people don't hang around for very long, although somehow they manage to waste a whole lot of time before they skiddle. Um, but, uh, they still exist and 0:26:34 - 0:26:59 they're in high, much higher numbers than the ones who benefit from this stuff really. Um It's not a huge test of faith to say, hey, uh I'm, I just read this paragraph and it really impacted me. Now, I'm gonna put this idea into my own words and share it with my kids at the dinner table or, um, here's 0:26:59 - 0:27:21 a, a video that I thought was profound. I'm gonna bookmark it at the five minute and 32nd mark and send this link to my friend Tim and say, hey, man, watch the next 20 seconds of this and tell me what you think. It's not hard folks. It's the easiest thing in the world and people who aren't willing to 0:27:21 - 0:27:43 do that. I mean, what the heck, what are they willing to do? So, I know a lot of people get offended when I bring that up, like, how dare he? But uh you know, if, if you think that that's hurtful, you got a lot of bad things coming your way, that's all I gotta say. It's time to wake up and get with the 0:27:43 - 0:28:16 program. So why don't people do it? Well, a lot of people in the current listening group are uh scared, they're scared of the social consequences of uh being associated with material that comes from a person regarded as a pariah and that's fine with me. I get it right. So take an extra three seconds 0:28:16 - 0:28:44 and put it into your own words. I don't really care if my name's on stuff or not. I don't get commissions or something, right? But I do care um about the overall benefit of the things that I do and uh it's not gonna stop me from putting things out there when people don't use them the way they should 0:28:44 - 0:29:08 be used. But um it is sad because there's tremendous value in this stuff that you already know that I believe that. But um, it's a limited resource because the time is short, there will be a time very soon where this stuff is not available. And uh that could be specifically with me, it could be anything 0:29:07 - 0:29:29 because big changes are upon us and they're just gonna keep rolling out until the end. And so the time is now to make the, the greatest use of this stuff. And there are people who are doing so. So, um, you know, I know I've, I've given the advice many times that uh people should write what they believe 0:29:29 - 0:29:44 and share it with other people or speak about what they believe and share it with other people. You know, you just hit record on your phone and start saying things. But folks are scared because they're not valiant in the testimony of Jesus. They're scared of what other people might think. And let me 0:29:44 - 0:30:05 tell you something, those people, you might be related to them and they might say they're your friends, but they're not your friends if they don't respect the things that you believe. And if they're offended by things that are good and you'll see that if you walk this path, but if you just want to preserve 0:30:05 - 0:30:30 the illusion, you can keep doing that. But you'll also continue to not get value out of these relationships that are extremely narrow and superficial. So, um I have uh somehow retain retained a friend or two, who actually we have found a way to coexist even if they don't believe the things that I believe 0:30:29 - 0:30:53 . Fancy that right now from my perspective, that's not weird because I have absolutely no problem developing friendships with people that disagree with me. Um, contrary to what many will tell you. But, um, they tend to go away because it's not stuff that they want to be faced with and I get this. So 0:30:52 - 0:31:11 I didn't mean to say all this, this is getting a lot deeper than I intended this to be. But if you really want to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus, they're going to treat you like they treated him and it will be, it will be for the same reasons. He said in John um there's John three and I believe 0:31:11 - 0:31:31 in John chapter six as well. There are multiple references to this idea that the world hates Jesus because Jesus shows them who they really are. Now, the interesting thing about that. So the one quote is from when he's talking to his brothers who are trying to trick him to go to Jerusalem because they 0:31:31 - 0:31:54 don't believe him and they know that it's really messed up. They know that they're going to try to kill him and they're trying to spring a trap on him in a way. Uh But, but Jesus says to them, it um the world can't hate you, but the world hates me because I make them feel bad about themselves. And it 0:31:54 - 0:32:15 wasn't because of what he said. He wasn't saying, hey, you should feel bad about yourself because although you can look at his sermons and there's plenty of that, that's not what he was referring to. A being of light, supercharges, the, the dulled conscience of people in darkness who have lived in wilful 0:32:14 - 0:32:35 disobedience to God and therefore squished down the volume of his voice. And when those people come around, it jacks up the intensity of their, their conscience artificially and temporarily. But this is why, you know, uh when I was an L DS missionary, there were always people that, that wanted us to 0:32:35 - 0:32:52 come around and be with them and not just the lonely ones or the crazy ones, although that was the majority. But there were people who really felt the spirit of God when we were around and they wanted us in their house all the time, but they didn't wanna learn anything or do anything different. They 0:32:52 - 0:33:15 just wanted to feel what we brought with us. And there are those kinds of people but that same radiation that comes out of a person that has the spirit. It's, it ha it's on all the time. It's on all the time and it causes people to act differently around you and folks who don't like that and they're 0:33:15 - 0:33:34 not following it in their own life. They're not gonna want you around. And so basically these people who you're afraid to share things with. And again, I'm not talking about making a flag and waving at work. I'm just saying, live your life. And then when there are opportunities where you care about someone 0:33:34 - 0:33:57 and you have an op uh like an appropriate circumstance where you can say, hey, uh here's this idea about improvement that you didn't think of. And here's some reasons you share those things. Um those people that you've turned down your volume so that you don't offend them, they only are OK with you being 0:33:57 - 0:34:18 around them when you're not who you really are. And if you're OK with that, then you're probably not the kind of person I'm making these presentations for. So we have to be who we really are and we have to learn who Jesus really is. And then we have to connect the dots and walk the line. And this absolutely 0:34:17 - 0:34:36 requires sharing what you know, with others. There's a lot more about this that I'm going to talk about later, that talks more about hierarchy and the importance of what people can see and can recognize as good and valuable. But uh this is good enough for now. And you ask yourself, man, you really ranted 0:34:36 - 0:35:10 a lot about this. What does this have to do with the scriptures? God will not show you what you won't show others. God will not show you what you won't show others the secret to my early progress with God was my boldness in being willing to share what he taught me with other people. I figured out very 0:35:10 - 0:35:33 early that he had much more to say to others than he did to me. And so I hijacked that thread because he can't tell you something that's intended for someone else without you getting to hear it and you can extract as much value from that as you're willing to. But if that door is shut and it's just for 0:35:33 - 0:35:54 you, you're not even willing to share it with your spouse or your kids. Well, you can forget him telling you anything, it's gonna be very minimal. And so anything you get while those conditions are in play, I promise you there is immensely more that he's willing to tell you, but he's not gonna do it 0:35:54 - 0:36:16 because everything he does is for the benefit of the world, he's not gonna set you up for greater condemnation. And, and that's exactly what you're going to get. If he reveals some spectacular thing about himself or you or the world and you are not willing to voice it to other people. So those who know 0:36:15 - 0:36:38 , have an obligation to say for the benefit of those who don't know yet or who do know and who are living against it willfully and, and that's one of the reasons we're here is to help them see that. Ok. Uh without understanding. So how do you willingness to suffer without understanding what the heck 0:36:38 - 0:37:09 do I mean by that? Well, um, a huge valuable chunk of this idea of trusting in God is. How far are you willing to walk in the darkness? What I mean by that? Um, I use a military analogy. It was beaten into our heads that when we receive orders, we fulfill those orders until we're told to do something 0:37:08 - 0:37:32 else or until there was a need to radio back and tell our superiors some new piece of information that we didn't think they had that might change what they told us to do. So that has stuck with me because that's exactly what it's like with God. He is our commander. And when he tells us, walk in this 0:37:32 - 0:37:53 way, this is what I want you to do. Sometimes he tells us why. A lot of times he just gives us a sliver of why. And it sounds good until we take a couple of steps and they're like, wait a second. This is way different than I was expecting. This is a billion times harder than I thought it would be. And 0:37:52 - 0:38:18 I'm not so sure that Y is enough. And sometimes when you ask God, he'll give you more of a reason, would give you stronger reasons. Sometimes he shifts your course. But I'm telling you the most valuable progress with the Lord is when he doesn't, is when he says March this way and no matter what comes 0:38:17 - 0:38:42 at you, your mission is just to keep going and you have to go and go and go and go and it gets darker and it hurts more and it gets harder with every single step. And he's sitting there, I'm gonna talk a lot more about these ideas, but this is enough for now. He's sitting there with bated breath hoping 0:38:41 - 0:39:07 that you just keep going because there is a finish line even though it's impossible for you to see. And this is a very important piece of our, the reason that we're on this planet. So what does this have anything to do with scripture? Well, again, why are you reading? It's to learn, right. Well, as you 0:39:07 - 0:39:25 , as you learn, you're going to learn things that surprise you that are going to be different than you thought they were. And it's going to be really hard to keep pushing forward when things seem like they're just in great upheaval with your understanding of what the Lord's all about and what he wants 0:39:25 - 0:39:52 from you in your life. So this is a great transition to what motives we have in studying scripture because I think most people uh would say that they study the, the gospel to learn how to become more like Christ. I hope most people would say that. Um actually in reading that, I seriously doubt most people 0:39:52 - 0:40:15 would say that. But anyway, they, they probably say something like learn more about him or learn more about his atonement or, you know, it's all very external, but this is the reason we ought to study the gospel to learn how to become more like Christ, period. What ends up happening is that most, uh 0:40:15 - 0:40:33 , sorry, not most many people, instead of doing that, they study the gospel to convince themselves that they already are like Christ. And the, the words in that sentence are very intentional to convince themselves because they're not and they feel guilty because they're not. And they know they're not 0:40:33 - 0:40:59 . So they're hunting around for distractions or things they can twist and, and take out of context or inflate to become very important when they're not important things so that they can feel better about how they are right now. That is not good. You'd be better off not reading the scriptures at all if 0:40:59 - 0:41:20 that's your motive because that is just walking into the way of death is walking away from God into greater pride. And you're gonna make it harder and harder for any of his servants or life itself to smack you upside the head and talk some sense into you because you're gonna be so full of fake learning 0:41:19 - 0:41:42 . You can cite this verse and that verse, you know, in front to back, you got list of scripture chains to justify this and that sin that you do when you know. Dang, well that your conscience says Jesus would never do this and you're gonna build up a thick concrete wall that insulates you from anyone 0:41:41 - 0:42:02 that could otherwise help get you out of that. And then a similar but worse position is the people that study the gospel to prove that they have no need to be like Jesus. And that maybe that one's the majority of Christians who study the gospel to feel good, knowing that they have nothing to do with 0:42:02 - 0:42:19 this man. They are completely different than Jesus. But if they just say they believe in him, they're good. And again, they have, they know five scriptures that, that quote unquote prove that that's the way it is. They have no idea what the rest of the Bible says because they've never read it. And if 0:42:19 - 0:42:40 they tried all they'd be able to see are those five scriptures. Anyway, you see my point in this. So um scripture study can definitely become an idol and it becomes an idol the same way. Anything else does you take something that could teach you something about the ideal? And you make that the ideal 0:42:40 - 0:43:08 itself while never getting to the real ideal, which is Christ, Jesus is everything. All right. So if your motive is to study the gospel, to learn how to become more like Christ, I promise you, you will not be able to open the book without getting loads of revelation. I promise you, you could do it right 0:43:07 - 0:43:35 now. You turn off this video. You say a little prayer, get in a quiet spot. And you ask God, show me something I can be better at and then you open that book to a random page and read two pages. And if you don't have a list of stuff, then call me a liar. If you do this all the time, you could get to 0:43:35 - 0:44:00 the point where you don't have a list of stuff and then call me anyway. So we can be friends because I'd like to hang out with you. So correction is really what we're looking for if we're learning how to become more like Christ. So a nice part of this is learning more about what Jesus is like. And I 0:44:00 - 0:44:15 think if, if, if you were selling something and you said, hey, how would you like to know more about what Jesus is like? People are like, all right, I'm in, I'm a Christian. That sounds cool. And then you say, well, actually though, the only way I can show you these things is if you promise to change 0:44:14 - 0:44:36 when you see that you're different than he is. And you say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not signed up for that. And then you say actually you are because it's the very thing you covenanted with God to do when you got baptized, you said that would be your number one priority in life. And then people 0:44:36 - 0:45:00 wonder why they have not experienced the baptism by fire. Well, because you may have been dipped in water. But you have not actually been baptized because you have not actually made a promise to God that you're living to do everything you imagine he would do in your place. And then there are the people 0:44:59 - 0:45:22 who say well, but I don't get it. I, I've kept all the commandments for like two days. I repented two days ago and I haven't sinned again in two days. I've done everything I imagine God would do in my place. And you know, I say, come back in six months or six years. And if you can say the same thing 0:45:22 - 0:45:50 , we'll file a complaint with the office in heaven, I'll do it myself. OK? Um So when you're looking for correction, what that means is uh new ideas that show one, you aren't as righteous as you thought you were. So people who study the Gospel to learn how to become more like Christ are very happy. They 0:45:50 - 0:46:12 get excited when they find something that shows that they're not as righteous as they thought they were two. You don't know as much as you thought you did. So, one of the most wonderful things is to read a scripture and the holy ghost says, hey, you know how you thought this meant this and you made even 0:46:12 - 0:46:31 some public statement about it. Well, you're dead wrong. Here's what it really means. And you're finally at the place in your life where I can tell you this and you'll believe me or you'll understand it. That's a wonderful thing. That is a great thing. Three, some of the things you thought were good 0:46:30 - 0:46:55 before are not actually good. And finally, some of the things you thought were valuable before aren't. So if you can say that each of these things would make you happy to encounter. And then if I asked you why you'd say because that's, that's gonna draw me closer to Christ when I fix him, then I think 0:46:55 - 0:47:15 you're in good shape. But if you're not getting loads and loads and loads of information out of the scriptures every single time you open them, odds are that I have covered something in this presentation that is the problem. And if you fix that problem, you can get to that point. I promise you that it 0:47:15 - 0:47:40 brings the Lord great joy to dump information out on you every single time you open the scriptures. But if you're lazy about it, if you don't obey the things he teaches you, if you aren't reading them to learn more about Jesus, so that you can orient your life, make changes to become more like him. If 0:00:00 - 0:00:17 So we're going to talk about some ways to get more out of scripture study. The other day, I was researching, I was looking for a specific quote and I didn't find that quote, but I found this one instead and it struck me even though it had nothing to do with what I was looking for. Uh Bruce R mcconkie 0:00:17 - 0:00:39 said, I firmly believe that the Bible as we now have, it is a sealed book. So what he meant by that is that there is tremendous value in the Bible that goes unused, that there's a lot of confusion about uh what it, what is said in the Bible. And uh a lot of the value of what is said is, is, is not used 0:00:39 - 0:01:01 because it's not understood correctly. Um And I couldn't agree more and I would actually extend this to all scripture, not just the Bible. And so this is something that I've, I experience on a daily basis. I uh notice tremendous value in scriptures that people take for granted or meanings that exceed 0:01:01 - 0:01:26 the value of what is commonly understood. So I was curious when I saw this quote, what his reasons were and he said the two reasons that these things are not more highly valued and better understood our ignorance and intellectualism. I couldn't agree more with the uh cause of ignorance, intellectualism 0:01:24 - 0:01:53 . I understand where he was going with that. And it is a big problem. But I thought, what would my list look like? So here's my list. Uh my first cause of limits to understanding in scripture, limits to perceived value would be disobedience and laziness. So if you wanted to, you could search the scriptures 0:01:52 - 0:02:13 for the phrase heed and diligence. There are variants of these words and concepts, but that would get you started. Here's just one, there are many the Lord said and I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life. Now, there's not 0:02:13 - 0:02:39 a one for one relationship between the words of eternal life and the scriptures. So uh for those of you who operate at that level of detail, please don't dock me points for using this. But the point I think is clear that uh when we want to seek for further light and truth, we need to be diligent and 0:02:39 - 0:03:06 he'd the resources that we have and those certainly include the scriptures. And uh it's always weird to think about folks who have questions on gospel topics that they sincerely would like to know the answer to and yet they have either never read through the scriptures or uh, they don't do so regularly 0:03:05 - 0:03:29 , they don't spend time regularly in the scriptures and they don't spend a specific time looking for the, the answer to the, the question that concerns them at the moment. It's very strange because it seems logically like that's exactly what you do. If, what you were interested in was more information 0:03:29 - 0:03:51 from God. Why wouldn't you make use of what you have right in front of your face? especially with all the whiz bang tools that we have now in terms of being able to use computers to search through things, including your own past notes. So if you had a habit of regularly studying the scriptures and you 0:03:51 - 0:04:17 took notes and you had those files available to you, you, you'd compile um a repository of previous information, previous learning that you'd experienced over time. And uh that is a wonderful thing. It's very powerful. And so if you haven't done that, I highly encourage you to. So that's kind of step 0:04:17 - 0:04:42 one, the baseline, the next thing because I do think that uh I didn't make this plain, but these three bullets are sequential. The, the easiest thing to do is to exercise heed and diligence, which means effort and obedience. So if you're not obeying and you're not interested in obeying what God's going 0:04:42 - 0:05:03 to tell you, I'm not sure why you'd ever ask him a question in the first place. Now again, that's according to my logic, but uh my experience differs greatly because I interact with people all the time who, uh, they feign interest in knowing what God wants. But actually what they want to do is justify 0:05:02 - 0:05:23 what they already believe. And to me that's kind of, it's kind of crazy. I don't know what other word to use if you're not like God. Um, why would you expect that? What he has to say to you is gonna match what you already think, right? I, that's just common sense to me, but I guess most people in religion 0:05:23 - 0:05:43 , uh they're not after new information, they're after confirmation, new confirmation, not new information. They just want uh more reasons to believe what they already do and or to make the pain go away when they hit things in life that they're not prepared for. And that's bonkers. What we ought to be 0:05:43 - 0:06:08 doing is seeking God to learn more about him because that is the solution to overcome as he has anyway. Bullet two unbelief. What's this is another fancy scriptural word that no normal person uses um unbelief. It just means that you're not, you do not act according to what you have sufficient reason 0:06:08 - 0:00:00 to believe. Now, unbelief is a word like faith where if you use it in normal situations, people presume they understand what it means, religious people and they also presume that it doesn't affect them, that they're 100% in the right place when it comes to those words. Because they, it's gospel 101. 0:00:00 - 0:06:52 They've heard him a billion times and they are convinced that they're doing what they need to do in that regard. But like faith unbelief is a word that is, it's very easy to unravel or reveal the ways in which we could do better just by using a word that's a little less familiar in this context, but 0:06:51 - 0:07:12 very familiar in terms of understanding. So not acting according to what you have sufficient reason to believe. We have a word for that. It's called delusional. It's called delusional, right? Um Maybe you could say this is the inverse of delusional because delusion is continuing to act according to what 0:07:12 - 0:07:32 you have sufficient reason not to believe. So, unbelief is like it's really close neighbor, I guess it's, it's kind of an inverted meaning, but it's really close. And when you say unbelief, everyone's like, oh, I never, I that's not. And you say delusional and they get mad just like if you call someone 0:07:31 - 0:07:52 a liar, you, you could call the most evil person in the world, self proclaimed a liar and they will get so mad at you. It's, it's like you can call him a murderer, but don't call him a liar. Um So unbelief is like that, but it turns out that this is extraordinarily common. It's extraordinarily common 0:07:52 - 0:08:19 to find someone who reacts accordingly to evidence is the hardest thing in the world. It's human nature to not be that way, unbelief is a human property and the only people you'll find it um subdued in or, or not present in subdued sufficiently to not be characteristic of the person is holy people. Those 0:08:19 - 0:08:43 are the only people that you'll find don't have unbelief and their lives are full of miracles. It's that simple. Uh And you can define the word how you want miracles. Their lives are stand in defiance to the ways of the world because they act according to everything God gives them sufficient reason to 0:08:43 - 0:09:04 believe. And when you do that, it's not like you flip a light switch, it's a track. You're on a road where he just gives you more and more and more and more. You live in a state that could be described. And now I'm using scriptural words. Don't define these with Webster's regular old dictionary of common 0:09:03 - 0:09:38 usage today. Um But you, you enter into and proceed in a road that could be qualified with the following scriptural terms, prosperity, um blessing, exultation, and so forth. Uh Switching to regular English words, uh growth, improvement benefit from better to best. So uh here's a scripture for that. These 0:09:37 - 0:10:02 are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus, wherefore they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our God. And uh in case the connection there is not obvious. So what does it mean to be valiant um to be valiant is uh I I it's related to concepts of bravery and courage. But um I don't think 0:10:02 - 0:10:25 those words are necessarily the best suited because in this case, because we tend to think with those words, we tend to think of something um extraordinary, something unusual, something that uh normal people would not do and maybe normal people are not capable of doing. But we're all made in the image 0:10:24 - 0:10:47 of God. And so to live according to the testimony of Jesus, which uh I'll just throw out a massively valuable mystery here. And if you don't know what that means, the word testimony, if you, if you look at it, uh Greek Hebrew, it's much bigger than the English word. And if you had to condense it down 0:10:46 - 0:11:08 to one English word testimony wouldn't be the one I'd use, I'd use demonstration. So to be valiant in the demonstration of Jesus means to valiantly live according to your understanding of how he is all the time, that's what it means. No matter what the cost is, it means your highest priority is replicating 0:11:07 - 0:11:29 what you understand about Jesus. And that's where the, no matter what the cost comes in, everything else subordinates to what you understand, Jesus would want or do in your situation. And that is the qualification to obtain quote the crown over the kingdom of our God. So uh you have to know everything 0:11:29 - 0:11:51 there is to know about Jesus and do everything you know. And of course, that lies on a gradient from where you stand now to that point. And that is the, the path that is the way. So unbelief will stop you in your tracks on the way. And so as you're reading, we'll get this applied now to the topic as 0:11:51 - 0:12:14 you're reading the scriptures and you're not being lazy and you are willing to be obedient. You're gonna read all kinds of stuff and you're gonna think to yourself. Oh, there's no way that means what it seems to me. There's no way that that's literal. Let me do things with my understanding to uh sort 0:12:14 - 0:12:40 of writhe around this and avoid this to weasel out of it. But if that's what it says, that's what it says and you better have a damn good reason to not believe it if that's what it says. So a fantastic example of this is found in DNC 93 1 and it says, I don't have that on the screen here. But when it 0:12:40 - 0:13:02 says, the Lord says every soul who forsake his sins and cometh unto me and call on my name and obey my voice and keepeth my commandments shall see my face and know that I am. And so when I read that scripture for the first time, uh about 20 years ago, I thought this is amazing. It's just right there 0:13:02 - 0:13:22 and I can see the Lord's face and here's a recipe and all I have to do is follow it. But then I went to church and people told me that's not what that means. And so I lost a couple of years of my spiritual life because people told me and I believe that this didn't mean exactly what it says. And then 0:13:22 - 0:13:48 uh I read a book that said no, actually it does mean that and I didn't about face and guess what, when you forsake your sins and you come to God and you call on his name and you obey his voice and you keep his commandments, you will see his face and you will know that I am. Now, that's a part that maybe 0:13:48 - 0:14:12 no one's explained to you, but you will come to know more about the character of Christ. So there's that, that's unbelief. Now, let's go on to trust in God. Ok? This is a big one. And, and you know, none of what I'm doing right here is gonna do justice to any of these topics, but I'm just doing this 0:14:12 - 0:14:37 quickly and I'm gonna go move on and maybe there's something here that uh will benefit you or at least a launching point for your own endeavors. So trust in God huge topic. Um One I will be speaking a lot more about, I think that I've covered disobedience and laziness uh with my book Repentance and I've 0:14:37 - 0:15:00 covered unbelief in my book through faith. Although I'll be returning to that in greater detail in some future books. Trusting God is one that I have spoken about. You'll see that in, for example. Um It's funny how sometimes I can't remember the titles of my own books. Um The Glory Of God is Intelligence 0:14:59 - 0:15:26 . Um And maybe men are that they might have joy. You'll see some of that in there, but I'll be diving into this uh much deeper in a future book or two. But here's a little list of some things that are helpful to think about and how you can limit yourself in studying the scriptures, even when you exercise 0:15:25 - 0:15:52 effort and you're obedient to what the Lord teaches you and you're willing to believe what he gives you sufficient reason to believe. That's all faith is folks. It's not anything magical in the sense of uh I don't know, some ultra elite uh hard to find superhuman talent. It's, it's just believing what 0:15:51 - 0:16:16 you have reason to believe. Um Anyway, trust in God. That's, that's harder. And maybe it sounds weird for me to say that because maybe you are of the opinion that that's, you know, that's the easy thing on this list. I don't know. Um However, I, I mean, I guess it's characterized that way entering into 0:16:16 - 0:00:00 the gate and you make a covenant of baptism. But um you know, promise to God that you're gonna do his will. But this is actually something that takes a long chain of experiences to really um maybe the best way of putting this is to expose how you're not actually there, even if you think you are. So, 0:00:00 - 0:17:14 um, just some highlights as you're studying the scriptures, you ought to prepare your heart to be willing to suffer. And what do I mean by that, uh, specifically for others and by others? So for others, this one's probably talked about more often. Um, what I mean by that is, well, well, I'll, I'll treat 0:17:14 - 0:17:43 them together here um, before others is in what you do for other people and by others is what they do to you. So you need to develop a willingness to suffer um in living and sharing what you know, so living what you know, that's that obedience part. And you say, well, you already talked about that. Yes 0:17:42 - 0:18:04 . But as you commit yourself to God, you're going to, your mind is going to range over all these situations and you're gonna think. Yeah. OK. I'm ready. I'll do it. Lord, I'm submitting. I'm just, I'm gonna do your will in all things. The second you do that boom, out of left field comes some situation 0:18:03 - 0:18:29 . You did not anticipate or it's gonna hit you in a time where your willpower or attitude or just energy is just raked over the coals. Like you haven't slept in a week because you have some random illness and boom, that's when it hits you or um I don't know you get in a car accident and then the very 0:18:29 - 0:00:00 next moment you're faced with this situation and normally you, you'd be able to overcome and do the right thing easily. And now all of a sudden you're exposed to these corners of your heart that you haven't quite yielded to God. And so there's some suffering in there for sure. Um But I, I think the, 0:00:00 - 0:19:23 the greater portion of this, what I mean is uh persecution and also expanding the self harm that comes through extending lies and truth to others. So let me dive into that because these are the definitely the greater portion of what I'm trying to get at. So um in terms of um persecution uh as you live 0:19:22 - 0:19:42 , what you understand, you're going to attract a lot of negative attention because there are more and more situations where certain things just aren't allowed uh by society and they don't have to be big things and they don't have to be you waving a flag around like, you know, let me rip up my T shirt 0:19:41 - 0:20:10 and make a standard of liberty and wave it at work in people's faces. That's not what I'm talking about. Um You know, I actually got uh fired once. It's, it's the only time I've been fired from a job. Um Officially um I was uh working for someone at a company who was um who was a uh he was homosexual 0:20:09 - 0:20:35 , but he was also very much an activist about that and which is fine. I don't care. Uh It was a great job. I loved the work I was doing and the people I worked with were fantastic. But, um, I never once brought up my religion at work, uh, with anyone. And, uh, he asked me questions all the time about 0:20:34 - 0:20:57 my faith and I would tell him, look, um, you know, it's cool that you're interested, but this is a job and I don't really think those topics are appropriate for work and all the time, he was trying to bring up his, uh, his lifestyle choices and, um, which is fine. I never said anything uh, to him that 0:20:57 - 0:21:23 was negative except, um, I'm not really comfortable talking about my religion at work. So, um, you know, let's just stick to work topics. And uh one day out of the blue, he fired me and, uh, I am pretty sure it's because he didn't like the fact this was back when the I was very L DS and there was a lot 0:21:22 - 0:21:52 of news about the church's, uh public support proposition eight in California. And, um, again, it's like not my, not, not anything I was bringing up at work. Um, but it's interesting because, um, in the moment it happened, actually, I, I had just uh completed an insane goal that I had set at work to 0:21:51 - 0:22:11 really um advance the project I was working on and it was a resounding success. And so I thought I was at the top of my game and then I got fired the next day. And so, you know, I moved on, I didn't go on unemployment. I didn't make a scene. I, it was, it was quite a rough moment in my life because it 0:22:11 - 0:22:38 is the first time something like that had hit me, uh, out of that field in that specific slice of life, I guess. But my point with this is that, um, I wasn't doing anything that could have been questionable in any way regarding work and religion. And yet I got fired for my religion. And so, um, that's 0:22:38 - 0:23:04 just one random example. But the point is don't think that, um, there are ways of living valiantly for Christ that will not offend people who are not doing that because they are going to come for you. And if they haven't, it's more likely that it's because you're not living that way then that you found 0:23:03 - 0:23:26 some exception to the rule. And with all this, I don't mean to say this to say, you know, if you're not getting your pants kicked, you're doing something wrong. Although I think that's a wonderful thing for you to think through, you'll have to be the judge of that. I think I'd rather make the stronger 0:23:25 - 0:23:57 , um, emphasis on another facet of this, which is Satan is very patient. And don't think that because something's not getting to you yet that you've overcome it. Those are not the same thing. He will launch his attack at the best possible time for the greatest potential misery of humans. And um sometimes 0:23:56 - 0:00:00 that misery is gonna be focused in you and on you. And sometimes he's going, a lot of times he's got a more collective view because he's trying to maximize all damage, not just for you. And so this is why he prioritizes people that can do the most harm to his program. Uh But it's also why, you know, 0:00:00 - 0:24:44 when, when he's got folks who do his bidding, he'll take it easy on them because he wants to keep them around doing what he needs them to do. He won't pull the rug until the time is right for his purposes. But he always does pull the rug and it's not even something he does. It's just his system. It's 0:24:43 - 0:25:04 , it's the way of death. It's self defeating. It can't go on forever. It's corruption. It's um you know, all these words, it's dissociation, it's self defeating. It has to be because there is no other way. But God's way. If you wanna go eternal, that's, that's the only thing that keeps going and keeps 0:25:03 - 0:25:26 growing. So, um no matter what, in that path, it's going to come for you. So that's suffer for living. Now, let's talk about suffering for sharing what, you know, this is one I'm gonna come down pretty hard. People are terrible at this, including people that watch my stuff and it's pathetic. It really 0:25:25 - 0:25:48 is. That's the only way I can say it. I know that people don't have a lens on what I do or what it costs me to do it. But the ratio of other people's willingness to reach out to other folks just with the slightest gestures of, here's a quote, here's a link. It's really bad and I don't say this to complain 0:25:48 - 0:26:11 about those of you who are not doing it. I'm just saying this to be frank about the fact that, that you're not the ones I'm doing this for because you can sort of put on the costume and pretend that you care about the Lord and what he's all about. But at the end of the day, uh it's real clear that all 0:26:11 - 0:26:34 you're in it for is to feel good about yourself how you are right now. And, um, I guess one good thing about how offensive I tend to be is that these people don't hang around for very long, although somehow they manage to waste a whole lot of time before they skiddle. Um, but, uh, they still exist and 0:26:34 - 0:26:59 they're in high, much higher numbers than the ones who benefit from this stuff really. Um It's not a huge test of faith to say, hey, uh I'm, I just read this paragraph and it really impacted me. Now, I'm gonna put this idea into my own words and share it with my kids at the dinner table or, um, here's 0:26:59 - 0:27:21 a, a video that I thought was profound. I'm gonna bookmark it at the five minute and 32nd mark and send this link to my friend Tim and say, hey, man, watch the next 20 seconds of this and tell me what you think. It's not hard folks. It's the easiest thing in the world and people who aren't willing to 0:27:21 - 0:27:43 do that. I mean, what the heck, what are they willing to do? So, I know a lot of people get offended when I bring that up, like, how dare he? But uh you know, if, if you think that that's hurtful, you got a lot of bad things coming your way, that's all I gotta say. It's time to wake up and get with the 0:27:43 - 0:28:16 program. So why don't people do it? Well, a lot of people in the current listening group are uh scared, they're scared of the social consequences of uh being associated with material that comes from a person regarded as a pariah and that's fine with me. I get it right. So take an extra three seconds 0:28:16 - 0:28:44 and put it into your own words. I don't really care if my name's on stuff or not. I don't get commissions or something, right? But I do care um about the overall benefit of the things that I do and uh it's not gonna stop me from putting things out there when people don't use them the way they should 0:28:44 - 0:29:08 be used. But um it is sad because there's tremendous value in this stuff that you already know that I believe that. But um, it's a limited resource because the time is short, there will be a time very soon where this stuff is not available. And uh that could be specifically with me, it could be anything 0:29:07 - 0:29:29 because big changes are upon us and they're just gonna keep rolling out until the end. And so the time is now to make the, the greatest use of this stuff. And there are people who are doing so. So, um, you know, I know I've, I've given the advice many times that uh people should write what they believe 0:29:29 - 0:29:44 and share it with other people or speak about what they believe and share it with other people. You know, you just hit record on your phone and start saying things. But folks are scared because they're not valiant in the testimony of Jesus. They're scared of what other people might think. And let me 0:29:44 - 0:30:05 tell you something, those people, you might be related to them and they might say they're your friends, but they're not your friends if they don't respect the things that you believe. And if they're offended by things that are good and you'll see that if you walk this path, but if you just want to preserve 0:30:05 - 0:30:30 the illusion, you can keep doing that. But you'll also continue to not get value out of these relationships that are extremely narrow and superficial. So, um I have uh somehow retain retained a friend or two, who actually we have found a way to coexist even if they don't believe the things that I believe 0:30:29 - 0:30:53 . Fancy that right now from my perspective, that's not weird because I have absolutely no problem developing friendships with people that disagree with me. Um, contrary to what many will tell you. But, um, they tend to go away because it's not stuff that they want to be faced with and I get this. So 0:30:52 - 0:31:11 I didn't mean to say all this, this is getting a lot deeper than I intended this to be. But if you really want to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus, they're going to treat you like they treated him and it will be, it will be for the same reasons. He said in John um there's John three and I believe 0:31:11 - 0:31:31 in John chapter six as well. There are multiple references to this idea that the world hates Jesus because Jesus shows them who they really are. Now, the interesting thing about that. So the one quote is from when he's talking to his brothers who are trying to trick him to go to Jerusalem because they 0:31:31 - 0:31:54 don't believe him and they know that it's really messed up. They know that they're going to try to kill him and they're trying to spring a trap on him in a way. Uh But, but Jesus says to them, it um the world can't hate you, but the world hates me because I make them feel bad about themselves. And it 0:31:54 - 0:32:15 wasn't because of what he said. He wasn't saying, hey, you should feel bad about yourself because although you can look at his sermons and there's plenty of that, that's not what he was referring to. A being of light, supercharges, the, the dulled conscience of people in darkness who have lived in wilful 0:32:14 - 0:32:35 disobedience to God and therefore squished down the volume of his voice. And when those people come around, it jacks up the intensity of their, their conscience artificially and temporarily. But this is why, you know, uh when I was an L DS missionary, there were always people that, that wanted us to 0:32:35 - 0:32:52 come around and be with them and not just the lonely ones or the crazy ones, although that was the majority. But there were people who really felt the spirit of God when we were around and they wanted us in their house all the time, but they didn't wanna learn anything or do anything different. They 0:32:52 - 0:33:15 just wanted to feel what we brought with us. And there are those kinds of people but that same radiation that comes out of a person that has the spirit. It's, it ha it's on all the time. It's on all the time and it causes people to act differently around you and folks who don't like that and they're 0:33:15 - 0:33:34 not following it in their own life. They're not gonna want you around. And so basically these people who you're afraid to share things with. And again, I'm not talking about making a flag and waving at work. I'm just saying, live your life. And then when there are opportunities where you care about someone 0:33:34 - 0:33:57 and you have an op uh like an appropriate circumstance where you can say, hey, uh here's this idea about improvement that you didn't think of. And here's some reasons you share those things. Um those people that you've turned down your volume so that you don't offend them, they only are OK with you being 0:33:57 - 0:34:18 around them when you're not who you really are. And if you're OK with that, then you're probably not the kind of person I'm making these presentations for. So we have to be who we really are and we have to learn who Jesus really is. And then we have to connect the dots and walk the line. And this absolutely 0:34:17 - 0:34:36 requires sharing what you know, with others. There's a lot more about this that I'm going to talk about later, that talks more about hierarchy and the importance of what people can see and can recognize as good and valuable. But uh this is good enough for now. And you ask yourself, man, you really ranted 0:34:36 - 0:35:10 a lot about this. What does this have to do with the scriptures? God will not show you what you won't show others. God will not show you what you won't show others the secret to my early progress with God was my boldness in being willing to share what he taught me with other people. I figured out very 0:35:10 - 0:35:33 early that he had much more to say to others than he did to me. And so I hijacked that thread because he can't tell you something that's intended for someone else without you getting to hear it and you can extract as much value from that as you're willing to. But if that door is shut and it's just for 0:35:33 - 0:35:54 you, you're not even willing to share it with your spouse or your kids. Well, you can forget him telling you anything, it's gonna be very minimal. And so anything you get while those conditions are in play, I promise you there is immensely more that he's willing to tell you, but he's not gonna do it 0:35:54 - 0:36:16 because everything he does is for the benefit of the world, he's not gonna set you up for greater condemnation. And, and that's exactly what you're going to get. If he reveals some spectacular thing about himself or you or the world and you are not willing to voice it to other people. So those who know 0:36:15 - 0:36:38 , have an obligation to say for the benefit of those who don't know yet or who do know and who are living against it willfully and, and that's one of the reasons we're here is to help them see that. Ok. Uh without understanding. So how do you willingness to suffer without understanding what the heck 0:36:38 - 0:37:09 do I mean by that? Well, um, a huge valuable chunk of this idea of trusting in God is. How far are you willing to walk in the darkness? What I mean by that? Um, I use a military analogy. It was beaten into our heads that when we receive orders, we fulfill those orders until we're told to do something 0:37:08 - 0:37:32 else or until there was a need to radio back and tell our superiors some new piece of information that we didn't think they had that might change what they told us to do. So that has stuck with me because that's exactly what it's like with God. He is our commander. And when he tells us, walk in this 0:37:32 - 0:37:53 way, this is what I want you to do. Sometimes he tells us why. A lot of times he just gives us a sliver of why. And it sounds good until we take a couple of steps and they're like, wait a second. This is way different than I was expecting. This is a billion times harder than I thought it would be. And 0:37:52 - 0:38:18 I'm not so sure that Y is enough. And sometimes when you ask God, he'll give you more of a reason, would give you stronger reasons. Sometimes he shifts your course. But I'm telling you the most valuable progress with the Lord is when he doesn't, is when he says March this way and no matter what comes 0:38:17 - 0:38:42 at you, your mission is just to keep going and you have to go and go and go and go and it gets darker and it hurts more and it gets harder with every single step. And he's sitting there, I'm gonna talk a lot more about these ideas, but this is enough for now. He's sitting there with bated breath hoping 0:38:41 - 0:39:07 that you just keep going because there is a finish line even though it's impossible for you to see. And this is a very important piece of our, the reason that we're on this planet. So what does this have anything to do with scripture? Well, again, why are you reading? It's to learn, right. Well, as you 0:39:07 - 0:39:25 , as you learn, you're going to learn things that surprise you that are going to be different than you thought they were. And it's going to be really hard to keep pushing forward when things seem like they're just in great upheaval with your understanding of what the Lord's all about and what he wants 0:39:25 - 0:39:52 from you in your life. So this is a great transition to what motives we have in studying scripture because I think most people uh would say that they study the, the gospel to learn how to become more like Christ. I hope most people would say that. Um actually in reading that, I seriously doubt most people 0:39:52 - 0:40:15 would say that. But anyway, they, they probably say something like learn more about him or learn more about his atonement or, you know, it's all very external, but this is the reason we ought to study the gospel to learn how to become more like Christ, period. What ends up happening is that most, uh 0:40:15 - 0:40:33 , sorry, not most many people, instead of doing that, they study the gospel to convince themselves that they already are like Christ. And the, the words in that sentence are very intentional to convince themselves because they're not and they feel guilty because they're not. And they know they're not 0:40:33 - 0:40:59 . So they're hunting around for distractions or things they can twist and, and take out of context or inflate to become very important when they're not important things so that they can feel better about how they are right now. That is not good. You'd be better off not reading the scriptures at all if 0:40:59 - 0:41:20 that's your motive because that is just walking into the way of death is walking away from God into greater pride. And you're gonna make it harder and harder for any of his servants or life itself to smack you upside the head and talk some sense into you because you're gonna be so full of fake learning 0:41:19 - 0:41:42 . You can cite this verse and that verse, you know, in front to back, you got list of scripture chains to justify this and that sin that you do when you know. Dang, well that your conscience says Jesus would never do this and you're gonna build up a thick concrete wall that insulates you from anyone 0:41:41 - 0:42:02 that could otherwise help get you out of that. And then a similar but worse position is the people that study the gospel to prove that they have no need to be like Jesus. And that maybe that one's the majority of Christians who study the gospel to feel good, knowing that they have nothing to do with 0:42:02 - 0:42:19 this man. They are completely different than Jesus. But if they just say they believe in him, they're good. And again, they have, they know five scriptures that, that quote unquote prove that that's the way it is. They have no idea what the rest of the Bible says because they've never read it. And if 0:42:19 - 0:42:40 they tried all they'd be able to see are those five scriptures. Anyway, you see my point in this. So um scripture study can definitely become an idol and it becomes an idol the same way. Anything else does you take something that could teach you something about the ideal? And you make that the ideal 0:42:40 - 0:43:08 itself while never getting to the real ideal, which is Christ, Jesus is everything. All right. So if your motive is to study the gospel, to learn how to become more like Christ, I promise you, you will not be able to open the book without getting loads of revelation. I promise you, you could do it right 0:43:07 - 0:43:35 now. You turn off this video. You say a little prayer, get in a quiet spot. And you ask God, show me something I can be better at and then you open that book to a random page and read two pages. And if you don't have a list of stuff, then call me a liar. If you do this all the time, you could get to 0:43:35 - 0:44:00 the point where you don't have a list of stuff and then call me anyway. So we can be friends because I'd like to hang out with you. So correction is really what we're looking for if we're learning how to become more like Christ. So a nice part of this is learning more about what Jesus is like. And I 0:44:00 - 0:44:15 think if, if, if you were selling something and you said, hey, how would you like to know more about what Jesus is like? People are like, all right, I'm in, I'm a Christian. That sounds cool. And then you say, well, actually though, the only way I can show you these things is if you promise to change 0:44:14 - 0:44:36 when you see that you're different than he is. And you say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not signed up for that. And then you say actually you are because it's the very thing you covenanted with God to do when you got baptized, you said that would be your number one priority in life. And then people 0:44:36 - 0:45:00 wonder why they have not experienced the baptism by fire. Well, because you may have been dipped in water. But you have not actually been baptized because you have not actually made a promise to God that you're living to do everything you imagine he would do in your place. And then there are the people 0:44:59 - 0:45:22 who say well, but I don't get it. I, I've kept all the commandments for like two days. I repented two days ago and I haven't sinned again in two days. I've done everything I imagine God would do in my place. And you know, I say, come back in six months or six years. And if you can say the same thing 0:45:22 - 0:45:50 , we'll file a complaint with the office in heaven, I'll do it myself. OK? Um So when you're looking for correction, what that means is uh new ideas that show one, you aren't as righteous as you thought you were. So people who study the Gospel to learn how to become more like Christ are very happy. They 0:45:50 - 0:46:12 get excited when they find something that shows that they're not as righteous as they thought they were two. You don't know as much as you thought you did. So, one of the most wonderful things is to read a scripture and the holy ghost says, hey, you know how you thought this meant this and you made even 0:46:12 - 0:46:31 some public statement about it. Well, you're dead wrong. Here's what it really means. And you're finally at the place in your life where I can tell you this and you'll believe me or you'll understand it. That's a wonderful thing. That is a great thing. Three, some of the things you thought were good 0:46:30 - 0:46:55 before are not actually good. And finally, some of the things you thought were valuable before aren't. So if you can say that each of these things would make you happy to encounter. And then if I asked you why you'd say because that's, that's gonna draw me closer to Christ when I fix him, then I think 0:46:55 - 0:47:15 you're in good shape. But if you're not getting loads and loads and loads of information out of the scriptures every single time you open them, odds are that I have covered something in this presentation that is the problem. And if you fix that problem, you can get to that point. I promise you that it 0:47:15 - 0:47:40 brings the Lord great joy to dump information out on you every single time you open the scriptures. But if you're lazy about it, if you don't obey the things he teaches you, if you aren't reading them to learn more about Jesus, so that you can orient your life, make changes to become more like him. If 0:47:40 - 0:47:49 you're not willing to share what he teaches you with other people, he's not gonna do it. So I hope that this was helpful.