0:00:00 - 0:00:20 All right, I'm multitasking here. Um Just kinda cruising through the morning. I have to get ready for work here. I gotta do a quick workout before that happens. But I want to share a smattering of thoughts. These things are uh tied together and they're woven throughout a bunch of things that I've been 0:00:20 - 0:00:47 writing for a couple of years now. I haven't published but I want to give you um, a, a free sample of um a preview of some of these thoughts that I can say in. I can lay out in fuller form. Um Well, not later, I'm doing it now, but you'll, you'll get it sometime later. So I'm standing here in the backdrop 0:00:46 - 0:01:09 of my, my garden and a beautiful emerald behind you. That's behind me. Not you is Rye. And then we've got some raised beds here. We actually just recently redid these uh we had kind of a temporary thing set up and those um rotted out. They were, it was free lumber. I got actually there was a pile of 0:01:09 - 0:01:31 it over there um helping out a neighbor. So it was a win win. Um It was, it was trash to him. Treasure to me. And it worked, it gave us some time to make something more substantial here. Uh, that rye is, is the result of ridiculous amounts of experimentation trying to find a grain that works with the 0:01:30 - 0:01:55 climate here. Um, it's interesting. It's, it's been raining a lot the last few days, which is a very strange thing because technically I live in a desert and it rained a lot the last few days. But it's beautiful because if you see all that dirt back there, um, that's my, my cornfield this year and, um 0:01:54 - 0:00:00 , it, it really soaked the ground, which is, which is perfect for our tilling because you lose a lot of topsoil when the wind's blowing as it usually is here. And it's, it's very dry, kicks up a lot of dust and it all blows away. It, it, uh, clogs up the air filter on the tractor, et cetera. So, um, 0:00:00 - 0:02:35 it was funny because it was pouring and we're also cleaning out our large chicken coop, which is an annual chore. And, uh, we had the whole team occupied and it was an all day affair. We probably moved, I don't know, 100 wheelbarrows of chicken dust is what I call it. It's a little euphemistic but it 0:02:35 - 0:02:54 is a mix of things other than, uh, this what comes out of the chickens because that's, it's also, uh, a living compost heap. We put all of our garden waste in there at the end of the season and then the chickens love that and they just tear it all up. Uh And we usually put some straw in there, sawdust 0:02:53 - 0:03:12 , whatever. So it's, it's a really great thing. And so we pull it all out and we put it all in that field. We spread it around, we till it in, we grow some corn. The corn itself is an experiment. So I'm I'm saying all this for a reason. Um I don't think my kids are too happy the other day when we were 0:03:12 - 0:03:37 out there doing that in the pouring rain. But, um, like I said, it was actually the ideal condition. So, um I was pretty happy about it even though it wasn't a sunny day is kind of looking like that overcast. Um But it reminded me of in the army, uh when I was in the army for about a decade, um, that 0:03:37 - 0:03:57 frequently we would go out into the field and we'd have um for training and we'd have um a, a set of equipment that we had to carry with us. And one piece of this frequently was what they called wet weather gear. They might call it something different. Now, I'm sure there's a much more expensive version 0:03:57 - 0:04:23 than what we had uh in use today. But, uh you know, there's this vulcanized, rubbery, very uncomfortable, um, like raincoat, old school raincoat material kind of stuff. Um And we had pants and we had tops and um, I don't know, it, it's like no one wanted to carry this stuff because when it didn't rain 0:04:23 - 0:04:43 , it was just a waste. It was extra weight and you had it like strapped on your back. It's really annoying. Um, but when it rained, man, did it make a difference? So actually the other day when I was tilling, when I was pouring, I did, I put on some um like an under layer. I don't know what people call 0:04:43 - 0:05:01 that, but you know, the stretchy pants and uh made all the difference in the world because I knew I was gonna get soaked riding around on the tractor, the tops of my legs were gonna get really wet. But I had my rain hat on and I had a rain jacket on and I had my two layers of pants and um it made all 0:05:01 - 0:05:26 the difference in the world. And so it's funny, I remember um we had this special forces sergeant, one of our, one of the situations I was in, in training. He's a really cool guy. Um But uh he, he was always preaching to remember some sort of creature comforts and have a routine um when you're out in 0:05:26 - 0:05:44 the field, like he said, always brush your teeth before you go to bed. And I mean, that's good hygiene anyway. But in the, in the scheme of things, the army doesn't really care if your teeth rot out when you're 40 because you're of no use to them once you're past your prime. Uh, oh, just, I'm 39. So 0:05:44 - 0:06:01 , if you're old, don't, don't get upset. Um, I'm not too far from you. Um, anyway. Yeah. So the army doesn't really have use for people once their bodies start falling apart. In fact, when you get ready for deployment they, um, they, they have long lines so they just, they give you x rays. So if you 0:06:01 - 0:06:24 have cavities usually just yank the teeth. It's kind of crazy. Um At least that's what they did in, in my, in my path through that. Maybe other people had better experiences. But um anyway, so, but he was, he was telling us about uh brushing and it wasn't to protect their teeth. It really does make a 0:06:24 - 0:06:46 difference and it's shocking when you're outside and it's freezing and it's raining or it's really hot. Um And you just, you haven't showered in two weeks. Um The ability to brush your teeth at night, it's just, it means a lot. It means an amazing amount. Ok. So um let's start getting to the the point 0:06:46 - 0:07:09 um start. So don't get too excited. It's probably gonna be a long one. Although I am short on time, so I try to crank it out. Um So when Moses was having his showdown with the priest of Pharaoh, um it's really important to understand that these guys, they weren't pimps and crackheads, they were um they 0:07:09 - 0:07:29 were the, the elite of their society and they were chosen for a reason and they were, they were reared in affluence and wisdom, uh the best of what the, their society had to offer. And, you know, Moses would have known these guys or at least their predecessors, depending on the timelines involved because 0:07:29 - 0:07:58 he was a prince in Egypt. He was probably the number three guy, um maybe number two. Right. You never know. But he was, he was high up there his whole life, right? Till he was exiled. Sorry, the dogs are, have the dog stopped screaming there? Uh They're freaking out. Um So um they're playing their little 0:07:57 - 0:08:28 games with each other trying to entertain, doing fake fights and things. Um So Moses, right? So um when Moses was commanded by the Lord to um redeem Israel uh out of slavery, out of Egypt, he, he said to God, um what reason do any of these people have to believe that you're sending me? And then God gave 0:08:27 - 0:08:48 him some reasons. And uh part of these were the miracles he was gonna do. And so those were given as gifts so that the people could have contrast. So when he went up against the priests, um there's kind of a tit for tat and at first it, there wasn't as much differentiation between what, what each uh 0:08:48 - 0:09:12 group because Moses was with Aaron, what with what each group of people did. It was kind of like a spiritual dance off. And uh so, so as they escalated, um there's, there's a, a rich, rich meaning in, in these interactions. Of course, I'm not gonna get into all that. Um, right now, but there came a point 0:09:11 - 0:09:31 where the, the priests notwithstanding their abilities being much greater than the common person in Egypt. They ran out of juice and they just, they got bested, right. And there was nothing they could do to uh compete with Moses. And that's what God had told Moses. He said, in essence, he said, I will 0:09:31 - 0:09:57 make a difference between you, don't you worry about it, you just go and do what I told you. And so Moses did, um I've prayed a lot about the end times. I've, I've um I've been party to many things that God has told me about it and about them. And uh I wish I had much more capability to lay this out 0:09:57 - 0:10:19 faster and simpler than, um you know, this many years long struggle to work through these things. Um But I understand why that is. And um you know, when I say, I wish, I don't really wish I wouldn't change it. Um But I do see the benefits of once it's all done and that is a wonderful thing to think about 0:10:18 - 0:10:50 . But um in my uh in my limitation here in the way that God has ordained things to be. Um There, there are longer timelines involved in uh sharing information and, and things that have to be done in the ways that they have to be done. But from time to time, um I'm able to discern uh pathways where I 0:10:50 - 0:11:25 can share things in certain ways. Um And I mean, that literally in the means I, I employ uh and how it's structured and, and how I'm saying it, but also in um in ways it's arranged. Um So, so, so all my kids just ran out and pivoted Mia when he saw us doing a video, I gave him the dad look. Um So uh 0:11:24 - 0:11:50 all right, so Moses and the priest um so I wanna hit you with a smattering here. Um That has to do with seeing a far off. That's a fun phrase. Um and consequences and optimization. So, um optimization is a super important topic when it comes to the gospel. And it's really interesting that God led me 0:11:50 - 0:12:11 through a computer science background because it's all about optimization and machine learning and data mining artificial intelligence. Those are all things that professionally I'm dipped pretty deep into. But um it has immense applications for uh life, for the gospel and for, especially for the end 0:12:11 - 0:12:38 times. And so that that's part of some of the things of writing about in these books. But um when it comes to optimization, wh what does that mean? Optimization means to arrange things uh in the best way, right? And the um the thing about it is that, that definition or the process itself, it has some 0:12:37 - 0:12:58 options that you get to set. Right. So, when we talk about doing what's best or what's for the greatest benefit, um, no one really tells you what is best. That's something you need to figure out. Now, there are tools for that and I've made other videos about that. I'll, I'll make more about that, et 0:12:58 - 0:13:25 cetera. But, um, that's, that's one of the, the variables that you have to set one of the options you have to pick. Um But another thing that's important about it is you have to be looking at um you, you have to decide the time period that you're going to make things best for. So, um I've spoken about 0:13:25 - 0:13:49 this in brief before again, trying to Sprinkle these things on you um in, in tight applications so that we can do it in a faster time frame. Uh You can get a taste of it earlier. And one of those is I spoke about optimizing your life for the 2nd 40 years. That, that very, very small idea, very simple 0:13:49 - 0:14:14 idea can make an immense, immense difference in your life. I'd like to tell some stories now, but I'm not going to. Um So I'll just summarize it by saying, um if you look around, you'll see people um beginning to freak out a bit um around the age of 40 because they didn't do this. And the other thing 0:14:14 - 0:14:48 you'll see like this garden here with um immense unseen investment to get it to this point, experimentation, trial and error and everything it took to get the resources to make this. Um You'll see people around 40. And what happens is the fruits of their investment start to pour out, they start to overflow 0:14:47 - 0:15:21 . And man, there's a lot of deep stuff that, that we could talk about here. But um to keep it brief reality, uh reality resists improvement. And that's a great understatement, but it also yields to tenacity. So um many mysteries intersect with these ideas. One of them being the mystery of God's prosperity 0:15:20 - 0:15:50 . But uh um the fact is that um things aren't always what they seem to be. And that's because our perceptions are limited and our environment does not reflect the long term environment. So the longest term environment is eternity. But for our generation, we have a very special privilege compared to all 0:15:50 - 0:16:17 prior generations in that we will touch the age to come. The uh what happens after the end time's destruction, that period, that phase of creation. So when we talk about optimization, one of the things you have to fix or choose or select is over what period of time and what are the conditions of that 0:16:17 - 0:16:41 period of time? OK. That's a long preamble. But that's where we're going with this. So um in the zoom out big picture, we read things like this from revelation three. Uh because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest. Not that thou art wretched and miserable 0:16:41 - 0:17:07 and poor and blind and naked. So the Lord here is speaking and what he's saying is things seem rosy for you. But that's because you're kind of in a um a bubble that's not gonna last forever. Now, there's a whole long list of things that about us that make it really hard for God to give us nice things 0:17:07 - 0:17:31 . One of them is the fact that when he gives us nice things, we start to think that we're entitled to them. In reality. The reason he extends us things that we don't deserve is so that well is because He loves us. But um he's trying to maximize our joy to augment our joy. But the thing is, is joy comes 0:17:31 - 0:17:50 from value and you really won't appreciate what comes easily or for free. You don't really appreciate the things that you don't deserve, which you haven't worked for. You haven't paid the price for. And so there's a limit to how much He can give us without hurting us and we determine what that limit 0:17:49 - 0:18:15 is. And so if you want to um receive more from God, the way is to come to the point where you deserve what you already have. The easiest way of doing that is to use it to its full extent, to bless other people. Who likewise do not deserve it. In fact, the most wretched people you can find are the best 0:18:14 - 0:18:38 ones, right? So um that's a, that's a huge, huge valuable idea. Um Anyway, so back to Revelation three, the Lords saying, look, you're in this bubble and you think that things are going great for you, but you don't understand where all this good came from and on what conditions and you don't get that 0:18:37 - 0:18:57 those conditions aren't forever, they're subject to what you do and you're not reacting in the right way. So let's continue in verse 18. He says, I counsel thee to buy of me gold, tried with the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness 0:18:57 - 0:19:21 do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye. So salve sorry that thou mayest see as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent his verse 19 that last bit. OK. So he's saying you say, look, things are gonna change if you want to be prepared for the age to come, whether that 0:19:21 - 0:19:47 be after you die or uh in our case, literally, just a little while from now on this earth, if you want to be prepared for the changes that come with all that you need to think about and figure out how that's going to be and then orient your life to the best outcomes under those conditions optimize for 0:19:46 - 0:20:12 eternity, right? So um then this last bit, as many as I love, I rebuke and Chasten there, there's some hidden meaning there. But if you read John 15 about the True Vine, the very beginning, he says, uh he basically says, if you're grafted in him, you're gonna bear fruit and because he loves you, he will 0:20:12 - 0:20:32 prune your fruit so that you could have more and better fruit and that we could talk about for a very, very long time. But in the briefest terms, uh tying this with Revelation three, what he's saying is all the good stuff that you have that you don't deserve that you're taking for granted, et cetera 0:20:31 - 0:20:55 . I'm going to take it away so that you learn the true value of it because the point of it isn't the goodies. It's to convince you that God is good and for you to focus your full desire on Him and to not surfeit yourself, that's a good scriptural word. But uh it means to gorge yourself to overflow yourself 0:20:55 - 0:21:20 on um on uh on satiation, like imagine going to a buffet and eating until you wanna puke. Um There's in, in my youth, an ill fated chicken mcnugget eating contest, which I won, but I regretted winning. Um So don't live your life like that. Instead find out what has the true value and use every good thing 0:21:20 - 0:21:43 that God gives you to teach you to trust Him more than you do. And then when the good stuff goes away, good stuff in air quotes, it doesn't matter because you are tied right into the light. And you understand that all of those things were just, uh, temporary vehicles to flow God's light to you. It's 0:21:43 - 0:22:02 like, uh, if you ever, have you ever driven by a nursery? Uh, and you see all the trees and they have some that are in the ground and some in pots and some in big pots and some in small pots. I saw a guy once on youtube, uh, he was growing nut trees, I think they're walnuts. And so he just, he just put 0:22:01 - 0:22:21 like a bajillion walnuts in a raised bed and covered them with dirt. And then as they sprouted, he just pulled out the ones that sprouted and put them into little pots and they move them into bigger pots and then he moved them into bigger pots. So the, the whole point of that was to grow all the trees 0:22:20 - 0:22:42 as much as they would be grown. And so he started by just chucking them all indiscriminately into a bed. Some didn't sprout. Then he took them all out of the bed and put them in a little pot one each and, uh, with every transfer of into a bigger pot, there's more potential for greater growth. But the 0:22:42 - 0:23:08 end of it all was to put them into the ground, the ground you could think of. And I already made this analogy with the pine cone video as being tied uh fully into God. But there's a process for that and, uh, too many people are using what is before them as if it were the end instead of the means to the 0:23:08 - 0:23:36 end. Because of that, God's gonna take it away. God's gonna take it away. If you look at the United States right now, we'll say North America. And, uh, well, let's say United States and Canada because Mexico is, is a, an impoverished country. Hold on. Hey, keep it down. So, um, is an impoverished country 0:23:35 - 0:23:56 . So, um, if you look at the bounty enjoyed by the United States and Canada, what you'll find is that, uh, if you had some filter and you said of everything that people have, what do they deserve, it'd be almost nothing. Put another way if you went through every single person and somehow you knew exactly 0:23:56 - 0:24:20 every detail of their lives. If you asked how many people have actually paid the price for the blessings they enjoy. The answer is not zero, but it's pretty darn close. Now. Um, there are some really deep important lessons, uh, that are required to really understand or believe what I'm trying to tell 0:24:20 - 0:24:42 you. But I'm telling you, there will come a day when justice is applied to the United States and Canada and also to the world. But that's a separate situation. The US comes first in Canada and there are reasons for that. But when that justice is applied, the only thing that comes through that filter 0:24:41 - 0:25:05 is what is deserved. And for the vast majority of people who live here, it's not gonna be a good thing and they aren't gonna make it so to help us to that end. God is going to start zapping, unmerited blessings out of our lives and you are gonna find how quickly, just how quickly things can fall apart 0:25:04 - 0:25:33 and things could change and, and deteriorate. And if you've been to a third world country, you, you know what to expect. So, um, I want to touch on that tree thing one more time and then I want to share a story about Warren Buffett of all people. So, um, the tree thing, it's really, really, really, really 0:25:33 - 0:26:00 , really, really, really, really important to understand that the vehicle is not the point. Ok. This echoes through so many things. Don't set your heart on things or people or situations. There's a cool story from the autobiography of Parley P. Pratt where as a young man, he just throws his heart and 0:26:00 - 0:26:19 soul into clearing some land and making this beautiful homestead. And then everything changes when he learns about the book of Mormon and he reads it in one night and then he basically, he abandons everything that he found value in because he found something that was of greater value. Or you could read 0:26:18 - 0:26:37 The New Testament, you see the same idea in the whole story of the pearl of great price. And there's this merchant and he spends his whole career learning the value of things. And the second he sees something that's of tremendous value, but no one else sees that value. He sells everything he has to the 0:26:37 - 0:00:00 people that think it's valuable. And then he goes and buys what he knows has greater value than all of it. God has greater value than anything and anything that comes from Him is better than anything that doesn't. And what comes from closer to him is way better than anything that comes further down. 0:00:00 - 0:27:18 If you think of a river, it starts pure coming out of a spring. Uh And eventually it's all dirty because it picks up all the dirt along the way and whatever other garbage is being pumped into it or, or washed out into it, if it's running by a chicken farm or something. Um So if you want pure water, you 0:27:18 - 0:27:40 have to go to the source and the closer to the source you get, the better the water is. Um OK. So tying this up when it comes to optimization, um There's a really good quote and I don't remember the quote. So I'll share the idea from Warren Buffett where he says, and I'm not saying, model your life after 0:27:40 - 0:28:04 Warren Buffett. But um truth is truth. And he said something like you make your money on the purchase, not the sale what, what he meant was if you find something, it's called value investing, which is really hard to do these days for, for various reasons, mostly because our, our valuations are so corrupt 0:28:03 - 0:28:29 . I'm not just talking about stock. I, I mean, as a society and that feeds into everything, including stock. But, um, if you find something that's commonly regarded as not valuable, um, you have an opportunity to uh acquire it at a much lower price than what it's worth. And that is the message of the 0:28:29 - 0:28:58 gospel among many other messages. But this is one way to kind of boil it down to. One idea is um this idea of buy of me gold, tried in the fire that you may be rich in white raiment that you may be clothed um and anoint your eyes with eye out that you can see from revelation three. God is the optimized 0:28:57 - 0:29:21 man. He has already figured out the best of everything and he has become the best of everything. And so it's impossible to find anything better than what God provides. It's impossible to be anything better than what God is. And so um that path and it is a path. It's not an outcome. It's a journey. It's 0:29:20 - 0:29:43 a never ending journey. It's a process when you get on that process that's entering into the way you stay on that process, you become more and more like Him, but no one's gonna force you to do it it's free in the sense that every step is facilitated by someone else who's paid the price. But um to become 0:29:42 - 0:30:07 , you actually have to change. He has the things of greatest worth and we have to optimize by seeing them and obtaining them. And before everything falls apart, before justice is applied, these resources are abundant. Your ability. We've talked about this before your ability to use the internet and all 0:30:07 - 0:30:30 your free time and your indoor plumbing and climate control and your cheap food and your cheap clothing, your ability to use all these things to learn more about God and become more like Him is unmatched in history. The cost is less than it has ever been when it starts changing. All of a sudden, it won't 0:30:29 - 0:31:00 be so inexpensive and many things will simply not be available at all. The window is closing, the time is short. So the question is how aligned is your life in every way to the, the abundant free? Um uh Well, whatever the abundant and free uh sources of value that God flows to you that you're, you're 0:31:00 - 0:31:22 literally drowning in. How are you using them now? Because the day will come when they're not so cheap anymore. So inexpensive. I should say they're not cheap at all. They're highly valuable, but they're really, really inexpensive right now. They're on deep discount. What are you gonna do about it? What 0:31:22 - 0:31:42 are you gonna do about it? Part of the things that we need to do, especially older folks is, teach your kids about these things. Now, the good news is what if I'm 100% wrong and all I'm saying about the end of the world? Hey, OK. Fine. Guess what? It's a really good idea to optimize the 2nd 40 years 0:31:42 - 0:32:05 of your life. I'm sorry, the 1st 40 years of your life for maximal benefit in the second. It's a really good idea to think about who you marry, not in terms of who they are right now, but who they're going to be for the second half of their lives. And, and in saying that I'm not saying, choose people 0:32:05 - 0:32:30 or things based on magical possibility, but on proven likelihood. So, um one thing that I found, I have found that young women do all the time is they choose and not so young women, they choose men based on who they think they can transform that guy into. And uh the question is this, if you're expecting 0:32:29 - 0:32:52 someone to make radical changes in their lives, how often have they done that already? Because people stay the same. Um If you expect someone to have a rip of improvement in their lives, odds are they've done that before, that's not always the case, but it's pretty dumb when you're given something like 0:32:52 - 0:33:13 ladies are, you're given the opportunity to wait at the finish line and pick a winner. And uh instead of doing that, you take what should be a pretty sure bet. And you turn it into a game of chance where you're rolling a, a die that's probably like 100 sided and you need to get a six to win. That's the 0:33:13 - 0:33:35 dumbest thing you could ever do. So, pick someone based on uh it. OK. Let's flip that around guys. And again, this is an application of this idea of optimization. Guys. Don't pick a lady for how she looks today. Pick a lady on who she's gonna be her whole life because uh look around women don't stay 0:33:35 - 0:33:59 young, guys, don't stay young either. Look, look at the screen, guys don't stay young either. Um We all age and uh men are just so stupid and how they choose women. Um And it's a good thing because if there were more wise men today, there'd be a lot more lonely women. Um So anyway, that's probably enough 0:33:58 - 0:34:16 . This video is long and oh gosh, 34 minutes. All right. These are very valuable things. So I hope you caught the value of them. It's uh ironic because that's you need to think about the value of these things in terms of times to come because I promise you when you're sitting in darkness, you're going 0:34:16 - 0:34:40 to value the light and when you're starving, you're really gonna value food and uh when you're cold, you really value clothing and on and on and on. So don't take these things for granted because the window of uh of uh of abundance is closing. And then uh there will be a time where all you have is what 0:34:40 - 0:35:01 you have and mostly what you have inside. And so use this time to build your treasure in heaven. Your treasure is in heaven. You connect to it through your spirit and it comes from inside of you, to the outside. If you don't have that connection built up to the point where you can make your own light 0:35:00 - 0:35:14 in a time of darkness. Uh Not that you're making it, but you're converting it from heaven uh to your spirit to the outside world. If you're not, at that point, you have a lot of work to do. So get on it.