0:00:00 - 0:00:23 Experiences with God come through obtaining greater light and truth. This talk is based on parts of two books. Seek ye this Jesus and the glory of God is intelligence. Both of these are available on amazon.com and in free PDF form at upward thought.blogspot.com for the purposes of this talk. I'll be 0:00:23 - 0:00:40 assuming that you believe in God, that you believe the Bible book of Mormon doctrine and covenants are scripture and that you believe Joseph Smith was a prophet. If any of these are not the case, then I invite you to visit upward thought.blogspot.com and also other videos on this channel for convincing 0:00:39 - 0:00:59 arguments. Let's start today by asking this question. Do you believe in God? If you're watching this video, I'm going to assume that the answer is yes based on the previous slide. So this might seem like a redundant question, but it isn't because while we would like to think that we believe in God, sometimes 0:00:59 - 0:01:26 our actions or our feelings deviate from that idea. And it's important to not only want to believe in God or feel we believe in God, but actually bring our actions and thoughts into reconciliation with our best understanding of what um what God is, who he is and how He is. And all of that, the second 0:01:25 - 0:01:44 question, which might also seem redundant for the same reason is, do you believe scripture is the word of God? Now, this is important because if your answer is yes, then we can dig into the scriptures and see if we can find anything that doesn't square with your current actions or feelings or beliefs 0:01:44 - 0:02:09 . So let's jump right in. This is a list of experiences that everyone who believes the gospel will have. You will see God face to face. God will speak to you. God will make promises to you. God will give you peace that can't be taken away by the world or anything that happens in the world. You'll have 0:02:09 - 0:02:32 unconditional trust in God, you'll be taught things that no one else knows. You will have interactive and answered prayers. You will work mighty miracles. You will receive unique missions from God. God will give you visions of the future. He will give you visions of the past and you will have visitations 0:02:31 - 0:02:57 from heavenly beings such as angels or God himself. Now, going over this list, I've just alienated more than half of people who claim they're Christians and more than half of people who would say that they believe that the Bible, the book of Mormon, the Doctrine and covenants are scripture. That to me 0:02:56 - 0:03:20 is a travesty because these experiences are abundant in the scriptures and the promises that you will have them are abundant in the scriptures. You as a normal person. So let's dig into this Joseph Smith uh in preaching on a mission. He said, if you will obey the gospel with honest hearts, I promise 0:03:20 - 0:03:39 you in the name of the Lord that the gifts as promised by our savior will follow you. And by this, you may prove me to be a true servant of God. Now, I'd like you to imagine for just a second that you were listening to a missionary in modern times. And this was the first time you had heard the gospel 0:03:39 - 0:04:05 or maybe this was the first time that you had heard the gospel inclusive of the book of Mormon. For instance, this would be quite the bold claim. Basically what Joseph was saying was, hey, a lot of this stuff is new to you. A lot of it seems intense maybe, but I promise you that if you obey what I'm 0:04:05 - 0:04:31 teaching, you will have all the gifts promised in the scriptures. And if you don't, you can set me down as a liar. But if you do, you'll know that what I'm telling you is true. This is very similar to the promise that the Lord gave in John believe chapter five verse 15. Um We don't hear this very frequently 0:04:30 - 0:04:54 . There's a reason for that. Most of the people who are teaching these things don't actually believe it because they don't have these experiences themselves. So this begs the question, why, why don't people have these experiences often? Now, let's do an analogy if I gave you a treasure map and you followed 0:04:53 - 0:05:15 that map and you got to the point in the map where the X marked the spot, but there was no treasure. There, there are only two possibilities. The first is that the map is wrong and the second is that you're reading it incorrectly or incompletely so incorrectly would be that where you actually are on 0:05:15 - 0:05:34 the ground is different than where the treasure is on the map. And incompletely means that maybe you started in the past, but you're just not far enough, you're not quite to the X and you started digging early. I promise you that if you follow the instructions given in the scriptures, you will obtain 0:05:34 - 0:06:01 the same class of experiences that those people in the scriptures obtained. I promise you that if you follow those instructions, you will reach the promised treasure. So if you ask me why you don't have these experiences, I would say you're reading the map incorrectly or incompletely. And there's a whole 0:06:00 - 0:06:26 host of people that could with me certify that if you follow the instructions, you will reach the treasure because they have reached the treasure and I have obtained those experiences as well. So one false belief that prevents us from diligently seeking these experiences is the idea that they only happen 0:06:26 - 0:06:48 to very special people. This is not true in doctrine and covenants four, we read. Therefore, if you have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work and faith, hope, charity, and love with an eye, single to the glory of God, qualify you for the work. All you need is desire. Now, desire isn't, isn't 0:06:47 - 0:07:08 used in this sense, in the, in the sense of wishing, it's not enough to just wish you would have these experiences. Uh If you truly have the desire and you truly believe you have to follow the instructions given to back to the map analogy. This is like I give you a treasure map and you say, wow, I wish 0:07:07 - 0:07:28 I had this treasure. I believe it exists, but I just wish I had it. I'm not willing to actually go on the ground to the point where the X is and start digging and that's not the same. That's not what we're talking about here. You don't have to be special to have special experiences with God. He's special 0:07:28 - 0:07:52 enough. All you have to do is yield to Him. All you have to do is believe in Him and do what he says. It's really that simple. So another false belief we have is that God calls only a few. Well, in doctrine, covenants 121 we, we read behold, there are many called, but few are chosen and I'll pause, pause 0:07:52 - 0:08:10 right there. It says very plainly there are many called, not a few called uh what are there? A few of, there are a few people who are chosen, but we'll continue reading because it says, why are they not chosen? And this is really the key. This is why, why uh only a few people experience this. It's not 0:08:10 - 0:08:29 because God only calls a few people. It's because only a few people care to actually do what they're instructed to do. So let's keep reading. Uh why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world and aspire to the honors of men that they do not learn this one 0:08:29 - 0:08:51 lesson. Pause here. The things of this world are not the things of God uh to the world. The things of God are an abomination and to God, the things of this world are an abomination instead of seeking for the honors of God, they seek for the honors of men. These are two incompatible groups. They're mutually 0:08:50 - 0:09:11 exclusive. If you're pleasing men, chances are you're not pleasing God. And if you're pleasing God, chances are you're not pleasing man, continue reading here that the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled 0:09:10 - 0:09:31 only upon the principles of righteousness. The powers of heaven are experiences with God that's included in that set and the principles of righteousness. Well, that's God, that's the mind of God, that's the will of God, that's the knowledge of God. And so putting all of this together, there are many 0:09:31 - 0:09:52 called, but few chosen because most people care more about the world and people in the world than they do God and the things of God and God's commandments. But if you focus on God, who he is, how he is, what he wants of you and why, then, and you do those things, you become that person, then you will 0:09:52 - 0:10:14 find more and more of the powers of heaven in your life. These things are connected. They always come together in Hosea 46, we read my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou hast rejected knowledge. I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no priest to me seeing now has forgotten the 0:10:14 - 0:10:35 law of thy God. I will also forget thy Children. So why don't people have these experiences because they lack knowledge. Uh We'll talk more about what that means. But basically, they're not seeking to understand God and what God understands. And because of this, they're destroyed. Um, destroyed means 0:10:35 - 0:10:56 quite literally destroyed. But it can also mean figuratively. Um their lives don't pan out to be as, as nice as they should be moon I seven, we read behold, I say unto you nay for it is by faith that miracles are wrought. So why aren't people having experiences with God because they lack faith? I'll 0:10:55 - 0:11:15 continue the quote and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men wherefore if these things have ceased woe be unto the Children of men. For it is because of unbelief and all is vain. This is a really big deal. These aren't hood ornaments. These experiences with God are absolutely vital 0:11:14 - 0:11:37 to salvation. They are always a part of salvation. And if these things aren't happening, all is vain, what does vain mean means ineffectual? It means the, the pretense of something without the power, it means to go through the show of something without getting the actual result for no man can be saved 0:11:36 - 0:11:54 according to the words of Christ, save, they shall have faith in his name. Wherefore if these things have ceased, then has faith ceased also and awful is the state of man for they are as though there had been no redemption made very black and white. If you don't have these experiences with God, these 0:11:54 - 0:12:16 things that most people consider to be exceptional and only for special people and that they don't really happen all the time. If you don't have these experiences, you are in the same boat as if Christ had never lived. So you as an individual are not saved and you're no better off than if Jesus had never 0:12:16 - 0:12:35 come. Think about that. It's a really big deal. And if you believe the book of Mormon is scripture, you have to believe what I'm saying. If you believe the Old Testament is scripture. You have to believe what I'm saying. If we had time, I could show you many scriptures from all over the place that uh 0:12:35 - 0:12:59 support this. So uh we think that we are living the gospel of Jesus Christ, but in most cases, um and whenever we're not hitting that X on the map, we're not finding the treasure on the treasure map. We're really on a hamster wheel and we're, we're uh living the forms without the power. We're running 0:12:59 - 0:13:18 around like crazy doing all these laundry list commandments that we think we're supposed to do and, and they're actually ineffectual traditions. They're not actually getting us any closer to these experiences with God. In second Timothy three, Paul describes this as having a form of Godliness, but denying 0:13:17 - 0:13:38 the power thereof ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. You're running and running and running on this hamster wheel, but you're not actually moving anywhere. So this is not a good thing, right? So how can we correct it? I think the foundation of the disconnect lies in the 0:13:38 - 0:14:00 difference between justification and sanctification. And these may sound like big fancy words, but we'll break them down. So let's talk about justification. First, justification is really an easy concept. It just means full obedience to what you know, and I say it's an easy concept. But in practice many 0:13:59 - 0:14:24 , many people struggle with this. In fact, if we had an honest conversation. You may say that you don't actually believe this is possible because this means to actually live in every way according to what you believe God would have. You do in doctrine and covenants 5842 it says, behold, he who has repented 0:14:23 - 0:14:46 of his sins, the same is forgiven and I the Lord remember them no more. So in order to be forgiven of your sins, you actually have to repent of your sins. You'll notice that sin is not singular, it's plural. You can't repent of a sin. You can only repent of all of your sin. It's an all or nothing proposition 0:14:45 - 0:15:12 . So, justification means to be forgiven of your sins and it means that you actually have to abandon all of them and actually listen to God completely to the extent that you sincerely understand His will. You do it. Sanctification is very different. Sanctification means to become more like God. So justification 0:15:10 - 0:15:32 is uh sort of a fixed point. Its obedience to a fixed understanding. The sanctification is the progression of that understanding. So in Helaman 335 we read nevertheless, they did fast and pray oft and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ unto the 0:15:32 - 0:15:53 filling their souls with joy and consolation. Yeah, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God. So if you are justified and you repent of all your sins. Those are synonymous. Then God is going to teach you more 0:15:52 - 0:16:17 and your understanding of God will expand and by yielding your heart to that increased understanding, you'll become more holy or more like Him. And this is an iterative process. It's like a cycle and you get closer and closer with every step in order to be sanctified or to uh experience the process of 0:16:17 - 0:16:39 sanctification. It, it requires you to learn more and more about God and reconcile yourself to that increased knowledge. So justification, it's like turning a radio on and sanctification is like turning a radio up. This is very important. We'll talk more about it. OK? So I'm gonna make this claim that 0:16:39 - 0:16:59 we are saved by knowledge and now we are try to persuade you that that's true. Joseph Smith said knowledge is necessary to life and Godliness woe unto you priests and divines who preach that knowledge is not necessary unto life and salvation. Here, all ye brethren, this grand key knowledge is the power 0:16:59 - 0:17:19 of God unto salvation. So according to Joseph Smith knowledge is what saves us. He also said, as far as we degenerate from God, we descend to the devil and lose knowledge and without knowledge, we cannot be saved. A man is saved no faster than He gets knowledge and you can read the rest of the quote 0:17:19 - 0:17:45 if you would like. But he says that uh through revelation, we get closer to God. And when we turn away from that revelation, we get further away and he was not speaking uh in a corporate sense here, a man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, not a church but a man. So knowledge and salvation are 0:17:44 - 0:18:06 intimately intertwined. The reason is what we just talked about with sanctification. That's the process. Um This isn't a gospel topic. It might sound a little weird and maybe you've never studied or heard this before, but this is actually gospel 101. If you uh investigate what you're actually promising 0:18:05 - 0:18:29 at baptism, you'll find that it's not just to keep the short list of commandments that whoever baptized you told you about. It's actually to obey all of God's commands that you know now and that He will teach you in the future even until death. So in alms seven, for example, we read now I say unto you 0:18:29 - 0:18:48 that ye must repent and be born again for the spirit saith. If you are not born again, you cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Therefore come and be baptized unto repentance that ye may be washed from your sins. Yeah, I say unto you come and fear not and lay aside every sin which easily doth beset you 0:18:48 - 0:19:07 which doth bind you down to destruction. Yeah, come and go forth and show unto your God that you are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism. Why does the phrase, why is the phrase 0:19:06 - 0:19:27 willing to use? Why isn't it just? And you obey, you agree to obey these four commandments? It's a blank check. Uh There will be more if you obey what he gives you, he gives you more in alma 716 says in whosoever doeth this and keepeth the commandments of God. From thenceforth, the same will remember 0:19:27 - 0:19:47 that I say unto Him, yeah, he will remember that I have said unto Him, he shall have eternal life according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifies in me. Justification is an event, but sanctification is a process and it's, it's the process of learning more about God about who God is and 0:19:47 - 0:20:13 how He is and what He wants you to do and then reconciling yourself to that, becoming more like Him in character, in action, in feeling and thought all of it. OK. So uh here's a scripture, a non scripture. It's from not in the covenants 323. Um This isn't a real scripture, but I, I feel like this is 0:20:13 - 0:20:30 what we kind of we we act like. This is not only a scripture but one of the most important uh you can spend your whole life learning temporal things and there will still be more to learn. But once you know enough of the gospel to teach a Sunday school class. You know, everything there is to know. And 0:20:30 - 0:20:51 what I'm trying to get across with this slide is that it seems like what a lot of people think is that on the one hand, there is an infinite amount to learn in this life. As far as the world is concerned, you can go to school for 15 or 20 or 25 years and still not know all there is to know on some topic 0:20:51 - 0:21:13 , right? And yet we act as if you can know everything you need to know in the gospel before you're 15 years old or 18 years old. And all you have to do is just keep doing those things, keep living according to that very basic child level understanding. And that's all there is to know. This is ridiculous 0:21:12 - 0:21:35 . In DNC 29 God says that there is no difference between the spiritual and the temporal to Him. It's all spiritual. He said no temporal commandment gave I unto Adam for my commandments are spiritual. They are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual, but everything around us. Everything around 0:21:35 - 0:21:57 us is governed by God's law. Our entire natural world is a result of God's spiritual laws. So if we are to believe that and it's, it's abundantly obvious that you can't learn everything there is to know about some temporal topic in a lifetime, why on earth would you assume that you can do it for spiritual 0:21:56 - 0:22:17 topics. There's a lot to learn. Ok. But for some reason, this is how we think it works. You're born, you learn things at a rapid pace until you're an adult. And then magically you ha you know everything there is to know and maybe you pick up some obscure trivia along the way. But then one day you die 0:22:16 - 0:22:39 and then Shaam, all of a sudden you have a celestial level of knowledge. You know everything there is to know. Well, that's rubbish. You're not saved by obedience to a fixed list of commandments. You don't, you're not saved by your gospel understanding that you obtain as a child. Remember when we were 0:22:39 - 0:22:58 talking about sanctification, that's a continuous process. But what we've just talked about isn't a continuous process. What most people understand to be the Gospel path is really just justification. You learn a fixed set of things and then you do those things and then that's it. It's not the way it 0:22:58 - 0:23:20 works. Joseph Smith said the things of God are of deep import and time and experience and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out thy mind. O man. If thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation must stretch as high as the utmost heavens and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss 0:23:20 - 0:23:41 and the broad expanse of eternity, thou must commune with God. There are some key parts to this quote. It's all important. Uh But just to highlight some, some of the ideas here. The things of God are of deep import. It's not something you can learn in a year or three years or 18 years. It's not something 0:23:41 - 0:24:02 you can just pick up uh through someone else, through your parents or through someone else. It, it really requires your time, your experience, your careful ponderous thoughts. You, you have to really stretch to learn these things. You have to contemplate the utmost heavens, the darkest abyss. You have 0:24:02 - 0:24:25 to commune with God, not just think about him or hear someone else talk about him, but commune with him. Now, let's talk about an example of what not to do. In, in Exodus 19 6, we read that God wanted Israel to become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And it, it's very plain there that he wanted 0:24:25 - 0:24:46 all of them to come into his presence. But instead of doing that, they told Moses that they wanted him to be their intermediary, they were scared to go up into the mountain and they were happy with the, the way things were with Moses. So instead of a relationship with God that was individual, they received 0:24:46 - 0:25:07 a static list of commandments. You've all seen the movie, right? That's not a good thing. It didn't end well for them and it won't end well for us either if we're content to allow someone else, if we're content to, to uh outsource our relationship with God to someone else. It's meant to be a personal 0:25:07 - 0:25:34 , individual thing and it's meant to be a continuous thing. It's not meant to be a static thing. So Joseph Smith taught that Mormonism uh is truth. He says the, the doctrine of the Latter day Saints is truth. He said um that we are not to be circumscribed or prohibited by creeds or by the notions of 0:25:34 - 0:25:58 men or by the dominations of one another. This is very interesting, think about that. Think about the modern experience because he says this is the first and fundamental principle of our holy religion. We have a right to embrace all and every item of truth without limitation. So you should ask yourself 0:25:58 - 0:26:21 , do you really believe that and do your actions and feelings reconciled to that? Here's another one, Joseph Smith said, uh the most prominent difference in sentiment between the latter day saints and sectarians was that the latter were also circumscribed by some peculiar creed which deprived its members 0:26:20 - 0:26:40 the privilege of believing anything not contained there in. Whereas the latter day saints are ready to believe all true principles that exist as their main manifest from time to time. Joseph Smith believed that it was impossible for one church to contain all truth, to have a monopoly on all truth. He 0:26:40 - 0:27:07 said that ideally and actually critically that uh truth seekers had to be free to believe truth, any place they found it even if it contradicted what their church said they should believe the point here is that truth is not static. You can't fit all truth into one box or one bucket. The reason is it 0:27:07 - 0:27:30 keeps going. Sanctification is a continual process and it doesn't end until you're like God. And if you're not like God, you're not done. Joseph Smith said, I want to come up into the presence of God and learn all things. This is a simple quote. But to Joseph Smith learning all things was equivalent 0:27:30 - 0:27:50 to coming up into the presence of God, you couldn't have one without the other. And as we read in the quote earlier, uh this was sort of a commensurate thing with Him. His idea was the more knowledge you had the more into the presence of God, you go and vice versa. And the scriptures agree with that 0:27:50 - 0:28:10 . Uh Here's one parable that I quite like uh the Lord said this, it's recorded in John four says, whosoever drink of this water shall thirst again. Uh He was, he was teaching someone at a well and he said, whosoever drink of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drink of the water that I shall 0:28:10 - 0:28:31 give Him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give Him shall be in Him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Now, maybe you've never seen a natural spring but water comes out of it and it just keeps flowing. It's kind of like a a natural pipe, right? And the water just keeps coming 0:28:31 - 0:28:57 up out of it. And what the Lord was teaching here is that if you live the gospel, uh according to how it's taught and described in the scriptures, that result in every case will be that God teaches you knowledge continuously. It just keeps coming like water coming out of a pipe and that, that is necessary 0:28:56 - 0:29:19 to come to everlasting life. All right. So if we're saved by knowledge, and I've made a case for that. And if knowledge comes from the light from God, I say within you and this is referencing another talk that I've given on this channel, you can look towards that. But if knowledge comes from the light 0:29:19 - 0:29:43 from God, this is the light of Christ inside of you. Um And if we're saved by knowledge who brokers your salvation, where does salvation come from? So let's hit the scriptures in second Nephi 941. It says o then my beloved brethren come unto the Lord, the holy one. Remember that his paths are righteous 0:29:42 - 0:30:04 , behold the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him. And the keeper of the gate is the holy one of Israel and he employ no servant there and there is none other way. Save it be by the gate for he cannot be deceived for the Lord God is his name. So who broke her salvation 0:30:03 - 0:30:35 ? None other. But the Lord Jesus Christ. None other, he employee, no servant. There, there is no other way. It's just through Jesus. Ok. So, um we've established that we're saved by knowledge and that knowledge comes exclusively from God. So how does this happen? Well, uh I've got an equivalency here 0:30:34 - 0:00:00 on this slide. Uh I used equal signs. The wiggly, equal signs are probably more appropriate. But regardless, light, truth, trust in God knowledge, priesthood, happiness, sorrow, joy, suffering, power, authority, and life are all correlated. And some other things besides that we won't get into today. 0:00:00 - 0:31:25 But the point of this is that when you have one of these things, you have all of the others and the more you have of any one of these things, the more you have of all the others, I'll make a briefcase for this. We won't go through each of these connections, but I'll connect some of these terms uh to 0:31:24 - 0:31:44 try to bait you a little bit to look into this for yourself and see if you can look up scriptures for each of these topics uh to see whether or not there's a connection. So let's talk about the connection between light and power in D and C 88. We read the light which shines which giveth you light is 0:31:44 - 0:32:03 through Him. Who enlighten your eyes, which is the same light that quicken eth your understandings, which light proceed forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space the light which is in all things which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed. Even 0:32:02 - 0:32:26 the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things. So here we have the connection between light law and the power of God about righteousness and power. DNC 1 21 36 says that the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the 0:32:26 - 0:32:47 powers of heaven and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. So power, righteousness about power and knowledge. Joseph Smith said, God has more power than all other beings because he has greater knowledge. So he tied those together quite succinctly 0:32:47 - 0:33:07 . What about righteousness and happiness? Joseph Smith said, happiness is the object and design of our existence and will be the end thereof if we pursue the path that leads to it. And this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness and keeping all the commandments of God. So we got some connections 0:33:06 - 0:33:31 there. So I've shown light knowledge, happiness and power to all be interconnected and I don't have time to do the rest, but I assure you there are ample scriptures to connect the others as well. So if we want any of those things on that list, uh the key is to obtain more light. The question is what 0:33:31 - 0:33:54 determines how much light you have or in other words, how do you obtain more? Turns out the answer is found in two words, heed and diligence. So light, truth, trust in God, knowledge, priesthood, happiness, sorrow, joy, suffering, power, authority, life. These things are 100% outside of your control 0:33:54 - 0:34:19 . Mostly I guess if you really wanted to, you could arbitrarily increase your sorrow and suffering to any degree. But uh in the, in the context we're discussing here, these things are completely outside of your control. You can't force God to give you more light. You can't force God to give you more 0:34:19 - 0:34:45 priesthood. You can't force God to give you life, but you can control your heed and diligence. These things were are 100% inside your control. So if you want more joy, if you want more trust in God, if you want more truth, more light, more knowledge, then the knob to control this, that li lies in your 0:34:45 - 0:35:13 hand. Uh It's heed and diligence. So no one else can control that. So there's no priest, there's no preacher, there's no prophet that controls the heat and diligence that you exercise. That's 100% on you. In Alma 12, we read uh the importance of heat and diligence. Alma began to expound these things 0:35:13 - 0:35:31 unto Him, saying it is given unto many to know the mysteries of God. Nevertheless, they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word, which he doth grant unto the Children of men according to the heed and diligence which they give unto Him. So God 0:35:31 - 0:35:49 teaches you his mysteries or His knowledge according to the heed and diligence that you exercise. And therefore He, that will harden his heart. The same receive the lesser portion of the word and he that will not harden his heart to him is given the greater portion of the word until it is given unto 0:35:49 - 0:36:12 Him to know the mysteries of God until He know them in full. So, I mean, the last part of that's pretty critical, right? So if you exercise heat and diligence, the more heat and diligence, you exercise the more of God's knowledge you'll receive until you know it in full. That's what it says DNC 130 whatsoever 0:36:11 - 0:36:31 principle of intelligence. We and we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come. So heat and, and diligence 0:36:30 - 0:36:54 or obedience and diligence, it's the same thing. So what does he mean? Heed means obey everything, you know, reconcile yourself completely to your sincere best understanding of God's character. This is justification, right? We talked about this, but it's completely necessary. It's critical not to put 0:36:54 - 0:37:17 any limits on what God can say to you. Or how he says it. If you do, you can't be completely reconciled to what he says because things are off limits. You've got sacred cows, you've got lines in the sand. It's, it's, uh, you think you're protecting yourself from those things that you don't want to hear 0:37:17 - 0:37:39 , but you're really just fooling yourself because disobeying something you have heard versus not allowing yourself to hear it because you know that you'll disobey it If you do, those aren't as different as you've convinced yourself in all likelihood. So again, this isn't a gospel advanced principle in 0:37:38 - 0:38:03 the gospel. You promise to do this at baptism. If you've been baptized, the question is, do you actually do it? Have you given God a blank check and do you cash that check whenever he writes it out. DNC 84 the Lord said, whoso cometh not unto me is under the bondage of sin and whoso receives not, my 0:38:03 - 0:38:23 voice is not acquainted with my voice and is not of me. And by this, you may know the righteous from the wicked. So the righteous give God a blank check. They don't make exceptions and whatever He tells them, they do it. And if you don't do that, you're not of Him, you're under the bondage of sin and 0:38:22 - 0:38:39 you're wicked. That's very black and white here, right? Continuing the quote in your minds and times past have been darkened because of unbelief and because you have treated lightly, the things you have received, which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation 0:38:39 - 0:38:56 rested upon the Children of Zion even all and they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent. And remember the new covenant, even the book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them not only to say but to do according to that which I have written, I've heard this used 0:38:56 - 0:39:22 a lot to uh inspire people, encourage people to read the book of Mormon more frequently. Um But in addition to literally doing what the book of Mormon says to do, I think that this scripture is very applicable to anything God reveals to you as an individual. And we should not treat lightly the things 0:39:22 - 0:39:43 that God tells us. We should not limit what he could tell us based on our unbelief. And uh in as much as we do that we're under condemnation. So it's, it's very important not to do that. Uh The condemnation is nothing magical. It's not an arbitrary punishment because God is not arbitrary. It's a natural 0:39:42 - 0:40:07 consequence. If we limit what he can teach us, then we limit our progression towards Him by definition, right? And it's a false belief to assume that somehow you and I as fallen men and women can somehow dictate to God what is better for us by definition, we don't know otherwise we do it and we wouldn't 0:40:07 - 0:40:29 need him, right? We'd already be there. But by virtue of believing in Him and believing that he's better than us, we ought to also assume that he has things to teach us that maybe aren't carnally pleasing, that maybe aren't something that by default we will believe in. That's the whole point. What about 0:40:29 - 0:40:55 diligence? Well, quite simply diligence is how much effort you spend in seeking God? So how can we do this better? Well, we can spend more time and uh more sincerity in searching in the light of Christ. So some tangible ways of doing this is you could fill your day with God's word. And if you're like 0:40:55 - 0:41:14 most people, you have to earn a living and that takes up quite a bit of time. You might have a family and that takes up quite a bit of time. And there are these incidental things that happen like pipes burst or whatever else and you have to take care of these other things, change oil on your car or whatever 0:41:14 - 0:41:39 . But I think that if you are creative and constructive, you could come up with ways that you could spend much more time in God's Word than you currently do. So if you have to commute to work, maybe you can spend some of that commute listening to scriptures in the car. Uh If you have to ride the bus 0:41:38 - 0:42:02 , maybe you could read some scripture while you're on the bus. Maybe you could think contemplate some of the things that you last studied when you have a free moment. Um I maybe you can get up a little earlier and spend some time studying and praying. In addition to just volume of time, you can also 0:42:02 - 0:42:25 do these things more effectively. It's, it's uh not all prayer is created equal, not all scripture study is created equal. Not all gospel discussions are created equal. So you can learn how to pray better. And there are many practical suggestions for this in the book, Seek Ye This Jesus. You can also 0:42:25 - 0:42:46 broaden the channel between you and God. It's a channel. It's like a pipe and the wider the pipe, the more flow there is through there. This is a difficult process. It's also detailed in the book, Seek Ye This Jesus. Um and it takes a lot of time and effort. It's much, much easier to find some guru to 0:42:46 - 0:43:06 teach you the gospel or to rely on some church leader to teach you the gospel. But what you'll find is that if you invest the time and effort, it pays huge dividends over the rest of your life, you'll find yourself being taught things by God that significantly advance the quality of your life and your 0:43:06 - 0:43:28 effectiveness in helping other people. While you're doing this, you ought to learn to ask questions uh ask better questions than you currently ask. This is discussed in another video but basically simple questions, get simple answers and you're looking for things with high information value. You wanna 0:43:28 - 0:43:51 keep notes, it's really important to keep notes. Uh Maybe it helps you to write these things as if you were going to teach your Children or something. Uh And you'll find that in keeping notes, you discover, you discover holes in what you thought you understood and you'll find many opportunities to dig 0:43:51 - 0:44:12 deeper and learn more. You can also remember things a lot better when you keep notes. you don't have to show these notes to anybody. Uh But you should definitely keep them. You should also test things and you should be intentional and conscientious about your, your search for truth. And you'll find that 0:44:12 - 0:44:34 as you take it more seriously, you'll reap much greater rewards. So I hope you enjoyed this talk. Uh A lot of these things, we've covered a lot of ground in this talk, but we really only have time to touch on the heads of these topics if you want a more thorough discussion of them and uh lengthier list 0:44:33 - 0:44:55 of scriptures supporting these ideas. I encourage you to read the books. Seek ye this Jesus and the glory of God is intelligence. Really can't do a great job at covering these topics in giving these brief talks. But the hope is that this entices you to take the time to read the books or listen to the 0:00:00 - 0:00:23 Experiences with God come through obtaining greater light and truth. This talk is based on parts of two books. Seek ye this Jesus and the glory of God is intelligence. Both of these are available on amazon.com and in free PDF form at upward thought.blogspot.com for the purposes of this talk. I'll be 0:00:23 - 0:00:40 assuming that you believe in God, that you believe the Bible book of Mormon doctrine and covenants are scripture and that you believe Joseph Smith was a prophet. If any of these are not the case, then I invite you to visit upward thought.blogspot.com and also other videos on this channel for convincing 0:00:39 - 0:00:59 arguments. Let's start today by asking this question. Do you believe in God? If you're watching this video, I'm going to assume that the answer is yes based on the previous slide. So this might seem like a redundant question, but it isn't because while we would like to think that we believe in God, sometimes 0:00:59 - 0:01:26 our actions or our feelings deviate from that idea. And it's important to not only want to believe in God or feel we believe in God, but actually bring our actions and thoughts into reconciliation with our best understanding of what um what God is, who he is and how He is. And all of that, the second 0:01:25 - 0:01:44 question, which might also seem redundant for the same reason is, do you believe scripture is the word of God? Now, this is important because if your answer is yes, then we can dig into the scriptures and see if we can find anything that doesn't square with your current actions or feelings or beliefs 0:01:44 - 0:02:09 . So let's jump right in. This is a list of experiences that everyone who believes the gospel will have. You will see God face to face. God will speak to you. God will make promises to you. God will give you peace that can't be taken away by the world or anything that happens in the world. You'll have 0:02:09 - 0:02:32 unconditional trust in God, you'll be taught things that no one else knows. You will have interactive and answered prayers. You will work mighty miracles. You will receive unique missions from God. God will give you visions of the future. He will give you visions of the past and you will have visitations 0:02:31 - 0:02:57 from heavenly beings such as angels or God himself. Now, going over this list, I've just alienated more than half of people who claim they're Christians and more than half of people who would say that they believe that the Bible, the book of Mormon, the Doctrine and covenants are scripture. That to me 0:02:56 - 0:03:20 is a travesty because these experiences are abundant in the scriptures and the promises that you will have them are abundant in the scriptures. You as a normal person. So let's dig into this Joseph Smith uh in preaching on a mission. He said, if you will obey the gospel with honest hearts, I promise 0:03:20 - 0:03:39 you in the name of the Lord that the gifts as promised by our savior will follow you. And by this, you may prove me to be a true servant of God. Now, I'd like you to imagine for just a second that you were listening to a missionary in modern times. And this was the first time you had heard the gospel 0:03:39 - 0:04:05 or maybe this was the first time that you had heard the gospel inclusive of the book of Mormon. For instance, this would be quite the bold claim. Basically what Joseph was saying was, hey, a lot of this stuff is new to you. A lot of it seems intense maybe, but I promise you that if you obey what I'm 0:04:05 - 0:04:31 teaching, you will have all the gifts promised in the scriptures. And if you don't, you can set me down as a liar. But if you do, you'll know that what I'm telling you is true. This is very similar to the promise that the Lord gave in John believe chapter five verse 15. Um We don't hear this very frequently 0:04:30 - 0:04:54 . There's a reason for that. Most of the people who are teaching these things don't actually believe it because they don't have these experiences themselves. So this begs the question, why, why don't people have these experiences often? Now, let's do an analogy if I gave you a treasure map and you followed 0:04:53 - 0:05:15 that map and you got to the point in the map where the X marked the spot, but there was no treasure. There, there are only two possibilities. The first is that the map is wrong and the second is that you're reading it incorrectly or incompletely so incorrectly would be that where you actually are on 0:05:15 - 0:05:34 the ground is different than where the treasure is on the map. And incompletely means that maybe you started in the past, but you're just not far enough, you're not quite to the X and you started digging early. I promise you that if you follow the instructions given in the scriptures, you will obtain 0:05:34 - 0:06:01 the same class of experiences that those people in the scriptures obtained. I promise you that if you follow those instructions, you will reach the promised treasure. So if you ask me why you don't have these experiences, I would say you're reading the map incorrectly or incompletely. And there's a whole 0:06:00 - 0:06:26 host of people that could with me certify that if you follow the instructions, you will reach the treasure because they have reached the treasure and I have obtained those experiences as well. So one false belief that prevents us from diligently seeking these experiences is the idea that they only happen 0:06:26 - 0:06:48 to very special people. This is not true in doctrine and covenants four, we read. Therefore, if you have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work and faith, hope, charity, and love with an eye, single to the glory of God, qualify you for the work. All you need is desire. Now, desire isn't, isn't 0:06:47 - 0:07:08 used in this sense, in the, in the sense of wishing, it's not enough to just wish you would have these experiences. Uh If you truly have the desire and you truly believe you have to follow the instructions given to back to the map analogy. This is like I give you a treasure map and you say, wow, I wish 0:07:07 - 0:07:28 I had this treasure. I believe it exists, but I just wish I had it. I'm not willing to actually go on the ground to the point where the X is and start digging and that's not the same. That's not what we're talking about here. You don't have to be special to have special experiences with God. He's special 0:07:28 - 0:07:52 enough. All you have to do is yield to Him. All you have to do is believe in Him and do what he says. It's really that simple. So another false belief we have is that God calls only a few. Well, in doctrine, covenants 121 we, we read behold, there are many called, but few are chosen and I'll pause, pause 0:07:52 - 0:08:10 right there. It says very plainly there are many called, not a few called uh what are there? A few of, there are a few people who are chosen, but we'll continue reading because it says, why are they not chosen? And this is really the key. This is why, why uh only a few people experience this. It's not 0:08:10 - 0:08:29 because God only calls a few people. It's because only a few people care to actually do what they're instructed to do. So let's keep reading. Uh why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world and aspire to the honors of men that they do not learn this one 0:08:29 - 0:08:51 lesson. Pause here. The things of this world are not the things of God uh to the world. The things of God are an abomination and to God, the things of this world are an abomination instead of seeking for the honors of God, they seek for the honors of men. These are two incompatible groups. They're mutually 0:08:50 - 0:09:11 exclusive. If you're pleasing men, chances are you're not pleasing God. And if you're pleasing God, chances are you're not pleasing man, continue reading here that the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled 0:09:10 - 0:09:31 only upon the principles of righteousness. The powers of heaven are experiences with God that's included in that set and the principles of righteousness. Well, that's God, that's the mind of God, that's the will of God, that's the knowledge of God. And so putting all of this together, there are many 0:09:31 - 0:09:52 called, but few chosen because most people care more about the world and people in the world than they do God and the things of God and God's commandments. But if you focus on God, who he is, how he is, what he wants of you and why, then, and you do those things, you become that person, then you will 0:09:52 - 0:10:14 find more and more of the powers of heaven in your life. These things are connected. They always come together in Hosea 46, we read my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou hast rejected knowledge. I will also reject thee that thou shalt be no priest to me seeing now has forgotten the 0:10:14 - 0:10:35 law of thy God. I will also forget thy Children. So why don't people have these experiences because they lack knowledge. Uh We'll talk more about what that means. But basically, they're not seeking to understand God and what God understands. And because of this, they're destroyed. Um, destroyed means 0:10:35 - 0:10:56 quite literally destroyed. But it can also mean figuratively. Um their lives don't pan out to be as, as nice as they should be moon I seven, we read behold, I say unto you nay for it is by faith that miracles are wrought. So why aren't people having experiences with God because they lack faith? I'll 0:10:55 - 0:11:15 continue the quote and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men wherefore if these things have ceased woe be unto the Children of men. For it is because of unbelief and all is vain. This is a really big deal. These aren't hood ornaments. These experiences with God are absolutely vital 0:11:14 - 0:11:37 to salvation. They are always a part of salvation. And if these things aren't happening, all is vain, what does vain mean means ineffectual? It means the, the pretense of something without the power, it means to go through the show of something without getting the actual result for no man can be saved 0:11:36 - 0:11:54 according to the words of Christ, save, they shall have faith in his name. Wherefore if these things have ceased, then has faith ceased also and awful is the state of man for they are as though there had been no redemption made very black and white. If you don't have these experiences with God, these 0:11:54 - 0:12:16 things that most people consider to be exceptional and only for special people and that they don't really happen all the time. If you don't have these experiences, you are in the same boat as if Christ had never lived. So you as an individual are not saved and you're no better off than if Jesus had never 0:12:16 - 0:12:35 come. Think about that. It's a really big deal. And if you believe the book of Mormon is scripture, you have to believe what I'm saying. If you believe the Old Testament is scripture. You have to believe what I'm saying. If we had time, I could show you many scriptures from all over the place that uh 0:12:35 - 0:12:59 support this. So uh we think that we are living the gospel of Jesus Christ, but in most cases, um and whenever we're not hitting that X on the map, we're not finding the treasure on the treasure map. We're really on a hamster wheel and we're, we're uh living the forms without the power. We're running 0:12:59 - 0:13:18 around like crazy doing all these laundry list commandments that we think we're supposed to do and, and they're actually ineffectual traditions. They're not actually getting us any closer to these experiences with God. In second Timothy three, Paul describes this as having a form of Godliness, but denying 0:13:17 - 0:13:38 the power thereof ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. You're running and running and running on this hamster wheel, but you're not actually moving anywhere. So this is not a good thing, right? So how can we correct it? I think the foundation of the disconnect lies in the 0:13:38 - 0:14:00 difference between justification and sanctification. And these may sound like big fancy words, but we'll break them down. So let's talk about justification. First, justification is really an easy concept. It just means full obedience to what you know, and I say it's an easy concept. But in practice many 0:13:59 - 0:14:24 , many people struggle with this. In fact, if we had an honest conversation. You may say that you don't actually believe this is possible because this means to actually live in every way according to what you believe God would have. You do in doctrine and covenants 5842 it says, behold, he who has repented 0:14:23 - 0:14:46 of his sins, the same is forgiven and I the Lord remember them no more. So in order to be forgiven of your sins, you actually have to repent of your sins. You'll notice that sin is not singular, it's plural. You can't repent of a sin. You can only repent of all of your sin. It's an all or nothing proposition 0:14:45 - 0:15:12 . So, justification means to be forgiven of your sins and it means that you actually have to abandon all of them and actually listen to God completely to the extent that you sincerely understand His will. You do it. Sanctification is very different. Sanctification means to become more like God. So justification 0:15:10 - 0:15:32 is uh sort of a fixed point. Its obedience to a fixed understanding. The sanctification is the progression of that understanding. So in Helaman 335 we read nevertheless, they did fast and pray oft and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ unto the 0:15:32 - 0:15:53 filling their souls with joy and consolation. Yeah, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God. So if you are justified and you repent of all your sins. Those are synonymous. Then God is going to teach you more 0:15:52 - 0:16:17 and your understanding of God will expand and by yielding your heart to that increased understanding, you'll become more holy or more like Him. And this is an iterative process. It's like a cycle and you get closer and closer with every step in order to be sanctified or to uh experience the process of 0:16:17 - 0:16:39 sanctification. It, it requires you to learn more and more about God and reconcile yourself to that increased knowledge. So justification, it's like turning a radio on and sanctification is like turning a radio up. This is very important. We'll talk more about it. OK? So I'm gonna make this claim that 0:16:39 - 0:16:59 we are saved by knowledge and now we are try to persuade you that that's true. Joseph Smith said knowledge is necessary to life and Godliness woe unto you priests and divines who preach that knowledge is not necessary unto life and salvation. Here, all ye brethren, this grand key knowledge is the power 0:16:59 - 0:17:19 of God unto salvation. So according to Joseph Smith knowledge is what saves us. He also said, as far as we degenerate from God, we descend to the devil and lose knowledge and without knowledge, we cannot be saved. A man is saved no faster than He gets knowledge and you can read the rest of the quote 0:17:19 - 0:17:45 if you would like. But he says that uh through revelation, we get closer to God. And when we turn away from that revelation, we get further away and he was not speaking uh in a corporate sense here, a man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, not a church but a man. So knowledge and salvation are 0:17:44 - 0:18:06 intimately intertwined. The reason is what we just talked about with sanctification. That's the process. Um This isn't a gospel topic. It might sound a little weird and maybe you've never studied or heard this before, but this is actually gospel 101. If you uh investigate what you're actually promising 0:18:05 - 0:18:29 at baptism, you'll find that it's not just to keep the short list of commandments that whoever baptized you told you about. It's actually to obey all of God's commands that you know now and that He will teach you in the future even until death. So in alms seven, for example, we read now I say unto you 0:18:29 - 0:18:48 that ye must repent and be born again for the spirit saith. If you are not born again, you cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Therefore come and be baptized unto repentance that ye may be washed from your sins. Yeah, I say unto you come and fear not and lay aside every sin which easily doth beset you 0:18:48 - 0:19:07 which doth bind you down to destruction. Yeah, come and go forth and show unto your God that you are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism. Why does the phrase, why is the phrase 0:19:06 - 0:19:27 willing to use? Why isn't it just? And you obey, you agree to obey these four commandments? It's a blank check. Uh There will be more if you obey what he gives you, he gives you more in alma 716 says in whosoever doeth this and keepeth the commandments of God. From thenceforth, the same will remember 0:19:27 - 0:19:47 that I say unto Him, yeah, he will remember that I have said unto Him, he shall have eternal life according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifies in me. Justification is an event, but sanctification is a process and it's, it's the process of learning more about God about who God is and 0:19:47 - 0:20:13 how He is and what He wants you to do and then reconciling yourself to that, becoming more like Him in character, in action, in feeling and thought all of it. OK. So uh here's a scripture, a non scripture. It's from not in the covenants 323. Um This isn't a real scripture, but I, I feel like this is 0:20:13 - 0:20:30 what we kind of we we act like. This is not only a scripture but one of the most important uh you can spend your whole life learning temporal things and there will still be more to learn. But once you know enough of the gospel to teach a Sunday school class. You know, everything there is to know. And 0:20:30 - 0:20:51 what I'm trying to get across with this slide is that it seems like what a lot of people think is that on the one hand, there is an infinite amount to learn in this life. As far as the world is concerned, you can go to school for 15 or 20 or 25 years and still not know all there is to know on some topic 0:20:51 - 0:21:13 , right? And yet we act as if you can know everything you need to know in the gospel before you're 15 years old or 18 years old. And all you have to do is just keep doing those things, keep living according to that very basic child level understanding. And that's all there is to know. This is ridiculous 0:21:12 - 0:21:35 . In DNC 29 God says that there is no difference between the spiritual and the temporal to Him. It's all spiritual. He said no temporal commandment gave I unto Adam for my commandments are spiritual. They are not natural nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual, but everything around us. Everything around 0:21:35 - 0:21:57 us is governed by God's law. Our entire natural world is a result of God's spiritual laws. So if we are to believe that and it's, it's abundantly obvious that you can't learn everything there is to know about some temporal topic in a lifetime, why on earth would you assume that you can do it for spiritual 0:21:56 - 0:22:17 topics. There's a lot to learn. Ok. But for some reason, this is how we think it works. You're born, you learn things at a rapid pace until you're an adult. And then magically you ha you know everything there is to know and maybe you pick up some obscure trivia along the way. But then one day you die 0:22:16 - 0:22:39 and then Shaam, all of a sudden you have a celestial level of knowledge. You know everything there is to know. Well, that's rubbish. You're not saved by obedience to a fixed list of commandments. You don't, you're not saved by your gospel understanding that you obtain as a child. Remember when we were 0:22:39 - 0:22:58 talking about sanctification, that's a continuous process. But what we've just talked about isn't a continuous process. What most people understand to be the Gospel path is really just justification. You learn a fixed set of things and then you do those things and then that's it. It's not the way it 0:22:58 - 0:23:20 works. Joseph Smith said the things of God are of deep import and time and experience and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out thy mind. O man. If thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation must stretch as high as the utmost heavens and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss 0:23:20 - 0:23:41 and the broad expanse of eternity, thou must commune with God. There are some key parts to this quote. It's all important. Uh But just to highlight some, some of the ideas here. The things of God are of deep import. It's not something you can learn in a year or three years or 18 years. It's not something 0:23:41 - 0:24:02 you can just pick up uh through someone else, through your parents or through someone else. It, it really requires your time, your experience, your careful ponderous thoughts. You, you have to really stretch to learn these things. You have to contemplate the utmost heavens, the darkest abyss. You have 0:24:02 - 0:24:25 to commune with God, not just think about him or hear someone else talk about him, but commune with him. Now, let's talk about an example of what not to do. In, in Exodus 19 6, we read that God wanted Israel to become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And it, it's very plain there that he wanted 0:24:25 - 0:24:46 all of them to come into his presence. But instead of doing that, they told Moses that they wanted him to be their intermediary, they were scared to go up into the mountain and they were happy with the, the way things were with Moses. So instead of a relationship with God that was individual, they received 0:24:46 - 0:25:07 a static list of commandments. You've all seen the movie, right? That's not a good thing. It didn't end well for them and it won't end well for us either if we're content to allow someone else, if we're content to, to uh outsource our relationship with God to someone else. It's meant to be a personal 0:25:07 - 0:25:34 , individual thing and it's meant to be a continuous thing. It's not meant to be a static thing. So Joseph Smith taught that Mormonism uh is truth. He says the, the doctrine of the Latter day Saints is truth. He said um that we are not to be circumscribed or prohibited by creeds or by the notions of 0:25:34 - 0:25:58 men or by the dominations of one another. This is very interesting, think about that. Think about the modern experience because he says this is the first and fundamental principle of our holy religion. We have a right to embrace all and every item of truth without limitation. So you should ask yourself 0:25:58 - 0:26:21 , do you really believe that and do your actions and feelings reconciled to that? Here's another one, Joseph Smith said, uh the most prominent difference in sentiment between the latter day saints and sectarians was that the latter were also circumscribed by some peculiar creed which deprived its members 0:26:20 - 0:26:40 the privilege of believing anything not contained there in. Whereas the latter day saints are ready to believe all true principles that exist as their main manifest from time to time. Joseph Smith believed that it was impossible for one church to contain all truth, to have a monopoly on all truth. He 0:26:40 - 0:27:07 said that ideally and actually critically that uh truth seekers had to be free to believe truth, any place they found it even if it contradicted what their church said they should believe the point here is that truth is not static. You can't fit all truth into one box or one bucket. The reason is it 0:27:07 - 0:27:30 keeps going. Sanctification is a continual process and it doesn't end until you're like God. And if you're not like God, you're not done. Joseph Smith said, I want to come up into the presence of God and learn all things. This is a simple quote. But to Joseph Smith learning all things was equivalent 0:27:30 - 0:27:50 to coming up into the presence of God, you couldn't have one without the other. And as we read in the quote earlier, uh this was sort of a commensurate thing with Him. His idea was the more knowledge you had the more into the presence of God, you go and vice versa. And the scriptures agree with that 0:27:50 - 0:28:10 . Uh Here's one parable that I quite like uh the Lord said this, it's recorded in John four says, whosoever drink of this water shall thirst again. Uh He was, he was teaching someone at a well and he said, whosoever drink of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drink of the water that I shall 0:28:10 - 0:28:31 give Him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give Him shall be in Him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Now, maybe you've never seen a natural spring but water comes out of it and it just keeps flowing. It's kind of like a a natural pipe, right? And the water just keeps coming 0:28:31 - 0:28:57 up out of it. And what the Lord was teaching here is that if you live the gospel, uh according to how it's taught and described in the scriptures, that result in every case will be that God teaches you knowledge continuously. It just keeps coming like water coming out of a pipe and that, that is necessary 0:28:56 - 0:29:19 to come to everlasting life. All right. So if we're saved by knowledge, and I've made a case for that. And if knowledge comes from the light from God, I say within you and this is referencing another talk that I've given on this channel, you can look towards that. But if knowledge comes from the light 0:29:19 - 0:29:43 from God, this is the light of Christ inside of you. Um And if we're saved by knowledge who brokers your salvation, where does salvation come from? So let's hit the scriptures in second Nephi 941. It says o then my beloved brethren come unto the Lord, the holy one. Remember that his paths are righteous 0:29:42 - 0:30:04 , behold the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him. And the keeper of the gate is the holy one of Israel and he employ no servant there and there is none other way. Save it be by the gate for he cannot be deceived for the Lord God is his name. So who broke her salvation 0:30:03 - 0:30:35 ? None other. But the Lord Jesus Christ. None other, he employee, no servant. There, there is no other way. It's just through Jesus. Ok. So, um we've established that we're saved by knowledge and that knowledge comes exclusively from God. So how does this happen? Well, uh I've got an equivalency here 0:30:34 - 0:00:00 on this slide. Uh I used equal signs. The wiggly, equal signs are probably more appropriate. But regardless, light, truth, trust in God knowledge, priesthood, happiness, sorrow, joy, suffering, power, authority, and life are all correlated. And some other things besides that we won't get into today. 0:00:00 - 0:31:25 But the point of this is that when you have one of these things, you have all of the others and the more you have of any one of these things, the more you have of all the others, I'll make a briefcase for this. We won't go through each of these connections, but I'll connect some of these terms uh to 0:31:24 - 0:31:44 try to bait you a little bit to look into this for yourself and see if you can look up scriptures for each of these topics uh to see whether or not there's a connection. So let's talk about the connection between light and power in D and C 88. We read the light which shines which giveth you light is 0:31:44 - 0:32:03 through Him. Who enlighten your eyes, which is the same light that quicken eth your understandings, which light proceed forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space the light which is in all things which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed. Even 0:32:02 - 0:32:26 the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things. So here we have the connection between light law and the power of God about righteousness and power. DNC 1 21 36 says that the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the 0:32:26 - 0:32:47 powers of heaven and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. So power, righteousness about power and knowledge. Joseph Smith said, God has more power than all other beings because he has greater knowledge. So he tied those together quite succinctly 0:32:47 - 0:33:07 . What about righteousness and happiness? Joseph Smith said, happiness is the object and design of our existence and will be the end thereof if we pursue the path that leads to it. And this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness and keeping all the commandments of God. So we got some connections 0:33:06 - 0:33:31 there. So I've shown light knowledge, happiness and power to all be interconnected and I don't have time to do the rest, but I assure you there are ample scriptures to connect the others as well. So if we want any of those things on that list, uh the key is to obtain more light. The question is what 0:33:31 - 0:33:54 determines how much light you have or in other words, how do you obtain more? Turns out the answer is found in two words, heed and diligence. So light, truth, trust in God, knowledge, priesthood, happiness, sorrow, joy, suffering, power, authority, life. These things are 100% outside of your control 0:33:54 - 0:34:19 . Mostly I guess if you really wanted to, you could arbitrarily increase your sorrow and suffering to any degree. But uh in the, in the context we're discussing here, these things are completely outside of your control. You can't force God to give you more light. You can't force God to give you more 0:34:19 - 0:34:45 priesthood. You can't force God to give you life, but you can control your heed and diligence. These things were are 100% inside your control. So if you want more joy, if you want more trust in God, if you want more truth, more light, more knowledge, then the knob to control this, that li lies in your 0:34:45 - 0:35:13 hand. Uh It's heed and diligence. So no one else can control that. So there's no priest, there's no preacher, there's no prophet that controls the heat and diligence that you exercise. That's 100% on you. In Alma 12, we read uh the importance of heat and diligence. Alma began to expound these things 0:35:13 - 0:35:31 unto Him, saying it is given unto many to know the mysteries of God. Nevertheless, they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word, which he doth grant unto the Children of men according to the heed and diligence which they give unto Him. So God 0:35:31 - 0:35:49 teaches you his mysteries or His knowledge according to the heed and diligence that you exercise. And therefore He, that will harden his heart. The same receive the lesser portion of the word and he that will not harden his heart to him is given the greater portion of the word until it is given unto 0:35:49 - 0:36:12 Him to know the mysteries of God until He know them in full. So, I mean, the last part of that's pretty critical, right? So if you exercise heat and diligence, the more heat and diligence, you exercise the more of God's knowledge you'll receive until you know it in full. That's what it says DNC 130 whatsoever 0:36:11 - 0:36:31 principle of intelligence. We and we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come. So heat and, and diligence 0:36:30 - 0:36:54 or obedience and diligence, it's the same thing. So what does he mean? Heed means obey everything, you know, reconcile yourself completely to your sincere best understanding of God's character. This is justification, right? We talked about this, but it's completely necessary. It's critical not to put 0:36:54 - 0:37:17 any limits on what God can say to you. Or how he says it. If you do, you can't be completely reconciled to what he says because things are off limits. You've got sacred cows, you've got lines in the sand. It's, it's, uh, you think you're protecting yourself from those things that you don't want to hear 0:37:17 - 0:37:39 , but you're really just fooling yourself because disobeying something you have heard versus not allowing yourself to hear it because you know that you'll disobey it If you do, those aren't as different as you've convinced yourself in all likelihood. So again, this isn't a gospel advanced principle in 0:37:38 - 0:38:03 the gospel. You promise to do this at baptism. If you've been baptized, the question is, do you actually do it? Have you given God a blank check and do you cash that check whenever he writes it out. DNC 84 the Lord said, whoso cometh not unto me is under the bondage of sin and whoso receives not, my 0:38:03 - 0:38:23 voice is not acquainted with my voice and is not of me. And by this, you may know the righteous from the wicked. So the righteous give God a blank check. They don't make exceptions and whatever He tells them, they do it. And if you don't do that, you're not of Him, you're under the bondage of sin and 0:38:22 - 0:38:39 you're wicked. That's very black and white here, right? Continuing the quote in your minds and times past have been darkened because of unbelief and because you have treated lightly, the things you have received, which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation 0:38:39 - 0:38:56 rested upon the Children of Zion even all and they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent. And remember the new covenant, even the book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them not only to say but to do according to that which I have written, I've heard this used 0:38:56 - 0:39:22 a lot to uh inspire people, encourage people to read the book of Mormon more frequently. Um But in addition to literally doing what the book of Mormon says to do, I think that this scripture is very applicable to anything God reveals to you as an individual. And we should not treat lightly the things 0:39:22 - 0:39:43 that God tells us. We should not limit what he could tell us based on our unbelief. And uh in as much as we do that we're under condemnation. So it's, it's very important not to do that. Uh The condemnation is nothing magical. It's not an arbitrary punishment because God is not arbitrary. It's a natural 0:39:42 - 0:40:07 consequence. If we limit what he can teach us, then we limit our progression towards Him by definition, right? And it's a false belief to assume that somehow you and I as fallen men and women can somehow dictate to God what is better for us by definition, we don't know otherwise we do it and we wouldn't 0:40:07 - 0:40:29 need him, right? We'd already be there. But by virtue of believing in Him and believing that he's better than us, we ought to also assume that he has things to teach us that maybe aren't carnally pleasing, that maybe aren't something that by default we will believe in. That's the whole point. What about 0:40:29 - 0:40:55 diligence? Well, quite simply diligence is how much effort you spend in seeking God? So how can we do this better? Well, we can spend more time and uh more sincerity in searching in the light of Christ. So some tangible ways of doing this is you could fill your day with God's word. And if you're like 0:40:55 - 0:41:14 most people, you have to earn a living and that takes up quite a bit of time. You might have a family and that takes up quite a bit of time. And there are these incidental things that happen like pipes burst or whatever else and you have to take care of these other things, change oil on your car or whatever 0:41:14 - 0:41:39 . But I think that if you are creative and constructive, you could come up with ways that you could spend much more time in God's Word than you currently do. So if you have to commute to work, maybe you can spend some of that commute listening to scriptures in the car. Uh If you have to ride the bus 0:41:38 - 0:42:02 , maybe you could read some scripture while you're on the bus. Maybe you could think contemplate some of the things that you last studied when you have a free moment. Um I maybe you can get up a little earlier and spend some time studying and praying. In addition to just volume of time, you can also 0:42:02 - 0:42:25 do these things more effectively. It's, it's uh not all prayer is created equal, not all scripture study is created equal. Not all gospel discussions are created equal. So you can learn how to pray better. And there are many practical suggestions for this in the book, Seek Ye This Jesus. You can also 0:42:25 - 0:42:46 broaden the channel between you and God. It's a channel. It's like a pipe and the wider the pipe, the more flow there is through there. This is a difficult process. It's also detailed in the book, Seek Ye This Jesus. Um and it takes a lot of time and effort. It's much, much easier to find some guru to 0:42:46 - 0:43:06 teach you the gospel or to rely on some church leader to teach you the gospel. But what you'll find is that if you invest the time and effort, it pays huge dividends over the rest of your life, you'll find yourself being taught things by God that significantly advance the quality of your life and your 0:43:06 - 0:43:28 effectiveness in helping other people. While you're doing this, you ought to learn to ask questions uh ask better questions than you currently ask. This is discussed in another video but basically simple questions, get simple answers and you're looking for things with high information value. You wanna 0:43:28 - 0:43:51 keep notes, it's really important to keep notes. Uh Maybe it helps you to write these things as if you were going to teach your Children or something. Uh And you'll find that in keeping notes, you discover, you discover holes in what you thought you understood and you'll find many opportunities to dig 0:43:51 - 0:44:12 deeper and learn more. You can also remember things a lot better when you keep notes. you don't have to show these notes to anybody. Uh But you should definitely keep them. You should also test things and you should be intentional and conscientious about your, your search for truth. And you'll find that 0:44:12 - 0:44:34 as you take it more seriously, you'll reap much greater rewards. So I hope you enjoyed this talk. Uh A lot of these things, we've covered a lot of ground in this talk, but we really only have time to touch on the heads of these topics if you want a more thorough discussion of them and uh lengthier list 0:44:33 - 0:44:55 of scriptures supporting these ideas. I encourage you to read the books. Seek ye this Jesus and the glory of God is intelligence. Really can't do a great job at covering these topics in giving these brief talks. But the hope is that this entices you to take the time to read the books or listen to the 0:44:55 - 0:45:03 audio books. There's one for seek you this Jesus and we'll have one for the glory of God is intelligence eventually. Thanks. Have a great day.