← Don't Miss This Study
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- [00:02]
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Hi, there. Welcome to Don't Miss this, a scripture study podcast with Dave Butler and Grace Freeman.
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Each week, we point out things in the scriptures that we love and think you don't want to miss.
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Thanks for listening. Hi, everyone. I'm Dave Butler.
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I'm Grace Freeman.
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Welcome to Don't Miss this, our weekly scripture study class. Got it, Grace. Good job, you guys.
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Learn and improve.
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Hope you loved this, that little visit to Nauvoo last week. I seriously love that city. I genuinely like it is. And just the stories from there, and you walk into that city and there is just a sense of, like, encouragement and happiness. They don't get to stay there. There's also some really sad stories about that. But I just feel like you look at the whole span of church history and you're just like, look at these glorious moments. Kirtland and Nauvoo and. Right. All these things. And, like, then they're interspersed by Zion's Camp and the trek west that's coming and Liberty Jail. And it just is like, the history of the whole church is almost like the history of somebody's life. Like, if you heard their bio at a funeral, and they were just like, look at these, like, sad moments. But then look at these, like, also awesome, happy moments, too. And I love just being in this Nauvoo spot because it doesn't mean that there aren't any problems. But in Nauvoo, God reveals, I think, better than anywhere else the opportunities for grace and strength and hope amidst some of the hardships that they're experiencing. Like, he prepares them in Nauvoo for one of their hardest seasons, the martyrdom of the prophet and the trek West. And so what if we could learn and be trained and be prepared for our difficult seasons as well? Like, from what we learned both last week and 124 and also today in section 125, through something which feels so.
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B
Encouraging, especially, like, I think it just gives you a little reminder of the way God's plan works, is that he is really careful with his people and very kind.
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Yeah.
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And he knows. Oh, I really do understand that mortality is going to be difficult and tragic, and there's going to be sad things and things that you don't understand. But there will also be Na'. Village.
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Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Again and again and again. Not just. Not just one time, y', all, if you don't know yet, next year's Old Testament, and we're so thrilled about it. If you're intimidated by the Old Testament, we're Gonna make it fantastic. That sounded actually a little presumptuous, but it's already fantastic. And we're gonna help you. We're gonna all discover that. We're just gonna realize, you know, together we, in addition to making the Old Testament like one of your favorite books, like altogether, we wanna just help people create houses of faith, believing homes, refuges. Refuges like we talked about last week. That sounded funny plural. We created these things that might help you in that we created them cause we thought that they would help us and maybe they'll help you. So all of our product is available for next year. Our resources are available to just help you create that house of faith and to fall in love with the Old testamen. To teach the Old Testament to share, to make the Old Testament a part of your life. Every single one of them. You can go back and see our descriptions or check them out online. But the journal is so good this year. It's the perfect size. It's got reflection, questions, digging deep sections for really getting into the stories, background symbolism, the tip ins that you'll glue in that make your Bible become a study Bible. Things to put in your house. The read it, live it, send your kids every day or yourself with a challenge to live out the scriptures. And then the posters that stand as that reminder, just that faith filled decoration, small decoration in your house. So I just think they're so awesome. I'm really proud of them. I think that they're going to be so helpful in helping us to create fall in love with the Old Testament and create those households of faith. So you can get these on goodnewsbrandco.com or if you want to go pick them up physically from a place, you can go pick them up at a Deseret bookstore. So just get ready, get ready for next year.
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B
And let me just say this so fast because I think it's really true is one time at the beginning of this year I read something about goals and how like one of the there's like two things that help you be successful in your goals and one of them is choosing something that you're excited about. And the second is like getting rid of any like distractions or whatever. The second one, fine, whatever. But the first one I like because I like to be excited and I feel like that is why I love all of those things is because the scriptures will win you over and that can be your goal and it will like change your life and your heart will change. But there is something about like getting something that makes you excited about it that I feel like, is the part that my soul needs, that I'm like, okay, I need to, like, look forward to it, and that's gonna help me.
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And same really? That journal, when I grab it, I think I'm really excited to feel smarter every day.
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Why do I really love this year that it all looks like the same. Like, it, like, all matches each other. And, like, when you were just holding it, I was like, looks so pretty.
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It's the packaging, you guys. It's awesome. Okay, now, so there's heads up for next year. Let's jump into these sections 125 to 128. Here in Nauvoo last summer. You may know that Grace and I both love hxp. Grace has been as a trip leader on all those trips. I send my kids on them. I've been on them together with them. I just love the organization. And every summer they have a training for all of their trip leaders. And this last summer at that training, the staff up at the office and the people who put on that training did something where they called and they interviewed every single one of the troop leaders. I can't remember how many there are.
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Like, 200 or something.
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Yeah. So a lot, right. And called and interviewed them without them knowing what they were doing, just to find out, like, hey, what are some of the happy things in your life, sad things in your life? What are you looking forward to? Just whatever that interview was like. And based off of what they learned in that interview, there was a night during the training where everybody came to their spot, their dinner spot, and there was a gift. And that gift was so personalized to that person, to the story that had been discovered about them. Like, one of them was a lunchbox. And I can't even remember, it was like an old Spiderman lunchbox or something that they'd gotten on ebay, because that was their favorite thing when they were growing up. Cereal from another country, probably to remind them about their mission. One of the boys who was there, his father had passed away, and he was a fly fisherman. And there was one of the flies that his father had made that they took and they turned into a keychain for him. So they were just the sweetest, most personalized gifts. And, like, the feeling in that room was so tender and so palpable and, like, it was like you could tell how loved people felt because of how particular those gifts were for them. Now, would they have felt loved if someone had come in and given everybody a $50 gift card to Costa Vida or Something. Yeah, for sure. Right. And that would have been a fantastic gift to give. And if you're on staff at hxp, there's a great idea for you. People love those pork burritos, you know, but the fact that they were so specific and so generalized, I mean, so like particularized to. To those people is what made them so special. And that's the way I feel reading. And maybe I'm thinking the way the saints felt reading section125. And then we'll see in126 something similar. But verse one of125 is like, what is the will of the Lord concerning the saints in the territory of Iowa? And I just love that there's a lot of sections in here that are super general. But the Lord was giving this particular direction and help to the saints who were living in the territory of Iowa. So Iowa is across the river from Nauvoo. And Nauvoo is obviously gonna become like this, like golden child, right? The temple's gonna be there. No one goes and visits Iowa on.
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A two street trip.
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No one knows that people lived there or anything like that. And so what could have been just this forgotten group of saints who lived on the other side of the river in the forgotten part of church history, 125 is a reminder that God sees them. And God has particular direction and specific kinds of gifts and help for the Iowa saints too. Maybe you feel like the Iowa Saints. You're like, I'm not the golden child. I'm not the Nauvoo kid. I'm not recognized and seen and. And. But I'm the Iowa Saint. Section 125 is for you, that reminder. There's just a couple of verses that are there. And one of the things I think is sweet about this is when he says, I want you to gather yourselves together to be prepared for that which is in store for a time to come. That not only is God blessing them in their present, but he's preparing for things in their future also. And one of those things that may be worth mentioning is when all the saints leave Nauvoo, they leave and they cross over into that place and they actually become the hand and the heart of the Lord for all of the escaping saints, which I think is just one sweet thing of way of looking at that.
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Well, and I think that's something to really pause and think about when you read section125 is that was an individualized piece of revelation for those saints in particular. But I also wonder how Many of them thought, okay, I'm glad that he's speaking to me, but this isn't the law I wanted. Why didn't we get to have Nauvoo? Why didn't we get to live with all the other saints? And why do we have to build another city? Why does he always want us to build another city? And all the cities keep getting destroyed, and all we have to do is keep building cities just to get run out of them or whatever. And I think there is something that in specific seasons of our life, we need to remember that God will speak to us personalized and individualized. And we don't maybe understand exactly why he's asking us to do what he's asking us to do. But what I love is that he truly trusted those saints. He knew that they would do it. He knew they wouldn't complain, and he knew that they would come to the rescue when other people needed them the most. And I think there's gonna be moments and times in our lives when we're confused about the lot that God's given us and why has he made me do this? And this doesn't make sense, and I don't want to do this. I would rather be having that person's life because it seems easier and trusting that God knows you. God knows your season, God knows your circumstances, God knows your heart and who you have the capacity to help. And he is setting you up not just for right now, but also that they might be prepared for that which is in store for a time to come.
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Yeah. Yeah. I just. It's just a sweet chapter, like, easily overlooked. And it just almost becomes like a. A representation of all of the sections in here. Remember, we keep talking about this, that line that we read in the introduction, that each of these revelations were an answer to prayer, to a specific need, or to a specific situation. And I just think 125 is another reminder about that, that God cares about the particulars of our lives. And even if you feel like the Iowa Saints on the other side of the river, here's one more reminder in this book that God is both preparing you and sees you and has every intention to bless you.
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You're going to see another specific example of this, of a God who speaks to individuals in section 126. And this section is for Brigham Young. That's who the section was. The revelation was received for him. But it starts out in section, such a tender way. Dear and well beloved brother.
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That's so darling.
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I know.
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That's so. I really want My patriarchal blessing.
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I just said that same thing. I was like, I want every letter that anyone's ever written to me just to, like that. My patriarchal blessing. Everything. You love that. That's how it's addressed. And what I began to think when I read this section is, you read that and you love it. But that is really easy to, like, just say, say and not mean any compliment. It's really easy to be like, oh, like, people love you. Like, I love you so much. Like, don't worry. Like, you are dear to me. And what happens next in our heads, I think maybe at least mine, because, like, I'm a flawed human, is. I begin to think, like, oh, but you don't really know me. Yeah, there's like, you wouldn't really say that if you knew my heart. You wouldn't really say that if you saw what I've done. You wouldn't really say that about me if you knew who I really was. And the Lord, in fact, does. And maybe Brigham Young had a little bit of that moment in him when he said, you are dear and well beloved to me. Like, I adore you. And then what happens next is it almost feels like in verse two, he says, and I'm gonna prove it. I'm not just, like, hearing words in the streets about who you are. It's not just like, I, like, saw your report card and you got all.
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A's or general, like, Valentine that you hand out to the whole house.
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Yeah. That he bought at Walgreens or whatever.
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Yeah.
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Like, I better start out with something nice because, like, I'm writing to you directly.
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Yeah.
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And then in verse number two, he says, I have seen your labor. I've seen it. I am willing to call you dear and beloved to me. And I have seen everything you've done. I've seen the work you've put in. I've seen the hours that you spent up at night so scared. I've seen and heard your prayers. I've seen you get down on your knees every single night and pray for the work that you're doing and wake up the very next morning and do it all over again. I have seen that all. I've seen the moments when you say, oh, I should have done better, and the moments that you said, I'm really proud of what I've done. And also the moments that you say, oh, I should have done that, and I didn't, and I just messed that one up. And he says, I have seen it all. And to him, he is still dear and well beloved. And I was with my nieces and nephews this past weekend, and I have one nephew, and he's, like, kind of crazy. Like, he's just, like. He is loud and excited about everything, and his mind goes, like, probably 900 miles per hour faster than any little boy's mind has ever gone in the history of the world. And he is just going crazy all the time. And that kind of personality is not great at school. That's not their favorite place for kids like that.
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Yeah.
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And teachers, usually, that's their nightmare. They pray before the first day of school to not have a personality like that in their class. And so I was, like, asking how school's going, and I was talking to his parents, and they said, oh, he has the best teacher right now because she keeps giving him awards for being a good listener. And over and over and over, he keeps coming home and, like, he, like, gets all these awards for being a good listener. And then they were joking. He's like that. My brother was like, I bet that they're just saying that to, like, force him into being one. Like, to trick him into it, like, rewarding good behavior. And so then I was, like, asking, and I was like, hey, like my nephew. I was like, I heard that you're so good at listening. And then it was so cute because he paused and he looked at me, and he just started listing all these times that his teacher told him he was a good listener. And he really was. He was being a good listener. And it would have been fine if his teacher was just, like, trying to trick him into being a good listener for sure. But that boy has changed the way he views himself as a stage student. Because the teacher showed him moments when he was living like that she saw his works and said, I will speak into who you really are. And I think sometimes we need that reminder with God that it's not that God is just calling us loved. It's not that God just looks down at us and says, we are dear to him. He looks and he sees everything we're doing, and he claims us and he adores us, and he still calls us loved, even.
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Yeah, those two words, I think, are just awesome to me. Where it's like, I've seen your labor and your toil in these journeys. Right? That I've seen how you've tried, and I've seen where it's been hard for you or because of your personality or the circumstances. But the end of that verse one is that your offering is acceptable to me. It wasn't a Perfect offering. We know that about Brigham, about me, about. About you. It's not a perfect offering, but it's one that the Lord accepted. It's the same word he used when. When he saw the temple, say, I accept this great gift that you've given to me. Brigham Young in this section is actually sort of getting a little bit of a shift in his responsibility. And now he's going to be staying closer to home to be closer to Joseph. And those of us who know church history can see the writing on the wall here that the Lord is preparing the next president of the church, and he's keeping him close to Joseph for this season. It's sort of like a switch in what his calling and responsibilities are going to be. As you read in 1:26. And I just have been thinking about this section because I feel like it's really easy to dog on Brigham Young. Like, I feel like I've heard a lot of people that there's books written about that, that you can take a quote out of context or in context or whatever. Listen, I never met him and I don't know him, but I have heard some criticisms about Brigham Young, and it's just really easy to find criticisms about people and about leadership of the church. But I do appreciate and adore that it begins with the way that the Lord sees him. My dear and well beloved brother Brigham Young. I know people see a certain side of you, only one side of you, the public facing one that's so easy to criticize. He says, but I've seen all of your labor and all of your toil and all of your offerings. Was Brigham Young this and this and this like adjectives that you've probably heard about him again? Yes. Maybe. I don't know. But the Lord sees another side of him. And the Lord sees that in section 126, that he came home to an unfinished cabin because he gave his time and his money and his efforts to try and bring other people the gospel. He saw him when he was in the back of the wagon, sick as a dog but still willing to go out and take the good news to other people. He saw him trudge through the heat and the mud across the United States to go on a rescue mission for people who needed him most and stayed loyal and faithful to that mission the whole time. He sees the part that's up and coming, where he stands up in general conference and will say, go out and rescue them. The Lord sees all those parts of him. And I think it's worth us considering, too to see the dear and well beloved parts of other people. It's really easy to criticize and find what is brash or not my personality or whatever, but to take the eyes of the Lord and the heart of the Lord and see what is dear and beloved in people. So I love this section. 126, 127 and 128 are really interesting because these were both letters that Joseph Smith wrote to the Saints and they had to be letters and couldn't be sermons because you may know this from the history of the church. The governor of Missouri, Governor Boggs, who is the one who issued the extermination order, who made it legal in the state of Missouri to kill a Mormon. Right. There was an assassination attempt on him. Now, if I were a detective and I laid out the facts and saw like, oh, look, he signed an extermination order for this church. Then right after that somebody tried to take him out, I would think, oh, okay. So there is now a warrant out for the arrest of Joseph Smith. And there's accusations against Joseph Smith and the leadership of the church for orchestrating this and for doing this. So Joseph is actually in hiding during 127 and 128, because the same state he was in Liberty Jail for unjustly is now after him again. And he's like, oh, my goodness, I cannot do this.
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B
What could he even do?
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Yeah, so as you read 127 and 128, you're gonna catch hints of that, like the way 127 starts. For as much as the Lord has revealed unto me that my enemies, both in Missouri and in this state, are again in pursuit of me, and may I add, they're in pursuit of me without a cause. And they don't have the least shadow or coloring of justice or on their side in the getting up of these prosecutions against me, inasmuch as their pretensions are founded in falsehood of the blackest dye, it seems like Joseph Smith doesn't agree with the warrants out, you know, for his arrest.
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B
Gotta read between the lines.
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A
But he says, so I've thought it wisdom in me to leave this place for a short season. And some of that time he spends. And I actually got a chance to go see this in. Have you ever seen his secret house? Oh, in the, in his house. I don't know if they're showing it on tours. It used to be owned by the community of Christ Church. And so sometimes, like one of their tour guides would show you if there, you know, there Is this hidden attic in his house in Nauvoo. And I've heard some church historians say that perhaps that is where he wrote either parts or all of 127 and 128. But you will read hints of him being in that place. And, oh, my gosh, can you just imagine what that feels like for him? That it's like, we finally got out of liberty Jail, and he's like, are we done with this kind of stuff? And then however much time passes, and it's like, oh, my goodness gracious. Again, again. And 127 and 128, I think, are some of those sections that we can look to when we kind of feel like we've been given the left right hook and uppercut against us, you know, and we see some of, like, the counsel that Joseph gives, and I think it becomes great advice for all of us. Like, this is his response to this season of his life. This one of, like, ah, being pursued and chased and falsely accused. And he's like, all right, this happens, but this is what I'm gonna do. Here's just four or five different principles in here. Number two, he talks about this being the common lot of his life. It seems like I was ordained, he says, from the foundation of the world for some good, end or bad, whatever you want to call it. And if I'm designed and created by God in heaven to do this great work, then certainly there would be a target on my back and somebody's trying to stop me. So he sees the target as a compliment in a sense, right? And then he says, nevertheless, God knows all things. Deep water is what I want to swim in. And the opposite of deep is shallow. And Joseph says, I am deep in trials and afflictions and perils, but at least I'm not shallow. Deep water is teaching me and changing me in a way that shallow experiences just can't. I feel like Paul to glory in tribulation because then I get to experience the deliverance. So that verse two is that first principle. To see tribulation in that eternal perspective and what God can and is doing. Isn't that interesting to say this bad thing happened is happening to me right now. It's like, oh, but I'm excited to see how God delivers me from it.
- [24:09]
B
Well, and I think it's so human of him, Even when you see the part when at the beginning of verse number two, when he says, this is obviously my law in life, is that I am just going to experience all of these hard and devastating things of Humanity. But then he says, and for what Cause? It seems mysterious. And I love that you just get a glimpse of his humanity for just one second, that he's like, I understand that I can have internal perspective and I can grow from this, and I know that it's gonna be good for me in the end, or whatever they all say. But I love that in the middle there, he does say, like, I don't even know why this is happening. I don't. I just really don't know. And I think that sometimes it's okay for us to give ourselves permission in mortality to say, you know what? I know that I can grow for this. I know that it's gonna be good for me in the end and it's gonna change my heart and have a great eternal perspective. And also at the same time say, but I have absolutely no idea why this is happening.
- [24:55]
A
Yeah. Yeah, okay. The second principle is in verse four, where the Lord says, let the works of my temple and all the works which I've appointed unto you continue and not cease. It's so easy that when this distraction is going on to just let it consume us. And the Lord's like, don't let it stop you from the good work that you are doing. Are doing. That is so easy to be accused, to have something go wrong, and then to think, I'm just quitting everything. I don't want to do anything anymore then, because every time I try to do something good, bad things seem to happen. So I'm hanging up the shoes, the hat. I don't know. Both. I don't know what the phrase is, everybody on that, but I do hang up the hat.
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B
Hang up the hat.
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A
Yeah, I think it's the shoes, too.
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B
Take off your shoes.
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A
I don't know why.
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B
Hanging up everything.
- [25:46]
A
I don't know why anyone's hanging up their shoes, but that could be a temptation to feel that. And I love this word in verse four, where he just says, let your diligence and your perseverance and your patience and your works be redoubled. And I feel like we are in a time right now where there's a left, right punch happening to a lot of us. And Joseph takes that as an opportunity to say, well, then I'm gonna redouble down on a couple things. And what I'm gonna redouble down are in diligence in doing the good work called and perseverance. I'm doubling down on not giving up, and I'm doubling down on patience with God and with other people. And I'm doubling down on love, and I'm doubling down on grace, and I'm doubling down on mercy. And I think, what if we just took those opportunities in our lives as invitations to redouble down on the principles of goodness that Jesus showed us how he doubled down on the cross unforgiveness. And he doubled down while he was on the cross in care and tenderness for other people. And he doubled down on just the things that make him who he was. And we see that same thing in his servant here in. In Joseph. Okay, two more quick things that I think we can find in 127. One of them, because I think it's so funny, but the first one of the last two in verse eight is a promise from the Lord. I am about to restore many things to this earth in this place. Hold on, let me give you the funny one. And then I'm going to come back to what I was going to say in that. In 11. Okay. I should have done 11. First verse 11, where he says this, I closed my letter for the present for the want. I wish I had more time. For the enemy is on the alert. And as the Savior said, the prince of this world cometh. He's talking about the devil, but he hath nothing in me. And I don't know how. I never knew that verse. As a high schooler, they need to teach that. Yeah. And because the David Butler translation is like, the devil's coming, but he got nothing on me. Right. I don't know if that is.
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B
You, like, hardly had to translate it. It's like really saying that it is.
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A
It really is. So I just think that where he just says my prayer to God is that you all may be saved. That last verse, look at the end of verse two, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord hath spoken it. I believe him. I'm doubling down on believing his promises also. So that one is just so cool. But that eight, verse eight, I'm about to restore many things to this earth. And he kind of introduces that at the beginning of 128 where he just says, okay, I have had this subject, verse one, occupy my mind and press itself upon my feelings in the strongest. Since I've been pursued by my enemies. There was something about the pursuit of his enemies that triggered these thoughts. Maybe it's the time that he had in the attic. Maybe it's the context. I don't know what it is. But. But since he began to be pursued by his enemies, now he's having these Thoughts occupy his mind and press themselves upon his feelings in the strongest. And this moment in time that Joseph would have said no thank you to on the menu of life actually is becoming a window into some of our most glorious and unique and beautiful truths and doctrines that are going to be restored. This moment of persecution is kindling the flame of faithful and beautiful truths. And there's something about that that's like redoubling down on understanding my purpose and where we're going from here. And so that is, I think, just fantastic. We're seeing, I think, just really, really good counsel and advice and life principles in this. And I think all these are worth taking and asking ourselves, having conversations. Okay, this is the way things are right now. So what do I want to redouble down on? Okay, this is the way things are right now. What can I focus on? What promise of God can I focus on in this period? So these are really great, but they're also, I think, super applicable, easy to talk about and to, and to practice out.
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B
100%. Section 127 and 128 are going into those doctrines. And the doctrine it's mostly focusing on is baptisms for the dead. And that wasn't like necessarily that happened earlier. The revelation for baptisms for the dead happened earlier, but. But this was just more detailed and more specific and more information about baptisms for the dead.
- [30:49]
A
And I'll say. And like, you'll see in 1:28 and starting to move in a further direction too. Like, we know if you're a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, you know that there are more temple ordinances and doctrines to come, more work for the dead to come, ceilings of siblings and families and spouses to come. And baptisms for the dead is like almost like the, the foot in the door. And you can see it in 128. Like, Joseph starts like, hold on, hold on, hold on. I, I taught this and I loved it, but this is, I'm starting to realize it's the only.
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B
The beginning.
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A
This might be just the beginning of, of something really good.
- [31:29]
B
Yes, 100%. And what happens is this doctrine was actually taught in such an interesting way because Joseph Smith actually taught it at a funeral. And it's funny because I read that there's a commentary that talks about Joseph, like, and teaching this at the funeral about baptisms for the dead, which, like a little bit of you is like, I guess it like, does like match a funeral. But like, nonetheless, you're also kind of like, he's Doing a talk. Like, it's like. I don't know, like, it almost feels like a little bit like you're like, okay. But there's this commentary, and it just said there was actually a woman at the funeral, attending the funeral, who had lost her teenage son. And maybe, just maybe, Joseph noticed her and knew that maybe there was a moment that his words could touch more hearts than just a couple. And one heart in particular about a grieving mother. And when you hear that and you think about the possibility of that story and that woman sitting there listening to Joseph, Jerry, teaching this doctrine, I think it really humanizes this doctrine of baptisms for the dead. And I think sometimes we hear about Jesus for the dead and we just, like, think about, like, chlorine water and, like, the jumpsuit, and it's just like.
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A
Okay, yeah, temple trips or whatever.
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B
Yeah. And it's just like, okay, we just, like, go through quick and you do five names and it's like, really fast or whatever. And hearing that story, it just made me pause and think about how truly, like, groundbreaking and beautiful and healing this revelation is. Not just then, but even still today.
- [33:01]
A
Yeah.
- [33:01]
B
That we believe in a God who never runs out of giving chances. A God who wants to do absolutely anything he possibly can to help as many of his children as he possibly can. And that is what baptisms of the dead is. It is God looking down at us and saying, you know what? My plan includes all of you. And you're all going to help each other and you're all going to walk back home together. Together. And that is baptisms for the dead is being willing to say in all ordinances that we do for the people who have passed is pausing and saying, someone loved this person. And this was someone's mom or someone's little brother. This was someone who had a birthday and who celebrated Christmas. And this was someone who lived all the way across the world, but, like, probably spent their mornings, like, getting ready for school, whatever they did, and pausing and realizing, like, that's a real person who God adores, who says, listen, someone's mom is going to cry at their baptism, and someone's mom wept because they didn't have the chance to be baptized before. And I love that we believe in a God who never stops wanting to help his kids ever, no matter what. But also one that is going to whisper truth into someone who's talking heart, like Joseph, and say, like, someone out there needs to hear this, so speak to them. And there's this one little line in verse number five. And it's like kind of like a little bit, like, funny.
- [34:23]
A
And can I just say this as like a. Like, as you were just talking, I just keep thinking about that promise from the Savior, the happy ending promise that he says one day I will wipe away all tears from their eyes. And I was just thinking about how somebody goes and does a baptism for the dead and they're actually helping that happen. Right. Like, that promise is coming true right now, that we instead, in the place of the Savior, as his disciples and servants, can begin to dry the tears and the things that people were mourning over.
- [35:02]
B
Yeah. And change the story.
- [35:03]
A
Right.
- [35:04]
B
100%. And there's this little line, it's at the very beginning of verse number five. And it just says, you may think this order of things to be very particular. You might read this and think, why did it need to be so specific? It did not need to be that serious. Why are you taking this so seriously?
- [35:18]
A
Yeah, and he's talking about, like, the recorders. Like, make sure there's a recorder and each of the wards and then a general recorder and get the names and da, da, da.
- [35:25]
B
And it's gonna be serious. And it seems serious when you read it. It's like kind of like one of.
- [35:28]
A
Those things kind of particular.
- [35:29]
B
Like. Yeah, it's like a handbook. And it's not like a vague handbook. It's like, here, this is how it's going to go.
- [35:33]
A
Because the other side you want to say is like, ah, God knows.
- [35:35]
B
Yeah, it's not serious.
- [35:36]
A
He's gonna figure this out.
- [35:37]
B
It's gonna be fine.
- [35:37]
A
Which is also true about him. Right?
- [35:39]
B
Yeah, 100%. But I think the reason that I like that so much is because we can go do baptisms for the dead or any work for the dead. And we're just like, oh, it's my Tuesday morning and I'm gonna go before school. And like, it's just like, I'm just gonna hurry quick and go through and do baptisms for the dead. Or like, it's a youth temple trip or whatever. Or like, anything that we're just doing. And we're just like, oh, yeah, this is just like my routine. But it's those people's very only experience with baptism. And it's those people, those angels and those. Those people that didn't have the chance to get baptized. It is their moment that they have been waiting for that they cannot wait for. And it just makes me pause and think. I love so deeply that God cares about every particular that he cares about the order of things. Because he says, I want this to be just as special, just as important for each of those souls as it was for you when you got baptized here. And that means that we're going to have to be a little bit more specific and there's going to be recorders. And I don't want to mess this up because they deserve that.
- [36:42]
A
Yeah. It seems like being particular is a love language.
- [36:45]
B
Yeah.
- [36:45]
A
And we saw that in section 125. We saw that in section 126. Right. I'm particular about these things because they're people and they matter. And I'm going to be super particular about Jane and Jones and Christian and Elle and get my kids baptisms and their special moments in their life.
- [37:04]
B
Yeah. And you're not going to want someone to forget to write it down.
- [37:06]
A
Yeah. It's like we're going to be particular because these are people and people matter. And being particular shows to people that they matter. Being particular is not my gift, but I do appreciate that love language so much. And seeing this here before we get to just the end of 128. This is so random, everybody. But I thought about this as you were talking back in section 126. This well beloved brother Brigham Young. I think this might be a cool activity to do. Get out a piece of paper and write a dear and well beloved letter to someone that you know really well and that you care about a lot. And what would you say to them and what would you encourage them in. In what ways would you strengthen their. Their faith and help them understand who they are and do that, do that activity. Write out that letter. But then I want you to like, look at the letter and cross out the name and put your own name in there and just realize that that's the same way God would speak to you. It's hard for us to speak to ourselves the way that God would. But as we talk about this. This particular nature of God that he sees, these individuals, the mom at the baptism and Brigham riding in the wagon on his way home, and the saints in Iowa. I just want that activity to be one that we realize that. That he's just as particular about you and he's just as particular about me. So anyway, sorry, that was a little bit of a kind of a detour. But this is awesome. This section ends. If you are in a place of just feeling down and out, section 128 is where you want to come to be encouraged again to just feel like the woo of. Of what. Of what it is that we're A part of verse nine starts, it may seem to some to be a very bold doctrine that we talk of this power which records or binds on earth and binds in heaven. And I and I, we can understand that, that some people may scoff at that and say, that's a little bit like bold of y' all to believe that that's actually what's happening inside temple baptismal fonts and inside your churches and inside. Right. But it may seem to some, but then he says, nevertheless, in all ages of the world, whenever the Lord has given a dispensation of the priesthood to any man by actual revelation, this power has always been given. This is why we send missionaries out to all the world. This is why we post a million things on social media accounts, because God has made us stewards of this power, of this privilege for all people in the world for this gift. And yes, it may seem bold, but we have to be bold about it. We have to let people know because there's grieving moms out there and grieving brothers and dads and siblings and sons about their life, situations about things that are happening, about mistakes that they've made. And they've got to know. They need to know that who the father is and who the son is and the way that they're pouring out their love in particular ways upon this earth. And Joseph starts to just feel it, man. He just starts to like. Because once that gets in you and you start to go, you see 19, I would say this if you want to know. Do I get it? Has it caught me? Am I on fire with what this really is that I have that's been gifted to me? If you can respond in the way 19 does, then. Then you're. You're getting it. You're getting it because he says, Listen, 18, let me back up one. There are things which have never been revealed from the foundation of the world that have been kept and hid, that will be revealed to kids in this. The dispensation of the fullness of times. There's lessons happening in Primary that like the rest of the world needs to know. And he says, now, what do we hear in the gospel that we've received? A voice of gladness. Exclamation point. A voice of mercy from heaven. A voice of truth out of the earth. Glad tidings for the dead, A voice of gladness for the living. Glad tidings of great joy. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that take those glad tidings of good things to the rest of the World to Zion, to the rest of the world, thy God reigneth. And as the dews of Carmel, so will that. That daily dose of goodness, that, like dew, is for the earth. And so shall the knowledge and the goodness of God be upon them. This is. This is. It keeps going. It keeps going. And he starts to, like, remember, right in the attic. He's in the attic in August. This is in August. So he's, like, sweating. I don't know if you've ever been to nautical.
- [42:30]
B
He can't even read the cause.
- [42:32]
A
It's. The ink is running, right? But he just starts to think through his life, and he's just like, oh, glad tidings from Cumorah. And it's fun to read 20 and think about what moment in his life and in the history of the Restoration is he talking about. Moroni, an angel from heaven, A book to be revealed. The voice of the Lord in Fayette. The voice of Michael on the banks of the Susquehanna River. The voice of Peter and James and John, all possessing keys of the kingdom and the dispensation. The voice of God himself in the chamber of Father Whitmer. The voice of Michael and Gabriel and Rachel. Raphael. And Rachel probably came, too. She's such a sweetheart. Diverse angels, from Michael or Adam down to the present time, all declaring their dispensation, their rights, their keys, their honors, their majesty, their glories, their powers of the priesthood, line upon line, precept upon precept. Here a little, there a little. Giving us consolation by holding forth that which is to come. All of these events and all of these angels and all of these declarations confirm our hope is what the end of verse 21 says. Brethren, in 22. Sistren, everyone, shall we not go on in so great a cause? I know Missouri's after us. Governor Bongs accusations. Still a little swampy in Nauvoo Shao. But we've got a great cause. We've got something worth taking to the world. We've got something worth celebrating over. So go forward and not backward. Courage on to the victory. Let your hearts rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. I will stop reading. I could just keep going. I don't even know at what word to stop myself on. But please don't stop yourself and keep reading to the end of that chapter. And this is what the tippins are for the week to slide in there, reminders of these glad tidings of great joy. And what an awesome discussion to have. What reason do we have to not focus on what's going wrong or what we've done wrong. But. But look what. What God has given us is so much bigger and, and greater. We're not ignoring any of it, but it's happening in the midst of it. The glad, the good news is happening in the midst of the things that are hard.
- [45:10]
B
And we can read his list of all the things that, like, made him want to cheer and shout with gladness. But I think what a powerful moment to pause and also to create your own. And when you think about your life and what God is doing and has done for and sitting and thinking what has happened in my life, that makes me feel like I have glad tidings, that I'm full of goodness, what experiences, what moments, and just go through and make that list. Write them actually down. Joseph did. Why shouldn't we? All the moments when we have experienced his goodness and all the ones that we say, oh, God was so good in that moment. I can't help but, like, want to tell the world about him.
- [45:45]
A
Yeah. Yeah. What are your glad tidings of great joy? And then the poster that you want to hang out this week in conjunction with that list, make that. This is what you might want to do. Make that list to everyone. Sit down, make that list. And then hang up this poster as a reminder of it. Hang up your list next to it too, if you want. Put them on the fridge. Put them on the.
- [46:08]
B
Should do that.
- [46:09]
A
Just put them all up. Listen to this quote that's on here that everyone in your family is going to pass by every day. Make sure they see it. So when they see gladness, they think of this happiness as the object and design of our existence. And we'll be the end thereof if we pursue that path that leads to it. Go forward, not backward. We have a voice of gladness. We have glad tidings, things to rejoice over. So I'm so happy for sections like these. And I just love that it came in the best doctrine, came at a funeral. And these awesome reminders come in a sweaty attic, right? And just a reminder to us of God sent his son to save the world in a barn and he did it on a cross. And just like even in the midst of these hard things, the most beautiful truths and revelations and experiences are born from them. This is awesome.
- [47:06]
B
Oh, we love it.
- [47:07]
A
We want to cheer. I should do cheer. Cheer at the end of this, right? On a walk in the car, wherever you are. All right, y', all, we will see you next week if you want to follow along in everything we're doing. You can find us on Instagram at Don't miss this study, at this week's Grace and at MrDave Butler.
- [47:24]
B
And if you want to subscribe to the app or get our weekly newsletter, all of the information can be found at. Don't miss this study.com See you next week.