Genesis 6–11; Moses 8 Part 1 • Bro. Michael Cottle • Feb. 9-15 • Come, Follow Me

Summary

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followHIM Podcast Summary

Genesis 6–11; Moses 8, Part 1 with Bro. Michael Cottle

Hosts: Hank Smith & John Bytheway
Guest: Bro. Michael Cottle
Release Date: February 4, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode explores Genesis 6–11 and Moses 8, focusing on the scriptural narratives of Noah, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel through an Latter-day Saint perspective. Brother Michael Cottle joins hosts Hank Smith and John Bytheway to examine these chapters’ relevance to the modern day, highlighting principles regarding the plan of salvation, the power and immediacy of Jesus Christ, prophetic leadership, and navigating wickedness. The hosts and guest interweave scholarly insight, personal faith, and practical application to enrich “Come, Follow Me” study for individuals and families.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Flood and Modern Wickedness

• Relevance to Today:
  • Both the Flood and Tower of Babel stories serve as archetypes for spiritual survival amid societal corruption and violence—drawing direct lines between ancient and modern times. (08:29)
  • “We’re not dealing with floods necessarily of water, but flood of wickedness. And how do we navigate and get through that? Well, we need Jesus Christ. And that’s what the story of Noah really is teaching, I think.” – Mike Cottle (02:24)

2. Context from Moses 8 vs Genesis 6

• Moses 8 as Crucial Background:
  • Provides additional context about Methuselah, the preserved family line, and expands on the reasons for the Flood. (08:29–09:19)
  • Discussion on “FOMO” (fear of missing out) regarding Methuselah, left behind as the City of Enoch is taken.
    • “That’s the ultimate fear of missing out on something.” – Mike Cottle (09:34)

3. Agency, Choice, and Covenant

• Sons of God vs. Sons of Men: (15:20–18:32)

  • The text uses the terms to reflect covenant-keepers (sons of God) and those who reject the covenant (sons of men).
  • Daughters “sell themselves,” symbolizing the abandonment of spiritual covenants for fleeting worldly gains.
    • “They’re selling themselves to those that have nothing covenant wise to offer.” – Mike Cottle (18:11)

• Notable Quote:

  • “Satan tempts us to exchange the priceless pearls of true happiness and eternal values for a fake plastic trinket that is merely an illusion and a counterfeit of happiness and joy.” – President Uchtdorf, quoted by Hank Smith (17:49)

4. Progression of Wickedness

• The decline moves from not hearkening to the prophet, to open rebellion and seeking the prophet’s life. (21:03–23:24)
  • Discussion of the term “giants” as “nephilim,” better understood as “fallen ones” rather than simply people of large stature. (21:03)

5. Divine Order and Priesthood

• Noah after the “Order of the Son of God”:
  • The phrase refers to entering a spiritual society or group, accessible to both men and women through covenant. (24:03–25:43)
  • "Anybody that enters into this order is part of this order of the Son of God, his group that have power and priesthood and promises..." – Mike Cottle (25:43)

6. Rejecting Prophetic Guidance

• Despite repeated preaching, the people “hearkened not”; highlights principle of spiritual safety in following the prophet—then and now. (26:38–28:51, 49:35–49:57)
  • “There is no mincing words with that. This is a message that if you want to be with me, you’ve got to listen to my prophets...” – Mike Cottle (00:04; 49:57)

7. Mercy in the Flood

• Mercy is shown in limiting the spread of evil to the next generations; God acts to preserve agency and prevent “agency-destroying” environments. (29:10–32:21)
  • “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of his children.” – discussed by Mike and Hank (29:10)

8. Repentance and the Plan of Salvation

• The four core principles—faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost—appear as the central theme of both the ancient texts and modern applications. (36:08–40:51)
  • Repentance is emphasized as a process, not a checklist.
    • “Almost every lesson in those seminary lessons… was a lesson on repentance.” – Mike Cottle (37:53)
    • “Success... is going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm… we go from mistake to mistake without any loss of enthusiasm. But that is the plan.” (43:16)

9. Pain, Sorrow, and Some of God’s Emotions

• The scriptural phrase “it repented Noah” (or God) is examined as “he grieved,” felt sorrow—not about God's making a mistake, but about heartbreak over humanity’s choices. (44:35–47:48)
  • “It’s just that there’s a pain, there’s a sorrow...” – Mike Cottle (44:46)

10. Prophetic Echo & Modern Application

• We must echo and amplify the current prophet’s words in teaching and living.
  • “We ought to be so deeply familiar with their words that when we interact with people… we can pull upon their messages…” – Mike Cottle (54:02–55:32)

11. Typology: The Ark as Christ and Covenant

• Pitching the Ark:
  • The Hebrew word for “pitch” (as in sealing the ark) shares a root with “atone.” The ark typifies Christ’s atonement—covering, sealing, and protecting from chaos (sin, worldliness). (67:50–68:26)
  • “God told Noah to pitch the ark… The Hebrew word translated as pitch is the root word for atone. It has been suggested that the atonement of Jesus Christ provides us with a protective covering...” – cited by Hank Smith (67:50)

12. Sealing & Protection

• Personal and Family Application:
  • As the ark was sealed “within and without,” so too must our hearts and homes be sealed against the destructive forces of the world—through Christ’s atonement and personal discipleship. (69:09–71:45)

13. God’s Mercy and Sorrow

• Ezekiel Passages:
  • God desires repentance, not destruction.
    • “Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked... Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways…” – John Bytheway, quoting Ezekiel 33:11 (57:33)
  • “If there is any doubt, if anybody has any doubt at all, God loves his children and he’s pained to see them doing wickedly.” – Mike Cottle (58:13)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Prophetic Trust:

  • “That doesn’t mean they’re perfect… But we’ve got to trust their words. And I’m persuaded from my experience that we can trust them.” – Mike Cottle (00:04; 49:57)

• On Repentance Vs. Sinning:

  • “What’s the difference between repenting of a sin and repenting of sinning? Repenting of a sin is a checklist... but repenting of sinning is recognizing my weakness before God and not wanting to do anything that would not make me worthy to be in his presence.” – Mike Cottle (39:08)

• On the Flood’s Mercy:

  • “By taking away the earthly existence, God prevented them from entailing their sins upon their posterity and degenerating or corrupting them.” – Citing President John Taylor (29:10)

• On the Atonement’s Protection:

  • “The atonement of Jesus Christ provides us with a protective covering. It shields us from the power of the adversary just as the pitch protected the ark from the life threatening waters.” – Hank Smith, reading from scripture helps (67:50)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Introduction, context, Methuselah & Enoch: 00:00–11:40
• Wickedness, agency, and not hearkening: 11:41–19:00
• The Order (Priesthood), prophetic authority: 23:50–25:43
• Mercy in the Flood: 29:10–32:21
• Repentance & Gospel basics emphasized: 36:08–40:51
• God’s sorrow, the language of ‘repentance’: 44:35–47:09
• Safety in following prophets, modern application: 49:35–56:59
• Typology: the Ark and the Atonement: 67:50–69:09
• Home as an ark, inward/outward protection: 69:55–71:45
• God’s mercy—Ezekiel passages: 57:05–59:14

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Tone and Style

• Warm, relational, and faith-affirming: The episode blends scriptural analysis and practical application with personal anecdotes and humor (e.g., banter about sons named Shem and Ham, and paper vs. digital scriptures).
• Didactic and supportive: Brother Cottle’s teaching style is gentle but direct, inviting personal reflection and reinforcing core gospel principles.

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Takeaways

• The Noah and Flood narratives serve as powerful blueprints for enduring spiritual “floods” today—through covenants, repentance, and above all, the Savior’s redeeming power.
• The mercy of God is consistent throughout the Old Testament, even (and especially) in moments of judgment.
• Safety, peace, and protection are found in following living prophets, echoing their counsel, and adhering to the “covenant pathway.”
• God desires not rote obedience, but hearts sealed with the Savior, both inwardly and outwardly.
• Ultimate hope lies in Christ’s ability to “pitch” and protect us—individually and as families—from the storms and chaos of our time.

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Suggested Action for Listeners

• Reflect: How am I using prophetic counsel as an anchor and “pitch” in my personal and family life?
• Study: Review President Oaks’s most recent general conference address, considering it as present-day “ark-building” guidance.
• Discuss: With your study group or family, what does “hearkening” look like in the 21st century? How can your home be “sealed” against destructive spiritual influences?
• Apply: Regularly revisit and apply the first principles of the gospel—faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost—in daily discipleship.

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“He wants everyone in it. He's sad when they don't. When they don't want his order, be part of his group… Safety is found in following a prophet.”
– Brother Michael Cottle (25:43, 49:57)

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Transcript

[Hank Smith]

Coming up in this episode on Follow him.

[Mike Cottle]

There is no mincing words with that. This is a message that if you want to be with me, you've got to listen to my prophets, my chosen vessels whom I've called to preach the word. That doesn't mean they're perfect. That doesn't mean that we just have blind faith. But we've got to trust their words. And I'm persuaded from my experience that we can trust him.

[Hank Smith]

Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith. I'm your host. I'm here with my co host, John by the Way, who has three sons, Andrew, Matthew and Timothy. John, did you know that Noah had three sons? Japheth, Shem and. And Ham. You should have gone with those three.

[Mike Cottle]

Names, John, Japheth, Shem and Ham by.

[John By the Way]

The Way is wacky enough. If I had a Japheth, by the Way. Oh, boy.

[Hank Smith]

Yeah, we'll call Timothy Ham. Ham, by the Way.

[Mike Cottle]

Hey, John.

[Hank Smith]

We are privileged today to have with us Dr. Mike Cottle. Brother Cottle. I'm just going to call you Mike, if that's okay. Thank you for being here.

[Mike Cottle]

It's my pleasure. I am delighted to be with you good friends and it's nice to reacquaint and be connected here.

[Hank Smith]

Yeah, you make my heart happy. I'm going to talk about that a little bit during our show today. I want to talk about Mike and all he's done for me. John, we're talking about Noah and a little bit about the Tower of Babel. What are you thinking today when you think Noah, what do you think of?

[John By the Way]

Do you know what, Hank, to be honest, four years ago, our recording about these chapters was so good. We learned so many insights about Noah. One of them that I remember was, it was like the Earth being born again. It was like a new chance, a rebirth for the whole earth, which was kind of a cool way to think of it.

[Hank Smith]

Yeah, I remember that too. I remember our guest. I think it was Crystal Pierce, who talked about the tears in the story of Enoch turning into the flood of Noah. It connected in a way I'd never seen. Mike, we've been talking about this for a couple months. What are you looking forward to today? What do you want to do?

[Mike Cottle]

There are so many principles, but overarching. I think this story is a microcosm of the plan of salvation, the immediacy of Jesus Christ in our life to save all of us and that he has power to save everything that he touches. To me, there's power with that there's beauty in it and the relevance for us today. We're not dealing with floods necessarily of water, but flood of wickedness. And how do we navigate and get through that? Well, we need Jesus Christ. And that's what the story of Noah really is teaching, I think.

[Hank Smith]

Wow, that's exciting. Now, John, when I think the name Mike Cottle, a lot happens in my heart. Our listeners probably there's quite a few who don't know who Mike is. Could you do a little introduction for him?

[John By the Way]

Yeah, I will. Mike Cottle grew up in Blaine, Minnesota. Attended Rick's College back when it was Rick's. After serving a mission in Fresno, California, he attended byu, obtained a bachelor's in history and family sciences and master's in educational leadership and a doctorate in education curriculum and instruction from Utah State. And he's been a seminary instructor in Camas Park City and Heber City. Now, where were you, Hank, during one of those?

[Hank Smith]

We were at Park City together. Yep.

[John By the Way]

At Park City. Camas Park City in Heber City. He's been a curriculum writer for seminaries and institutes down at the church office building. Right now he is a Washington, D.C. metro coordinator for seminaries and institutes and an institute instructor. And Hank white is Washington, D.C. make you take notice when you hear that.

[Hank Smith]

Oh, man. Well, it makes me feel good to have my good friend Mike Cottle. Just in case there's a certain Elder Smith out there who might need something. I could call on my friend Mike Cottle and he would come to the rescue. So I have a son who's a missionary in the same place that Michael works.

[John By the Way]

That's so awesome. Mike Cottle loves spending time with family, loves all sports, especially basketball. Your bio does not say how tall you are, but you look tall even from where you're sitting. How tall are you?

[Mike Cottle]

I am 6, 4, and 7, 8, but I probably shrinking. And I always wanted to be six' six or six' eight. None of us get what we really want.

[John By the Way]

You can say that again, brother. Basketball. He loves riding horses, loves history. I like this part. He and his wife, Jennifer Aubeg, are the parents of five children, one girl and four boys. And I bet when those boys and Mike are together, that's a formidable basketball opponent.

[Mike Cottle]

You five guys, I bet it's really fun. Now all of my children have played. My daughter actually scored more points in her high school career than any of my sons.

[John By the Way]

That's the coolest. That's awesome.

[Mike Cottle]

She's quite a motivator for her brothers to be competitive.

[John By the Way]

She probably reminds him of that from time to time, too.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah.

[Hank Smith]

John, you might have to stop me if I gush a little too much. I actually don't want to get emotional here. I love all of our guests. I love every single one. Mike, to me, is very special because I met Mike very early in my seminary career. It was pretty rough. Things had not gone the way I'd planned. I was about ready to be done with church education. Mike literally saved me, literally saved my career. Came in. We taught together for just one year at Park City Seminary. He was so uplifting, so edifying. Mike is a builder, John, in every way. If you interact with Mike, he wants you to feel better about yourself when you walk away. Like I said, I don't want to get. I don't want to get too emotional over this, but Mike has seen dark, dark days. When you see this smile on his face and you hear his optimism, it's not because he has not seen the greatest pains that life can give us here. He is a testimony to who the Lord is and what the Lord can do with a family who turn themselves over to him. Anyway, I will stop before I weep.

[Mike Cottle]

It was such a fun time working with you. Even though it was just a year, it felt like it was a lot more than that. My only lament is that we didn't get to teach longer together. But I learned so much from you. Working with students, how to help scriptures come alive to students. We were both young, new teachers and just felt like we could do anything there at Park City.

[Hank Smith]

I don't know if there's any Park Cityites out there listening if there are. We still love you, Brother Smith and Brother Cottle. Still love you, still think of you. John, let's talk. Come, follow me. The lesson this week is called Noah Found Grace in the Eyes of the Lord. I'm going to read from the Come follow me manual, and then Mike, John and I are ready to learn from you. John has wonderful things to share. I'm ready to learn from both of you. It starts like this. Living in the latter days, we have special reason to pay attention to the story of the flood. When Jesus Christ taught how we should watch for his second coming, he said, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. In addition, words that describe Noah's day, like corrupt and filled with violence, could just as easily describe our time. The story of the Tower of Babel also feels applicable to our day, with its description of pride, followed by confusion and then division. These ancient accounts are Valuable not just because they show us that wickedness repeats itself throughout history. More important, they teach us what to do about it. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and the families of Jared and his brother turned to the Lord and were protected from the confusion and division in Babel. If we wonder how to keep ourselves and our families safe during corruption and violence, the stories in these chapters have much to teach us. What a great introduction, Mike. What do you want to do? How do you want to start?

[Mike Cottle]

I'd like to start in Moses, chapter 8. I like Moses 8 because it gives us a little bit more than what Genesis 6 gives us. We'll talk about the context, the people, their reaction to a prophet. Then we'll move over into Genesis and see how this develops into this plan of our Father in heaven, this beautiful plan, the plan of happiness. He is trying in every way to help his children to be saved, to come back to him, to reconnect with him. John, would you start for us? Let's in chapter two, to kind of get a little bit of background behind Noah. This is one of those verses that makes me laugh a little bit. I think of the fear of missing out the fomo. And to me, this is the ultimate right here. Verse 2.

[John By the Way]

Moses ate two, and it came to pass that Methuselah, the son of Enoch, was not taken. That the covenants of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to Enoch, for he truly covenanted with Enoch, that Noah should be the fruit of his loins.

[Mike Cottle]

What would it have been like to be Methuselah, all of your family taken? All the righteous are taken, and you are left behind. That's the ultimate fear of missing out on something. And I wonder how they viewed that. I don't know. Was it viewed as I'm left behind? Is it viewed as maybe even a death that they felt like that? There's that separation. We don't know how long. That could have been pretty traumatic. Or it's just recognition that my family line has got to be saved. Jared Halverson's made the idea that this is the family occupation of being a preacher of righteousness. And they needed to have family to be able to have the Noah coming through that line, that maybe they had a great vision of what their family's going to do. That, to me, is one of those interesting verses, and it intrigues me. I don't like to miss out.

[John By the Way]

When it says, Methuselah, son of Enoch was not taken, that means because the city of Enoch was taken.

[Mike Cottle]

Everybody except for you Methuselah, you stay all the righteous. Yeah. This is Enoch City Zion taken into heaven. When I think of the Savior come again. I don't want to miss that. I want to be part of that if at all possible. I want to be there to experience that. And I feel for Methuselah a little bit.

[Hank Smith]

Yeah, me too. Feels like a little bit of a Moroni type story to just be alone for a long time. Or ether maybe, who's just. All right. I guess I just get to stick around and write about it.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah. So I'm sure that there's some moments that pulled on his heart. We need a family line that stays so that we can. And thank goodness for all of us because Noah becomes that Adam figure again. Thank goodness we have someone that was willing to stay behind and go through this life and not enjoy the blessings of Zion. And being a translated being what, you know, no pain, no sorrow, but he was willing. Whatever that looked like. I don't know. But it is interesting to me.

[Hank Smith]

Kind of a Jeremiah. You get to stay here and watch.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah, yeah. Not so fun sometimes. Then you move it on down and there's kind of an interesting verse, verse 4. In preparation for the flood. The Lord is not just all of a sudden throwing a flood on. He's been working, trying hard to help his children. There's a famine in the land. Famine is generally associated with no rain. So you see this. I'm going to try to affect this by not allowing it to rain, causing a famine. People, you know, hot, maybe scorching heat that dries up everything. So people are going to suffer. It'll draw them closer to Him. He's trying to maximize their success. If that doesn't work, which we know it doesn't, then he's going to do the flood. So you got these two opposites, each of them. The Lord is trying to help his children come home, trying to help them to return to him, connect with them.

[Hank Smith]

There's a verse in the Book of Mormon where you can hear Mormon's frustration. It's in Helaman 12, just says human beings are the worst. In Helaman 12, Mormon kind of lays down his historical pen for a minute and just writes what he thinks. This is helaman 12 3. Thus we see that except the Lord chastens people with many afflictions. Unless he visits them with death, with terror, and with famine, and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him. Then he goes on, foolish, vain, crazy humans. Why do they do that?

[Mike Cottle]

The other verse that talks about people, humans being less than the dust of the earth. And the earth responds. When God commands it, it responds. But we kind of hem and ha and say, I don't know if I want to do that. And so frustrating.

[Hank Smith]

I'm sure it's frustrating for the Lord, too. He's like, tell me about it.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah. And yet he deals with it and works with this and has patience. Sometimes I think in the Old Testament, people get the image that God is this vengeful, hard God. And I hope that today we're going to see that he is so merciful, so loving and trying so many ways to help his children to understand and learn and grow. It's just mercy all over the place. As I look through these lessons, I love it. All right, jumping over. Go down to verse nine. Here's where we pick up the name of Noah. He called his name Noah. This son shall comfort us. The word Noah means rest. It's sometimes translated as comfort to console. There's something about rest. I don't know what your thoughts are with rest and how Noah brings rest, but at a world I can see the chaos of the flood and the storms, the wickedness that's so rampant. Noah comes in as this rest, that there's some peace that comes with Noah. I think the Lord's trying to teach that there is peace, there is rest for the weary, the downtrodden that put their trust in him. And that's Noah in his message. Hmm.

[Hank Smith]

And a prophet can bring that. Listening to general conference and hearing a prophet speak, it does feel like that. Like, oh, I am. Okay, Things are going to work out.

[Mike Cottle]

Well, let's pick it up now down to verse 13 and 14. This gives us a little different view than what the old. The Bible, Genesis account says it, so it helps clarify this. So I love 13 and 14. Hank, you want to start reading there?

[Hank Smith]

And Noah and his sons hearkened unto the Lord and gave heed, and they were called the sons of God. And when these men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them, the sons of men saw that those daughters were fair, and they took them wives even as they chose.

[Mike Cottle]

In the Genesis account, it inverts it a little bit. It sounds like it's the daughters of God. I think this clarifies here. These sons of God are Noah and his sons. And these men began to multiply, and they're having children. Then it's their daughters or the granddaughters and great granddaughters of Noah that are struggling. So you got Sons of God by choice. Sometimes some people have viewed it as they're by choice, they're choosing God. And then others, sons of man, is that they're by creation. They're rejecting the divinity of God in that relationship. It's highlighting this covenant. We're going to see that even more in verse 15. Let's pick it up in verse 15. And the Lord said unto no, the daughters of thy sons have sold themselves. For behold mine, anger is kindled against the sons of men, for they will not hearken to my voice. There's that first inclination, really the struggle. The problem here. God is pleading, trying everything he can to help them hear and listen. And they're rejecting it. They won't listen to sell themselves. They're using their agency here. These women, they're selling themselves or selling what they could have for something that spiritually is not worth anything. Selling covenants. Powerful depiction of what's happening there.

[John By the Way]

That's deliberately calling them sons of God in 13. But then they start acting like sons of men in those verses that come after. Is that what you're noticing?

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah. The sons of men are people that are rejecting that divinity and they're rejecting covenant really. They're using their agency to choose other than God. These men are marrying the women, but it's outside of the covenant. I think that's the message that's trying to be portrayed here, why we would highlight that one. But it's rejecting the covenants with. With their father.

[John By the Way]

That's subtle, but that's interesting. First they're sons of God and then they become described as sons of men. That's interesting.

[Hank Smith]

Mike. That verse, verse 15. The daughters of thy sons have sold themselves. Listen to President Uchtdorf, 2013. Satan tempts US to exchange the priceless pearls of true happiness and eternal values for a fake plastic trinket that is merely an illusion and a counterfeit of happiness and joy.

[Mike Cottle]

They're selling themselves to those that have nothing covenant wise to offer. To me, that kind of sums up what that idea is. The trinket.

[Hank Smith]

Nothing to offer, nothing to offer nothing of value. And you can see why the Lord would say, I'm frustrated. I'm heartbroken.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah. Enoch, you see that clearly, that he's weeping over these children that want listen to him, won't respond to what he's trying to help them see. And so we'll continue to see this element and all that he does to try to help them. Verse 17. My spirit will not strive with man if men do not repent down towards the very end, I will send the flood. So here we're getting that. All right. I'm going to have to do something to help. There's mercy in this. I do think it's an interesting insight. This is from the report. President Lorenzo Snow made this in a journal entry comparing Joseph Smith to Noah. Joseph Smith replied, noah came before the flood. I have come before the fire. There are some connections there that Joseph was making with Noah, how his place fits in this pattern, this plan of our Father in heaven to save the earth, to save humankind, that there's some things there that I think are kind of fun. Now let's go to verse 18. In those days, there were giants on the earth and they sought Noah to take away his life. So at first they're not hearkening, and now they're seeking his life. It's getting more serious, more wicked, if you will. I love the new scripture helps that they've got. And they're tagged right in your scriptures now. You can also find it other places in the gospel library. But that word giant, you know, what does it mean? There were giants. Giants mentioned in both the Enoch account and in the Noah account. They both indicate that they were enemies of God and his prophets. The word giant, you always think of Goliath, but it's somebody that's large in stature. But the word in Hebrew is translated as, I don't know how to pronounce. I'm not a Hebrew linguist. But nephilim, it can also mean fallen ones. And so it may not really have reference to their size and stature, but it just that they have fallen from grace. They've fallen. They've chose other paths other than the path of God. It may be that they're too full of themselves. They're called giants because they think they can do it all on their own. There's an idea out there that maybe they were just so prideful that Samson like that, I can do this. I can knock these pillars down on my own. I don't need God's help.

[Hank Smith]

Help.

[Mike Cottle]

I can destroy the Philistines because of my own strength. And so there's an element of that that could be part of it that leads to some of the wickedness that's happening there.

[Hank Smith]

Mike, you might be converting John by the way to technology here, because that's not available in his scriptures. He can't tap on his scriptures and bring that. So you were talking about right here on my Scripture app, there's a little icon next to verse 18. I tap on that and I've got a help of. What does it mean that there were giants in the earth? There's plenty to learn there.

[Mike Cottle]

There are so many neat Scripture helps like that. That's all throughout the Old Testament. They're just kind of new coming on. So. Yeah. Make sure you see those. Utilize them. It really helps. As you're studying the Old Testament.

[Hank Smith]

Yeah. John, what are you thinking? You thinking you get rid of that paper copy? You ready to put that aside yet?

[John By the Way]

No, I love my paper copy because I see what my dad thought of it because his comments are all over my hair.

[Hank Smith]

You're gonna make me feel bad. Yeah, yeah.

[John By the Way]

I love em both. But Hank, I wanna add too that if you're using the come follow me manual from your computer, boy, you touch on those links and they'll come right up. And I've been doing that the last few weeks. You can say, oh, it's gonna give me some more about this. We are super blessed with how quickly we can connect to all this stuff.

[Hank Smith]

If you were born in the 1900s, you might have to find someone to help you navigate all this.

[John By the Way]

Grandson, will you push that?

[Hank Smith]

Tell me there's some pretty good stuff in here.

[Mike Cottle]

I used to be. I had my scriptures. They were so covered with notes and it got so bad I couldn't read the notes anymore. I was trying to write so small to get it all in there. And now it's so nice electronically that you can put as much as you want, put as many quotes as you.

[Hank Smith]

Want and you can't lose them. Look at all those post IT notes.

[Mike Cottle]

Look at that. That's.

[John By the Way]

These are all my dad's Post its.

[Mike Cottle]

Those are awesome.

[Hank Smith]

That's the technology of the day. Post IT notes.

[John By the Way]

Post its were huge when those babies came.

[Mike Cottle]

It's awesome.

[John By the Way]

They stick, but they come right off.

[Mike Cottle]

3M on the map there. Those are great.

[Hank Smith]

Mike, it sounds like things are getting worse and worse. We're going from sexual sin, we're trading eternal things. Now we're going to kill the prophet.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah. And this is a process of time. It's not done in a day, but they're just getting progressively worse. That's the same principle where they started off not listening to the prophet, not hearkening to the Lord's words. That's where they started drinking, drifting and following. Verse 19 is really interesting to me. I love this. John, why don't you pick it back up and read verse 19 and looking for this idea of order.

[John By the Way]

Okay. Verse 19. And the Lord ordained Noah after his own order and commanded him that he should go forth and declare his gospel unto the children of men, even as it was given unto Enoch.

[Mike Cottle]

Thank you. We've often talked about priesthood. We know the definition. Section 107 is the Holy priesthood after the order of the Son of God. I've always struggled with what that really means. Recently I've come to appreciate better other great teachers that are out there that are helping me learn. And that order is like, it's a group. When I was young, in elementary school and then in junior high, we had the Cub Scout program, and then we had the Boy Scout and we were part of this Order of the Arrow. We wanted to be part of that group. And then he got into the Scouting program and it was that group of the Eagle Scouts. Wanted to be part of that Eagle Scout nest. But it was an order of the Eagle Scouts. That order is a group. It's like a club. Although that sounds really casual for this type of an order, but it's a group. Anybody that enters into this order is part of this order of the Son of God, his group that have power and priesthood and promises that allow them to receive the help. Noah is being invited into this order, this order of the priesthood after the order of the Son of God. This is the family business. This is what the family is all about, helping us all. And it's not just for men. This order is not just a male centered. This is male and female. Anybody that enters into this order of Melchizedek priests, which we do in temples, is part of this order of Melchizedek.

[Hank Smith]

This doesn't seem like the Lord is being exclusive. He wants everybody, anybody can join.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah, he wants everyone in it. He's sad when they don't. When they don't want his order be part of his group. If you're a Harry Potter fan, it's that Order of the Phoenix. That was the order. But here it's the Order of the Son of God. We want to be part of that. Now down to verse 20 and 21. Hank, why don't you pick it up in 20 and 21?

[Hank Smith]

And it came to pass that Noah called upon the children of men that they should repent. But they hearkened not unto his words. And also after they had heard him, they came up before him saying, behold, we are the sons of God. Have we not taken unto ourselves the daughters of men? And are we not eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage? And our wives bear unto us children? And the same are mighty men which are like unto men of old, men of great Renown and they hearkened not unto the words of Noah.

[Mike Cottle]

You're seeing that repeated three times. They're hearkening not to Noah. On a side note, in the Old Testament, in the Genesis account, we don't ever see that Noah's out preaching, teaching, but here in Moses, we do. We see that he is preaching, he's testifying, he's trying to help them, and the people rejecting it. In the Bible account, some people could read that and think that Noah doesn't do anything to help the rest of the human race. He's just got his family, builds his ark, and then they're saved in the flood. But Moses helps us see that he is out preaching, testifying, trying to help them. They're not hearkening. They're not listening. They don't want to hear. Three different times. You're hearing that right here, that element. There's some principles there about being saved.

[John By the Way]

What jumped out to me again, Mike, is what you showed us. First they were sons of God, and then they started acting like sons of men. But verse 21, they still think they're sons of God, but they're not hearkening. They've got the title down, but not the behavior, I guess.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah. In verse 21, their claim is, hey, haven't we done good things? You know, we're marrying, we're doing good things, and there's no bad consequences. Nothing bad's happening to us. We're all right. We're eating and drinking and marrying. And God hasn't come down and done. You know, the irony of all irony is that God is sending someone to tell them, but they're not listening to him. They think, oh, we're just fine. Nothing bad's happening to us. Sometimes when we excuse or we don't look at. It's not really agency issue. It's an accountability issue that causes people the struggle. We are not being real honest with ourselves in what's happening. And I think that's what's happening to these people and part of the downfall.

[Hank Smith]

That's interesting. This word hearken comes up quite a bit. I've noticed. Someone might read this and go, oh, the Lord's not being very merciful. He's not even asking them to obey. He's saying, listen, give me some attention here. This isn't about weakness. This is about rebellion.

[Mike Cottle]

Oh, and that highlights in verse 22. Hank, why don't you read verse 22? It highlights that even more.

[Hank Smith]

God saw that the wickedness of men had become great in the earth, and every man was lifted up in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart, being only evil continually.

[Mike Cottle]

In Micah chapter 2, verse 1, a cross reference, it says, woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds when the morning is light. They practice it because it is in the power of their hand. They're devising iniquity, they're thinking of ways to be so this is outright rebellion against God. Some people ask, what's the mercy in this? Where's mercy found in the flood in your scriptures? On verse 22 you got the scripture help again. That I think is really good. There's a couple statements there. First one is from President John Taylor and he explained that by taking away the earthly existence, God prevented them from entailing their sins upon their posterity and degenerating or corrupting them. Elder Maxwell also taught that the corruption had reached such an agency destroying point that the spirits could not injustice be sent there. Those are helpful just to recognize that God is merciful. And even in this story, even though it looks on the surface the flood is catastrophic and hard. I think also Nephi in chapter 26, he doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of his children. That's a great thing to remember when we're reading stories in the Old Testament in general, but all scripture stories that everything he's doing, he's trying to to help and benefit and bless his children. When we get bent out of shape on something that tuck em God's doing this, we ought to have some humility to stop and say, okay now how's this helping?

[Hank Smith]

Young people, I've noticed can get really caught up on this because they are so charitable and they are so kind and they think, well, this doesn't seem very Christlike. And you're like, well by definition it's Christlike because it's him doing it. But I think you're right on there. How merciful is he being to the unborn who he's not sending into that situation? Help me out here, Mike. Isn't it a conversation between the Lord and Abraham where he says, look, find me one righteous person and I won't destroy it. Find me some something. I would think that this same thing is here. There's not one, there's not a single person besides Noah and his family who are willing to listen to the Lord. You guys tell me if I'm going too far with this. I don't know if the Lord experiences death the same way you and I do. To him, it might be, well, you're just moving classrooms, right? I'm moving you from this classroom to this classroom. I know, to us. Of course. It's devastating and I think he does understand that. He's got to have a different perspective on moving us from mortality to the spirit world.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah, absolutely. He's got a perspective that's so different for him. It's that blink of an eye transferring our state into another room, really. But existence is still happening. God is still there watching over us. But we mourn because we miss him. We don't see him. And that's where it's painful when you.

[Hank Smith]

Read a story like this. At least try to take on the Lord's perspective.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah.

[John By the Way]

See the mercy if you go slow in 22. Don't read that too fast. This sounds like. What would you call it, other than a fullness of wickedness? The wickedness had become great. Every man, that's a high percentage lifted up in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart. Being only evil continually mean this is a fullness. Boy, I loved what you quoted there in the study help of Elder Maxwell. It was an agency robbing type. You couldn't send kids into that. They'd have no agency. That's a fascinating thought.

[Mike Cottle]

Well, can you imagine if you were. I don't remember, so I can't what I was saying up there. But I can imagine saying, you know, God saying, I'm going to send you down during this time. I might say, hold on, I don't. The only way I'll go is if you put me in Noah's family and I got to be one of those three sons. Otherwise don't send me. That's not fair.

[Hank Smith]

Yeah, I have no chance. There's not a parent on the earth who is willing to help a child draw closer to God. They're going to teach their children to be evil and that's going to perpetuate. It's going to get even worse.

[John By the Way]

Teaching only evil continually means those are. It's like 100%. There's no good in there.

[Mike Cottle]

God is a God of new beginnings. That's Elder Kieran in the last conference talk. He loves it when we change, when we repent daily. That's a new beginning every day. He's giving us chance here. It's a literal experience. He's saying, okay, we're going to have a new beginning, a new start. And that washing of the earth is that new beginning. I love it. You know another way to highlight that mercy is that in verse 23, Noah continues his preaching. He is preaching. Testifying exhorting, pleading with his friends and neighbors to repent and change, and they're just not having any part of it. The tragic point of no return, it's their agency. They're choosing that. It's not God imposing it on them.

[John By the Way]

And I Love that verse 24. Look at those first principles and ordinances. Boom, boom, boom, boom.

[Hank Smith]

I've read in studies that in self reporting, between a quarter and half of teens who have alcohol, it was provided by their parents. Parents introduced them to alcohol.

[Mike Cottle]

Living out where we live here, I see that in high school, it's the kids are having the parties and I think the parents are trying to. It's the attitude, well, there's nothing I can do to stop them from taking it. So maybe if I do it within my own house, it'll be controlled and I'll be able to oversee it. Most of them are being introduced. It's a rite of passage almost for them. So they don't know any different. They go off to colleges and they think that's what you have to do. That's all they see. Sadly, sometimes some of our own Latter Day Saints get caught up. It's kind of becoming the culture that you have to drink, you got the.

[Hank Smith]

Happy hour, but it's being taught, being taught and modeled. I have written above verse 24, would you like water or would you like water? You can be baptized or you can have a flood.

[John By the Way]

Oh, Hank, thanks for saying that. That reminds me of Isaiah. Do you want the waters that come softly, waters of Shiloh or Siloam, or would you like an Assyrian tsunami? The way Isaiah puts it, you can have the waters that go softly or you can have a tsunami of Assyrians who are going to wipe you out.

[Hank Smith]

There is no door number three. Right. These are your choices.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah. It's that choice, that agency. You get to choose. I love the connections. That's beautiful. Coming back, John, to your thought there in verse 24, these principles, first principles and ordinance of the Gospel, it's highlighting, this is the plan of salvation our Father. It's not really the baptism that's saving us. It's Jesus Christ. It's him that's going to be saving us. He's trying to teach us. This is what's important. I'm going to save you. I have power to save you. You can have a new beginning. But you've got to follow my plan.

[Hank Smith]

Yeah. And this man, John, I know we've said this a thousand times. The Lord is the one doing it. This is what it always comes back to he seems to say, those are good questions. Can we talk about four things? I really like to talk about them, right? Faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost. It frustrates my students. I bet for both of you it does. They'll say, hey, what do you think about? And it's something really out there. When I read the Scriptures, the Lord generally says, great question. I'll answer that someday. I really would like you to focus on faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost. I mean, it just keeps coming up over and over and over as if the Lord is trying to reset us again back to what matters.

[John By the Way]

Corianton, you marvel about this, you marvel about this, you worry about this, and you think this is unjust. Let these things trouble you no more. Let your sins trouble you. Come to Jesus Christ. Repent. Have faith in him. Alma just says good questions.

[Mike Cottle]

However.

[John By the Way]

Come to Christ and repent. He is the Savior.

[Mike Cottle]

When I was writing on the curriculum team, I received an assignment to go through our past curriculum in seminary and just see where we taught lessons of repentance in that process. As I reviewed the lessons, I started to see it is everywhere. Almost every lesson in those seminary lessons, it was a lesson, especially in the Book of Mormon was a lesson on repentance with President Nelson and how he helped us to see this repent daily. And then Elder Anderson's book on the divine gift of forgiveness and how important this is. And it's not a negative. This is beautiful. This is the plan. We can repent. We don't have to stay in this state. We can change and be better. That I can become a better person. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes lots of practice. And time after time, I still stumble and fall over the same thing over and over and over again. But God is merciful, and he says, you keep trying. I'm trying. To me, that's the difference between, I was asking my students the other day, what's the difference between repenting of a sin and repenting of sinning. That's an idea that Elder Anderson put forth. I've wrestled with that because I've tried to figure out, what does that mean? Repenting of a sin is this checklist of I just got to feel remorse. I've just got to make restitution. And then you go through the checklist and you get to pass it off. But rather than repenting of sinning is recognizing my weakness before God and not wanting to do anything that would not make me worthy to be in his presence. It's an attitude In Mosiah, you see the people, they all. After listening to King Benjamin in chapter four, they all cried aloud. They viewed themselves in their own carnal state. And then they said, oh, have mercy and apply the atoning blood. And they had no more desire to sin. That doesn't mean they didn't make mistakes, but their heart was. We don't want to like these things that we've been doing. I want to change. And it still is going to be a process. I think that's where we need to get. We need to be loving, celestial things. That's part of that growth, I think the pattern of repentance.

[Hank Smith]

Wouldn't you both say that these four principles and the source of the power, the Savior, Jesus Christ, you can never tire of these as a teacher, never say, well, we talked about repentance last time. That's all the Lord seems to do. The Lord never says, oh, we talked about repentance last verse. I want to cover it again. And I want to cover it again. As a teacher, Mike, you've worked with teachers, seminary and institute teachers, church teachers. Wouldn't you say it's okay, it's okay to talk about these things over and over and over? In fact, it's preferred, I think.

[Mike Cottle]

Elder Bruce R. McConkie, this is Seminary Training 101. We got, you know, that we wanted to teach the Scriptures in the way the Lord laid it out. And if there's a topic that comes up often, then you should teach it often. Repentance of faith. That's the topic that comes up all the time. That ought to be. It's divine repetition. The Lord and most of us struggle after four or five times, six, seven times we hear the same message. And maybe the really good ones hear it, but I need to hear it more than that, just to let it sink in and change. And God's merciful in that his loving nature, he gives us time and time if we'll just keep trying, keep hearkening, keep listening, keep trying.

[Hank Smith]

Yeah. And the fact that there's no repentance happening, zero repentance happening, that tells you how serious the Lord takes this.

[John By the Way]

I like what Mike said about repenting for sins and repenting of sinning. And I'm reminded of could be the first temple recommend. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Clean hands could be seen as being stained by sin. But then sinfulness might purify my heart. Clean hands and a pure heart help me Lose desire for sin. And that's a process that's over time because it's a process. We keep coming back to repentance, repent every day. We repent relentlessly. Sorry to always bring up this analogy, but I love airplanes. An airliner's off course most of the time, but it just keeps. Keeps turning back onto course. Turn is a synonym for repent. So it is a process, and it has to be daily.

[Hank Smith]

I remember President Oaks saying that his favorite messages, his favorite talks, are those in which someone helps him see one of these principles. Faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, the Savior in just a different light. Those are his favorite messages. Help me see this same thing in a different way.

[John By the Way]

I love that, Hank, because, yeah, we're going to hear first principles a lot. How wonderful to hear them in a new way or to get a new insight when you hear them.

[Mike Cottle]

One last thought on repentance. One of my favorite talks is by Lynn G. Robbins, and he talked about the definition of success as going from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm. And he said the same principle app with repentance. So we go from mistake to mistake without any loss of enthusiasm. But that is the plan. There's others that believe that Adam and Eve messed up and so God had to revamp and make an adjustment to his plan. But that was the plan all along. We come down, we have to learn how to repent and change so we can become like him. It's beautiful.

[Hank Smith]

Alma 42:17. How can a man repent except he should sin? If God wants us to repent, I think he has the expectation of us making mistakes and sinning.

[John By the Way]

Or a couple of chapters ago, Moses 6,55, they taste the bitter that they may know to prize the good. We're going to taste the bitter. It almost sounds like we're supposed to taste it and remember it so that we prize the good.

[Hank Smith]

I just don't want anyone else to be disobedient. It doesn't hurt me. Me, I can be disobedient. But, man, when someone hurts me with.

[John By the Way]

Their disobedience, we're going to call them on it.

[Hank Smith]

That's not okay.

[John By the Way]

Yeah.

[Hank Smith]

All right, Mike, what should we do next?

[Mike Cottle]

Just maybe one last thing here in verse 25, this idea that it repented God, I'm trying to find my statement.

[Hank Smith]

That it repented Noah.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah, that it repented Noah. So verse 25, it repented Noah and his heart was pained. That idea of repented Noah really is. It's that coming back to his name. Noah it's his pained. He's sorrowing. And that's what it is. It isn't that Noah is necessarily repenting, or even in the Genesis account, that God is repenting that he made man. That's not it at all. It's just that there's a pain, there's a sorrow. And ENOCH In Moses 7, you see that he's weeping tears over these children that don't hearken, that won't hearken. That again is highlighting the mercy of God. And not he is pained that we. He loves his children, but he's just pained that they won't listen, won't hearken to him.

[Hank Smith]

Mike, when I'm teaching young people, then maybe this is just a subtle difference. The question isn't if you're going to sin. The question is, are you going to repent? God's not as upset at sin as he is as hurt by not repenting.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah. That reminds me of the verse in Alma 33:16. For behold, he said, thou art angry, O Lord, with this people because they will not understand thy mercies which thou has bestowed upon them because of thy son. Absolutely.

[John By the Way]

For years I read that in the context of oh, Alma, showing them that God will have a son because he heard their prayer on the Rameumptum. And I missed the beautiful message in there about how merciful God is. It says, they will not understand his mercies. It's like they refuse to understand how mercy. You ever met somebody that can't seem to forgive themselves. That's a good verse.

[Mike Cottle]

That causes him pain, that makes him sorrowful. When they are not receiving that grace and mercy that he wants to give, he delights to give. It makes him angry when they don't receive it. It's paining him. Mike.

[Hank Smith]

I noticed in other versions of the Bible, when you see it repented, Noah, or God repented, the word in most versions is actually regret or grieved or heartbroken. What you're saying there is, we're not seeing God go, oh, no, I made a mistake. You're seeing God saying, oh, this is heartbreaking.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah, you're breaking my heart. You know, the Savior, it even says, James Talmage says that he broke, he died of a broken, that his heart ruptured. I think that's the image with our Father in heaven, that he's heartbroken that his children won't listen. That's the parable of the prodigal son. He sees his son leaving and doing these terrible things, but then he's watching, waiting patiently for that son to Come back. And as soon as he sees him way off on the mountainside, and he's running to him because he's so excited to see his son, Our Father in heaven's got that same love for us and just wants us to come back. Pains him when we don't.

[Hank Smith]

That's good, because, yeah, I can see someone asking, wait, God repented? Wait, Noah repented of being a prophet? No, it's a different use of that word.

[Mike Cottle]

In verse 27, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. For Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation. And he walked with God, as did also his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And now the word perfect. We've heard the definition President Nelson has highlighted. That doesn't mean without sin. It just means complete, whole, finished. That idea that he's on track to be able to come back home, he's doing what the Lord wants him to do. There's a principle in all of this. As I look at that whole context now, In Moses chapter 8, this principle of God sends a prophet, a chosen vessel, if you will, to speak to his children, that they can repent, that they can learn and change and come back. And that, to me, really is the message of Moses. Chapter eight is that there's safety in following the prophet. We're going to see the result here as we get into Genesis. The flood's coming, the chaos, the safety is found in following a prophet. And that message is, to me, one of the most important messages for our day, our culture today. The world we live in right now, I think, is going to be one of the main issues. Are we going to follow a prophet? Are we going to listen to him? God's been waiting for 2,000 years to speak to his church for the first time. Here's the very first day, the first message he gives. Hank, if you'll read verse 4 and 5 of section 21 of the doctrine and Covenants.

[Hank Smith]

You got it. Here it is. Wherefore? Meaning the church. Thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments. This is Joseph Smith. Which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me. For his word ye shall receive as if from mine own mouth in all patience and faith.

[Mike Cottle]

Thank you. I love that message. God, I can see him being so excited. Here I am, getting to speak to my church, and the message is, you need to follow the prophet. You need to listen. And he highlights that same message in section 28, 2, 3. He highlights again in section 43. Verse 3, 5. It's a hard thing to learn that we've got to follow a prophet. Now. We've had almost 200 years of practice with that principle, yet I think it's still really relevant today. We live in a day that it's sometimes not popular or public sentiment says this is the words of the prophets is not cool or in the norm or it's not the majority view. And so we don't listen. But he's still teaching that same message. In fact, maybe one more. 21:11, I was in a meeting with Joseph Fielding McConkie and maybe John, you had a master's degree and he was one of your teachers. He may have said this to you as well, but he told us in the curriculum team that he thought this was one of the most important verses in all the scripture, which kind of floored me. I'm learning that I really love it. This is Jesus Christ teaching the Nephites. He's really talking about our day and he's been speaking about prophets in the last days. Verse 11. Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him, referring to Joseph Smith here, to bring forth unto the Gentiles and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles. And it shall be done. Even as Moses said, they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant. There is no mincing words with that. This is a message that if you want to be with me, you've got to listen to my prophets, my chosen vessels whom I've called to preach the word. That doesn't mean they're perfect. That doesn't mean that we just have blind faith. But we've got to trust their words. And I'm persuaded from my experience that we can trust them. And they're going to help us get back to our Father and they're going to give us the words we need to get back to our Father in heaven.

[Hank Smith]

Looking up October 2025, our most recent general conference. You can go to the talk from President Oaks, the family centered Gospel of Jesus Christ. And I thought to myself, do I know what he said recently? Since I believe in what you're teaching us here, Mike, do I know what he said? He says as parental influences diminish, Latter Day Saints still have a God given responsibility to teach their children to prepare for our family destiny in eternity. He goes on, our doctrine and our belief in eternal families strengthen and bond us. He says Many church members have beloved family members who do not embrace gospel values and expectations. Such members need our love and patience, he says, in relating to one another. We should remember that the perfection we seek is not limited to to the stressful circumstances of mortality. Our Savior Jesus Christ is our ultimate role model. We will be blessed if we model our lives after his teachings and self sacrifice. And he goes on, Mike, I need to put my money where my mouth is. If I really believe that there's a prophet on the earth today and that you told me from Moses 8. The main takeaway, listen to the prophet. It might be a good idea to go listen to the prophet this week. Right. To go and reread re listen to his message from the last general Conference.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah. I started to learn this principle with President Nelson and how often the other general authorities and other apostles and other authorities in the church quoted President Nelson. And it's astronomical. It just skyrocketed when President Nelson became the president of the church because we're starting to really understand how important this principle is. And so they were all quoting him, using what he said. And you can kind of go and do a little search. You can see that there was just so many more quoting President Nelson. And I'm expecting we'll see the same thing with President Oaks now that we're going to see that same elevation as we're going to focus on the words of a prophet. Elder Clark Gilbert, the commissioner of church education, gave a talk on this principle and he said we ought to be a prophetic echo. I love that. An echo of what the prophets are saying. When we're asked to speak in church or teach a lesson, we ought to be echoing what the message is of the general authorities. Not get on our little hobby horses, but focus on what apostles. The president of the church especially. But apostles and prophets are teaching. Be it prophetic echo or amplify the words of prophets, those two ideas amplify their message, be it prophetic echo. We ought to be so deeply familiar with their words that when we interact with people or even our families and our children, we can pull upon their messages and be able to use them to help teach and train. I think there's safety for the soul if we do that.

[Hank Smith]

Mike. If I remember President Nelson, when President Monson was president of the church, he quoted President Monson all the time. He said, President Monson last year gave us a challenge to read the Book of Mormon. I did. And here's what I found. Yeah. Even the prophet now was giving us the example of how to follow a prophet before they became the president of the church.

[Mike Cottle]

I'm just slow. I think they've been doing that all along and I just haven't caught on like I see it now happening. Glad God has mercy on me. That is a message boy.

[John By the Way]

And President Nelson made it easy for us because he had these wonderfully concise phrases like hear him and. And let God prevail and covenant path and think celestial. To quote Joseph Fielding McConkie, he said once. There's a big difference between the prophet said this, however, and the prophet said this. Therefore, I like the idea of being a prophetic echo.

[Mike Cottle]

So if I get a topic to speak, if I get a chance to speak, I want to first say, what has the prophet said? And then I'm going to say what he said. That ought to calm everybody's fear if they're ever getting a chance to speak or to teach a class. You don't have to come up with new titillating doctrines. Just focus on what the prophet's saying, speak what they're speaking about, and you're going to be in safe water.

[Hank Smith]

What excellent advice. A prophetic echo. I love it. Just pass the message along.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah. As we think about the mercy of God, two other verses in the Old Testament. Ezekiel 33:11. If we could go there, John, when you get there, would you read that for us?

[John By the Way]

Ezekiel 33:11, looking for the mercy of.

[Mike Cottle]

God and considering his mercy in the flood, and how that is a merciful thing. Just seeing what our God is like.

[John By the Way]

Ezekiel 33:11. Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel, can't you hear the.

[Mike Cottle]

Pleading of God and helping us see what. Yeah, his character. There's another one. Ezekiel 18. It has a similar message, but let's just go there.

[John By the Way]

Ezekiel 18:23 is, have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways and live, live.

[Mike Cottle]

He's answering Ezekiel. If there is any doubt, if anybody has any doubt at all, God loves his children and he's paying to see them doing wickedly. This perception of God being a vengeful, harsh God is not played out in the Old Testament. Like sometimes people assume he loves his children. He is just trying everything he can to help bring them back, save them. I love that.

[Hank Smith]

Right in the beginning of the year we had Josh Sears here. We often look for Jesus in the Old Testament. In the prophecies about Jesus, don't forget, this is Jesus speaking. This is Jehovah. You don't have to just look for him in the prophecies of his life. You can look for the words of Jehovah. Mike, you taught us about the Lord, what kind of being he is. He is loving, he is kind. He also is merciful and is thinking, how can I let this continue? It's helping no one.

[Mike Cottle]

Reading those verses particularly. I can feel what God may have been feeling as he says it. I try to imagine being in his presence and the pained look on his face, the sorrow in his voice, why will you die? Oh, you wicked. I want you. I keep calling you back and you're not listening. The Savior says it in the New Testament. He laments over Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you. It's that same feeling and that moves me when I read it. And I feel that I sense God's love and mercy. For all of us.

[Hank Smith]

We have a God who we believe in, a Lord that has emotions, feelings, heartache.

[Mike Cottle]

He is a God of love and feeling.

[Hank Smith]

It's interesting, Mike, that the book of Moses just kind of ends, just kind of stops. Sounds like somewhere where Joseph Smith probably said, all right, we're going to change up how we're doing the jst. We can't rewrite every one of these verses.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah, if we had more time with Joseph, I'd like to see if he'd go back and make a few more changes. But we have so much with the book. It's beautiful. And thank the Lord that we have what we have with Moses because it really adds so much more color and depth to the account in Genesis. Let's turn over to Genesis 6 now and jump in there. With that kind of a background, the question really is how many stories in Scriptures do we have where vessels bring salvation to a family? What are some stories that first ones that come to your mind?

[Hank Smith]

Nephi and Lehi.

[Mike Cottle]

Okay, good.

[John By the Way]

Brother of Jared.

[Mike Cottle]

Brother of Jared. Good.

[Hank Smith]

I wonder, could you count Moses in his mother's ark?

[John By the Way]

They call it his basket.

[Mike Cottle]

Yeah, certainly that's bringing salvation to a whole group of the family. Often God is using objects to save his family, his children, and he uses anything that he can to save his family. We're going to see that here in this story especially. But it's really common for him to use different elements to save his family. There's an interesting verse in Hebrews where it Says Paul is a chosen vessel. Even prophets he uses. So even that little play on that word. He's the vessel of salvation for his children, his family. He's using vessels to save his family.

[Hank Smith]

He uses objects. And a good teacher uses object lessons. Oftentimes when we discuss a vessel, like we're going to discuss the ark, there's lessons in the building of the ark, there's lessons in how they use it, there's lessons in what it does. He's the ultimate teacher, right? We love object lessons. What teacher doesn't love an object lesson? If you're the Lord, you get to make big object lessons.

[Mike Cottle]

He is really good at it. The Savior teaching how many times he uses parables or elements of seeds or prodigals or coins or nets to teach these principles because they are so graphic for us. But again, he's trying in every way to reach us. And I think he's trying really to utilize every sense, sight, sound, touch, hearing. He's using every one of the senses to teach. Giving us is many opportunities. For some people, it's just the smell. That's what's going to teach them. So he calls it a sweet savor the sacrifices and you think of a barbecue and sometimes that's the most beautiful smell. Or baking bread. That is so beautiful for me. But he uses every element of the senses to teach his children, to try to help them connect with him. I think that's a beautiful thing. I want to look for those a little bit more often and look for them here. How he's trying to teach his children here. I want to highlight that I'm learning this from other great teachers. I'm just a novice at this stuff. So many other teachers that have gone before me. And Shauna Seamans is one of our coordinators out in Boston, and she shared this idea with me that I had loved. Genesis 6, verse 12. Let's pick it up there. We know that they're wicked. We've already covered that. They're marrying outside of the covenant. The Lord's trying to help us see something there about the covenant. But let's pick it up in verse 12 and 13. We're going to read 12:18, but we're going to jump and pause a little bit. So 12. Let's just pick up in verse 12. Hank, you want to read that one for us? 6. 12.

[Hank Smith]

And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt. For all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

[Mike Cottle]

Okay, what exactly is corrupt here? Is it the earth that's corrupt or the people that's corrupt all flesh.

[Hank Smith]

Sounds like the people had corrupted their own way.

[Mike Cottle]

It's not the earth, it's people. He uses that phrase, his way. His. It's not capitalized here, but to me that's God's way. They've corrupted God's way. If President Nelson were translating this verse, he might might say his covenant way or his covenant path. I think there's his pathway here we want to see that's being changed or corrupted. His covenant pathway. Connecting that here with covenants will help us as we move through this story. Then and again, this is the plan of our Father. The plan of salvation is just going to be laid out right here for us. But this is what's happening. His covenant pathway is being corrupt. His people aren't listening. They're not hearkening. They're marrying outside that covenant line. They're rejecting that covenant and the promises that are associated with that covenant.

[Hank Smith]

It's turned to violence now. It's not only we're sinning, we're now causing pain on other people. We're violently, I would guess, taking and hurting and trying to wield power. This is really spiraling.

[Mike Cottle]

Maybe if we jumped over to Genesis 11. God's covenant way is to give us a name. He wants to give us his name to be called his children. In chapter 11, these two different stories are being played out. One that's good and what's bad. I think you'll see that often in scriptures that God often gives us the opposite or the counterfeit. That's Genesis 11. Three, it's the tower of Babel or the Tower of Babel. And then verse four, they say, let us make us a name. Instead of God giving them his name, they're taking upon. They want to create their own name or give themselves a name. That comes later in this story. But you need to see both of them. Where God wants his covenant way, the opposite is that they're going to find their own way. Genesis 6. Let's go back now in verse 14, here's the instruction. In this world, in this context of wickedness, how do I help save my children? What's next? I've tried the famine. What's next? We're going to do the flood. Pick it up in verse 14. I'll read verse 14. Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Room shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. As I look at that, my first thought is, okay, is there anything there that's reminding me of Jesus? Christ certainly you see, I hope that we're seeing wood. This ark, this vessel is made of wood. I think it's a great reflection to think of the Savior and his cross on wood. It was a crossbeam, a cross that he carried made from wood. The ark of the covenant was made with wood. So there's some similar themes of the wood. Right off the bat be thinking of Jesus Christ. This is really not a story of Noah. It's a story of the Savior. And then to pitch it and we got another one of those great teacher helps there. What is the significance of the coding of the pitch in the ark? So if you're looking on your electronic scriptures, you've got a little insight pitch and what it means. And we probably ought to read this one. This is such a good one for Genesis 6:14.

[Hank Smith]

It says what is significant about the coding of pitch on the ark. Here's the answer. God told Noah to pitch the ark meaning to cover it with pitch, a tar like substance to seal it and make it waterproof. The Hebrew word translated as pitch is the root word for atone. It has been suggested that the atonement of Jesus Christ. Christ provides us with a protective covering. It shields us from the power of the adversary just as the pitch protected the ark from the life threatening waters.

[Mike Cottle]

Isn't that beautiful? And I love it's right there in those electronic scriptures to help us understand and start to see the connections with this ark. So it's being pitched or being covered. It's the same word that's used when with Moses in his little craft that his mom and sister create and put them in the river. It's covered with the pitch. The writers are trying to help us see that this is a covering. This is the protection that comes from Jesus Christ. It's not about an ark. This is about Jesus Christ, Adam and Eve coming out of the Garden of Eden. They are covered with a protective covering and it's Jesus Christ. He is covering them.

[Hank Smith]

John knows I'm a big fan of when the Savior talks about public spirituality and private spirituality. We need to be publicly spiritual. That's an important part of missionary work. We're a good example. If you look at like the Sermon on the Mount, it's really about private spirituality. I'm looking at this verse. Mike and I could talk about. I'm shielded within and without out. Not only am I publicly religious and spiritual, I'm also privately religious and spiritual. There's prayers that nobody sees. There's temple attendance that nobody sees. There's scripture study there's pondering that is just between me and him.

[Mike Cottle]

That's a beautiful connection. I love the idea of the heart. I was just teaching a lesson on Isaiah 1 there. The Lord is telling the people, I am full of your sacrifices. In other words, I am fed up to here with your sacrifices and your offerings. They're going through the motions. They're doing the outward ordinance, they're going to their church, they're taking the sacrament, but it's not in their heart. And God says, I want your heart. The idea of orthopraxy versus orthodoxy, it's the idea of knowing. Certainly that's the orthodoxy. We know the doctrines and there's also the orthopraxy, the idea of doing something. God wants both. He wants our heart. So as we're going to church, going through some of these motions, if we're just doing it to check it off a checklist, that's not what God wants. He wants our heart. And he's trying every way that he can to grab them. Whether that's through sacraments, whether that's singing hymns, whether that's watching a little video in the temple. He's trying to grab us somehow to help us. So it's not just something we're going through the motions on, that we're really doing it inwardly as well as outwardly.

[John By the Way]

I'm remembering too, I think when we did this four years ago, talking about our homes could be pitched without. We're not going to let destructive forces in and pitched within. We're going to be kind to each other and try to keep the spirit with us and the way we interact with each other. Easier said than done. I like that idea of the pitch. Makes it watertight.

[Mike Cottle]

I want to take that a little bit further, maybe, that everything that's in the ark is going to be sealed up against the chaos of the flood that's raging outside. It's protected, it's sealed up. So it's sealing out all the worldly influence, the chaos, and preserving everything that's inside that fits with our homes. That's what Jesus Christ does for us. As we go to the temple, we're sealed up. Every time we make covenants, we're sealed, giving us some protection. There's a power given to us, sealing us against the temptations of the world and protecting us from the chaos of the world, keeping the things closest to us, our families especially, connected to us.

[Hank Smith]

Coming up in Part two, my prayers.

[Mike Cottle]

The last five years. Often it's been an amazing thing where I'm feeling pretty dark and heavy at nighttime. And I just pray, father in heaven, help me and strengthen me. And it's a pleading, it's not a. It's not push the tape recorder type of prayer. Please bless me that I can be there tomorrow, that I can be healthy and strong. Bless the food, the nourish strength, my body. You know those types of prayers that the words just roll off our tongue because we've said them so much, but really pleading with God, God save.