Come Follow Me LDS- Doctrine and Covenants 18-19

"The Melchizedek Priesthood"
The Melchizedek Priesthood following the Aaronic Priesthood. It is likely that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were visited by Peter, James, and John within two weeks of the visit of John the Baptist.

Martin Harris is commanded to underwrite the printing of the Book of Mormon. Though a believer, he is constantly looking for assurance where his faith stops.

 

 Raw Transcript

all right
all right welcome to the quick media
come follow me series we are
covering doctrine and covenants sections
18 and 19 today
uh section 18 before i go into that
section
one thing i'd like to do is give just a
little bit of background
on on the revelation here on on
[Music]
what what uh joseph smith is giving to
oliver cowdery
we don't really have in the doctrine and
covenants the
the a revelation or something specific
about peter james and john
giving the melchizedek priesthood to uh
joseph smith and oliver cowdery so we
kind of have to do a little bit of a
work around here
so what i'd like to do is give you
joseph smith's word words first
from uh church history and
and then we'll come back into section
18. here's what joseph smith said
we now became anxious to have the
promise
realized to us which the angel that
conferred upon us the aaronic priesthood
had given that's john the baptist
that provided we continued faithful
right
against it's step by step this is the
temple
it's how the temple works if you're
faithful then you move forward
right so if they're faithful after
having received the aaronic priesthood
they will move
into the melchizedek priesthood
we should also have the melchizedek
priesthood if they're faithful
which holds the authority of the laying
on of hands
for the gift of the holy ghost notice
how that's the first thing that's
that's given here by joseph smith again
because those are the
the the primary ordinances that come
about from each of the priesthoods
baptism with
the aaronic priesthood and the gift of
the holy ghost with the melchizedek
priesthood
those two priesthoods are brought
together into a complete
baptism so to speak the baptism of water
and the baptism of fire one by the power
of the
aaronic priesthood and one by the power
of the melchizedek priesthood one
which is a carnal ordinance so to speak
and one which which is a spiritual
ordinance
one that lifts us up to god one that
brings the blessings
of god down to us we had for some time
made this matter a subject of humble
prayer
more particularly to seek of the lord
what we now so earnestly desired
and here to our unspeakable satisfaction
we did realize the truth of the savior's
promise
ask and it shall be given given you
seek and ye shall find knock
and it shall be opened unto you for we
had not long been engaged
in solemn and fervent prayer when the
word of the lord came unto us
in the chamber of old father whitmer in
fayette
seneca county commanding us
that i should ordain oliver calvary to
be an elder in
the church of jesus christ okay so
they're at
father whitmer's home in fayette
when he's talking when what he's
referencing here
but so this is after they had already
received
the melchizedek priesthood it has to be
right
we don't know the exact date that they
received the melchizedek president i'm
going to get into that in just a second
here
and that he should that he also should
ordain me
to the same office and then to ordain
others as it should be made known unto
us from time to time
we were however commanded to defer
this our ordination until such times as
it should be practical
practicable to have our brethren
who had been and who should be baptized
assembled
together what we must have by vote
whether they were willing to accept us
as spiritual teachers or not so again
the conferral of the aaronic and
melchizedek priesthoods happen here
but the ordination to the offices don't
happen
until the
church is organized
and it says here that they were to
afterward proceed to ordain each other
according to commandment
then call out so such men as the spirit
should dictate
and ordain them and then attend to the
laying of hands for the holy gift of the
holy ghost upon all those whom we had
previously baptized so again
this is all about the melchizedek
priesthood doing all things in the name
of the lord
the following commandment will further
illustrate the nature of our calling to
this priesthood
as well as that of others who are yet to
be sought after and that's what section
or section
18 comes in to oliver cowdery
now to better understand the likelihood
that peter james and john came to uh
joseph and oliver while they were still
back in harmony
pennsylvania we would read section 128
and here we see in verse 20 it says
and again what do we hear glad tidings
from gomorrah
moroni an angel from heaven declaring
the fulfillment of the prophets
then he goes on to talk about the voice
of michael on the banks of the
susquehanna
detecting the devil when he appeared as
an angel of light the voice of peter
james and john in the wilderness between
harmony susquehanna county and
colesville broome county on the
susquehanna river
declaring themselves as possessing the
keys of the kingdom and of the
dispensation of the fullness of times
so here we see that it is likely
since joseph and oliver would have gone
up with david whitmer at the beginning
of
june right that this would have happened
by the end of may right at least
probably by may
30th anyway and and so it's within a
couple of weeks of receiving the aaronic
priesthood which was on may 15th
right the move to fayette uh
new york was on the 29th to 30th
so so it's likely that it happened it
happened before that
and again to recap why does this happen
why are they separated because
you cannot get rid of the lower law you
can't envelop it
into you can envelop it you can't you
can't count it as the same
as the higher law right the aaronic and
the melchizedek priesthoods have to be
separate that is covenant if we get rid
of the aaronic priesthood
because the melchizedek priesthood is a
greater priesthood and includes the
aaronic priesthood in a sense
what we're getting rid of is covenant
the whole idea of
of mankind reaching up to god
in a temporal existence and god in a s
in spiritual heavens
reaching down to us and
that takes away everything the gospel
represents that is at one moment that is
covaneri that is that is to come
together covenant
but there has to be the proper sequence
of things right the lower law first
and then comes the higher law just like
we need to repent first
in order to clean the inner vessel so to
speak so that we can receive the gifts
from
heaven the spiritual things which are
administered by the melchizedek
priesthood
but repentance obedience right obeying
the commandments
prayer these are thing of the things of
the aaronic priesthood of the lower law
that's what we do to reach up to god
now i've highlighted a few things here
in sections 18 and 19 that i wanted to
cover starting down in uh in verses
three and four
and if you know that they are true
behold i give unto you a commandment
that you rely upon the things which are
written
that can be spoken directly to us
rely on the scriptures
right that's that's very important to
to build a a direct understanding of the
gospel
uh direct understanding of who you are
and a direct understanding of the
character of god
who you're supposed to become so
then in verse 4 for in them are all
things written concerning the foundation
of my church
my gospel and my rock so three different
things there the foundation of my church
my gospel and my rock okay so those
could all be separate he could be saying
those are all the same things
and doing a type of parallelism here
right or of
of giving additional
words or names for the same thing
or or is it three separate things it i
think
whenever he talks about the rock it's
it's very interesting the way it's
spoken of because it seems to be given
different definitions
unless we bring it all together under
under one umbrella
right for example the lord all right
jesus christ is considered to be
the rock right but so is peter
right jesus tells peter that's what
peter means right
it's rock so it's safe us in in and uh
both in our in in aramaic and in the
greek
right means rock and upon this
rock will my church be built right
and and of course some denominations see
that that's based on
peter himself or is it on revelation
as we're told is it built on revelation
is the rock
revelation it's not always
used in that form
i gave another example of what i thought
this might mean
and that would be the the rock
base at at on the the temple mount
which is where the temple of solomon was
and where the ark of the covenant was
set in
so here you have the throne of god the
center of everything
being built and sitting on rock on the
rock
and something very sturdy and that would
represent the priesthood
that would represent revelation going
through the veil into the holy of holies
that would represent christ as well
right on the throne
so that's just another way to look at
that
he uses the term a couple more times
here in verse 5 he says wherefore if you
shall build up my church
upon the foundation of my gospel and my
rock so there's two separate things
there
the gates of hell shall not prevail
against you well what would it all be
based off of to me
it would be everything guiding you
toward
the holy of holies so just a couple of
things to consider
there in verse 8 he says and now marvel
not that i have
called him this is speaking to oliver
about joseph smith
and now marvel not that i have called
him unto mine own purpose
which purpose is known in me wherefore
if he shall be diligent in keeping my
commandments
joseph being joseph smith he shall be
blessed unto
eternal life and then this is
interesting he says and his name
is joseph
what does that mean i mean i'm pretty
sure oliver already knows what joseph
smith's name is
why is the lord specifically
calling out joseph's name here
and you know kind of makes you think
well is he talking about the
the individual in prophecy that is
supposed to come a
great seer a great prophet in the last
days whose name is joseph that's what we
get in the book of mormon
which would be a josephite record that
would definitely want to keep
that prophecy in place
right those brass plates had apparently
that prophecy that someone named after
joseph of egypt
would be a great prophet in the last
days
then he goes down and he brings a few
themes together here one in verse nine
he talks about i command all men
everywhere to repent and i speak
unto you even as unto paul my apostle
for you are called even with that same
calling with which he was called
well there's two ways to look at that
first of all they're not going to be
ordained to be
apostles here but they will be right so
he could be
foreshadowing this in a sense but he's
also saying
you're called to go out and preach the
book of mormon's about done
you're going to be called just as paul
was to go out as a missionary with the
proper authority
you have the melchizedek priesthood now
and and go out and do what paul did
and then he says this right afterward he
says remember the worth of souls
is great in the sight of god
so in other words that's the calling the
calling
is doing the work of the lord to mankind
and he and he kind of sandwiches that
idea of the worth of the souls here
and the calling right you have the
calling of an apostle or of
paul and then and then you have the
worth of souls and then on the other end
of that he says for behold the lord
your redeemer suffered death in the
flesh
wherefore he suffered the pain of all
men
that all men might repent and come unto
him
why well look what the context is here
because
of the worth of souls that's why he did
it
right that's that's this is how valuable
each of us
are that god himself the redeemer of the
world the savior
jehovah would lower himself
into mortality lower himself to our
level
in a sense and then take on
everybody's sins and and if we get away
from kind of a preachy
idea of sin
we can say heal everybody
so that they can become who they're
supposed to be
right created in the image of god
but all being held back because of sin
so he provides us with opportunity
and that's exactly what we're told here
in verse 12.
and again i i kind of hit this a lot
right it's it's
works are important works are every bit
as important as grace
and so we get the grace of god here the
redeemer suffering the pain of all men
which by the way what wherefore he
suffered the pain of all men
that all men might repent and come unto
him
well that to me is a principle then all
right that seems to me like that's what
we're supposed to do
as well we're supposed to suffer the
pain of all men in one way or another
or another those around us those in our
world
and by lifting them up and and sharing
their burdens that's the covenant we
make at baptism
that's when we take on jesus christ's
name
and this is what his name represents
to give people the opportunity we can't
force anybody to do anything
and that's why works are so important in
verse 12 and he hath risen again from
the dead
that he might bring all men unto him
on conditions of repentance
right so again the condit it
comes with conditions it has to come
with conditions
it's not a free ride it's not how it
works
and and we can say well we're becoming a
society that we're
where we we take on a lot more offense
and
and um we want to
remove from our burden right
anything heavy that might cause anxiety
as in hey maybe i won't be saved
but the gospel
of jesus christ is about being given
the opportunity to be saved
right it's an opportunity that the lord
has given us
in a sense he's given us the ticket
but it's up to us to get that ticket
punched
at the pearly gates so to speak
and it comes with conditions and it
should
because what is the plan of salvation
all about what is
taking on the name of christ all about
it's about becoming like him
and so if it's repentance and agency
used wisely
that helps us become like him
then then that is what our works are and
that is the key to the plan of salvation
becoming if if it's just grace
there's no reason to become that it that
does not we don't become anything
that doesn't work we all
want to become something we all want to
be better
we all want to progress
and we do that through repentance and
a wisely used agency that god has given
us
and then again finishes off this section
here with the idea of
ask in the ask the father in my name
in faith believing that you shall
receive and you shall have
the holy ghost right that's the lower
law and the higher law
very simple and again when we talk about
the holy ghost
he then talks about how it manifests to
men it says
which manifesteth all things which are
expedient unto the children of men
so what are we expecting to come up at
this point
the primary spiritual gifts 19 and if
you have not
faith hope and charity you can do
nothing right so those those are the
skills those are the gifts that are
required
for us to act in his name and to be
like him that's how this whole section
here is flowing together be baptized
repent receive the gifts of the spirit
become like christ who suffered the pain
of all
men because of the worth of souls
and and as you ask earnestly
and use your agency wisely then you will
be blessed with those spiritual gifts
faith hope and charity where you can do
everything
and then we get more about the name here
in 23 behold jesus christ is the name
which is given of the father
and there is none other name given
whereby man can be
saved wherefore all men
must take upon them the name which is
given of the father
for in that name shall they be called at
the last day
wherefore if they know not the name by
which they are called they cannot have
place in the kingdom of my father
so we get this with jeremiah too about
knowing the lord
and and knowing his name is a part of
that
what does his name represent and
are we anxiously engaged
in his cause taking on us his name again
going back to the third commandment of
the ten commandments
do not take the lord's name in vain when
you were baptized
you took on his name do you take that on
in vain without purpose
i i think that's exactly what that third
commandment really is actually all about
i believe it's about baptism
i believe it's about becoming like
christ and and making the commitment
to be like him and and to be a member of
his church
all right so now over to section 19.
and here we have the revelation the
uh commandment that is given to martin
harris in regards to
providing the funds for the printing of
the book of mormon this is a pretty big
deal
and so we get a great outline here about
repentance about revelation
about the atonement and a comparison
between
the things of the world and and the
things of the lord right because you've
got on one hand you've got
uh martin's farm right on one on one
side pretty big deal
and then you've got the book of mormon
on the other and
so he kind of talks about these two
things and brings these two things
together and talks about how
the things of the lord need to be put up
above the things
of the earth the temporal things even if
it's something that
is providing for you right and and
that's what
that's how martin makes a living right
he's off of his farm
so here's what he says the lord starts
off and says i am alpha and omega
right the beginning and the end that's
the first and last
letters of the greek alphabet christ the
lord
yea even i am he the beginning in the
end
the redeemer of the world clarifies who
he is
and where this is coming from i having
accomplished and
finished the will of him whose i am
even the father i like how that's put
together right i having accomplished so
he had a mission
this is jesus christ he had a mission
and he went out and he fulfilled it and
the fulfillment of that mission
was focused on the will of the father i
think we can all put ourselves
in not in the savior's shoes but in his
path
that he has trodden and say the same
type of thing
right that we all have a mission and
ultimately
that mission should be on
uh should be based on the will of the
father what is the will of the father
that's what the lord has taught us
in the the most adverse horrible
dark terrible suffering of all time
right it's the lord is about to jesus is
saying okay i
don't want to do this that does not make
him imperfect
but i will do it if it's thy will
right that's a great lesson for us
and in fact he goes over that here
shortly so having accomplished and
finished the will of him whose i
am even the father concerning me having
done this that i might subdue
all things unto myself so by lowering
himself
below all things it's a good lesson
by lowering himself below all things and
bearing the burdens of all things he
subdues all things
unto himself so we can do the same in a
sense
in the long run right eternally down in
verse 3 he says
judging every man according to his works
and the deeds which he hath done all
right remember this
is for martin harris
and and this is something that martin
harris requested of joseph smith
i need a commandment he said if we
listen to
uh joseph knight seniors
account about this event where martin
harris came to joseph smith
wanting a commandment about this he says
the books will not sell for nobody wants
them
right there's been a a huge opposition
to the printing of the book of mormon
there's going to be boycotts there is a
boycott
uh martin harris is very very concerned
about the whole thing because he's
putting up his farm
and how am i going to be able to
pay this off right he's concerned
rightfully so
and so he comes to joseph smith and he
says i must have a commandment
remember how commandments are used when
we talk about commandments
um very similar to the same uh as a
revelation
right you could you could you could
replace either those words with the
other
or covenant right or testament
we have the term in this book the
doctrine and
covenants that means the bringing
together of god and man
covenant or it could be the doctrine
and revelations same thing
in the bible we have the old testament
and the new testament
probably a better translation of that
would be the old
covenant and the new covenant like we
have for
the doctrine and covenants
so joseph smith agrees and he and all
and oliver go to work and
this is what they receive right this is
what they receive is section 19.
but this is going to somebody that we
know a little bit
about right martin harris he is a
believing person
but he's a little like a doubting thomas
he believes but there is doubt he wants
more and more evidence he's not a core
or a share of the book of mormon
where he wants the sign
in front of his faith but somewhere in
between there
right he's he's he his faith stops
and he needs more of a sign
and you can see that in the words of the
lord here in section 19 to martin harris
and that's what he's saying here about
the will of the father are you going to
do the will of the father i did the will
of the father
are you going to do the will of the
father
i mean martin believes right he believes
he has
faith that joseph smith is the prophet
he's coming to him
for a commandment
he knows that that joseph is the prophet
he knows the book of mormon is true he's
had a witness to this
but he still wants a little more of a
sign
a little more surety and that's usually
what he's typically
doing in his life right he's going
around he's the one
going to charles anthony right he wants
confirmation
he wants more he really wants to be a
part of the vision with
moroni in the book of mormon he wants
the manuscript
to show to other people so again he says
judging every man this is the lord
judging every man according to his
works and the deeds which he hath done
so we're all going to be judged
and he's going to very plainly put this
out here
about judgment and about um
our works they have to they matter right
in verse four and surely every man must
repent or
suffer then he brings us in here and and
starts to tell us a little bit more
about what is meant by an endless
suffering
he says for i god am endless
in other words it is a title endless
or eternal is a title and this is what
he says in verse 5 wherefore
i revoke not the judgments which i shall
pass
but woes shall go forth weeping wailing
and gnashing of teeth these are real
things
and it's important to know the
consequences it's not that you're
preaching
hellfire all the time you don't need to
always be doing that but you know what
if you're a parent and you want your
child to learn
hey look there are certain consequences
this is what can happen or will happen
if you choose this
and that's what the lord does with his
prophets he warns us
there'll be weeping and wailing and
gnashing of teeth yea to those who are
found on my left
hand right we want to be on the right
hand of the lord
that's where the righteous are that's
where the righteous
sit in that council in the tent for
example
on his right hand
and then we get that explanation here
about eternal and endless and what what
this means
again it is written eternal damnation
wherefore it is more expressed than
other scriptures
that it might work upon the hearts of
the children of men altogether for my
name's glory so
the idea here sounds to me like what
he's saying is the connotation here
is that this is forever or at least
very strong right this eternal damnation
is very strong stay away from it it is a
major
consequence i like the cross-reference
that is given here to the phrase eternal
damnation it's in helaman 12
25 and 26 and it says and i would that
all men might be saved
but we read that in the great and last
day there are some who shall be cast
out ye who shall be cast off from the
presence of the lord
who shall be consigned to a state of
endless
misery then he puts the opposite
here in uh opposite consequences
and they that have done good shall have
everlasting life and they that have done
evil shall have everlasting
damnation right well this is his name
his name is everlasting his name is
endless his name
is eternal so these things are
given to us as a title
of god right it's god's punishment it's
god's consequence
it's god's reward so for example
in verse 10 he says for behold the
mystery of godliness how great is it
for behold i am endless and the
punishment which is given from my hand
is endless punishment for endless is my
name
wherefore eternal punishment is god's
punishment
endless punishment is god's punishment
so
you know you have the idea in
christianity often in other religions as
well
abrahamic religions that there's there
can be a an everlasting or an eternal
damnation
where if you don't get it right here
you're done
right that's it and you know there's
some leeway there
i think in in saying okay well how much
do we need to suffer maybe we have to
suffer
and and really be able to repent in the
next life um
but eternal damnation or an eternal
punishment may not mean
forever if
if we repent if we change and we know
it's a lot harder
to do that in the next life
and then he comes in and talks about
substitution right and then the
atonement
for behold i god have suffered these
things for
all that they might not suffer
if they would repent again it's if they
would repent
so we lose the suffering and future
suffering that doesn't mean all
suffering
choices do have consequences but when we
repent
we are given more freedom we are given
more
joy and we have less suffering
but if they would not repent they must
suffer
even as i
consequences
then again we get a little bit into the
character of jesus here and
understanding that even though he's god
that doesn't mean
everything's easy for him right the
reason he
is who he is is because
things are difficult for him too but he
makes the right decisions
as i see it that's my estimation verse
18
which suffering caused myself even god
the greatest of all to tremble because
of pain
and to bleed at every pore and to suffer
both
body and spirit the bread and the wine
or the bread and the water
and wood that i might not drink the
bitter cup
and shrink a bitter cup maybe from the
seder meal
so he would not he was he was hoping
that he wouldn't have to
right that's what we get in the gospels
as well is there any way i don't have to
do this
is there any way i don't have to do it i
think that's important to see
because that way we can relate to it
there's a lot that we don't want to do
but in the end even though it's the the
worst thing
imaginable
jesus does it because it's the will of
his father and because of the love that
he has for us
and this is how he states it in verse 19
nevertheless glory be to the father
and i partook and finished my
preparations unto the children of men
right he partook of the bitter cup
so when we are a little like martin
harris and we're holding things back
and we're not willing to sacrifice a
little bit more
i think the lord here is reminding
martin it's like look
you're not even close to what i felt
it's kind of like what he did with
joseph smith
in liberty jail this is what i did you
need to do the same
or something like this
do the will of the father you need to
mortgage the farm you need to cover the
debt
on on this for the book of mormon and
again clarification in verse 24
i am jesus christ i came by the will of
the father
and i do his will why does he keep
repeating that
it's because martin needs to be more
like the savior
then he does something interesting here
in in verse 25
he says and again i command thee that
thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor's wife this is one of
the ten commandments
nor seek thy neighbor's life another one
of the ten commandments
and again i command thee that thou shalt
not covet thine
own property so i it seems to me like
he's bringing back the original source
or or the the icon of commandments right
the ten commandments to martin's mind
here
saying just as i have commanded through
the ten commandments as much as you
esteem those
you need to esteem this commandment in
the same
vein as those right you don't do this
and you don't do this
and i command thee that thou shalt not
covet thine own
property but impart it freely to the
printing of the book of
mormon kind of puts it on the same level
as the ten commandments
this is the source which contains the
truth and the word of god
which is my word my dbr to the gentile
right because the gentiles are the ones
that are receiving the book of mormon
right now
that soon again all this focus
constantly on
this gathering of israel through the the
tool of the book of mormon
that soon it may go to the jew of whom
the lamanites are a remnant
now this is always interesting to me how
the term jew is used
because sometimes it seems like they are
speaking of a specific person
if you read a definition of the term jew
it's usually someone who is
from the tribe of judah or from the
kingdom of
judah right a judahite
and then you have the lost 10 tribes
more or less benjamin's in there with
the jews especially
um and and maybe some of the levites
right
they had priests obviously in the
kingdom of judah
but here the lord is using the term
jew as if it's just overall the
israelites
right because the lamanites are from
joseph the lamanites are
from manasseh and likely ephraim
who are not from the kingdom of judah
and are not from the tribe of judah
so just kind of a little interesting
there as you go through and you see the
term jew especially in the book of
mormon
especially nephi you'll see how
it's just it's used in a different way
sometimes nephi talks as if
he is a jew sometimes he talks as if
he's talking about
a separate group maybe those in charge
at jerusalem or those that write
like the jews right he talks about how
he teaches his children
not the way the jews taught right as
if they're separate from him
or describing laman and lemuel as
similar to the
the jews that were at jerusalem
so look for that as you go through the
scriptures there's different
connotations that are in there
the jew of whom the lamanites are
remnant that they may believe
the gospel in other words the book of
mormon is what's going to hap make them
believe the gospel
it's going to be the tool to do that and
look not for a messiah to come
who has already come right so the jews
are still looking for a messiah
again the big issue there is the
divinity of the messiah
the big issue is that christ
is the son of god that is a problem in
in
judaism there have been several other
false messiahs since jesus and they see
jesus as a false messiah but the big
issue there
the big issue with jesus there is that
he claims that he's divine
and and that is not the messiah that the
that the jews are looking for they do
not believe in god coming down to earth
just like king noah and his priests
and just like the likely the jews at
jerusalem in the time of lehi
and then he says to martin this and this
is where you kind of see how he's
getting into the mind of martin a little
bit he knows him very well he says
and thou shalt declare glad tidings ye
publish it upon the mountains
and upon every high place and he does
it's interesting here he says
and upon every high place if you read uh
where would that be probably in jeremiah
and and in the book of kings probably
second kings
you see um how the height you know uh
josiah goes through and wipes out king
josiah wipes out the high places
because they're evil but
it's hard to know exactly what's going
on there there's a massive reformation
there by the deuteronomists
it looks like if you read someone like
scholar the scholar uh margaret barker
right she will say those high places
were probably doing the right thing
and that king josiah was coming in to
reform everything to centralize
the theocracy more into jerusalem so
that
just so the power was consolidated in
that seat there at jerusalem
here the lord is saying and teach it on
every high and teach it on every high
place and every mountain
and among every people that thou shalt
be permitted to see
he actually does a decent job of this
martin harris does right he always talks
he becomes the caretaker of of the uh of
the temple at kirtland even
after he's left the church he tells
everybody about
his vision he never relinquishes
the testimony he has and the witness
that he has
from moroni
of the vision of the gold plates and the
other plates and the sort of laban and
the liahona and the breastplate and the
urban thumb etc
he never he never backs down from that
but here's the key
and thou shalt do it with all humility
trusting in me reviling not against
revilers
this is exactly what he ends up doing he
becomes a bitter
old broke man right because
he is because of his pride regardless of
what he's seen
he he he has a lot of animosity toward
brigham young
and as he calls them the utah mormons um
it's something that really holds him
back is
pride and so he's telling him here he's
warning him here before have you
received a warning
that you didn't follow maybe in your
patriarchal blessing
maybe in another blessing right he knows
the lord knows he's
warning martin harris now and thou shalt
do it with all humility
this is his problem this is his major
sin
where where he he he can't fully
trust and and humble himself to
fully commit to the will of the father
as jesus did
then down below going back into this
idea of spiritual things and temporal
things
in 38 he says pray always and i will
pour out my spirit upon you did he stop
praying
pretty good chance isn't that an
interesting indicator
in your life in my life right when
you're more willing to pray you're
usually in a better place
you're in a humble state you're willing
to learn you're going to listen
or you're desperate right it's it's like
if you're always praying though not just
in times of desperation you're probably
more humble
and and working with the spirit pray
always and i will pour out my spirit
upon you
and great shall be your blessing yea
even more than if you
should obtain treasures of earth
key and corruptableness to the extent
thereof so that's what the lord is
telling him your farm is valuable
this is a lot more valuable this is the
book of mormon this is the tool
the book the words that that have been
foreseen by prophets for for millennia
it's what's going to bring israel
together in the last days it's what's
going to solidify
the doctrine of the church
it's what's going to bring people to
christ
he says to him canst thou run about
longer as a blind guide
this is similar to what was said in the
gospels where jesus says
woe unto you ye blind guides which say
whosoever shall swear by the temple it
is nothing
but whosoever shall swear by the gold of
the temple
he is a debtor right so
in other words by saying that you're a
debtor
and you're swearing by the gold of the
temple maybe you have an investment in
there
you you are that's a temporal thing
and it means something but if you swear
by the temple
in terms of your commitments and your
covenants
and you don't keep them then that
doesn't mean much
is what he's saying he says again here
ye blind guides
would strain at a gnat that would be
swarting by the gold of the temple
and swallow a camel and that would be
the spiritual things
right you don't even care about these
things it's like your your focus is in
the wrong place and what he's telling
martin harris here
is the same thing focus on spiritual
things
the temporal things will take care of
themselves they're not as important
get your values hierarchy set in place
in the right order
he finishes up with this or can't thou
be humble and meek
i'm gonna have a hard time with that and
conduct thyself
wisely before me yea come unto me
thy savior right
it's always simple it's always a simple
uh
um simple commandment really
for us to come into the savior to follow
the one way the path
and and swallow our pride get rid of the
pride
and and do the will of the father that's
the message to martin harris and that's
the message to us
and repent because we have the atonement
because
jesus did the will of the father
i'll talk to you next time

 

Come Follow Me LDS
Doctrine and Covenants 18-19

Close

50% Complete

Two Step

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.