Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Doctrine & Covenants 63 : Dr. Lynne Hilton Wilson Part II
Episode Date: June 6, 2021What does it mean, “This is a day of warning and not a day of many words?” How do we learn from the early Saints and choose the Kingdom of God? We continue with Dr. Wilson and learn how spiritual ...72-hour kits are more critical than temporal ones to prepare the world for the Second Coming. Join us for Part II of Section 63 of the Doctrine and Covenants.Show notes: https://followhim.co/episodesYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcast
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We now continue with part two of Dr. N. Covenant section 63
with Dr. Lynn Wilson.
Verse 31,
I count it up dozens of times
where the Lord commands His people,
I do not want you to kill.
If you're shedding blood,
that is Satan's plan.
And that is not my way.
In fact, in section 98,
there were 10 times,
the Lord says,
I don't want you to fight.
I want you to proclaim peace.
Then in section 103, we are people of peace.
In section 105, in section 57, in section,
and here it is beautifully in verse 31 of section 63.
You are forbidden to shed blood.
The gift of life is the Lord's to give and the Lord's to take away and let us never interfere with either of those.
I just feel like the Lord has already set them up.
If they would have followed his counsel, when you talked about the land of Zion, do you remember back up in verse 24? He says, don't come too fast.
You know, I don't want any confusion. I don't want any pestilence.
And we don't want to overwhelm the locals, you know, just do this in an orderly fashion.
If we would have followed that one thing, it might have helped, you know, and we meaning the bodies of the church, I don't know.
And then of course, as he comes down here, he's saying, when you're working with your neighbors, don't be angry with him.
And these poor saints are so excited to get there, they're saying things like,
oh, we're gonna take over this whole area.
This can be a new Jerusalem.
We're getting rid of all of your houses of ill-reputed.
We're getting rid of all your money making.
The Lord's gonna change this.
We're taken over.
That just didn't bite too well.
Let alone the differences on their religious feelings.
But economically, they really made some enemies.
And their political feelings, I mean, everything is opposite.
You mentioned there about the shedding of blood
and you made a statement about,
don't, you know, that's the Lord's territory.
That's interesting because just what,
a few verses earlier, he had talked about adultery,
which is giving the life,
which is also the Lord's territory, right?
I remember Elder Holland talking about that.
Surely, what does he say, John?
You probably know better than me
Surely the things God cares about the most or how one gets into this world and how one leaves out
Okay, so when I was on my mission and we had to memorize word for word our discussions
One of them about the commandments
I can still remember how we started that God has many powers and among the powers he values most is the power to give him to take life. He's forbidden us to power to take life, but
it's shared with us the power to create life by allowing us to bring spirits into the world.
And I remember that, that same idea, the kind of the myelpost along the planet salvation,
the way you are born, the way you die, and that those are important to him. And so I like
that Hank, you're for the bringing life
into the world without his authorization
or taking life without his authorization.
And it's God is the same, isn't he?
He's told for how long thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not kill, right?
He's just a consistent message.
And that's where I said there's five of the 10 commandments
in this section.
And if you go a section before and a section after after you get all 10, you know, a few before
and a few after you know, 10.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
I was going to mention just because I thought it was kind of interesting.
The Lord's, here's the Lord telling me to buy land.
Well, it doesn't the earth belong to you.
And he says in verse 25, I the Lord hold it in my known hands.
Nevertheless, I the Lord render unto in my known hands. Nevertheless, I the Lord rend her
into Caesar the things with your Caesar.
So he's like, I'd lessen the whole
worth his mind. But let's do this as
not to overwhelm the locals.
Like you said, I thought that was interesting.
And in the same section a few
verses later, he's talking to our dear
Nulke Whitney. And he talks about his
store. And then he says, I mean the store.
You know, it's not your store. You know, the stewardship is the Lord has given you a responsibility.
It's not your store. It's not your land. It's the Lord's land. You know, I read right past that and
didn't get the insight. Yeah. His story or in other words, that story.
That story.
That's in verse 42.
Well, I just feel like the law of consecration
is so important.
And I feel like I'm living it every day of my life
as long as I'm remembering the gifts that God has given me
are stewardship to build his kingdom.
And whether that is going to work
or whatever I'm doing in school or with my family
or my neighborhood or my community, whatever I'm doing,
you have that mentality.
I am a servant of God here trying to build his kingdom
with his gifts.
We are just stewards.
We are not owners of any.
Absolutely.
Let's go to verse 34.
I'm curious.
Yeah, there is second coming right there. There you go.
The saints also shall hardly escape. So he is warning them. This is not going to come easily.
I the Lord am with them and I will come down from heaven and consume the wicked with unquenchable
fire. But then in the next verse is the one I was referring to
before where he says, but not yet.
Don't think the second coming is in 1831.
But not yet, by and by as you mentioned before.
Yeah.
But he goes on in even verse 37, I love this.
Every man should take righteousness in his hands
and faithfulness upon his loins
and warning voice.
I just wanted to mention one little thing about the fact
that we self-correct in King James or biblical language
whenever it says him, but I found this wonderful passage
by Joseph.
Do you remember the letter he writes in Liberty Jail
that becomes section 121, 121, 121,, 123? So not the whole letter is canonized, but there is a portion of that letter where he says,
now brethren, and he says, by the way, when I say brethren, I mean men, women, and children,
I mean disciples of Jesus Christ. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. See Joseph is our first feminist, you know, I feel like he really
is on board to help the sisters more than their culture did at that time.
I'm glad you mentioned that. So that's in just a part that's not in the doctrine of color.
It's not a part of the letter that he wrote out of Liberty, jail. And you can find it in
Joseph Smith papers projects on dot org. Joseph papers on
Yeah, awesome.
I'm going to get that.
I love also in this little section when he starts talking in
verse 40, I want you to give as much money as you can to
Zion. And these people were in poverty row.
They were already giving away property
and trying to get ready for other things.
I'm so in awe at the generosity of these fast offerings
of the way they were trying to live the love consecration.
Yeah.
Who's Titus Billings?
Do we know much about him? The thing that the thing that I remember is it was Morley's farm. And he was called to go down to
Missouri. And it says in one record that he didn't want to be tempted by too much materialism.
And so he said, I'll just give it to Titus Billings. And then Titus is the one who oversees this land,
but then Titus doesn't keep it.
After a few months, the Lord says,
okay, you need to sell this property now.
Actually, if this is August 30th,
the property is already being sold by September.
Joseph leaves in September and Sydney leave
to go down to the Johnson's farm.
So, you know, even though Titus has the property for a short period of time,
he doesn't keep it. It's the Lord's calling him to use to consecrate this land to go to Zion.
Lynn, you're so great. You can take a section like this that I was like,
oh, what are we going to talk about? And you're...
Oh, well, to me, it is just so powerful that it's such a great section on preparing for
the millennial, because I feel like we are 200 years closer than they were, or 190 years,
closer than they are. And the signs of the times are, I too have taught the book of
Revelation repeatedly. And I feel like we can cut the
calamities of the earth short if we
would start following these commandments
here in section 63 on how to establish
a Zion people, how to prepare a Zion land
and how to become ready for our
saviors return. 49 is another one that
he's still talking about this. Blessed are
those that die in the Lord and of course in that day and age
You know you lose 50% of your kids before they're three years old and you know death is so much more common
You're constantly in pain whether it's a toothache or a or a
Corn on your foot. You just don't know how to deal with things the same way let alone strip throat and
on your foot, you just don't know how to deal with things the same way, let alone strep throat and cholera. I just feel like they're constantly dealing with death. Susan is
black always jokes that the best paid person in Navos is the person who builds the coffins
and takes care of the mortician. In verse 49, this is actually the 20th time in this section
that he's been talking about the millennium. He continues on from verse 49, this is actually the 20th time in this section that he's been talking about the Millennium.
And he continues on from verse 49, clear down to verse 54, where he starts talking about how old things
will become new, that the Lord will come. And if we die in the Lord, we will be able to join him as well
and inherit the Holy City. And here's another verse where he uses the dual message of the Holy City now on earth and the Holy City there.
It's just beautiful because I feel like with our profit emphasizing the need to have our homes, temples and our sacred spaces are all around us that we don't necessarily have to come to a different country.
But we see that council right here in verse 49 of section 63.
But this is where we get the twinkling.
This is the section where we talk about you're get twinkled at the age of a man.
It's 72, you know, I just love this.
The thing you hear about when you're a kid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is verse 51. You get twinkled.
And verse 53 is the verse I was looking for before, speaking after the manner of the Lord. So
don't get your hopes up if you think it's tomorrow, you know. He, but the 10 virgins is the next
verse. It's verse 54.
That's where we get it.
And it's just a short little clip on it.
But he's already taught us that the oil is the spirit.
If you go back and look at the previous, you know, section 45, verse 36, and section 33,
verse 17 and 18, he's already taught us a lot about how to interpret this scripture. And do you remember
when Joseph Smith said, the way you understand a parable is by going back and looking at the question.
What drew it out? Yeah. So I went back and looked at the versions, the 10 versions. And the question
actually is in Matthew 24. And it's tell us about the signs of your second coming. And so it fits in beautifully to this people who are trying to build Zion,
and you want to know how to become a Zion people. And they're so eager to learn, but of course,
we're human, we're mortals, they've been baptized almost a year. We have a long ways to go,
we're still working on it. But here's that beautiful verse. And I think the thing that is sweet about in verse 54 about this parable that we can learn more about than we learn
otherwise is that I will send my angels to pluck them out. So the Lord has His mighty forces, His hosts
of the heavens working the entire separation of the righteous and the wicked is a process.
But I just have to tell you, as a child, I was so offended by this parable.
Why don't you offended? Why don't they share that oil? I was very grateful for
pushing Kimbell. We were talking to share, right? Yeah, exactly. So I was very grateful for putting in the kimble. We were talking to share, right? Yeah, exactly. So I was very grateful for President Kimball's talk.
You can't share a tidingslip.
How do you share a testimony that you have become,
the gift of charity that you've worked on your whole life?
But I really feel like the saints are feeling day by day,
drop by drop, we are becoming more Christlike.
Our leaders are taking us there,
our scriptures are taking us there,
but I feel come follow me is a giant step
in helping us become.
You used the word become three times just now.
And when I try to teach that parable to my students,
I say, I remember President Oaks has talked
the challenge to become.
And it's kind of, I can't share, and you can't share
what you've become.
I can't say, I need 30 years of your honesty.
Could you give that to me, please?
And that's why I love that we that ever since
that hearing that parable is a child and not getting why they don't share things like
President Kimball and Elder Oak saying, it's what you've become that it's not shareable.
I can't give you that. So thank you for for using that word. I love that President
Oathe talked about. It's not just what we know and it's not even just what we do. It's what we've become.
Well, when I teach Matthew 25 in the parable of the Ten Virgins, there's a point that we skip over that I really like.
It's in Matthew 25 verse four. It says, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
So I've often related this to and I don't know if the Savior meant it this way, obviously,
but we've got our lamp in our oil.
That's kind of seen by everybody else, and then we've got oil in our vessel, which is
kind of private, right?
No one else sees that.
And so I think we've got to have your public spirituality, right?
That's important, as being an example, let your light so shine, but you also need this
private relationship
with the Spirit.
It cannot all just be a public relationship with God, right?
Because Lynn, I think you'd absolutely agree,
99.5% of what we experience with the divine is private, right?
I, to me, I want to have oil in the vessel that's that's nobody knows about, right?
But me and the Lord really, really, really, really, really, one of these saints to know this parable.
Seven times in the Dr. Cummins. Evidently, we have a lot to learn from this. And even if I just
look at the practices in the New Testament and what was required for a marriage ceremony and what they did, you know, the background gives you
light too, you know, you're coming in a happy festive joyous experience to come to the bridegroom.
And as we prepare for the Savior's coming, I really appreciate the elder Hinckley's reminder
that it is a great and dreadful day of the Lord.
And let us, I go back to what my brother said
in my blessing for my eyes, rejoice.
And you will see the hand of the Lord in your life.
Don't emphasize this ad.
Be of good cheer in your hardest times, you know.
Yeah, I remember one of my absolute favorite talks of General Conference
ever was 2005 Elder Bednar said, I gave a talk, first talk in General Conference
for him was the tender mercies of the Lord. And that talked to me, it changed
everything. For me, when it comes to, you can have peace, right?
Knowing that you and the Lord are on the same page, right?
Yeah, yeah.
And in this difficult, difficult world that we face,
you need that peace to know that the Lord is pleased with you.
That phrase has become part of our conversations.
We talk about tender mercies now all the time
ever since that talk.
And it's always been a scriptural term,
but yeah, he brought that to our awareness kind of.
Okay, this is an intriguing story.
Sydney Rigdon is supposed to write a description, right?
Of Zion, it doesn't go very well.
The part I've underlined his writing is not acceptable
because I've had that kind of comment from Desire a book a few times.
Okay, that's just a joke. But he's not a joke for me.
I was listening to that. I was like, wait, what did you do?
I'm wondering, do we have his first draft of his description?
Oh, wouldn't that be a fun thing to receive? Why wasn't it very good?
Yeah, I do not know if we have that draft. I have no idea.
Many people are scared for the second coming. And it's this guy almost says as it may be a youth
or as a parent, you're going, you know, this gives me anxiety.
How would you say to someone who has a lot of anxiety
over the second coming?
And when we did talk about being a great
and dreadful day of the Lord,
anything else that you might add?
When my little Peter was three years old,
he was learning how to do mathematics.
And he thought it was so amazing
that he could multiply anything times infinity and get infinity mommy. I know what 572 times infinity is
So cute and that's the way I feel about preparing for the second coming
We are if we are joining with the Savior
It doesn't matter. It's going to be tremendous.
He is infinity.
Anything we can give, anything we can do,
if we are working on his team,
if we are, as our prophet calls, on his battalion.
If we are serving God, if we are part of that,
going to Harry Potter, I just feel like
the seventh book of Harry Potter.
We are fighting the dark. You know, we are
fighting the dark arts, but if we are on Christ's team, our burdens will be made light, and the things
that we suffer will be put in perspective, and we have the perspective of infinity. We, anything
that we do will be made okay by God. I like that. I, and to let people know that, hey, we're kind of in the
middle of it and you're doing good, right? Like it's not like it's still out there. We're, we're
well in the way. We're well in the way. Yeah. I have a statement from Elder Holland that I've always
shown to students who say, well, what will happen when the second coming is here, right? And I'll say
What will happen when the second coming is here, right? And I'll say BYU speeches of September 12, 2004,
the promise second coming of the Savior began
with the first vision of the prophet Joseph Smith in 1820.
He was back, right?
And we're in the middle of it right now.
And we're doing great, we're doing great.
Yeah, I've actually heard it referred to as second comings
because there will be so many.
And the first vision was maybe the first in, but how many more and how many more were
shared visions?
I love that, that, how that helps me to know that Joseph Smith was not the only one.
There were others that shared visions of his other comings.
Well, and even his mother saw the Lord
way before Joseph was born and hundreds and hundreds of other people saw the Lord before Joseph
was born. So it was Joseph's first vision, but the heavens had not been closed to many great
people throughout the history of the world. The Lord has answered his disciples' prayers,
regardless of which dispensation or if they are between dispensations, the Lord still I feel
knows his children by name. Joseph Sr had his seven dreams and Asel as well as Lucy Maxstad,
he doesn't become converted to the Savior until later in his life, but both of them felt like the Lord had
come to them and spoke to them and given them
great comfort and hope that
they not only were
part of his
elect is how they
Described it in those days, but that they
Would have posterity that would change, and bless the world.
But you're referring to Asal's statement about Joseph,
or about this posterity, his posterity.
Right, his posterity.
He didn't know it was Joseph, but yeah,
I feel like those two records,
Asal's short, short, short message to his children.
A few dozen pages, and the little tea pamphlet by Brother
Mac are just beautiful examples of the religious enthusiasm of the age and the sincerity of
these disciples of Christ that filled New England at that time.
Let's look at this verse 57.
This is one that I noticed.
He said,
Verily I say into you that those who desire in their hearts
in meekness to warn sinners to repentance,
let them be ordained unto this power.
What, when I looked at that,
I thought, you know, there is a side of us
that wants to kind of lash out and say repent, right,
or suffer.
But what do you think, the word,
when he says those who desire to in their hearts
in meekness to warn sinners to repentance?
How do you walk that line, do you think?
Of yes, I want to be truthful, I want to help,
but meekness seems, John, what did you call meekness?
Great.
Great power under complete control. One of our
S. Michael Wilcox gave an article about the Beatitudes and he phrased it that way or he heard it
phrase that way. I love the way Joseph combines the idea of power and meekness. Well the Lord
taught Joseph in Liberty Jail. No power or authority can or ought to be maintained
except by meekness, long-suffering patients.
So if we want to facilitate God's power,
and I'm using this very broad term
of God's priesthood power here,
because Joseph has just said a few paragraphs
in that letter, a difference, when I say brethren,
I mean men and women and children.
So if we want to access God's power in that letter, difference. When I say brethren, I mean men and women and children. So if we want to access God's power in our life, which is God's priesthood, then we have God to do it
through gentleness, meekness, and love and fain. So I feel that God's power can only be accessed
if we're going to do it with his key and his key is meekness. Yeah.
if we're going to do it with his key. And his key is a weakness.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What did just see if I can get this quote right,
you guys will help me.
He says, when person's manifest the least kindness and love
to me, oh, what great power it has over my heart,
while the opposite course has a tendency
to hurl up harsh feelings and depress the human mind.
I mean, that's just absolutely beautiful.
And I've been on, I've done both.
I've done the loving side.
I've gone too harsh and he's exactly right.
It's our general conference.
Elder Stevenson talked about kindness with the rabbits, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
And then after that, Elder Gong talked about kindness as well.
And I've heard the phrase a million times,
and I think in missionary work,
people don't care how much you know,
until they know how much you care.
That maybe this is part of that warning and meekness.
And also Hank, you've talked about,
we've all talked about repentance and elder Holland saying it's the
most hopeful and encouraging word in the whole Christian vocabulary.
And when I've taught by students, I say, if I say repent, put in the chat window, the
first word that comes to your mind, it's usually not hope, encouragement, you know.
Right.
Anyway, my daughter says repentance is self love. She was in high school. She said repentance is self-love. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Yeah
repentance is self-love. We have a commandment to improve
That's not a bad commandment, right? No. No. Yeah, verse 58. This is a day of warning and not a day of many words
Second time he's repeated that in this section. Is he saying,
hey, be quick about it because you don't have a lot of time? Well, I'm convinced that if it is a day
of warning and the gospel has been restored and if we are servants of God, when we are baptized,
we put on his jersey and we work for on his team. And sometimes my prayers I forget that and I
say, hey, could you help me and can you do this and this and this, but it's actually, oh, I'm your
servant. What should I be doing today? You know, I just feel like, so it's a day of warning.
That means that's our job. Yeah, absolutely. And I remember one of my favorite quotes about
the second coming. And it just, it always comes back to me when I think of it, is the second coming is not a day of choosing. It is a day you find out what you have chosen.
Right? This is before. All this takes place before, and I like that. I think that fits. It's not a day
of choosing. The second coming is, you know, when it's right in front of you. That's not the choosing's
over. What would a present-monger say?
When the time for decision has come, the time for preparation has passed.
Yeah, yeah. This is from, it's called preparation for the second coming, President Oaks in April
of 2004. And he says, and I use, I would, I sometimes use this in my class. What if the
day of his coming were tomorrow? If we knew, we would meet I sometimes use this in my class. What if the day of his coming were tomorrow?
If we knew, we would meet the Lord tomorrow.
You knew it tomorrow through our premature death
or through his unexpected coming.
What would we do today?
What confessions would we make?
What practices would we discontinue?
What accounts would we settle?
What forgiveness would we extend?
What testimonies would we bear,
and then you sit on that for a minute. If it was really true, if I knew for a fact the Lord
is coming tomorrow, what would I do today? And then he says this, if we would do all those things,
then why not now? Why not seek peace while peace can be obtained? If our lamps of preparation, going back to the parable of 10 virgins, are drawn down,
let us start immediately to replenish them.
You can do that at any time.
You can start immediately to replenish your lamp.
You don't have to wait.
You don't have to go see the bishop before you can just fall down on your knees or you can
open the scriptures and start replenishing that lamp.
He says, yes, we need to make both temporal
and spiritual preparation for the events
of the prophesied second coming.
He says this,
a 72 hour kit of temporal supplies
may prove valuable for earthly challenges,
but as the foolish versions learned to their sorrow,
a 24 hour kit of spiritual preparation
is of greater and more enduring value. So to me, when I read
this section, when one thing I'm hearing is act now, act now, do the things that you know you
should be doing now. That's beautiful. Start, you know, start making confessions and
discontinuing practices and subtle accounts and offer forgiveness, bare testimony.
Let's get started today.
I love the way he combines this.
It's one of the Ten Commandments,
not to use the Lord's name in vain
in verse 60 to 63 or so,
but I feel like it's also a sin of commission
and a sin of omission.
And the way he says in verse 62,
those who use the name of the Lord and use it in vain,
having not authority.
I think of the way I close my prayers.
Am I adding on the Savior's name to complete the prayer
or am I using His name in an honorary and humble and meek
using his name in an honorary and humble and meek fashion of referring to the Savior who has redeemed us. I love the idea that if I am a baptized member of
the Church, even if I'm not serving as a full-time missionary, I'm using his
name in vain because I have taken his name upon me. And if I am using his name in vain because I have taken his name upon me.
And if I am using my time inappropriately or if I'm using my thoughts in a negative way or if I'm allowing other priorities to come into my life, whether it's just slough whatever you want to choose. Am I using the name of the Lord in vain?
I just think it has such a beautiful broad application
beyond just perhaps addressing our Savior
in the name of our God in a non-holy context.
It also has this far reaching application of,
when we are ever addressing our Lord or representing our Lord,
is it from the heart? Thank you. I look at verse 64 in that same spirit. Remember that which
cometh from above is sacred and must be spoken with care. And Hank and I love to laugh and we joke a lot
when we're with one another.
And I hope though that we're appropriate
when it comes to things like this
because of that commitment.
So I'm thankful I heard Trim and Madsen once say
there's a difference between being like
minded and light-hearted.
So I hope we're getting that right, you know. Yeah, I walk that line. I try to walk that
line pretty well. I've had moments where the spirit has said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know, too,
too much. But I, you know, because we, what does the Lord say? Be, you know, rejoice, be happy, right?
We're going to be rejoicing, be edified together. So I like that.
Their sacred must be spoken with care.
You know, it's not just using the name of the Lord, although I do think perhaps the most important part of our prayer is the closing phrase that we use
bidding our Savior to take the message to our Father. But I also feel like it's such a powerful way to open up access to the Spirit is when
we do not use the Lord in vain, that when we address Him and when we think of Him, it
is with great sincerity, then we are not using.
So when we finish our statements in the name of Jesus Christ, amen, we could do that in vain if we're not careful.
I think so.
Yeah, I feel like I have, I have not been as careful as I could have been sometimes.
Me too.
Or as respectful.
I remember one student left me a voicemail and finished the voicemail that way.
And then she said, I'm so sorry. I don't know what I was saying.
And she just talked about it. It always made me laugh.
You must be a scary teacher.
Yeah. I'm just wondering.
Also, I would say when we take the Lord's name upon us in our covenants,
we can also do that in vain.
Yes. we take the Lord's name upon us in our covenants, we can also do that in vain. We can take the
Lord's name in vain. I think you talked about having that jersey on and let's not do that
in vain, right, without meaning it. Well, I think the backdrop of all of this is really
helpful for this section to see what's going on there. They want to know everything they can about Zion,
but they're not perfect, and the Lord has some reminders for them. In some places sounding gentle
and other places not very gentle, right? And then all of this millennium stuff, which is great.
And the parables. Yeah. And Heritans before the Lord in the Holy City. So if you die, you can still live in the Holy City, maybe as you said on another level.
I want to bring up one last topic before we close this section, Lynn. And that is, he just says this in verse 66, but I think it's, it can be just an important and peaceful and wonderful
principle. These things remain to overcome through patience that such may receive a more
exceedingly and eternal weight of glory, otherwise a greater condemnation. So overcome
through patience. I don't know about either of you, but patience has been one of the most difficult
Christ-like attributes for me to,
to me to make progress on, right?
I feel like I've got it, I've got it,
and then I'm, oh, right, something happens
and it all blows up, and then I feel like,
oh, I'm got it, I'm really becoming more and more patient
and something happens.
How have, Lynn, can you make me patient like you?
No, no, no, no.
And I don't know if I wanna pray for patients, right?
Cause that might end up with.
Well, for me, it's more of a matter of trusting God's,
I feel like,
Timing.
No, no, a little bit different than that.
Because I feel like sometimes God's timing is my preparation. So I have got to
Accelerate my learning not say when I think of waiting on the Lord. I like to think of a
I lived in Paris. I like to think of a server waiting there for me
You know, I'm there to take notes on exactly everything you want. You know, I'm waiting on the Lord
I'm ready to serve you
But the Lord's timing is so often my preparation.
So if I can just step back and say,
what do you want me to learn, then I can be more patient.
Because then I can do something about it.
If I don't have any ability to move forward,
then I feel like the early Puritans,
where you're just paralyzed into saying,
okay, am I chosen or not?
You know, am I one of the elector not?
But God wants us to act and not be acted upon.
So for me, patience is easier when I say,
what can I learn?
How can I, I want to be able to grow my seed
while I am waiting?
If you're waiting on me to blossom,
I've got to add some miracle grow here.
You know, help me increase my faith or whatever.
So I feel like I can increase my patience easier
when I just trust God.
It's going to be just fine. Just trust God. It's a matter of faith and hope and and I totally
can trust God. And then I can wait as long as I'm actively learning. I don't mind being patient.
Now a red light is a different story, but yeah.
Yeah.
Lynn, thank you for saying what you did
about just trusting God because I think there was
in 1995 Elder Richard G. Scott gave this talk
about how our questions change.
And instead of asking, why is this happening
or why is God doing this to me
or what have I done to deserve this,
when we really trust God, our questions become and you said it, what am I supposed to learn?
Who can I help?
How can I keep my faith in this time?
And I love what you said.
It gives us, it's a proactive, it gives us something to do.
You know, I'm in the midst of a trial.
I'm going to try to be patient, but what can
I learn during this time? And I saw the word patients there too. And I thought of section
four, the doctrine of covenants that the missionary section, we often call it, you know, that speaks
of patients. And, and Hank, I'm with you sometimes. I'm, well, wait a minute. I thought we're
supposed to have a sense of urgency. And then other times, oh, and be patient. Which one is it? You know, don't use many words.
But be patient in meekness. I guess that's one of those where, thankfully, we have the gift of
the Holy Ghost that can apply to individual circumstances, I suppose.
Absolutely. For me, patients, I remember there was a talk from other,
Ouk Dwarf on patients, there's another talk from a, a general authority, Robert.
He was the military. Do you guys remember?
Oh, Robert C. Ouk.
Robert C. Ouk. There was another talk by Robert C. Ouk's on patients.
And I listened to those over and over, over trying to just like soak it in,
like help me become more patient.
And you know what, looking back
over a long period of time,
I can see that I've made that improvement.
It's those day to day, week to week,
like, oh, why am I not making improvements?
I remember elder, or yeah, it was elder Oaks,
but this was Robert Oaks,
who he said that his, one of his friends owned
a motorcycle shop.
Do you guys remember this story?
And one of his sons, they had lined up brand new shiny motorcycles and one of his sons
thought he'd jump on the first one and started up.
So he did and then pushed his luck too far and decided to turn it off.
And he jumped off the motorcycle and knocked it into the next one, which knocked it in the next one, the next one, the next one, denting all of them, denting all of
them with the paint and you know, the chrome dent.
And he looked over at his dad, right?
And his dad kind of looked over at his desk like, and he said, well, we better fix one up
and sell it so we can pay to fix the rest of them.
And that was about it.
That was about it.
And I thought, okay, I've gotta get that down.
I've gotta get that down, right?
Overcome through patience.
Let me know when you do that
and then come and give me lessons, okay?
I will, I will.
I just quit the motorcycle business altogether.
Oh goodness. Okay, I will. I will. I just quit the motorcycle business all together.
Goodness, but I love those examples of Christ like patience.
All right, Lynn, anything else in the section before we,
anything we didn't cover that you're like, oh, Hank, we got to hit this or
I am just amazed as I think about how applicable each verse of this section is to those saints in 1831, and yet as I read it on my own in conjunction with Come Follow Me, each verse was very applicable to me. If you want to hear God's voice, take a quiet sacred hour and spend it in the scriptures,
and you will find messages just for you.
Yeah, that's beautiful.
Thank you.
Lynn, what keeps you on the covenant path?
What is this restoration and gospel done for for you personally. You know, I believe because of a witness of the spirit that I
first started feeling when I was seven years old when I
asked and again
every other time that I have asked and sought in humility
but the thing that keeps me
with my toes deep in the sand and my roots growing down deeper is,
I really like comparing what is different about the Book of Mormon's message on patients,
rather than the biblical message on patients. And what do I believe this compared to our other Christian friends or colleagues or the
Judaic or the Islamic faith traditions?
And I am blown away at the truth and validity of not only the doctrines, but the principles
and the way that is carried out in our church.
I believe, as Eugene England said, the church is as true as the gospel.
So I believe from a witness of the Spirit, but my taproot comes from studying the scriptures and comparing them.
Yeah, that is wonderful.
John, another episode of Follow Him has come and gone. isn't it wonderful that we get to be here?
What did Peter say? It is good for us. It is good for us to be here.
It is good for us to be here. Understatement of all time.
But I love that he that he would say that because and I think for our young people,
I love to tell have you ever had the opposite? I shouldn't be here. Well, you know what to do
stand in holy places. I mean get out of there um but for Peter to say that and I feel like that every
week and thank you Lynn. I am so excited to go to Book of Mormon Central and Dr.
Nacupna Central and listen to more of your enthusiasm and excitement for this.
Well, I'm just honored to have been here with you. It's been a
sheer joy. Anytime we can testify of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's a good day. It's a good day.
It is. Thank you. And you know what I love too about you, Lynn, is you have gone to
not church schools to get all of your degrees. I get that right. All of them. Yeah. Yeah.
And and added that perspective to it.
And I just I love that. I think it adds some some depths to our guests and to what they've said,
what they've shared. So thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. For your preparation for being here.
Wonderful. God bless you both. Thank you for this invitation. We want to thank Dr. Lin
Wilson for joining us today. We want to thank all
of you for listening and taking your time to be with us. We're grateful for your support. We
really are. Thank you to our executive producers Steve and Shannon Swanson. Our production crew,
David Perry, Lisa Spice, Jamie Nielsen, Kyle Nelson, Will Stoughton and Maria Hilton. And we hope you'll join us next time on Follow Him.
you