followHIM - Mosiah 1-3 Part 1 • Dr. Jennifer Platt • April 22 - April 28 • Come Follow Me

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

Ever wondered what makes someone a Saint? Join Dr. Jennifer Brinkerhoff Platt delves into the beginning of the Book of Mosiah and sheds light on living covenants, the responsibilities of Christians, and gratitude.SHOW NOTES/TRANSCRIPTSEnglish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM17ENFrench: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM17FRPortuguese: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM17PTSpanish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM17ESYOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/2--hBJN0ja4ALL EPISODES/SHOW NOTESfollowHIM website: https://www.followHIMpodcast.comFREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookWEEKLY NEWSLETTERhttps://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletterSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcast00:00 Part 1–Dr. Jennifer Brinkerhoff Platt00:42 What to expect in this episode01:28 Introduction of Dr. Jennifer Brinkerhoff Platt02:13 King Benjamin, kings, and the Heavenly King05:25 Mormon and 4 Nephi06:41 Joseph and Benjamin and becoming a saint10:00 Mormon’s voice and discipleship15:00 Lehi to King Benjamin timeline21:31 Words of Mormon22:47 Evan Schmutz BYU Devotional “Can You Imagine?”24:45 Mosiah 1:1-9 - Covenant parents and responsibilities28:26 Mosiah 1:7 - profit in the scriptures30:43 Mosiah 1:2, Alma 17:2 - anchor yourself in the scriptures34:17 Elder Holland: Your children are matches to be lit38:31 Divine roles and Grant Hardy on Mormon41:00 Mosiah 1:11 - Names the people42:33 Mosiah 2:1 - Gather at the temple45:40 Mosiah 2:6 - Which direction does your tent face?48:12 Dr. Platt shares a story about her daughter cutting out temple name slips49:03 Mosiah 2:9, 27-29 - Benjamin’s voice52:03 Mosiah 2:12-13 Suffering55:05 Mosiah 2:16 - Inverting the two commandments59:46 Mosiah 2:20 - Gratitude and President Nelson01:02:47 Mosiah 2:17 - Service01:05:10 End of Part 1 - Dr. Jennifer Brinkerhoff PlattThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

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 is filled with love towards God and all men. We're also here with our guest, Dr. Jennifer Platt. John, we're in Mosiah 1 through 3 today. I know you're looking forward to this. You're a fan of King Benjamin. What are you hoping for today? Where are we going to go? This is really funny, Hank, but back in 1998, I bought this book about King Benjamin's speech. See that? Now I'm going to turn so you can see the spine of this book. Wow. Okay. For those of you who can't see, this is a 660-page book about King Benjamin's speech, which is like three, four chapters. There's about 10 pages of commentary for every verse here. So I'm excited to see how we're going to do this in a couple hours. Yeah, pages and pages and books and books have been and could be written on this speech. Like I said, John, we're joined by Dr. Platt,

but to us, she's Jennifer. Jen, what are we looking forward to today? Where are we going to go? What I hope we can talk about today is what discipleship looks like. What does it look like to really take on the name of Jesus Christ and the way that King Benjamin models it for us and then invites us to become a disciple, to follow Jesus? Become a saint, right? Can become a saint. Awesome.

John, Jen is not new to our show, but she might be new to some of our listeners. Can you give us a bio? Jennifer Brinkerhoff Platt is a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, and teacher, and above all, a follower of Jesus Christ. Currently, Jennifer and her family live in Rexburg, where she's a religious educator at Brigham Young University, Idaho. When she has a few spare minutes, you might find her reading a good book, cooking, or taking a nap. I like that last part. That's great, man. We've had Jennifer before, and we're really glad to have you back today.

Thanks, man. We've had Jennifer before, and we're really glad to have you back today. Thanks, guys. We love you, and we hope you're enjoying life up in Rexburg. The Rexburg. It's the Rexburg. It's right there next to Iceberg. Jen, I want to kick this off with the Come Follow Me manual. Great opening paragraph here for our lesson, filled with love towards God and all men. When you hear the word king, you might think of crowns, servants, and thrones. In Mosiah 1-3, you will read about a different kind of king. Rather than living off

the labors of his people, King Benjamin labored with his own hands. Instead of having others serve him, he served his people with all the might, mind, and strength which the Lord had granted unto him. This king did not want his people to worship him. Rather, he taught them to worship their heavenly king, Jesus Christ. King Benjamin understood that it is the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who came down from heaven and went forth amongst men. That salvation might come unto the children of men, even through faith on his name. So Jen, with that, how do you want to start these three chapters? My immediate response just listening to you with that is, what would it look like if every one of

us had that kind of a priority? We're meant to be kings and queens, and that's the promise of exaltation. And I wonder how today will even go differently if the three of us were to say, let's just keep that focus. What does it look like for me to become who God intends for me to be, exalted and saved? That's the framework here. As much as the book is thick, isn't it amazing to think that the plan is simple and that we can wrap our heads around it i spend a lot of time thinking about i think it's something you're both really good at how to be relevant and relatable and that's who king benjamin is for us relevant and relatable

and i hope that people don't look at us and to say, I can never be Jen or John or Hank, and so I give up, but rather that the Holy Ghost will help us to see there are things I can do to engage in God's work to become who He wants me to be. But before we jump in, don't you think it's important that we talk about we're on the big plates now? We're no longer in a small plate narrative. We're going to make some new friends. One of my great passions in the Book of Mormon is to make friends with the voices or the men that are talking to us. We had the words of Mormon last week, but here's Mormon, and Mormon's going to be this narrator, this voice that's going to talk to us throughout the whole rest of the text. How do we get familiar with him?

How do we start to get to know who he is and what his message is for us? I remember when I was working on my dissertation, super overwhelmed, trying to weed through all of this material and distill it down to a couple hundred pages. I was in Mormon, in the Book of Mormon, studying at that time and totally overwhelmed by him and what he was able and capable to do in giving us the most essential truth. Shall we start there and talk about where we're at with the plates? Yes, absolutely. I think this is crucial to know. most essential truth. Shall we start there and talk about where we're at with the plates? Yes, absolutely. I think this is crucial to know. I'll ask my children, who wrote Mosiah? Well, Mosiah. Who wrote Alma? Well, Alma. Who wrote 3rd Nephi? Nephi III. Guys,

who wrote Mosiah? Mormon. Who wrote Alma? Mormon. Who wrote Helaman? Mormon. Who wrote 3 Nephi? Mormon. Who wrote 4 Nephi? Mormon. He's such a good writer, we almost forget he's there. Yeah. The other shift that's important in this, okay, so for the rest of the Book of Mormon, for the most part, you'll talk about that later, but for a good couple months, we're engaging with Mormon, make friends with him, get to know his voice,

get to know his purpose, get to know what he's concerned with. When Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon, he appears to have started with the Book of Lehi. That's what was called the 116 pages that we know were lost. We can read about it in section 10 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Martin Harris is working with him. His wife wants to know what's going on. He takes the record at the petition of the Lord. Finally, you can go ahead and take the pages, show it to the select group. The pages disappear. Joseph, how did he describe it? What did he say? I have lost my soul. I've lost my soul. With that, he's lost this work for a little period of time. It appears that he picked it up at Mosiah. He started again here with Mosiah. And you guys,

what I've thought about with this is what a balm and what a gift that of all the things for Joseph at a time of such loss and desperation, disappointment, fear, anxiety, God says, I got you, brother. Not only did I sort this out for you, which we can read in section 10 of the Doctrine and Covenants, that there was a provision made for this, but I have a message for you. You'll be saved and it's going to work out. That's fantastic. I've never thought of that, Jen. When he comes back, he sits back down with the text. What does he start with? And it's this sermon from King Benjamin, you can become a saint. When people start reading the book of Mosiah and it starts out, and there was no more contention

in all the land of Zarahemla among all the people who belong to King Benjamin, all of a sudden, this is third person. It's not King Benjamin talking. That's when they'll say, oh, we've got a narrator. And that's our abridger Mormon coming in. I love what you said there about Joseph translating this. One of my former professors, Joseph Fielding McConkie, reminded us that when Joseph was translating, he was learning the gospel.

He called the Book of Mormon Gospel 101, the doctrine of Christ, and faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, and all of Christ. Faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, all of that. And Joseph McConkie's opinion was, and then when he started doing what we call the JST, that was like graduate school. And much of the Doctrine and Covenants came while working on the translation of that. I think that's a wonderful idea to remember that Joseph is learning as he's going here. That's a great insight. He gets back after that severe repentance he must have gone through and starts with King Benjamin. That to me is such a balm.

That's the way God works with all of us. Joseph for us is such a mentor in saying, yeah, we each have a work to do, but we're not left to our own to accomplish it. And that in that desperate need, I'll tell you, Hank, it was funny because the morning you texted me for this, I had the thought I'm going to hear from Hank. And I didn't expect it that day. And then my next thought was, I hope it's King Benjamin. I don't know if I'll be able today to adequately articulate the kind of mentor that Benjamin has

been to me. He is a friend and I trust him. It's like, Joseph, there have been so many times where I've thought, I need that support, I need that help, and I need a soft place to land. The thing of it is, is that Benjamin isn't always soft. He is so clear. Here's the promise, but here's the consequence. And I guess that appeals to me too, though, because I know where I stand. What a treasure for Joseph in that experience. Jen and John, I'm going to walk through something here and I want you to both jump in. But if I were to lay this out, the Book of Mormon began with Mormon almost four centuries after Christ has appeared to the Nephites. He sits down with a library of records and he's going to make a condensed summary of the history of his people.

He starts with, I assume, Lehi, gets all the way to King Benjamin. Then he says, in Words of Mormon, which we looked at last week, I found these plates, meaning 1st, 2nd, Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jeremiah. He said, I liked what I saw there. I'm going to put them in my record. Now let's continue with the abridgment. Let's continue with Mosiah, this summary I've been writing. Yet for the reader, they've never heard from Mormon. Unless you read the title page, you don't even know who he is. And he starts with, oh, and now I'm Mormon being about to deliver the record up to my son. You're going, if you're a first time reader, you're going, who are you? I've never heard from you. And then also, do you think that perhaps in what I assume

is called the Book of Lehi, Mormon's abridgment that he talked about, that he maybe introduced this project, who he is, and why he's doing it? I think it's a great theory. I mean, don't you find yourself asking a lot of questions about what was on the record of Lehi's? I think one of the things that all of us love about the Book of Mormon is these little helpful statements like, and thus we see. And that's clearly the abridger jumping in and saying, here's why I included this part. I think one of the reasons we appreciate Mormon, not only does he tell us what we need to know, but then he tells us why we need to know it. Do you ever wonder if he was intentional in saying, I'm trying to be a little bit invisible?

I'm not trying to draw attention to myself. If we have a focus today on discipleship, that's really a mark of a disciple is they try to be invisible. I don't want to make this about me. How quickly can I show you Christ? Is that plain in the messaging? Because I'm thinking about that. When did I have the experience with him? It's when I got to Mormon. I'm tracking his life and I'm saying he starts at 15, even before then, but that we watch his age and I create this timeline. Look how deep in the text I am before I'm really thinking about him for the first time

that I'm remembering. There is a mark of discipleship that it's saying, this isn't about me. It's fun that this year, the youth theme is 3 Nephi 5.13. And 3 Nephi 5.12 is, I think, the first time when Mormon jumps in and tells us who he is. 3 Nephi 5.12 says, And behold, I am called Mormon, being called after the land of Mormon, the land in which Alma did establish the church among his people, yea, the first church which was established among them after their transgression. And then the verse that is the youth theme this year,

Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people that they might have everlasting life. If I'm not mistaken, that's the first time he jumps in and says, here's who you've been listening to all this time. Yeah. When I was a young adult, I was in a YSA board where a brother, Steve Peterson, was on the high council. And every time Brother Peterson stood up, he would hold to the edge of the pulpit and look at all of us and make us feel like, what's he doing? And then he would say that, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. It was so impressionable to me. And then we watched him

suffer. We watched him struggle with cancer and pass. And in that, to say he's going to be okay, but to picture what it looks like, to be able to see the people in our lives that really model it, and then to make Mormons so real. Hank, that was a great insight. It's a good question you're asking. I love what you're teaching us here of how devastating this must have been for everyone. And then we pick up with King Benjamin. Jen, I've never thought about that, but I love it. John, you said we don't really hear from him until 3rd Nephi. And I think it was Grant Hardy in his book, Understanding the Book of Mormon, who said, you really have to get to know Mormon indirectly because you don't really know who he is until we get to his own book

you kind of pick up on it as you go there's wisdom in slowing down and saying who is this and maybe we can work together today to say let's make sure we're drawing out who's speaking because we're also going to get the words of an angel it might be helpful to figure out where we are. So Lehi, Sariah, Ishmael, Zoram, the families, they arrive. Let's call it the land of our first inheritance. After a while, Nephi says, we got to go. And they call it the land of Nephi 5 is when they get there. And then it's King Mosiah I, Mosiah 1, who again says, we've got to go, leads them to a place which was already called Zarahemla, and there were already people there. Then King Mosiah has a son who is King Benjamin. And that's kind of where we're coming in, right? Absolutely. And I think even still, knowing that you've talked about this, but to go backward and talk about who the people are then, around verse 12, Amalekite is talking about Mosiah, the king. They're fleeing. This too is important. This is such a powerful theme of the Book of Mormon, this people trying to escape contention. They've fled, and then you get to verse 15. Omni 1.15. I've petitioned the church to get the Book of Omni changed to the Book of Amal going to meet this new group of people. They're the people from Zedekiah.

This is going to be parallel, what is it, 2 Kings 25, roughly. Mosiah discovered them in 16, and at that time that Mosiah discovered them, they had become exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, so there's another word that we pay attention, break word. They had had many wars and serious contentions and had fallen by the sword from time to time. Who do you think they're fighting with? Are there other people on the land? Yeah. I mean, with Sherem, it said there came a man among them. He wasn't on the ship. There's other people here. Yeah. Who

are they fighting with? And certainly, I mean, we see it with Lehi's family. They're fighting with each other. I always get intrigued with that one. The part that matters to us in this is that their language had become corrupted and they brought no records with them and they denied the being of their creator. We need scripture. If we want to know Jesus, we need scripture. And Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah could understand them. They could not understand them. Yeah, that's what I love about this. They came from the same place at approximately the same time. We learned having records can be a stabilizing influence on a language because the language had changed and they couldn't even talk to each other. They had to teach them the language and the people of Zarahemla became a part of the people of Mosiah and his people and they taught each other their language. There's a tendency, I think, for people to automatically jump to, oh, these must be the Jaredites. These are the people who came from the tower. No, no, no. These people came from

Jerusalem about the same time, as John said, as Lehi's family. They're part of the scattering of Israel. What matters here is that Mosiah worked to unite the people. This is in verse 19. They've merged together, and the Mulek They've merged together and the Mulekites, pay attention to the Mulekites, it's not the end of the Mulekites for us, but that they've united together. And then what happens? Verse 23, Benjamin's introduced. King Mosiah, who's brought two groups together, has a son named Benjamin. And Benjamin, if you look in verse 24, he had seen serious war and bloodshed. This is also so stunning to think about who he is, that he could become such a Christ type when he had literally fought with the sword of Laban,

yet he knew to temper himself, he knew his purpose, and he was Christ-focused. That to me is a miracle of overcoming the natural man. That's Mormon too. I made a chart once of all the different times when Mormon went to war from age about 15 to age about 73. And yet he's the one telling us that I commend you to seek this Jesus. And he saw war most of his life. There's a couple of decade breaks in there, if I remember my chart correctly. But he was a warrior all of his life and yet was a disciple of Christ.

And I'm thinking right now because of what you've taught us that your King Benjamin was a good example how if King Benjamin could do this, maybe Mormon's thinking I can do this. I cannot become hardened by what I've seen in my life because I can be like King Benjamin. And those layered perspectives are so important as you're getting to know Mormon to think that all of these men were his tutors. And I think that's the challenge and the invitation of mortality to be able to say, in this moment, in this day, I'm going to choose to be a disciple of Christ, a peacemaker, a follower.

It's really remarkable. Before we jump into Mosiah 1, of all the books that Mormon wrote, Alma, Helaman, 3rd Nephi, 4th Nephi, they all have a little bit of a heading that was written by Mormon. The chapter headings, of course, were put in by Orson Pratt, but the little synopsis at the beginning of a book that came with the plates, but yet Mosiah doesn't have one. So John, if a student asked you, why doesn't Mosiah have one of those headings? What would you say? The scholars, when I say the scholars, I mean, all those people that are smarter than I am, which is like a huge, massive group of humanity. They believe that maybe after the book of Lehi,

there was maybe a chapter or two that was also lost of the book of Mosiah. We're maybe starting in Mosiah chapter three or something, not really chapter one. So that's what smart people have said. It does kind of start a little abruptly. It doesn't really. And now there's no more contention. You're like, wait, what?

You mean there was? Wait, I'm missing something. So that's the conventional answer. What do you guys think? Yeah, I love it. I think you're right on there. And that's fascinating to see that perhaps Joseph and Martin lost up to Mosiah 1 or 2. Let's keep going.

Let's just keep going. It's interesting to think about taking words of Mormon starting in verse 12 and saying, in my scriptures, I've got this red arrow saying this could connect into Mosiah and a natural flow because we are again introduced to Benjamin. So perhaps, Jen, the last 12 to 18 of Words of Mormon were actually the end of chapter 2, maybe, of Mosiah. You can see it between verses 11 and 12, that 11 could be the end of Words of Mormon and 12 picks up kind of in the middle of the story. I love it. I love it. It makes the story of Joseph and Martin all that more real of going, oh, man, that must have been so difficult, all that work. So difficult. God be thanked for Joseph Smith. Every day, praise to the man. Grateful for his work in bringing us this text.

So speaking of smart people, John, let's follow Jen through these chapters of Mosiah. Yeah, I know one, and we've got her on the program. You guys are nice. Well, it takes one to know one. Let's jump in and look at this. A couple of weeks ago, February, in the middle of February, there was a devotional at BYU by Evan Schmutz. I want to tell you what happened. When I heard this devotional, he cited a statement. I'm going to share this with you because I want it tell you what happened when I heard this devotional he cited a statement I'm going to share this with you because I want it to be something we think about as we work through Mosiah 1 through 3 he took a quote from President Nelson asked us to regularly to find a time. He

says, I invite you to set a regular time to rehearse in your mind the covenants you have made. In doing that, what he said is that he does it daily. And he got me thinking. I thought, well, okay, could I even articulate what covenants that I've made? I needed to get back into the temple and do a bit of a study, and I have made this list. Here are the covenants that I have made. You guys, I have made this a practice, that every morning in prayer and meditation, just reciting, these are the covenants that I've made. What would thou have me focus on today? What can I do? A lot of that has to do with what the day is going to bring and how it's going to unfold. But more times than not, the prompt comes, take my name.

When we're looking at King Benjamin, I hope we'd all consider that. In my life, what does it look like to live my covenants and to take the name of Jesus Christ? I have found that to be a sweet reporting every night. Forgive the emotion, because I feel like it's been one of the most transforming experiences for me. Not much else matters. I just want to live my covenants. So when we look at King Benjamin, Mormon starts out and introduces us to him in verse 1,

but then he also tells us that he has three sons, and the names of the sons, and the things he does in his divine role as a father. That to me is the mark of a covenant man or covenant woman. How do I magnify the divine roles? I would bracket the first eight verses. Pay attention to the language here that's parental or familial. We've got three sons. Verse three says, my sons. Verse four, he's remembering his father, Lehi, and his children, and their children will come up again. And I'm going to go kind of swiftly here, but then I'm going to ask you this question. What's the priority for this father

with his sons? Again, in verse five, my sons and our fathers, verse six, oh, my sons, seven, my sons, and nine, teaching his sons. If this was all we had in holy writ ever spoken about how to fulfill your divine role as a father, what does Mormon want us to know about the way Benjamin pursued it? What's in there? Before John gives us his amazing answer, I thought of something as you were talking about this, Jen, that you went right into Benjamin's role as a father. And I think of in the church today, in the world today, the fatherlessness is growing. It's rampant, right? Leads to all sorts of problems. So I wonder if the Lord in his infinite foreknowledge said, I need to mold some fathers into this book

because so many of my future readers are not going to have fathers. For those who didn't grow up with a father in the home or for those right now who are single moms who are raising children, there can be some fathers for them in this book. I have two sisters who are single mothers and Jen, you're close friends with Jennifer, my sister. But I can see a single mom like my sister saying, I need some father figures here. A single mom is incredible, unbelievable, filling both roles and can then maybe get some help from some of these fathers in the book. Now, John, did that give you enough time to come up with a fantastic answer for Jen's question?

What are you seeing here? What is he saying? My sons, remember this. Remember that we have the plates of Nephi. We know of their surety. We have them before our eyes. That's nice to come right after the people in Zarahemla that didn't have any records. Now that you have them before your eyes, verse 7, search them diligently that

you may profit thereby. Not skim or skip or read, but search. And then so that you can know the promises. Jen, you just reminded us about covenants. Oh, I love that insight. I've just underlined that. What is a dad supposed to do? For all those, like you said, Hank, I love to tell my young adult students, you make an observation like that, but say your story is still being written. When you move forward with your family, you can read this and be inspired by it and be taught by it because your story is still being written. So what will you do differently? Because you saw this. You've got the scriptures before you, search them, the promises in them. Know what those promises are.

Jen, I saw verse 7. He's pointing them to the record, 6 and 7, pointing them to the scriptures. I won't always be with you, but these will be. Search them diligently that you can profit thereby. And that's not the usual profit in the scriptures, right? P-R-O-F-I-T, that if you'll invest in the scriptures, you can profit from the scriptures. And diligently, 1828 dictionary tells us it's with steady application and care.

Let's play with something for a minute here. This idea of diligently searching the record, that phrase kept resonating with me. Remember, okay, so when you go to Mosiah chapter 26, 1 and 2, Benjamin's going to come up again. He's going to be referenced in the text and in this. Remember what happens? We're told in 26, 1 and 2, many of the rising generation, they didn't understand them because they were little children, and they did not believe the tradition of their fathers, and they did not believe what had been said concerning the resurrection of the dead, neither did they believe concerning the coming of Christ. Now, because of their unbelief, they could not understand the Word of God,

and their hearts were hardened. I got thinking about that going, who would have been there? And not a lot of time has passed. It could be Benjamin's grandsons because what's going to come next? Alma and the sons of Mosiah are going to be naughty. And here... That's a nice, that's a very nice word. Here they are being so bad what are they are the vilest of sinners yeah i was gonna say you said naughty mormon says the vilest of all sinners same thing note that i didn't i didn't write the book but the vilest of sinners and in

this then it's including his grandchildren. So we're talking in a family lens. He's gone by now, but what happens when the sons of Mosiah and Alma are reunited? Do you remember? What do they say when they're reunited? It's Alma 17? I think it is. Okay, verse 2.

And look for the phrase and how I'm trying to pair these up. And let me be very transparent with the intent of saying, please don't give up on scripture study in the home. Because we're going to watch this great big arc that here's this father in his divine role saying, anchor yourselves in the scriptures, and we're going to see a next generation. Alma 17.2, and watch for the phrase. Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him.

Therefore, Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren. And what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord, yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth. For they were men of a sound understanding, and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. They did exactly what grandpa said. Exactly what grandpa said, with a detour along the way. But that's the mortal path. That's going to happen in a lot of our lives. And my kids are still really little. I've got a little control over the situation. But I bet you both could say something to what it's like to parent young adults and the hope you have for who they'll be and how the scriptures protect them. Jen, I think you're right on here. I have a daughter up by you in BYU, Idaho.

I think you've met her a couple of times. And here's a girl that goes through difficult things and loves the scriptures, loves the scriptures. It's not because of me, maybe because of my wife. But as she's grown up, she's developed a love for not just scripture reading, but the strength that she can find in scripture. Our son turned eight this year, was baptized. And last May, not quite a year ago, he came to my husband and I, and we'd been saying, how can we help you prepare for your baptism? And he said,

I would like to read the Book of Mormon with you. We started on the last day of school last May, and we've yet to miss a day. This kid, he's driving it. He's the one. Even if it's one verse, Mom, we can't miss a day. He helped pace it. He wanted to finish it on his birthday in December. And his baptism was so beautiful because he was prepared. He was ready. And of course, I mean, it's so great that we're doing Come Follow Me with the Book of Mormon.

It makes it a little bit easier to be immersed in that every day. He has fallen in love. And as a result, I'm experiencing it so differently watching him. But I'm anxious. What's it going to be like? How are we going to keep him tethered in this way? What sorts of things have you experienced or tried to implement or observed that helps keep your family engaged in the Book of Mormon and that gives them protection? And then my second question, not just your observations, but also your educators of young adults.

How do we light that fire for them that they want it? If you could give a couple little tips there, because here's this idea, divine role of parent. And if this is Benjamin's priority and focus, what can we do to help other people to try some things? I saw this quote recently from Elder Holland, and I may have mentioned this before, John, that I was really touched by where he said, see your students. And I would say, see your children as well as not containers to be filled, but matches to be lit. And I thought that is a different way of teaching. When I teach my classes or trying to teach at home, I think, okay, you need this information. Are you becoming more competent? Which has its place. But if I saw my four boys who we have at home now, saw them as little matches right there and thought, what could I say?

What stories could I tell? What excitement could I drum up that would light the flame? That little quote from Elder Holland, I hope will change the way I talk about scriptures with my children. Hank, we literally used that quote this morning in a meeting. He talks about being pyros, but not maniacs. Right. He says, become a pyro, and it really does get you thinking about it.

He knows who he's talking to, I guess. I love that. Particularly young people relate more to example than to principles. I get excited about a principle, but with young people, an example is more relatable. When I can talk about the determination of a Nephi or the quick to observe of a Mormon or the tenacity of a Captain Moroni. You know what I mean? Then there's these character traits and they can maybe relate more to, I want to be like

a Nephi or a Jacob or a Mormon or a Moroni. Thankfully, it's not hard for me to get fired up about this. I don't have to pretend enthusiasm for the Book of Mormon because it's there. One of the things I always try to avoid is the, you should do this, you should. If I can be excited enough and tell the story with my own enthusiasm, the Spirit supplies the, I should blank, blank, blank. I should be that. I should. I love that.

I didn't, never thought of that. And they'll supply that themselves. And then you're not, you should, you should. You're just saying, wow, look at these people. Look how fascinating. Look how amazing. Look how valiant. Let's just look at them for a minute.

They'll supply. And the Spirit of the Lord will supply the rest. And that's what I like to do. I never like to do, you should. Benjamin's showing us it's worth the effort and it's sustainable. Even if it's a couple of verses a day, I am so grateful for the Come Follow Me curriculum and the writers and the work that they're doing to help us spend a little bit of time looking at themes or the main ideas of what's being taught. Don't give up. We talked about our children there. I don't want anyone listening to think that this is how it

always is, that we have children who weep over the scriptures every day and you're thinking, what am I doing wrong? You are not doing anything wrong. I promise you there have been many days, the majority of days where I think, are they learning anything? Is anything happening? So I don't want any listener to go, oh, what's wrong with me? Why are my children not responding like that?

Neither are ours. Just like yours, they have their good days. Yep. And to even say, if someone's listening, they have their good days. Yep. And to even say, if someone's listening, they're making some effort for themselves. Find a way to talk about it. What we're talking about, I heard a story today, and you can fit it in in natural, normal ways, that our kids are our greatest investigators.

Please don't give up. There are examples like that in the Book of Mormon. You just gave us one. The four sons of Mosiah and Alma, vilest of sinners, but then all of a sudden it's, hey, I remember my father to have taught the people concerning, and this comes back.

It comes back. And that all gives us some hope that keep throwing it out there, keep putting it out there, even if it looks like they're not listening. Something may take root. And one day they may grab onto it like Alma the Younger did. And then that transitions us, that we can now say he's focused on his divine roles. And I really like the Book of Mormon film for this one. Have you seen this one that the church produced,

where in this particular film, as he's up on the tower, it shows flashes of him, where he'll teach the people, and then it shows him younger with his children, and they've got the plates, and he's teaching from the plates. It was really sweet to see that that was his divine role. That's his priority and where he's going. It builds a case for his character and who he is and why we can trust him as a mentor and a friend. Before we jump from chapter one to chapter two, I'm going to read again Grant Hardy, who I read from earlier.

He said, everything that follows, he's talking about between words of Mormon and Mosiah, everything that follows is interpreted from the perspective of Mormon, who lived hundreds of years after these events occurred. Careful readers, which we want to be, right, must constantly ask, why would Mormon choose to include this? What might he have omitted? I've noticed, I'm sure both of you have, that a couple of times Mormon is going to say, I can't write a hundredth part of what I have to work from. As I get into this sermon of King Benjamin, I should be thinking to myself, Mormon saw this as critical to the project, his overall project. And theoretically, he turned down 99 other stories

or sermons he could have told for this one. To me, that makes me a little more attentive, a little more careful going into this sermon. And what did he see about us in our day that we needed that? President Benson, he said, if they saw our day and chose those things which would be of greatest worth to us, is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should constantly ask ourselves, why did the Lord inspire Mormon or Moroni to include that in their records? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day and age? If we take them literally, I cannot include a hundredth part thing. This book could have been 53,100 pages long. And instead, it's 531. So, if we can't see it, we need to keep looking. And it bolsters our faith to know that God does have a plan of happiness,

and that the Book of Mormon's part of that, and that it's going to help us get to the tree. Before we jump into chapter two, he's brought his sons together and said, it's time for me to give an accounting of my time as the king and to confer the kingdom to you, Mosiah, and then to give a new name. That's in verse 11. The other thing as we're looking at this is to pay attention to who the people are. These are good people. John, will you read 11? Mosiah 1, 11. And moreover, I shall give this people a name, that thereby they may be distinguished above all the people which the Lord God hath brought out of the land of Jerusalem.

And this I do because they have been a diligent people in keeping the commandments of the Lord. And I give unto them a name that never shall be blotted out, except it be through transgression. Awesome. They're going to get a new name. They're diligent people who've been keeping the commandments. Both of those provide themes for us that we need to pay attention for the rest of our time together.

How is name used and referenced? And how frequently he talks about keeping the commandments. There's a correlation. My obedience to the commandments is a direct correlation to the way I bear the name of Jesus Christ. Over and over, we're going to see those two come up. He's going to bring his sons. He's given him the records, the sword of Laban, the ball or the director. And he says, now let's get the people together and stir them up in remembrance and let's gather them at the temple. Let's jump to chapter two. He's asked them together at the temple. I love in verse one that they might go up to the temple. They're a ritual ascent, come and go to the house of the Lord. There's a lot

of people that have written and suggested ideas of, could this be a traditional ceremony they're participating in? But we don't know enough to know if it's more than just a peace offering that they're making. That they're coming up to the temple and they're going to, in verse three, offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. I think we sometimes forget that they're living the law of Moses because it appears to be higher and holier, but they're still under the law of Moses. Christ hasn't come yet. They're going to make a burnt offering, and there are even elements of the peace offering that show up in verse 4, where they're offering thanks, and part of that thanks is deliverance, being brought out of the land, delivered out of the hands of their enemies

with a trusted leader and teacher that's been appointed to them, a just man to be their king. I'm in the middle of verse four, who had established peace in the land of Zarahemla and who had taught them to keep the commandments of God, that they might rejoice and be filled with love toward God and all men. It actually sounds like the sacrament, doesn't it? They're going up and they're saying, we're grateful for the deliverance that we've been passed over from sin, and they've made these offerings. Additionally, they've gathered as families. And this is where I would say, go watch the video, go watch the movie, get some popcorn.

In fact, I think it would be fun to pitch a tent with your family and watch the movie and see what your kids observe. The colors are beautiful and there are all kinds of ages represented in looking at that. They've gathered with their wives, their sons and their daughters, and they're sitting from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate one to another. They've pitched their tents to the temple. There are so many places and so many directions we could go. And I was geeking out and having

fun at finding how many parallels there are with King Benjamin and President Nelson, and seeing the same focus, the same emphasis. There are hallmarks of God's leaders that we can trust Him and see and go from there. The other provision He's made is that he's got scribes, which is important because it gave us such a solid document about what happened in the speech. The number of people that are writing that down and running it back so that those that weren't within earshot, they'll go and they'll share it with them. Now we've got all of these different records that the various scribes have kept, and that's in verse 8, that he caused that the words which he spake should be written and sent forth among those that were not under the sound of his voice. He's like you, Hank. He wants everyone to be included.

I have always loved verse 6 about having your tent with the door towards the temple. For the moms and dads out there trying to teach their kids, it's a fun metaphor. Where is your tent door pitched? Another way to ask it, where's the most well-worn furniture in the house? What is it facing? It might be facing the TV or something. And depending on what you watch, maybe that's good. Maybe that's not so good.

I make a footnote there to Genesis 13. Let me read verse 6 first. They pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple. And then I make a footnote to Genesis 13, 12 and 13. And listen to the contrast. Verse 12, Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. Nice contrast to say, where's your tent door pitched?

What's it facing? Look at the future of those people. Lot ends up in Sodom. He faces Sodom. He ends up living in Sodom. These people are facing the temple in just a couple of chapters. They're going to end up making sacred covenants with the Lord. It does matter which way your tent faces.

It's a good start to pitch our tents. I can walk to the temple in five minutes. My children can look out the window at the temple and they see it from our home and that's good. It's really good. And I drive past it several times a day, but am I going inside? Am I thinking about my covenants? Am I really trying to connect myself to God in that way, to always have that recommend and think about it, and to live my covenants. Elder Ronald A. Rasband, this was back in your April 2006 General Conference. He talked about this verse, and he said, I love the imagery of these verses.

Figuratively said, Hank, the people were so moved by King Benjamin's teachings that they entered into a new covenant to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. But it started because they were pitched toward the temple. So it's a nice little metaphor that I think kids can understand. It's a great metaphor. You got me thinking for a number of years as I go to the temple, when I print my names, I have my daughter cut the names out for me.

She started from the time she could use scissors. I have her cut the name, and then I've showed her how to look it up in FamilySearch. How are we related to her? Now I'm trying to connect her that we're doing this for people and that these people are our people. How can I get her thinking? And it's fun. She's 10 now. And she's saying, how many names do you think I can go do baptisms for the dead? And I'm like, oh, it's so easy to get the names anymore. Let's just get you to the temple. That's just another way that we can be really intentional in saying, how do we engage

our family in the work if they're little like my kids or if they're older and we get them to the temple? Fantastic. Now we're going to switch voices. We've had Mormon talking to us, and then we'll see in verse 9. Pay attention to this language here. And these are the words which he spake, that he's Benjamin, and caused to be written saying, colon. And we could mark it there and say, okay, we've got a new voice. This is Benjamin speaking. In doing this, in this reading in particular, I have been very drawn to Benjamin and one, his accounting, but also the way he becomes a type of Christ. I am certain that wasn't his intention, that he wasn't saying, hey, look at me, I'm like Jesus. Might negate it. But the fact that he, in so much of his language, is showing us the way the atonement of Jesus Christ is working

in his life. The other thing I noticed is how frequently he says, I, that I, I, I, over and over in describing himself, he's working here to give an accounting. But also, it's important to note that that accounting has to do with verses 27 and 28. Let's read the verses with the intent of saying, look at this accounting he's given to us. And in doing it, he's showing us what it looks like to really draw the Savior into your life. Hank, would you read this time, 27, 28 for us? Mosiah 2, 27. Therefore, as I said unto you that I had served you, walking with a clear conscience before God, even so I at this time have caused that you should assemble yourselves together,

that I might be found blameless, and that your blood should not come upon me when I shall stand to be judged of God of the things whereof he hath commanded me concerning you. I say unto you that I have caused that you should assemble yourselves together, that I might rid my garments of your blood. At this period of time, when I am about to go down to my grave, that I might go down in peace. My immortal spirit may join the choirs above in singing the praises of a just God. Beautiful, isn't it? He's talking about the blood.

I've got to make sure that I can rid myself of your blood. He's focusing on another role that I've talked about him in his divine role as a father, but now in his role as a king, as a servant leader and saying, I am free. I've done everything I knew how to do. I'm making an accounting. But I also think because of the use of the word blood, he's saying, this is how the atonement of Jesus Christ is working in my life and the way that I have relied upon him in the work that I've done. So when we go backward then at the start of his speech, I think it's fun to consider here he is talking about himself as a king, but what about the king of kings? And that we picture in that way and then even some of the language that he uses. I was struck in verse 12 and 13 that he talks about

suffering three times and when we get over to chapter three and we talk about jesus christ these words given to us from an angel let me turn one more page we're going to have in chapter three verse seven suffer two times one of the marks of a disciple is we're willing to suffer and that we do go through suffering in his case i have suffered to spend my days in your service even up to this time and have not sought gold nor silver nor any manner of riches of you neither have i suffered that ye should be confined in dungeons, nor that ye should make slaves one of another. Does that make you wonder what he was familiar with? What could have been going on around them that he would have even have known to say that? Or did he learn it from

the brass plates? I'm intrigued with what he's describing here in this really sad state for people. Then further in the verse, Not even have I suffered that ye should commit any manner of wickedness, and have taught you that ye should keep the commandments of the Lord in all things which he hath commanded you. King Benjamin here is giving a review of his administration. And if you were a king, how would you want your reign to be remembered he's telling them it seems that a government by the people we're going to learn with the reign of the judges how fascinating that the book mormon talks about those the reign of the judges makes the

people accountable where the government by a king kind of makes the king accountable. And he explains this when they transition to reign of the judges in Mosiah 29. And he's leading us somewhere with all of this. I haven't done this. I haven't caused you to be laden with taxes. I haven't confined you in dungeons. And then why am I telling you this? And he gets to that in one of the most repeated King Benjamin speech verses in verse 17. You've got me thinking because they're just a generation away from changing, that it is in chapter 29 where his son says, my boys don't want this kingdom.

And it's time for us to switch the government. Benjamin's going to be referenced again in the Book of Mormon. If we could have kings like Benjamin, in a couple of weeks, we'll see Noah, complete contrast of a king. And to look at this and to say, this man worked hard to step out of the world, to overcome the world and find rest. He was a peacemaker. What's the pattern? It's serving God, applying the atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives. Sometimes I'm guilty of relying on someone in leadership to serve or decide. When we've all made the same covenant, what would it look like if we were each to say, okay, I've made the same covenants that you've made. Let's all work hard. What if every member of our ward worked as hard as the Relief Society president and the bishop and the elders

corn president? What would that ward look like? Why don't we pick up in 16? He's told us he's not boasting. Because I said unto you that I had spent my days in your service. I do not desire to boast, for I have only been in the service of God. Elder Christofferson taught this, I think it was BYU, where he invited us to not invert the two great commandments. It's loving God first and then loving others. What do you think? What's the danger of inverting those two and saying, I'm loving everyone and then I'll love God? What's your observation as a danger in inverting the two great commandments? gives us boundaries and freedom. When we know where the boundaries are, now we can have freedom to live within those bounds that the Lord has set. So when I love God, I love everything that comes from God, including his commandments. So how do I love others then? By helping them see the beauty of keeping the commandments. If I invert those, then I kind of want to squeeze

God into the bounds I create for, hey, this is what it means to love others. Beautifully said. I love that. I love to tell my students those commandments are not multiple choice. It's love both, but the sequence. I love that you said it that way hank there's boundaries describe how god loves us he loves us so much that sometimes he says i love you like this i love you sometimes he says i love you like this thou shalt not which is an expression of love i love that the doctrine of covenant says Covenants says, search these commandments, and it means the revelations, but I like to take another meaning, search these commandments for they are true and faithful. The commandments are true and they are an expression of love. So I love the way you said that, Hank. It's complicated. I can see you, so I can love you.

And I'm interacting with you and you're familiar. Motherhood has been one of the greatest joys of my life. They're little, they're 10 and 8, but I have to check myself all the time of what's my motive. And am I worried about the children liking me, thinking I'm cool? My daughter said that to me the other day. She goes, are you telling me that you and daddy, you're representing heavenly father and heavenly mother in my life? Yeah, that's really our role. And as we love them, we'll show our love to you the way they would, we hope. Which then leads us to this verse that I tell you these things. This is Mosiah 2 verse 17. I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings,

ye are only in the service of your God. If I really want to be like him, I'm going to learn to serve people. I love taking Mosiah 2 and Mosiah 3. There are so many verses we can just pair up that this is now the pattern of Christ, that when the angel comes, we've got witnesses now. And the angel is going to describe Christ, and this is who he is. But when we study Jesus, when he comes in 3 Nephi, over and over, what does he say? I've come to do the will of the Father. I love God, and so I love you. There's the order always for us. Jen, King Benjamin seems to take what I call the Ammon model, sort of, which is I will serve you and I'll win your heart.

But the purpose of me winning your heart is to turn your heart to the real king. Ammon says, I'm going to win their hearts. Basically, I'm going to convert them to me so I can convert them to the Lord. And maybe what King Benjamin's saying here is, I know that you love me and I'm grateful that you love me. Now, here is what made me what I am. So I don't see his eyes, right? Because he does say, I, I, I, and I think they're saying, yes, you, we love you. And then he's saying, okay, now I'm going to point you to someone else who can actually save you.

Absolutely. And in the pointing, it's to be grateful. And his transition is, let me show you who God is. And if you could be so grateful, this idea of in verse 20 of Mosiah 2, if you should render all the thanks and praise, which your whole soul has power to possess to that God who has created you and has kept and preserved you and has caused that ye should rejoice and has granted that you should live in peace one with another, I say unto you that if you should serve him who has created you from the beginning and is preserving you

from day to day by lending you breath that you may live and move and do according to your own will and even supporting you from one moment to another i say if ye should serve him with all your whole soul yet ye would be an unprofitable servant that your consecration that your acknowledgement of your nothingness, which he's about to talk to us about, it's still not enough. He's not trying to say you're never going to be good enough. It's just saying the only way you're really going to be satisfied is if you're grateful in it. And this breath idea, do you remember when President Nelson in April 2019 talked to the brethren, talked about metta noeo? Do you remember this? He talked about metta was to change. Noeo was your mind,

your knowledge, your spirit, your breath. He said, change even the way you breathe. And learning to be able to breathe with gratitude. If you've ever had trouble breathing or your lungs have hurt, you know how it feels to have clear lungs. Even the way you breathe, repentance will change even the way you breathe. And how do we then draw gratitude into even the way I breathe? I love the way that we've talked about that King Benjamin says, okay, if I have done this in verse 19, then how you ought to thank your heavenly king. I've got in my mind, Bob Millett teaching this and saying, you can never put God in your debt.

Because even if you were to do 20 and 21, you would still be unprofitable servants. I'm laughing because I saw this mug. I sent this picture to my kids, and it has this picture of Jesus on it, and his arms are out. He says, you are all disappointments. You can't ever get to where you're a profitable servant. And this is where King Benjamin, I guess, is making that switch. If I deserve any thanks at all, and then he shifts it, then how you ought to thank God. Yeah. How do we learn to do it though? We talk about it, but what's the real practical day-to-day I'm learning to be grateful? Maybe it comes back to verse 17. When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God.

If I realize the moment I serve, the moment I do something God has asked me to, he immediately blesses me. I'm like, well, stop it. I want to get some headway. Stop blessing me so I can get ahead of you a little bit. Maybe he's saying, look, just keep serving your fellow beings. Just keep serving your fellow beings. That's the way you're going to show me how grateful are. And the more you serve them, the more grateful you will be. When you serve, you change.

I like that. And that he's going to give us later in the speech in Mosiah 4, when you do things in wisdom and order, it doesn't mean that I need to wear my life out in the sense that I don't have time to take care of myself or things that way, but just this service-mindedness. Elder rendland has given a couple of talks in a row about covenant making and keeping he gave one at byu a couple years ago and the one with the road covenant path like a road and then he gave one here at byuIdaho talking about covenants, how we're strengthened. The more covenants we make, the more power. And then he did it at BYU on March 5th. And in that, again, this idea of we're doing it because we want to bind ourselves to God.

We want to be connected in such a way that I have the power I need, like Nephi talks about in 1 Nephi 14, this power that I can withstand what's happening in the world. My motivation for service is my love for God. And in the meantime, I learned to love other people. And yes, he does immediately bless us. Coming up in part two of this episode. I went in and told the doctor, I'm still afraid. Is this viable? Are we going to keep this pregnancy? He said, I'm going to say something to you that I typically don't say to patients.