Shownotes
2023 WEEK 10 [MATTHEW 9-10; MARK 5; LUKE 9]
“These Twelve Jesus Sent Forth”
March 6 – March 12
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Transcripts
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Welcome back to you guys. This is week 10 of Creative. Come follow me for the New Testament. And this week we are still in the synoptic gospels. We're covering a little bit of familiar ground. A few of the stories that we're gonna study today we've seen before, but as always, there's something new every time you jump into these verses.
So don't brush past them just cuz we've read them before. I'll try and highlight a few of the differences. We're also gonna cover a lot of new ground, so this week we're gonna study things like the raising of the daughter of Gyrus and the woman with the issue of blood. And you'll even get a taste of the feeding of the 5,000.
A few other great miracles along the way. But for me, the big overarching theme was. That the savior is someone who, as he goes, he preaches. We've seen this already throughout the gospels, but it's one of my favorite things about his teaching style that he seems to never be in a rush. He seems to always be able to teach at any moment with whatever supplies he has on hand.
And you're gonna see that this week. In fact, he even articulates it to his apostles this week. He's, it gives them authority to do as he's been doing. And then he invites them to go out and to preach. And he has this phrase, it's in Matthew 10, this is in verse six. He says, but go rather to the law sheep of the house of Israel, cause that's where he's gonna have them focus.
And then seven, as you go preach and then the end of eight freely you have received freely give. . I think that's the invitation to all of us. Every one of us has busy lives and mountains of adversities and responsibilities, and he wants us to learn the gospel and love it so deeply that as we go about our day, we can preach that as we appreciate that we've received freely of his goodness and his grace, that we will dispense it freely.
I, I just think that's what he demonstrates for me this week. He demonstrates how to teach as he goes, and he does it in these remarkable ways. Another big theme this week, I think, is about the power of the priesthood. I've been studying the priesthood a lot lately cause I wanted to teach my ysa as a whole lesson about the power of the priesthood, so it's on my mind already.
But I really loved seeing that authority. Go to the apostles this week and then seeing what they do with it. I just think when you think about the miracles of God and any good thing that comes forth in this world, it comes from the power of God and the power of God is the priesthood. So I think as we study these incredible miracles of God, we learn more about the power of the priesthood.
And I think what we've heard from President Nelson lately is that we need to live up to our privileges better as women and men. We need to find ways to understand and magnify that priesthood within us so that we can use it for good as he did. And you're gonna see him exemplify that in a whole bunch of ways this week.
So there's a lot to cover you guys. Grab your scriptures. Grab your notes. Let's get started.
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When we kick things off in Matthew nine, you're gonna be in really familiar territory cuz you start with a man with palsy. But as opposed to all the other gospels that we've studied this story in, Matthew doesn't give us a lot of the details. We don't know that he gets let down through a roof. You don't know that four friends carried him.
What you do know is that he is healed. But I really love one thing that Matthew does add and that is what comes before the healing. So if you look into it, says, son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven me. This piece that be of good cheer, peace I love because I think this is what we hear all the time.
You hear the Lord telling people in incredibly hard circumstances, I mean this is before his sins are forgiven or his legs work and he's being told to be of good cheer. And I found myself asking. In what , what is he supposed to be cheerful about? And I was reading a talk from Elder Maxwell where he talked about this isn't when the Savior directs you to be a good cheer.
use of what you read in Johns:But we're not gonna, we need to stop seeking for it in the circumstances of our lives and find it in the focus when we can focus on the savior, who he is and what he is truly capable of. We can be of good cheer, even if our legs don't work yet and we haven't been for forgiven yet. We can't trust that those things can happen and will happen because he is a God who keeps his promises.
So I love the advice to be of good cheer that's added into the Man with Palsy story. You're gonna see the miracle play out just like you do in the other gospels. He's commanded to arise after, after that miracle Matthew is called. And then you have that feast with Republicans and sinners. And we've covered this before so I probably won't go too deep this time, but I do love what you see in 12 and 13.
This is where he teaches them the scribes in the Pharisees that were questioning why he was eating with sinners and he talks about being a physician and that he came to heal the sick. But I love 13. But go he and learn what that mean to me. I think the savior is always directing those who have more light and more knowledge to to increase it.
He is saying to those who are questioning him, I think they are among the sick, right? They are some who need to be made whole. What I think he knows about them is that they have the capability to go and study it. I don't know that the Republicans and sinners that he's eating with have access to the scriptures or even could read, but these scribes and Pharisees can.
So he says to them, GOK and learn what that mean. And then he sets them on the right path by saying, I will have mercy and not sacrifice for, I'm not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance. It's the same message we hear at conference over and over again, that this is a gospel of sacrifice and consecration.
That our goal here is not just to cut away our lives and be sort of miserable in a way to be pious. It is we set, we give place, we carve out space so that we can do good, so that we can be good and become something. So I think you see a little bit of that in the Savior's teachings as well. And then he gives that reminder about old wine and new bottles.
And I have to say, the first time I read this in Matthew nine and I was like, oh yeah, we've covered this. And I , I swear I passed it. And then I was like, okay, there must be what have, what have I not learned from this teaching? And you guys, it like jumped off the be as I kept studying. I love that when he's teaching.
Remember we talked a few weeks ago about. old wine and new bottles, meaning you can't take his new beautiful gospel teachings and covenants and shove them into the love of Moses. They're just not gonna fit in the traditions and the, you know what? They have sculpted of the love Moses over the last millennia or so.
He wants something different and he knows it needs to look different. And you can't take this new wine and put it in old bottles. It'll. . What's cool about that you guys is then he goes and demonstrates it. So see what we were talking about before about as you go preach, like this is what he does. So he teaches them about old wine and new bottles, and then as soon as Gyrus comes in, he has an opportunity to live that teaching.
Gyrus comes in as he's giving that sermon in Matthew. So now he has an opportunity to show them, I couldn't have done this before in the law of. I, it happens now because what he'll have to do to heal the daughter of gyrus is to touch the dead body, and that would make him ritually unclean for a week.
That would never fit in the law of Moses. But this is a new gospel, a New Testament and covenant, and it doesn't need to fit into those old rules. The same thing happens with the woman with the issue of blood. You're gonna see both of these in a short burst in Matthew nine, and we're gonna see 'em again in a couple other chapters, but you see the same thing happen.
He wouldn't be able to lay hands on the one with the issue of blood or see her or touch her, even come in contact with her without being unclean, and that certainly would make him unworthy to perform an ordinance where he heals the dead. It's just like minutes afterwards. So I feel like he demonstrates for us the importance of old wine and new bottles in the same chapter in Matthew nine.
That's one of the reasons I love it in Matthew. I do love in particular, these stories. We're gonna go into a little more depth as we go further in. But one of the things I love about the woman with the issue of blood is that I feel like she is a woman who has a solid faith. I, I don't know her, I don't know any extra circumstances that are outside of what I see in front of me in the scriptures, but I did have a sweet experience once as I was on my service mission.
I have a missionary companion. Her name was Amy, and she was dealing with cancer at the same time. Jason was dealing with cancer, and so we were talking about our struggles and her, she, she talked about priesthood blessings she'd received and she spoke, um, with such certainty about her healing that would eventually come.
It wasn't happening then. In fact, it wouldn't happen for years. But her way of speaking about her certainty that it would come, I, I remember being awestruck by it, uh, because she was so, Grounded in her faith. And I remember as I was talking or even maybe listening to Amy speak, this story came to my mind.
It was all about the one with the issue of blood and where I had always sort of pictured her sitting on the sidelines of this crowded street and hoping it was just like pleading for a chance to reach the savior's hem. Once I knew Amy and I heard her testimony, the visual of this woman changed for me.
Cuz I don't see her as someone who is frantically reaching. I see her as someone who had certainty that if she was where the Lord needed her to be, he would come to her. In fact, that's, that's what I think is remarkable about her story. She doesn't need to chase down her miracle. She comes to a place where she knows the Lord will pass and she does what she can't.
And there's power in that choice. And I think it's why he stops. I mean, he's in a throng of people, but her touch is different. Her touch is one that seeks healing and he knows that, and it changes the dynamic. So you're gonna see that play out in the verses. I can't go into all the details here, but go in your scriptures and you'll see it.
First you see Gyrus, who is this ruler of the synagogue, kneel down, which was totally against the law of Moses, right? To Neil before anyone who you didn't think was a God, which tells me that he must think j Jesus is somehow God or he's willing to make a huge breach. I'm not sure. But in either circumstance, I think Jesus sees his faith and rewards it and chooses to get up and go.
And on the way to JIRA's house, he heals the wound with the issue of blood. We'll go into more detail in this in a few chapters, but that happens along the way. And what I love about that piece of the story, is, I think this is what we as parents have to do all the time. sometimes my mind, I get, I struggle because I think I could be so much more devout and righteous and good if I just didn't have all these distractions.
you know? Like if I could just clear, you know, clear out my schedule. I don't have to pick kids up from school. I don't have to like all the things. I don't have to take kids to piano. Or if I could just clear out all that menial stuff, maybe I could accomplish more. And what I learned from the Savior's example in Matthew nine is that you can accomplish all things when you are serving.
And it doesn't matter what that service looks like, it doesn't. He does all these things along the way. So if I'm trying to serve and do good along the way, he will give me opportunities to learn to become like him. I don't have to be sitting in front of my scriptures all the time to increase. And so there's something about this piece of the story that, that connects with my heart.
It gives me peace cuz my life's a little crazy . So it's good. Right? It's good. So you're gonna see him. Give comfort to this woman with the issue of blood. She touches his garment, he stops. We will see this later, but he tells her that her faith has made her whole. What I love about that is I think before she acknowledges that she's the one that touched his garment, she is healed, but maybe not whole because she hasn't had a chance to interact with the savior.
All the people around her would still think she's unclean. What the savior wants for her is to be seen and to be known, and so he stops and invites her to acknowledge who touched him, and when she does, I feel like that that's where the wholeness comes, because now all of a sudden he elevates her, right?
He gives her dignity and peace amongst her fellow men, and he calls her daughter, so she has. Wholeness. She knows who she is and what God expects of her where she had a faith before. Now it's become cemented in her heart and we'll see a little bit more of that Luke, but I love the way it's played out in Matthew.
And then you see the healing of Jarvis's daughter occur, so you're going 23. Jesus came into the ruler's house and saw the minstrels and the people making noise and he said unto them, give place for the maid is not dead, but sleep it. And they laughed him to scorn. Sometimes I wonder if the reason, we always read these two stories together, the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years and the 12 year old gyrus, his daughter that obviously live in the same town, if there must be some connection between them.
But I do love that. . I wonder sometimes if the woman with the issue of blood is someone who knew scorin and who had to walk through scorn in order to get to the savior. And that in this verse, he does the same thing. He demonstrates that to be a disciple of Christ means you're going to have to walk through scorn at times.
I mean, you see it with a ben die, you see it with Alma. You see it in a lot of places where it's hard. It's hard to walk through scorn, but the, the more certainty you have of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the easier it is to just push that aside. I think that's what you see with the Savior. He just kind of kicks them out.
like he doesn't worry that they're laughing him to scorn these professional mourners who know for their selves that the maid is dead and said he just asks them to leave. He creates this holy space by getting rid of anybody who. Get in the way and he invites those who need to learn to come. So you're gonna learn later that it's Peter, James and John, those who will become the first presidency basically after he's gone to come and to watch and to see so that they can learn.
Cuz he's constantly training and teaching and he went in and took her by the hand in 25 and the maid arose and then the theme spreads throughout all the land. That's a pretty incredible miracle to have happen. And what's even more powerful to me is that he uses it as a way to teach, to teach gyrus, to teach the scooners, to teach Peter, who will eventually raise someone from the dead, you know, way down the road.
He's teaching everyone who will have eyes to see and it's a pretty epic miracle. We know that faith is the first principle of the gospel. And so you're gonna see the savior focus on faith. In the second half of Matthew nine. You see him heal two blind men and he puts that same spotlight on their faith and their belief.
So they come to him seeking healing and he says in 28, believe you that I am able to do this. And they say unto him, yay Lord. And then he touched their eyes saying, according to your faith, be it unto you. He heals two people at the same time, according to their faith. It's the same thing I think we saw with the woman with the issue of blood.
He's trying to help them understand that it's the power of God that makes these things happen. It's not the hem of his garment. It's not that they're standing in a special place. It's not the pool of Bethesda it is. It is the power of God made manifest because of their faith. So he zeroes in on it. In fact, one of the favorite talks I read this week, it was from Elder Tu.
like way back, I think it was:And this one intrigued me. So I studied, you can find the quote in the notes, but he talked about this being a generative and creative faith, that this is the kind of faith that can move mountains. And that peaked my interest because of what we've read from President Nelson lately about moving the mountains of diversity in our lives.
That if we seek faith and if we seek to live worthy and making, keep covenants, we can tap into that power. And I just the idea of a causative faith. was inspiring to me because it's inviting you to be a proactive disciple of Christ. If there are blessings you need, if there are blessings that you hope for, for your family or your loved ones, seek it out.
Pray, hope, you know, like do all the things. I know you're not gonna be able to supersede the will of God, but we know that some things are available to those who ask. These blind men only are healed because they notice their lack and they come to the source that can heal. And I think the same thing applies to us.
So go in those verses and study them a little deeper. He also heals the dumb. He's able to speak. Someone who is mute is able to speak and things change. This is when you see this shift happen. So he starts to preach all over the place. So in 35, and Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in the synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
It sounds tiring just to read the first, because he's, he's trying his, I think his heart is so full of compassion that every single person he sees. He, he wants to help everyone spiritually speaking, physically speaking in every capacity he wants to help. And so that's what you see in 30, in 36. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.
He can't be in all the places at the same time. He can't provide everything they need individually like he likes to do. And so he needs a floodgate has to open and that floodgate will be laborers. So if you go in the next verse, then say at he end to his disciples, the harvest truly is plenties, but the laborers are few.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. This is his call for missionaries. It's his call. I think all of us. I think sometimes I deliberately see the masses of people as a multitude. You know, I almost prefer to have like fuzzy faces. I found this with family history, especially like when I just looked at my family tree and I didn't know any of their names and I didn't know any of their faces.
It was almost easy cause I didn't feel any compulsion to do anything about it. And as soon as I started actually knowing their names and getting into their stories and finding out little details about them, like they're missing a finger or they have this great beard or whatever, all of a sudden they stopped being this multitude on my family tree and they started to be someone who I had compassion towards.
And I think that's what he's trying to teach his disciples in these moments is. You need to see these people individually. I know they look like an impossible sea, but see them individually, see who they are and your heart will overflow with compassion. And then he asks them to pray to God to send laborers.
I love this cuz this is what we hear in conference, especially the last couple conferences where they're pleading with us to send missionaries, you know, whether it be couple missionaries or those who are in their, you know, 18, 19 year old. The Lord needs laborers in the vineyard. And so if you go to listening conference, almost any of the talks, you get that pull that there are so many sheep out there that just have no shepherd.
And if we can go out and bring them to him, he can heal. So I love that you see that same plea at the end of Matthew nine that you hear in conference. I think it, it stirred something in my.
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Similar to what we learned last week. I love that as the savior pleads for everyone to pray that the, that God will send more laborers. When you jump into Matthew 10, you see the answer to that prayer come and, and apostles are called. So this is when he calls his apostles and he starts to endow them with power.
So if you look in verse one, and when he had called unto them his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, to heal all manner sickness and all manner of disease. He's gonna send them out to preach. In fact, that's what the word apostle means. It means to be sent forth. So you can see in five the 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them, saying, go not into the way of the Gentiles and not into any city of the Samaritans.
Enter ye not. rather it's the lost sheep of the House of Israel. They will eventually be directed to go out to all the Samaritans, to Jew and to Gentile. That's going to happen. What I love about this piece is this shows you that how the gospel of Jesus Christ works, that the doctrine that this gospel needs to get to all people, all A around the world never changed.
The policy about it did change. That gives me comfort cuz sometimes it's easy to get those things mixed up or I have friends who wonder if because policies in the church or programs have changed, if that means they weren't right in the first place. I heard some youth talking recently about, because of the strength of the youth pamphlet.
It sounds so different and feels so different now that maybe the ones before were wrong. You know, maybe they never should have told us not to have two earrings or whatever, you know, whatever was in the old pamphlet, and we had to talk a little bit and step back and say policies and practices change.
The doctrine is the same. What was the intent of the doctrine when the first strength of the youth pamphlet came out? What is the intent now? The doctrine is the same. God loves his children. He loves especially children in this window of time, and he wants you to come closer to him and there are ways to do that.
The doctrine didn't change, so I think there's peace in seeing that. This is some, there's like a precedent set in Matthew 10 that I think is important to pay attention to. Another thing I love is that he tells them as you go preach and the thing they're supposed to preach is that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It's this optimistic, optimistic, hope-filled message. Isn't that exactly what you feel when you listen to the apostles and the prophets state? Like, I just think it's this. It's not a doom and gloom message. It's a message of hope and joy, and that's what they're supposed to send out into the world. And then he reminds them freely.
You have received, freely give. They were able to, I mean, these are fishermen for the most part, and you know, humble men who have been blessed with authority and power and he wants them to take it out and to serve all others. . What I love about that piece is I think it's what the priesthood is always. The priesthood is designed to be service oriented.
In fact, as I was studying the priesthood for my Ysa class, one of my favorite talks was from President Oaks and he talked about how the priesthood is designed to fulfill Moses 1 39. That everything that involves a priesthood is designed to bring, to pass the immortality and internal life of man. That's God's goal and his glory, and it is what the priesthood power is given to us on earth for.
And so that's their goal as well. Freely you have received of these gifts, of salvation and exaltation, give them out to everybody else. So that's their task. Then he warns them about some things that are coming their way that's not gonna go great all the time. The reason I think this is kind of powerful is this is how I feel.
Sometimes I'll get in the scriptures of you guys and I get super motivated or I'll hear a testimony, I'll feel really pumped up about something and then I go to try and. Do it in my real life and it falls flat or my, the reaction I get from my kids or people around me is lackluster and I feel like he's trying to help the apostles understand that they should expect this.
It's not a weakness in the message, it's a weakness in the men and people they're teaching. So he says in 13 or in 12, when you come into a house, saluted and if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it not be worthy, let your peace return to you. That last phrase is what I love about this verse.
I had a quote on my wall as a kid. My mom must have bought it at some craft store. I don't know, but it's from Washington Irving. And it says this. It says, love is never wasted, if not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart. That's what I feel like he's trying to teach here. We're gonna talk about this in the object lessons too, but I think he's saying charity never faileth.
I know. It seems like you have no measurable results of your efforts. Trust that there are trust that if nothing happens outside of you, The humility you feel in that moment will flow back and it will soften and purify your heart. It will bring peace to you as you serve in the Lord's work. When you stop worrying about what other people think or how it went over, and you just start trusting that there is peace in knowing I did what God asked me to do and I don't worry about the rest.
And I think he's trying to teach them that in those verses and then he guides them about dusting off their feet. You know, like we read this in the doctrine in too, this is the idea of like if people reject you shake it off . It's the same phrase we say now. It's like, don't carry that weight and that version with you if they choose not to follow, move forward.
The Savior does that throughout his ministry. He teaches and invites and even entices to some degree, but he never. No one is ever coerced into coming to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He invites and then lets them choose, and he's directing them to do the same thing. I do love how he phrases it in 16, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, and therefore be wise, is as serpents and harmless as doves.
There's a j s T of this. But I just think the combination is potent. I think he's saying, don't be a pushover. Don't just, you know, like let everything awful happen to you. Be wise, be cautious about your choices. Study the word of God so that you know it and can, you know, keep that in your mind and then be harmless as you go out and do good.
Be as generous and compassionate as you can, and when you combine those two things, using the wisdom of God and using your mind and your big whole heart, then the spirit can lead you in the most powerful, potent way to do good. So I think that combination is kind of cool actually. Okay. Then he get takes on this almost what I wrote at the top of this section or this column, is he sounds like a defensive coach to me.
He's basically telling them. All the hard things that are gonna happen, that the adversary's gonna come at them from a whole bunch of different angles and that they should just expect it. What I think is really powerful about that is it's kind of like watching tapes. You know, like on a football team, like if they watch the tapes of the offensive strategy of their opponent, then they don't need to be as afraid.
They can prepare. And I think the Savior's goal, just like any good defensive coach, his goal is to get people back on the offense. , like no defensive coach wants you to stay in defense. They want, they want the place where we can get points. So the savior is warning them about defensive strategies, but he doesn't want them to stay there.
He wants them to have no fear. So by the end of this column, he's teaching them fear, not, they don't need to be in defense all the time. They need to be aware and wise, but they need to understand that their goal is to be on the offense to bring people to Christ. And so he warns them about a few things about not getting attached to family, about not trusting in men, and that.
One thing I love is what you see in 19. Basically he says, you're gonna get captured. You're gonna get carried before tribunals and people and you're gonna worry. Because remember, these apostles are basically new converts, you know, and they don't have scriptures to read like we had. They have some, but they don't have everything yet.
And they certainly, I don't think would have all the words of the savior written down yet. I don't even know how you would study as an apostle at this point in time. And what he promises them is you will have what you need. So he says in 19, when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak.
And then in 20, for it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your father, which speaketh in you. He is inviting them to be an instrument of God. He is telling them to, you know, like hold on to the words of God as much as they can to study and to learn what they can. And then trust that in that moment they don't need to worry about saying the wrong thing cuz the words will not come from them.
I think one of the things that's really important to understand though, is. This doesn't necessarily apply to me the same way. I have a lot of tools that they didn't have. You know, the whole gospel library is chock full of things I can study and learn. I have quotes from prophets and apostles and teachers and there's a lot.
So I don't know that this promise is the same to me. I think the intent is the same. The idea is, Hey Maria, stop worrying about your words so much. Trust that the spirit is more powerful, that the spirit will fill in the gaps. But I think I have to worry a little bit about what I, what I speak mostly cuz I'm not in the same calling as they are.
So there's is a little different, but I think it's important to remember that that promise is true for us as well. We don't, if we have treasured up the words of God continually, like it teaches us in the doctrine governance, then when we are in a position where we are afraid to open our mouths, we should open them because the spirit can speak volumes and in a much, in much more articulate ways than we can
And thank goodness for that. You a little bit further. And you see that he warns them about adversities that are coming and he encourages them to endure. This is in 22, and he shall be hated of all men for my namesake, but he that endured to the end shall be saved. I don't think it just means like slog through this life.
Like get through. It's endure it. Well, you know, we've said that a few times, especially in the Old Testament, but this idea of coming closer to God and being more resolute, being more assured in your faith as you work your way through these adversities and all this heart that's gonna come at them, they need to endure it well, and he warns them.
If you have trouble in one city, go to the next one. Like, don't, don't linger too long. And then he reminds them that he's not above any of this. In fact, he'll lead the way. He's gonna be someone who is despised and rejected of men. He is someone they will see firsthand the level of his discipleship to God the father.
They will watch it and they. Follow in his footsteps. So I think almost like a King Benjamin sort of feel, he's telling them that they can look to him as an example, that he will be among them and he will experience those same things and he will comfort them, which is why I love what he teaches about Sparrows coming up next.
I think the savior knows that despite all his warnings about how hard it's gonna be and that he will exemplify and lead them in this path, that it's gonna be scary to them and that they are, they're gonna experience physical struggle. And so he reminds them that he always sees them and the way he sees them.
In fact, Jason and I have a, I have a hashtag that I use anytime I post something about cancer. It's, it says pancreas mans cuz you know, his pancreatic cancer. We kind of had to get rid of his, at least half of his pancreas. And ever since his initial diagnosis, I've used that hashtag in my scriptures and on social media to remind me when I got light and understanding about his diagnosis.
And this is a section that that happened for me. It was just recently, I was studying these verses a few weeks ago, and I loved what it said about the body. I know that when he's teaching these words to his apostles, he's trying to help them not be afraid of the pain that's gonna come their way because of the evilness of men around them.
But for me, I read it with a cancer lens and I loved what it promised says, and fear not them, which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. It's this, um, invitation, I think, to think longer, to trust in the Lord's divine plan. In fact, he, he talks about how you should fear is the one who can judge and who can, you know.
He gets determined whether you go into heaven or hell. Basically, it's this, put your awe and reverence and attention on what lasts, and stop focusing on the frailty of your body and the pain that might come your way. And then he talks about sparrows are not two sparrows sold for a faring, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father.
It's this promise of your father notices the smallest. Smallest sparrow dropping. Will he not be aware of your pain? You know, sparrows are these plain, tiny little scrawny burnts. We're gonna talk about that with the object lessons as well, cuz I love this section of scripture so much. But I think it's just this reminder to me of so much of my prayers and my worries and my fears are about his body.
You know, I worry about Jason's body and its longevity and how, what medicines will we write and what we can do over time. And I think these verses remind me to be still and to know that he is God. In fact, I love, there's one Indoctrine covenants. I wrote it down on my margins. It's from Liberty Jail. I didn't write down the exact verse, but said at the very end of 1 22.
And as I was reading that verse, it talks about to Joseph saying that years shall not be numbered less. And I remember reading that verse, I guess it was probably two years ago when we were studying the doctrine covenants and feeling this. Peace settle into my heart. This understanding of God is aware of everything he needs.
He is aware of your needs, he is aware of all your physical needs. Think bigger. Stop worrying about the body. Trust that things will work out for your good. So I just love this section. He says, I'm 30. The very hairs of your head are numbered. Fear ye not. Therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.
Isn't that a beautiful promise? I think he loves sparrows. I mean, he clearly pays attention when even they fall to the earth. So that we are valued at many sparrows, I think should give us assurance and peace. It definitely gave it to me. , so don't skip over those verses about sparrows. But Xavier has this really interesting phrase in 34 says, think not that I'm come to send peace on Earth.
I came not to send peace but a sword. . It's interesting coming from the Prince of Peace, right? And then he talks about how his word will be divisive. I don't think that means, I mean we know the character of the savior. He never hopes for contention or tries to create it. He just knows that truth does create contention.
Cuz basically what it does is it sets this laser line and people have to choose, am I gonna follow or not? And it, that's where the division happens. It's not because he hopes it will happen, it's that truth divides and people have to choose. Agency is is a big factor and one of the places it divides is in families.
And so you see him warn about that he that love with father or mother. I'm in 30. He let Leva father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he let Lev's son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that take it, not his cross and follow us after me is not worthy of me. And just like we talked about last week, this is, this is a hard thing.
It's hard to even apply it. It seems counterintuitive, but I think the promise, at least what helped me this week, I've been studying in the Book of Mormon. I'm right in the middle and I studied the exchange between King Lamona and Amon. So remember when Amon converts King Lamona and then he learns that his brothers are in prison, you know, they, he needs to go help them in me.
And so he sets off to go. And King Lamone says, I wanna go with you. I, I know you don't need me. The God will help you, but I just wanna come with you. I wanna help. And then along the way to get the brothers outta prison, they come across King Lam's father. And in that exchange, king Lam's father demands that King Lamon kill Amon.
And this is what's interesting to me. So Amon, Amon and King Lamon are newish friends, but it is his word that helped convert King Lam Mo's heart. So in this circumstance, king Lamona has to choose, not between Amon and his father, but between God and his father. He knows his testimony of God is powerful and he knows the truth of it.
And so in that moment, he chooses to look to God first and he says to his dad, I won't do it. I won't kill him. And it's, I feel like it's watching this verse that you see in Matthew play out, because what happens because of King Lam's choice to choose God over his father in this moment is that. All other things fall into place.
His father is so taken by the interaction with Amon and the way Amon shows love for his son, that he, his heart softens, he eventually converts to the gospel. He writes that proclamation and thousands of laminates who used to be blood thirsty change and learn the gospel of Christ. So you can see how in the Book of Mormon, it actually teaches this principle.
The reason I think that applies to us is so many of us are in this spot over and over again where you have to, you see the gospel divide your family or your friendship circles or your community in some way, and you have to choose and promises if you will turn to God first. He doesn't ever want you to betray your family or turn away from your family.
He does want you to choose him first. And if you choose his gospel first, it will open up understanding on how you can love your friends or your family or your neighbors better. It may not be in the way they hope to be loved, but it will teach you how to love them better. I think you see that play out in the Book of Mormon, and I think the Savior's trying to teach it to them here.
Put your loyalties to God first, and when you do that, all other things will fall in line. Just trust. And then he talks about discipleship carrying your cross. We're gonna talk more about this in a couple chapters, but I think there's power and understanding how sometimes this idea of carry your, your cross sounds so heavy, which is why I love that he invites you to turn to his, the resources he's given you.
The next few verses are all about prophets and apostles. He talks about those who receive you will get lift. They'll, they will, I will receive them. They will get grace and blessings, those who come to you as apostles and listen to your message. And I think it's the same message he gives us today, that if you're seeking to carry your cross or if you're seeking to find out how to know how to love God first, and then love your family in a way that doesn't destroy, then you look to the prophets, you look to their teachings and you learn from what they offer.
That's, that's his guidance here. And I think it's the same guidance today.
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Okay, we're gonna head into Mark five next and you're gonna see some of the familiar stories we've just studied. First you're gonna see that, um, the unclean spirit, so that legion that we've read about in the past that gets cast out by Jesus and into a herd of swine and they go over the cliff. You can get way into this story, but kind of like I talked about a month or two ago.
I really feel like it's important to understand that unclean spirits are real. It's also important not to hyper fixate on them. I think for me, the most important verse of this entire, like first 15, 20 verses is what you see in 13 and fourth with Jesus gave them leave and the unclean spirits went out, and there's something about his authority and power.
That is comforting to me. Every time he encounters unclean spirits, I don't have to understand everything about them. I don't have to dive into them to know what happened and why it happened. I just have to remember that the Savior's power, priesthood power can cast them out and there's comfort in that.
So that's how I choose to take those first 15, 16 verses. As you go a little bit further, you're gonna see that his healing and his miracles don't bring him a lot of fanfare. In fact, people ask him to leave in 17, they began to pray to him, to depart out of their coasts, despite the fact that this man that used to be to the point that he was like cutting himself with stones, he was moaning and crying, and now they see him before them and he's clean.
In fact, it says it in 15, and they came to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid and they began to pray to him, to depart out of their coasts. It's amazing to me that they can literally see a miracle right in front of them.
and their reaction is get away. Like, it's the same thing you see in Isaiah where they ask prophets to prophesy. Not, you know, it's that, it's a, it's a reminder to me to view the miracles that are before me and choose to act on them in the right way. I think there is a natural man instinct in us to fear what we don't understand, and I think we have to push against that and choose to see the miracle.
And then as you go a little bit further, you're gonna see that, you see the exchange with gyrus and the wound with the issue of blood. What Mark adds that you don't get in Matthew is that the way he describes it, it's the savior has come across in a boat and there is a multitude of people waiting for him to teach and this, that, that's when gyrus comes.
What's interesting to me about that is it reminds me of all those general conference stories you've read or heard, where there's an apostle or a prophet who cares about someone in the stake who's ill and they leave the meeting so they can go take care of it. Or maybe on the way to something they stop and they go and take care of the one.
I think the savior demonstrates this over and over again, but especially in this moment with Iris because he has a whole group of people to teach and it would be really easy in my mind, I get in this all the time where I'm like, if I can teach a hundred people, it must be better than just teaching one.
Right? So I should, I should teach the multitude first and then take care of the one. And what Jesus teaches over and over again is that is not his work. His work is to teach anyone who the spirit directs him to teach. And in this case it's gyrus. So he goes, he gets up and he leaves the multitude and he goes to take care of gyrus.
And that's where you see a few little details. They don't get in Matthew like that. Gyrus calls her his little daughter. I love this. There was a talk from, I think it was President Hunter, it's in the notes. But he talked about how this is often how men come to Christ, how some men come to Christ in this way, where they come pleading for help for their loved ones.
I love it cuz I think all of us know people who, men and women really, who turn their lives around because they want to. Find something, you know, either there is a miracle that they're hoping for for their child or their family member or even things like they come to the gospel because they wanna be the one that can baptize their daughter.
Or a mom turns their life around cuz she wants to be at the ceiling of her son. Like you'll see the gospel turn lives around. So I think you see a little bit a taste of that with Chiru. Um, and then he talks about the press. So because there are so many people following the savior, there is this press and in the press is this woman.
One of the things that you get in the Mark account that you don't get in Matthew is in verse 26 and had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered but grew worse. What I think is really interesting about that, I read a talk, I think it was a women's conference address.
It's in the. It's from Camille Frank Olsen and she talked about how this woman represents depletion in almost every way. And you know, she's someone who, if she had financial means, has slowly lost it over these 12 years seeking a cure. If she's someone that had family, she's probably slowly lost it because nobody can be around her with this illness.
If she had hope for her future of being a wife and a mother that's slowly lost as well. Cuz she can't do that with this illness. She has depleted in almost every single way except one. And that is in her incredible spirit. She is spiritually not depleted. And what that reminded me of is job. So remember when we studied job in the Old Testament last year and he, he over the course of time was depleted in every way, but his spirit was never broken.
He was constantly and devoutly focused with an eye single at the God. And that's how I see the woman with the issue of blood. It's why I see her so resolute and determined because I think that's. What happens when you've lost everything else, but you still have hope? She clearly has hope and faith, and that only comes from that sort of deeper resolve.
Uh, despite all other things being pulled from her, she will now lose her faith. And so in 29 it says, and straight away the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And then in 30 you get the verse about virtue. Jesus immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press and said, who touched my clothes?
And Jesus is an omni to being. I don't think there's any doubt that he knows who touched him. This is every time you see this in scripture, even in the temple, you're gonna see where God will ask questions in the hopes that people will think and like stew and let the spirit work on them and then testify.
You know, when you answer a question, oh God, you end up testifying and your testimony grows in that moment of articulating your belief. So I think that's what he's inviting her to do. And of course the apostles are like, how are we gonna know who touched you? There's so many people, but he can tell the difference between the throngs pressing against him and the woman who came to seek healing.
He can tell. And so he's inviting her to arise to, to step up to her, the faith that she absolutely has. He wants her to vocalize it. And so she does. And 33. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him and told him all the truth. What I love about this verse, it's easy to read it and think fearing and trembling means she's embarrassed that she did this, or she feels bad that she touched his clothes.
And maybe that's possible, but given the character that I kind of picture her in, that's not how I see this. I see this like the fearing and trembling that we read about in Philippians. I give you the links in the notes if you wanna go search this, but it talks about seeking out our salvation with fear and trembling that it, this is a proactive, humble.
Faith that we are willing to do whatever it takes in humility to seek healing and help. That's what I think for me, when I read that she was fearing and trembling, I think it's cuz she just felt the power of God go through her. She felt something that she has weighed her down for 12 years, dry up in an instant.
That is a, that is a personal deep miracle. She feels all those depletions come back, you know, like they haven't, they haven't shown up yet. It's not like all of a sudden her family loves her and everything's better, but she can see her future. Pivoting the same way job could see his future pivoting. And so I think that's her fear and trembling.
She knows that the, that the God who made that happen is standing right before her and asking her to arise. And so she fears and trembles and tells him all I wish, like there are certain moments in the scriptures that I really wish I could witness. I, I trust that someday we will, that we'll get to see all of these epic moments on some iMac, big giant screen somewhere.
But this, uh, this testimony of hers, I can't wait to hear because she does, she stands up and she claims all that had happened to her. And he says in response, daughter, thy faith hath made the whole go in peace and be whole of thy plague. I play, I. I think that's a beautiful promise and it leads right into what we see with Gyrus, cuz he's gonna feed off of her faith and it'll motivate him to keep going even though the servant of his household comes up and says, don't trouble the master anymore.
Your daughter's already gone in that moment. Because I think of what, what this resolute woman testified of. Gyrus is able to hold onto her faith and trust because that's what he has to do. So he comes, he the savior keeps coming. Gyrus allows him to keep coming to the house even though he thinks his daughter's already dead and he's invited to show his own faith.
There's we, there's mourners there. The savior passed them all out like we studied before and he invites just a few people into the room in this holy place that he's created. What I think is particularly interesting about this scenario, What the savior asked him to do in 36 is be not afraid. Only believe sometimes because we hear so many conference talks about how fear and faith can't coexist, it can be almost intimidating cuz I feel afraid often , you know, I don't feel like they necessarily always conflict.
For example, on surgery days or big medical decisions, I feel a lot of faith. I know I'm in God's hands and we've prayed and fasted and hoped and I feel faith, but I also feel fear. You know, like I watch the clock, I worry my heart races, all kinds of things. I feel fear. What really helped me understand.
This principle is a talk from Elder Pearson. So he described it as net usable faith. There's a mathematical equation to it that brought me comfort. He basically said, here's your faith. I want you to think of your faith and now think about your doubts and your fears, and then subtract them from your faith.
If your result, if whatever you have left over is still faith, then you have net usable faith to work with. So it's like if, if those are equally weighted, you're gonna struggle. What you need to do is constantly increase your faith. Cuz what happens when we constantly increase our faith is our fear depletes, and so our net usable faith is, gets bigger and bigger.
I just love the simplicity of it. He wasn't saying you can only have one or the other. What he's saying is, when you increase in faith almost like a teeter-totter, then your fear goes down. As I increase my faith, my fear depletes, and over the course of time it becomes full. My faith is full and whole, but you have to experiment on the word together there.
So I love that reminder. So then he goes, and the Xavier, of course invites the damsel to arise. One of the things I love is at the very end of this chapter in verse 43 says, he charged them straightly that no man should know it and commanded them that they should give her something to eat. The thing I think is really powerful about this, I, there have been mourners in the house already.
A lot of people have proclaimed that she has died. So I don't think it's that he's telling the parents, don't tell anybody that she's alive. I wonder if maybe this is hinting at the sacredness of the ordinance itself, that whatever happened in that room with just Peter James and John the savior, the parents and the daughter, is a sacred space and it is something that needs to be contained that sacred.
ordinance of that blessing is something that isn't for public consumption, and I just think there's precedent for a lot of the other things we experience in this gospel. That there is a time and a place and a sacredness to certain things and we need to treat them that way. So I liked that reminder. I also love that he directs people to get her something to eat.
I think what's powerful to me about this is it reminds you that she is not a resurrected being. You know, she is a daughter who will grow up and then eventually she will die just like everybody else does, because Jesus is the first fruits of them that slept. He will be the first resurrection. He'll be the first person who has his spirit and his body permanently reunited.
This daughter had her life extended. She's not a resurrected person. She's gonna need food , and so he, I think he's trying to teach a little bit of the gospel message at the same time as just showing absolute compassion for this sweet girl who's probably pretty hungry.
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In Luke nine, we're gonna get just a taste of the feeding of the 5,000. We're gonna read it in a lot more detail in coming weeks. But I love seeing the feeding of the 5,000 as one of the ways the Savior teaches as he goes. Because I think if I were an apostle in this situation and I've been a fisherman all my life, or tax collector, whatever it is, my worry would constantly be about how small I am and how new I am to all of this and how I'm not enough.
And that even though God has blessed them with power and authority, like you see in verse one, they must worry that they are not enough. And I think the feeding of the 5,000 is one of the savior's ways of showing. Just show up. Just bring what you can to the table and let me. So you're gonna see that in the verses.
You'll also see some guidance in the beginning or some warning about John. We're gonna touch on this later in a few weeks, but John ends up being in prison. John the Baptist ends up being in prison for a year and eventually is beheaded at herd's direction. What's interesting to me about having this in this verse in Luke, so I think it teaches you something about the heart of the savior, that even though he's probably grieving and mourning his cousin, I mean this, this greatest prophet of all time, the one he calls I wrote in my margins, a burning and shining light.
That's what he calls John. He must be grieving over that loss, and in that grief, he feeds 5,000 people. I think it's the same message we've heard from prophets and apostles today that when you. Aching and you feel alone. Turn out, do what you can to serve and then watch what the Lord does. And you see him do that when he feeds the 5,000.
So I love the way it plays out. They're in this desert place after the apostles go out and preach and then come back. He takes them to a desert place to teach them. And then some other disciples and followers come along. It sounds like thousands of them come to this desert place. It almost reminds me of what you read about in the Waters of Mormon, that when Alma was teaching the people that they come to this place that used to be infested with beasts.
And you know, nobody wants to live there, but it becomes a holy place because of what happens in the hearts of the people. I sometimes think this desert place that they describe must feel a little bit like the waters of Mormon because they see miraculous things happen. But it's a desert and I think it was intentionally a desert because in this desert there's no food, or at least not enough food to feed thousands of people.
And that's the apostle's worry. They come to the savior and they basically say, We need to send people home, like there's not food for them to eat. What are we gonna do? And what I love is the Savior's response. So he says, I'm 13, but he said unto them, give you them to eat . This is to me kinda like a brother of Jared moment.
Like he knows that the apostles don't know exactly how they're gonna feed the 5,000. They are just learning that the savior has a way to feed them and they have to figure it out the same way. The brother of Jared, the, the Lord, basically asked him like, what do you wanna do about it? You don't have light in your vessels.
What do you wanna do? And then the brother of Jared has to come up with a solution. And that I feel like, is kind of what happens with the apostles. They're like, we just have these bread and fish and we've only got this tiny little amount, but they, they brought it. There's something so poignant to me about that offering.
They know it's not enough, in fact, not by miles, but they bring it and they offer it and they let the savior touch it. And that's, I think, the part that spoke to my heart the most. . I often feel like I just have this mere offering of bread and fish and I know it's not enough to sustain my family or to sustain my class or whoever it is I'm trying to care for.
And what he says is, Maria, just bring it, like bring what you can. Whether it's 16 smooth stones that you worked really hard to molten, or if it's these fish and these bread that you, you know, aren't enough, bring it to me and let me multiply it and I will feed the thousands. In fact, I love, there was the creator of the chosen, I listened to a YouTube video on him and he, he talked about how this burst, somebody had sent it to him basically saying, you don't need to worry about feeding the 5,000.
That's the savior's job. Your job is just to bring the bread and the fish . And so that's, that's how I think of it. Like I just think that's what he is inviting the apostles to remember as they go out into the world and always feel small and not enough. All they have to do is bring a few fish and a little bit of bread and he can turn it into enough to feed 5,000 and have 12 baskets left over.
We'll go into this more in a few weeks, but I love that promise. You also see in Luke nine the invitation the savior asking them who say ye, that I am. This is another one we'll study in more detail later, but I think it's a question. He asks all of us, do you see him as a great teacher? Do you see him as a good man?
Do you see him as a prophet? Do you see him as the son of God? Do you see him as your redeemer? I mean, we all have to come to our own understanding of who he is to us, and I think that's what he's teaching. The apostles. Each of them, because of the heart that is ahead of them, has to have their own vial of oil.
You know, their, their lamp has to be full, and they have to have their own reserve. They can't lean on Peter's testimony. They can't lean on the witness of the savior himself. They need to know for themselves, and so he's inviting them to choose it. What I think is interesting is the way he teaches them how to get that witness.
If they don't know who he is yet, the way you can learn it is to take up your cross. So in 23, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Take up his cross to me, is an invitation to embrace your stewardship. Yeah, I think stewardships, at least in our case, are good and bad, right? Kinda like the plot of land in the doctrine covenants.
Some of them might have gold in the land and some of them might have a lot of rocks, but all of them have good and bad. All of our stewardships are good and bad, and our job is to do the best we can and let it grow, multiply, do the best we can to let him touch it and see what happens. And so that's what he's inviting them to do.
Take up their cross, their stewardship, whatever it lays out to be, they need to embrace it and, and let the Lord touch it and make something bigger of it. And then he invites them. What man is advantaged? This is 25. What man is advantaged if he gained the whole world and lose himself or be cast away? This, to me, is the invitation to just lead an authentic life that they're, they're not supposed to try and fit in.
They're supposed to have the power to that centered gravity that they have in their hearts to know who they are and what God needs them to do. That they don't need to worry about all of the opinions of others. They can just rest on their own confidence that comes from their connection to God. , you almost get to see a progression in these apostles, which I love.
It just reminds me that all of us are in this progressive testimony over the course of our lifetimes, and something key happens in around verse 28. This is when you get a taste of the Mount transfiguration, and we're gonna see this later in a few weeks, in a lot more detail. So this is just to kind of get, you get, get the broad strokes.
Basically what happens is Peter, James, and John, those who would become his first presidency, later, they're invited to come up to this mount and see the savior strengthened. I, to me, I picture this as a very temple type experience. In fact, I listened to a great podcast this week. It's called, I don't know if you guys listen to it, it's called Why Religion?
It's from byu, it's from the Religious studies Department, and they had Gay Rather On, and she was talking about the power of the temple and how it changes your countenance and how if we let the temple sink deep into us, it can actually. Change our countenance. And I kind of was thinking of that when I was studying this week where they talked about his countenance changing.
Because what happens on the Mount of Transfiguration is they see the savior, the apostles see the savior change, and they learn. In fact, a lot happens on this mount that is not laid out in Luke. In fact, a lot of it comes from what we understand from Joseph Smith and from other prophets, that this was a holy place.
This is a place where Peter, James, and John received the keys of the priesthood. It's a place where even Joseph Felix Smith said that this is where they received their endowment. A lot of things happen on this mount, so we're gonna open this up in a lot more detail in coming weeks. But a few things that you do see in the Luke account is that his face changes.
Just like we saw in the Old Testament with Moses, when someone encounters God, their countenance changes. So it says in 29 his countenance was altered and his arraignment was white and Glistering and Joseph Smith changed that. The glistening, it's this bright radiance. In fact, there is a quote from David Bha in the notes that articulated this.
Story better than I'd read almost anywhere else. So go in the notes and read his version of what happened on this night. But I love a few of the things that happened here. First off, you see that he talks to Moses and Elias or Elijah. These are prophets who were translated right? Moses never dies, Elijah gets carried up into heaven.
These are people who were reserved in order to pass on those keys. It's the same thing we studied in the Kirtland Temple back in the doctor in covenants here. So you see this common thread of history kind of folding in on itself in this pivotal night on the Mount of Transfiguration. And they see him talk to them about his deceased.
That's the way he says it in Luke, which is really powerful cuz this is when the savior is talking with Moses. Analyze and we know God the father is there cuz you hear his voice in 30. that he, they talk about what is coming because after this part, you're gonna see that the savior sets his face towards Jerusalem.
So after the amount of transfiguration, there is this focus, this forward focus on working his way towards the atonement and the cruise fiction and the resurrection. There is this shift that happened, which is why the keys have to go to the apostles at this time. So you kinda get a taste of that here, but you won't get the full story.
We'll, we'll get there in a few weeks, but I do love a few of the things that you see, particularly, I think it's powerful in 35, that they get to hear the voice of God, the father declaring that this is my beloved son. Hear him. That's so rare in scripture that that happens. The last time was at Jesus' baptism.
So I think it's powerful knowing that these three apostles may not have been at his baptism, at least not all of them, that they each get to hear a witness of God, the father testifying of his son. And what that must do to your testimony, I think is a powerful one, but they don't get to shout it from the rooftops or even tell the other apostles in 36.
You find out that. After this passes, they are keeping things in their heart. In fact, I love that phrase cuz it reminds me of Mary. I wonder sometimes if they were constantly asking Mary to tell them more details about how, how things happened. And we know that Mary kept things in her heart and I wonder the deeper they get into the gospel and the more they come to know and appreciate God, the more they keep things in their heart.
like you just, some things just aren't for public consumption and they need to take time to understand it and to stew on it. And so I think it's kind of fun that you see that in 36. They keep it close. He also teaches them about the kingdom of God. We'll go into more detail on this, but he compares it to a child.
One of the things I loved is Elder Maxwell's take on this. He basically said he related it back to King Benjamin on how King Benjamin talks about how NOIs a man, a master who he hasn't served. In fact, he said, I wrote on my margins how NOIs one who is far from his thoughts. So he talked about it's not just that children are innocent that make them.
a great example of the kingdom of God. It's that God is on their mind all the time. They are faith filled because they're thinking about God all the time. If you've been around little kids, you see this like they talk about God and such casual like, like he's right there with them. Their best friend that they love and know there is a intimacy in their connection with God that I think we're supposed to emulate, we're supposed to hold onto.
We lose it in our adulthood as we get a little more weathered and I think he's inviting us to shed that weathered skin and go back to that constant connection, the, the constant intimacy that we had with God as we were kids and bring that into our adulthood. You go a little bit further and you're gonna see his direction to as possible, so we're gonna go there next.
I got some Jonah vibes in these last 10 verses or so of Luke nine because. The sons of Thunder want to call down fire on a whole city, . Basically what happens is they're, they're trying to prepare the way for Jesus to come. And there's a town in Samaria that he's gonna go to, and the people in Samaria reject him.
They're offended that he's going to Jerusalem, just like they pester a lot of the Jews that are coming through their town to get to the temple in Jerusalem. There's a lot of hard feelings and bitterness about the temple there, and they, they won't have him. And the sons of Thunder are angry. In fact, it's, it's God Jonah.
It's like this idea of they want to call down fire and destroy the city. It's what you see in verse 54. And when his disciples, James and John saw this, that that their savior was getting rejected, they said, Lord, will thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did
And then the Savior's response is beautiful, right? He says, but he turned and he rebuked them. I mean, I think this is a strong correction. And he said, ye no, not what's manner of spirit. You're of, for the son of man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. I think there's so many great lessons in this.
To me, I, I think oftentimes we get like fired up and we get antsy about things and we think we know an immediate solution. And oftentimes Lord's response is slow down, be still, let things settle, let the dust settle. , there's another village we can go to. In fact, I love that that's his response. It's, there are times when you have to lay down the law and things have to be hard.
Most of the times in the Savior's ministry, he just goes to another village. He, he makes peace. He finds ways another way around, and I love that. That's his reminder. I also think it's really powerful that just in the next chapter, we won't study it this week, but in chapter 10, he teaches the story of the Good Samaritan because I think he's trying to teach James and John and everybody else that this town, even the one that just completely rejected us, there are hearts that are.
Saving there are people we're saving. It's the same message Jonah got in the Old Testament that Nivo was worth saving and he had to learn to see them with new eyes. And the same message is happening with James and John. Then at the very end of this chapter, you see that invitation where he's talking about the cost of discipleship.
And he says, you have those three men that we only read about two of them last time, the one that's wants to follow him. And the savior says, you know, birds have nests and foxes have holes. And then the second one, who wants to bury his father, and he says, you know, let the bi dead bury their dead. And then there's a third one added in Luke where he talks about, let's, I'll just read it to you.
It's in 61. And another also said, Lord, I will follow the but let me first go bid them very well, which are at my home, at my house. And the savior's response is, and Jesus sent 'em to them. No man, having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit the kingdom of God to me. This is what change. The storyline a little bit in this Luke account that these are men who potentially are already in motion in their following of the savior.
They've already obtained a certain amount of light and understanding because they're already, they have their hands on the plow like they're actively in the work, which means they already must know something of who he is. They're not just coming to him out of nowhere. They are people who are in the work.
And what he's saying is, if you are in the work and you have a certain amount of light and understanding, you can't turn back, don't recede. Everything in the gospel is about progressing, and so he's inviting them to look forward. It's the same message we saw with lot in the Old Testament and so many others, that we can't look longingly back on the life we used to have.
We have to be a new creature with new goals and new direction, and he wants them to look. Welcome back guys.
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Okay. This is the creative side of week 10. So this is where we take these incredible stories that we just studied, like the raising of the daughter of Gyrus and the woman with the issue of blood, and even the experience of the apostles.
And we try to find some way to help our kids connect to them. My hope is that you'll make epic memories and that these doctrines will sink just a little bit deeper into their hearts. If you're on the podcast or watching in YouTube, I'm gonna give you a quick preview of the object lessons, and then if you're in the course, just keep watching and I'll give you all the details for how to pull them off with your classes and your.
Okay. First one. When I was studying that part with the apostles, where the saviors telling them when they go to houses, they might not be welcomed there, but the promise is that their piece can return unto them as they try and do good, they will grow in the process. Their piece will return. And the visual that kept coming to my mind was that arcade game.
Did you ever play that game? The arcade with a basketball where you shoot and the goal is just to shoot as many as you can , and then your aim isn't so much a concern as much as it is like just shoot, cuz the ball always comes back. You never have to worry about being depleted of those balls. And I wanted some way to create that.
So I have made for you a really incredible printable that I'm calling popcorn box basketball because this is where you're gonna actually let your kids experience this firsthand. So you're gonna make a basketball hoop out of a popcorn box and you're going to teach them about the power of this slope.
That as you take shots, the ball always returns to you that you're never in a deficit when you try to take shots and try to do good. It's a really key way to teach your kids about the power of missionary work and why the Lord needs them. So hopefully this will help them pull them off. I'll give you all the details in just a second.
Okay, second one. This involves another principle as well, but this is a simpler style cuz I really loved. The verse is about sparrows. So if you haven't listened to insights, I had some really sweet understandings that came to me as I was studying those verses about how the savior sees even a sparrow fall.
And so of course he's aware of our needs and I just wanted some visual way to remember that and teach it to my kids. So I just made sparrows . So basically this is just a apron vora that is two little flying sparrows that you can let your kids craft and make. And then in the notes, I'm gonna give you some links to some great talks you could listen to while you craft it.
And then if you want, you can attach it to a cute branch and let them hang it somewhere in the room. Or maybe just tuck the sparrow into their scriptures just as a way to remember their worth, that the worth of souls is great. And he demonstrates that with this story of the. Okay. Third one. No printables for this one, but it will take a little bit of guts.
So , if you haven't looked on the chart, this is gem week. So there's no actual specific object lesson for this week's study. It's one that when you uncover the gem, you're supposed to do something fun as a family to celebrate the fact that you're, you're getting further into the course. So since there's no defined object lesson, I decided to do a courageous one.
This is where you're gonna study about the position gyrus was in. And I think even the woman with the issue of blood was in where they had to choose to fear not and believe only. And this is where you're going to rotate something over your head and trust that it will not dump all over you in the process.
And it's gonna take a little bit of guts, but it will be so memorable. So for this one, you just need a scrap of cardboard. I'll teach you all about how to make it. You're gonna need some ribbons kind of long. You could use string or yarn, anything that's got a little bit of thickness to it so it doesn't pingle too easily.
And then you need a cup of. Stuff, whatever you want to throw up over your head. So for me, we used a cup full of m and ms, or you could use peeps, cotton balls. Eventually you're gonna get to the point where you're gonna use water, and as your kids experiment upon this word, they're gonna get a little more daring.
So you just need a clear plastic cup that's shatterproof and then stuffed fill it. If you have all that on hand, then you're good to go.
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All right you guys. That is it for week 10. I hope you thoroughly enjoyed this week. I know there are a lot of great verses you could choose from, so don't feel confined to these object lessons.
Honestly, there are so many different ways you could take this gospel and apply it to your kids' lives. So get in the scriptures and let the spirit teach you where to focus. I promise there's lots to work with. If you need extra help, those are who are in the course. I would remind you that you have full access to the notes, so linked under the insights video and the creative video, you'll find.
To all these verses. The commentary in the notes is really just links out to prophets, apostles, the women leaders of the church, even things like BYU devotionals where they've mentioned these verses and how they might apply to our everyday life. So put the notes to, to good youth. In addition, under the creative video, you'll find all the prints.
If you're looking for the sparrows or the basketball hoop, you can find all those linked under the creative video each week. For those of you who are not on the course, if you want to share this content with others, feel free to share the YouTube video or the podcast or come join me on Instagram Live.
So:So if you can't, if you didn't get enough in this content, then come join me on Instagram. But otherwise, I hope you really enjoy this week of study. There's so much to learn from how the savior. Sees and teaches along the way as he goes about his life, and I think there's a lot application for us as well.
So I hope you enjoy it. All right, you guys, enjoy your week and I'll see you on Monday.
