2023 WEEK 8 [MATTHEW 6-7]

“We Are Responsible for Our Own Learning”

February 20 – February 26

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Welcome back you guys. This is the second half of the Sermon on the Mount, otherwise known as week eight of Creative. Come follow me for the New Testament. And if you didn't get a chance to catch up with us last week, you might wanna listen to the first four or five minutes at least of week seven cause that will set the stage a little bit doctrinally about where we are and why the Xavier's teaching his disciples all this content.

The short version, if you just need a recap of what you learned last week, is I see the Sermon on the Mount as a temple prep of. For those who are already disciples of Christ. My favorite scripture reference for these verses and the ones we studied last week is for Morona, where he invites us to come unto Christ and be perfected in him.

I feel like the Sermon on the Mount is for people who have already opted to come unto Christ and they are hoping to take it to the next level by being perfected in him, and he's gonna teach. How to do it. A lot of today's focus will be about prayer and about setting aside earthly rewards for something much greater.

He, he has some incredible wisdom tucked into these sound bite almost versus, in fact, one passion I would give you that I had to give myself many times this week is you should try to avoid reading the Sermon on the Mount in these little. Chunks because there actually is this beautiful flow between them.

Uh uh oftentimes because these verses are so familiar, we sort of get them in these staccato movements. And really what I think we're supposed to see is the bigger, like you almost have to zoom out a little bit and try and see how these ideas and understandings flow together. Some of my favorite spiritual.

Experiences with these verses came as I stepped back a little bit after I'd already studied the individual verses and then stepped back to see how they were connected to the verses before them and where he's flowing into the verses that come next. There's some beautiful doctrine in all of that. The other thing I would tell you is to keep in mind what a heavenly reward really is.

Sometimes as we studied this sermon on the mount at. For me, as I studied it, I started to think of I know exactly what earthly treasures are. That's never hard to wrap my mind around. Sometimes what's hard to picture is what heavenly treasures are, cuz he's gonna invite you oftentimes throughout these verses to set aside the earthly treasures for something that is greater, these heavenly treasures.

And it's tempting to start to think of those as like this pile of. I hate to say gold, but you know what? You almost picture a heavenly pile of treasure, and I really don't think that's what the doctrine teaches, even though he does promise us mansions and all of those wonderful things in the next life.

I really think when you think about heavenly treasures, they are. The ability to have rest. In fact, I love the way it's taught by King Benjamin. If you go on Mosiah, this is in Mosiah 4 26. The phrase he uses is that you'll be able to retain a remission of your sins and walk, walk guiltless before God.

That to me is what rest is. That's a heavenly treasure. It means not so much that I have a mansion in heaven that's near Heavenly Father, but that I will feel at home in that mansion, that I will feel that I belong there and there is peace and rest. When you feel like you've. Come to be like him, that you belong in that Zion community.

And that's what I think we're all seeking. It's, it's not a checklist of all these treasures that we're banking in heaven. It is. A list of characteristics of Christ that we have taken upon ourselves and become so that when we get to that next place, however long mortally and Immortally it's gonna take for us to get there, we will belong and we will feel at home there.

So keep that in mind as you study, cuz his verses are gonna help all of us get there. So grinder scriptures, grab your notes, let's get.

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We begin in six and the Savior warns about doing Al almost before men. Alms isn't necessarily a donation. It's doing righteous acts in order to be seen of others. And his warning is one of, they have their reward. In fact, it's the reward piece that I found myself. Wrestling with this because I think it's interesting the way he describes it.

He basically says, if you seek the praise of Ben, you'll probably get it. You're gonna get that reward. But what you're giving up is so much greater , you know, he is. He's not promising, like we talked about earlier. He's not promising piles of gold and treasures and heaven. He's promising that you will.

Different that you will feel as he is, you'll belong in heaven. And so giving up that portion is like selling your birthright for a massive cottage. The visual that really helps me wrap my head around this is an arcade. So if you've ever been with your kid in Arcade, the thing, especially one of those arcades that like gives tickets at some of the games, what I hate about those, in fact I dread going to arcades, is I feel like it brings out the very worst in all of my kids

You know, I go there with money hoping to buy happiness for my children, and instead what ends up happening is greed and lust and coveting and you know, like all these , I don't know why. I do this over and over again. We, I don't, you've probably seen it like your kids go into an arcade and they see that glass case that's full of like dollar store junk, , and even the stuff up on the walls, you're like, I could buy that on Amazon for $3.

And you know it's junk, but your kids see it as this pile of gold that they have free access to. So they change the way they play in the arcade. You probably, I'm sure you've seen this with your kids, like I've with mine. It's like instead of going there just to have fun and to enjoy things as a family, they start to just seek tickets.

So they start to go to the games that produce the most tickets. It doesn't even matter if the game is fun, you guys, they will just find the one that gives you the most. We bang for your buck the most tickets that shoot out consistently, and they will play that game over and over because their whole goal is to get tickets.

And I think what I see in them is this very natural man tendency to want something so desperately. In fact, you want something that nobody else. can get, there's something about that big prize, you know, it needs 5,000 tickets to get this prize. Something about that just like appeals to our basis instincts and they just focus on the tickets.

And I feel like that's kinda what happens in the gospel plan when I fixate on my discipleship being showy or evident to others. Then I get tickets, I get rewards, and I can buy junk prizes with them here on Earth, but I don't get rest. I don't get, I think the difference for me is when I walk into an arcade, I know exactly how little actual joy will come from owning that 5,000 ticket, you know, little radio or whatever the dumb thing is that's in the glass case.

I. , how little actual joy comes from that? So I'm not tempted. I don't even care about tickets when I go to an arcade, I just play the games. In fact, most of the times I give away my tickets cuz I just don't care about them. That's rest, right? That's the ability to be at rest, to come and just enjoy and have fun and not feel pulled at for something lower.

And that's what I think he's trying to invite us to do with. discipleship. So he warns them. Don't take, no he. This is in verse one that you do not hear arms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward of your father, which is in heaven. And, and the end of two, he says they have their reward.

Look, they've got their tickets. I, you can choose to do good so that you get tickets. Shooting out at you, or you can choose to do good in order to become good, in order to become as he is. And that's his invitation. So he says that then almost be in secret in four, and the father, which see it in secret himself, shall reward the openly the, I don't think it's that when you do things secretly so that only God sees or anonymous.

that God will dump out blessings on you that other people will see. I think what they're saying here is the blessings that come from devoted discipleship are visible to others. They're not measurable, but they're visible. So if I, if I become more humble in my calling or more teachable by serving my family, that state is visible.

Those characteristics of Christ are seen, not by everybody, certainly, but by those who have eyes to see. That's, I think the open blessings of the Lord. He blesses you with things like dignity and meekness and peace. Those are things that are open rewards, that have no boundaries. They have, they infinitely expand, and that's the promise of being rewarded openly.

That you will have things that will ground you. You'll, you will. And then he warns about prayer. So he says, don't pray in front of others to be seen of others. Go in your closets. I don't think this means you're only supposed to pray in secret. Obviously we see the Lord praying in public in this sermon, but I think what he's trying to say is, you know, where's your heart?

Why are you praying? Are you praying for the purpose of coming to know me? If that's the case, there will be rewards. This was an interesting wrestle for me as well, cuz I found myself wonder. as a mom, sometimes I do this . Sometimes I find myself. doing things more publicly for my children, cuz I hope they will see it.

You know, like if I'm gonna go to the temple, I make sure that I walk past my kids with my temple bag and they'll be like, where you in mom? And my on purpose, I say, I'm going to the temple. You know, like, or sometimes I'll leave my scriptures open so that they know I'm in my scriptures every day and I started to wonder like, oh, am I, am I doing this for the longest

So I really did. You're gonna laugh, but like, I kind of worried about this this week. Like, am I, is my heart in the wrong. The answer I got came from this month's Leo Hona magazine. There's an article from Elder Raz Band about Karen's, you know what those piles of rock that the youth theme has as their logo this year.

He talked about a hike that he, his family went on, and how they found these cairns, these piles of rock that other people had left behind so that they could find their way on the path. And I thought about the difference between those Karens, those piles of rock and people who mark. . You know the people who like put a heart and put their initials on the tree or say something like, Jacob was here,

I think that's the difference. I think if my discipleship is me trying to build a pile of rocks so that my kids will remember discipleship and they'll remember what it looks like. I'm trying to demonstrate it for them so that later in their life or even now, that they will see it as a Karen as. Thing that directs them on the path towards something higher.

That's very different than me putting a big spotlight on me. . I, I think that was the difference for me as a parent or even as a teacher. My job is to mark the path of discipleship so that their eye continues to go up. so that they, they don't focus on me. They focus on how I accomplished what I accomplished so that they can do the same and come closer to God.

I think that's the difference. So if that question comes to your mind this week, that's the answer that came to me. He also warns about vain repetitions, so that's in seven. Oftentimes we read that verse and we think that means you probably shouldn't say, Bless his food that'll nourish and strengthen my body.

And I guess maybe it does, but I think it also goes deeper than that. I think vain, at least in the Old Testament, what we studied, I think it was in the Book of Psalms, it talked about vain being something that means hollow or empty or without meaning. And that, I think is the warning. It's if you really do hope that he blesses the food and that it will nourish and strengthen your body.

I think it's okay to say that. I think the risk is, do you say that so frequently that you really don't even. And if you do the next day feel nourished and sustained, do you show gratitude and thanks in your next prayer for the blessing that so obviously was received? I think it's a warning to look at your heart and say, am I paying attention to my prayers?

I, I just think sometimes we're too hard on ourselves about prayers. It's okay to have routineness in your prayers. I just think there has to be intention behind it. So that's the warning to me about vain repetition. . I also think when you look at eight, there's this great promise he says, be not therefore like unto unto them.

For your father know with what things you have need of before you ask him. This I thought was kind of beautiful and. Sad at the same time because my head was like, heavenly father, if you know what I need before I even ask you, could you just get to me ? Like, I don't even know what I need. Sometimes you guys, I struggle to understand what the real solution is and he knows already, so I wish he would just give me what I need.

I love what you learned in the Bible dictionary. They, it talks about how some blessings. Contingent upon me asking for them, which can almost seem unfair cuz it seems like, is he like miserly holding all the blessings, just waiting to, waiting for me to ask for once we can drop it, you know, like feeding fish and upon, I don't think that's the message here.

To me, I think it's. , what exactly are the answers you're seeking? I have a friend, Mindy, who taught me that she thinks there are different levels of answers. So when her kids come to her with questions, she's like, do you want the terrestrial answer or the terestrial answer, or the celestial answer? And they're different, you know, depending on how re how much you really want to know.

And I think there's a little bit of that in this promise. What God knows that you need are these characteristics of Christ because they will help you in all things and in all ways no matter what storms the world throws at you. But we don't always ask for those. Sometimes we ask for the immediate fix or you know, I want immediate healing.

I want immediate relief. And so I think the reason we need to ask for these blessings is because he wants to know what is it you? . If you seek it, you'll find it. If you want something that is more sustaining, if you don't want tickets, and what you really want is a rest that comes from knowing exactly how valuable those worldly tickets are.

that's gonna take a little more time. So what do you want? And when we decide what we really want and are willing to act on the answer we get, that's where he promises things. That's where he says, I know what you need before you ask me, but do you have the courage to ask me for what you really need? And I think there's some challenge in there for me and probably for all of us.

I love that. To make things really clear for his disciples that really do hope to step up and live higher. The Lord offers a prayer as an example. Again, I think it's important to understand he's not. In secret. He's not in a closet. He's not hiding from men. He's showing them the way he's building a Karen that they can then use as a guidepost to help them follow that same path.

And so he offers this beautiful, simple prayer and you can go in the notes and learn more. I almost pulled the bar every sentence here and found conference talks and beautiful quotes to support and buttress each one because one of the things I found most. Nourishing was to take apart this prayer and see what prophets and apostles had taught about it.

And you guys, there's so much. I know I had to pull just one from each, but hopefully that will help you in the notes as you study to, to feel a pull towards one particular verse or another. So I'll go through some of them kind of quickly here, but remember it can go in the notes and go much slower. I love the way he begins.

He says in nine, after this, man therefore prey. So he is not trying to give them a rote prayer to memorize. He's not saying this is the only way to pray. It's a manner of praying. It's, you can hear the intention in his heart. You can feel almost his posture of humility and honor and reverence. I think that's what he means by the manner of prayer.

And then he begins his. , our father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. There's a great conference doc. I can't remember who said it, it's in the notes, but he said, as soon as you open with that line of our father, that's the invitation. In fact, what he promises that immediately the Lord's eyes and ears are open to you.

Not that I think they were ever closed, but it is this laser focus on what do you need, and it reminds you that he is your father. He is someone who loves you. Seek to bless you at all times. I also love that reverential part. How would be the name? I think. President Benson who said, we often rush past that phrase, but the fact that the Savior put it here is a reminder to us that prayer is a sacred thing.

We don't get to rush through it in order to get to the blessings we really are seeking. We have to appreciate the fact that there is reverence and awe. Every time we open our mouth and speak to God, the king thy kingdom. Come in verse 10, thy will be done. This is a power punch to me. I first, I love thy kingdom.

Come to me. Opening up my prayer with this reminder to myself that this is a hope-filled work. I, I warned you guys, I'm an optimist, , especially when it comes to scripture. I think the very fact that we absolutely know with certainty that his kingdom will come. Should it lift us up? I almost think it, it takes away half of my prayer already, , you know, the things I thought I needed or the things I was hoping to pray for, because I think mortally, they would make my life easier.

All of a sudden. Some of those I can set to the side cuz I know his kingdom will come, and if it's not this day, it will come in a day and therefore I can have peace. You know, it's almost like he's, he's opening with that optimistic hope. Phrase and I just love it. So thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

That's the other big important part of the, the verse. You could find dozens of conference talks about seeking the will of God. That that's what prayer is. It's a, a hope to align our will to God's will. We're not trying to change what he planned for us. We're trying to align our hearts. To his, we're trying to see the way he sees, and I, you know, where I get fixated on tickets, he wants me to see something bigger.

So by saying, thy will be done, I'm, I'm automatically starting my prayer with, I know you know what's best for me. Please help me align my heart to that fate, whatever it is. So I love those two phrases in Tand. 11, give us this day our daily bread. This, to me, is all about relationship. I think it's the same reason we saw the children of Israel receive daily manna from heaven.

They were coming from a place where they hadn't known God and they needed that daily manna to remind themselves about his capabilities and his miracles. . You know, they, they'd already seen the Red Seas part, but they can't see that every day. Manna. They could see every day and know that God was there with them.

No matter what course of action they were on, he was with them. And that I love because of what President Nelson has taught us about covenants being about relationships. Nothing says relationship more than a daily connection point. Something that will fuel my body and that will give me the power to fuel all the adversity challenges I have in front of me in the day.

So I. A reminder about Daily Bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. There's some great talks in the notes about this. Um, this is a tough one for all of us, right? To, to forgive all openly, even if they haven't apologized, even if they haven't sought. Forgiveness is hard and there's a lot of beautiful conference talks about it.

I do really love the reminder that Mercy can't rob justice. And when he asks us to forgive, I don't, I don't think he's asking us to just write everything off. He's asking us to go somewhere deeper. I really love what you find in Jacob. I think it's Jacob three. It's in the notes. It's in the first couple verses of Jacob three.

What I love about Jacob is he's somebody who had. A hard beginning. You know, he's born in the wilderness. He, we know from the Book of Mormon that he is bullied basically by his brothers. He has a lot of hard experiences, similar to what Nefa experienced with Layman and Le Mule. Jacob experiences some really hard, and because of that, I think Jacob has this tender heart.

So if you go on those first couple verses, you can see his guidance about it. He basically invites them and invites us to feast on the love of. If you can't find the love you're seeking in the relationships, forgive. And feast on the love of God. The promise there is really profound to me, cuz I think what he is trying to say is as you shift your focus to loving God more, he will teach you how to love everyone else better.

He will mend, he will heal wounds that you didn't even know you had. I mean, you can see this ancestor yeast talk from this last conference. There's power in this feasting on the love of God, but it requires you to. Men first, so that you really can come closer to God. You can't have that stumbling block in the middle, so I love that reminder to forgive our debts as we forgive our debtors.

The J s T of verse 13 is a little more clear than the King King James version. It's the Lord would never lead you into temptation that's not in his nature. Instead, he is, you're pleading that the Lord will suffer you not to be led into temptation by others and just the mortal world around you. One of the conference docs I read said, this is kind of like the preliminary layer before I start putting on the armor of God, this plea to the Lord.

Help me see temptations before they even come help me know how to have a defensive strategy. Another one, you get more guidance about forgiveness. In 14, this is where you learn that one of the reasons you need to forgive is so that you can trust that God will forgive you. Also. I really love this. The simplicity of this.

Elder Holland had a talk where he basically said one of the gifts of forgiveness is that you, yourself feel peace. The reason this jumped out at me this week is I was reading in my book Mormon Studies about sram. So Alma and Amec have been teaching in AM and IHA and other surrounding areas, and SRAM is the one that just sort of like wives out all that.

They're good, they're doing, he's combative and he's an anti-Christ of sorts, and he's. Causing all kinds of trouble and the end result. The new converts, the women and the children all are burned in front of Alma and Amex's eyes. Then Alma and a AEC are thrown, imprisoned for what is called many days. I don't know how many that is, but a lot of days they're beaten by all the leaders.

Do you guys remember this part of the book, Mormon? They're beaten by every leader and king and all the people, and. They suffer in silence. And then you have that miracle that happens where the prison walls crumble and everybody dies except Alba and Amec. And then they come out of the prison and guess who they hear about Z's room who has had a change of heart.

And he asks them for a blessing. He them for healing and for forgiveness. And I read that verse where Alma puts his hands on SRAM and offers him. Peace. You know, he, he confirms like, do you believe in Christ? I don't have it in front of me. I wish I could read you the verses. It's in the notes, but it's this, he.

I can't imagine how hard that must have been for Alma to offer that forgiveness. I imagine it's just secondary to what the savior felt on the cross, you know, where he forgave all men around him, despite their very obvious cruelty. I think Alma, watching what he watched, especially with all those innocent people, and then experiencing all that time in prison and the pain of that to then set all that aside so that he.

Extend forgiveness to SRAM is just incredible to me. I think that can only happen through the atonement of Jesus Christ, that ability to dig deeper. Because I think what you learn about Alma in that moment is that he cares about God and God cares about sram. So Alma doesn't worry and doesn't judge, and doesn't, doesn't deal with all of that.

He just, . Okay. And he puts his hands on him. Enzi SRAM changes. He converts. And then I think, of course, that's Alma. I mean, think of the Alma that we're talking about. He himself had that same change of heart. He didn't have the same sins on his hands, but he learned how to, he learned the gratitude of being forgiven.

And so of course, he extends it to someone else. It provides peace. Uh, like how else would he sleep at night? I think it's, he found peace. So I think that's the message. Forgive others as he yourself is forgiven like we are all. Beggars and we've, we are all inheritors of blessings we did not earn. And so we have to extend it to everybody else and there's power in it.

So go on the notes and you can read more about that. But as he ends, he talks about fasting and sad counts. So I think this has a lot of application with our kids. If you've ever had that experience on Fast Sunday where they come and they like mop at the kitchen table and they look longingly at the food in the pantry, I think there's warning here about where is your heart?

Uh, Don't put on a sad countenance. Don't put on a show. Don't be like the hypocrites to the actors. Do what is real. Focus inward and focus on your heart. So he invites you to wash your face and annoy your head and be, be a joyful disciple of Christ. I don't think this means you're supposed to slap a plastic smile on your face.

I think this just means you have to be. full of integrity and that if you turn to God in your weakness, he will find ways to take that weakness and turn it into a strength. If you, if you just lean and ask for those gifts and those characteristics of Christ, I think he will help us in those weaker moments.

So I love that, that it ties up there. In 19, he says, laying out up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust death corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. And in 20, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust, death corrupt. And where thieves do not break through nor steal.

This is the same discussion we have in front of the glass, our kid case where I'm saying, don't fixate on what can't last. None of these things can last. What can last in the hopes of getting my kids? Handle themselves in the car arcade a little bit differently. So he is inviting us to do that same thing he warns in 21 for where your treasure is there, will your heart be also?

Again, I think the invitation here is to seek the right kind of treasures. In fact, one of the talks I read talked about what are heavenly treasures and in addition to all those Christ-like characteristics. I think you mentioned relationships that as we become more devoted disciples, we have deeper, more meaningful relationships with family and friends, and then another heavenly treasure that no one can corrupt or break through and steal is your understanding of the word of God as you study the scriptures and living.

Your depth of testimony is something nothing else can corrupt. So I love those reminders. You can go in the notes and learn a little bit more. He also talks about an eye being single. So this, I love this. In 22, the light of the body is the eye, and if therefore the eye be single, the whole body shall be full of light.

This single eye is. Asking us to stop seeking tickets to stop. Stop focusing on who has more than anyone else, or stop even fixating on the prize we could get from them mortally. And to have a laser-like focus on what really matters. I really loved, there's a talk from Sister Holland . You can go in the notes and read the whole thing, but I, I loved her perspective on this.

She said this verse changed the way she taught the gospel in a really powerful way. She said, when they were first married, she struggled because Elder Holland is this great speaker and teacher and had lots of practice, but they would often get asked to speak together, and she struggled. To speak with him.

In fact, one of the earliest times in their early marriage, she said she actually asked him to write her talk , because she's like, everyone loves your talks, you just write it and I'll deliver it. And then of course, once you delivered it, it didn't go very well. And so she talked about the conversation they had where Elder Holland basically said to her, you're not gonna, you're not gonna get the feel that you want if these aren't your words and your experie.

And so then she shifted. She said, this verse is what pivoted her because she realized her eye wasn't single. Instead of being focused on what God wanted her to say, she was focused on how, how will this go over with the ? How can I entertain them and please them and even teach them doctrine, like how can I please them?

And so as soon as she changed her focus to say, When I write this talk, how can I please God when I finish writing? Have I done what God needed me to do? She said when she wrote her talk with that perspective and delivered it, it wasn't that her talk was praised by everyone in the room. It wasn't that she said her joy was not about, I mean, it wasn't about the tickets, right?

Her joy came from. What she received from God, what she felt after she delivered that talk that was written by her with this laser focus on what does God want me to say and teach? She felt peace. She felt full at that point, and that's the joy that he's asking us to. Hold on to, you don't have to stop seeking all the praise of the world and focus on the joy that comes from fulfilling what God needed you to do.

And I just loved her example that leads into what you see in 24, about two masters. So he warns you can't serve two masters, so she's not gonna be able to please God as well as she wants to. And please men, she has to pick one or the other. And what I love is what he. About the risk. So he says in 24, no man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and Manon. Neman is just worldliness if you look in the footnotes. So what he is inviting us to do is to choose. It doesn't mean you won't serve in other places. It means you're by focusing on God first. He teaches you how to serve better everywhere else. I love this message because it reminds me of what you see with Peter.

Remember we talked about him setting down his nets? I think this is the invitation. I think the Lord knew that Peter wouldn't be able to be the apostle he needed him to be. If he continued to be a fisherman, if he had this other master that he was worried about, he needed to just focus on this type of fishing first, and if he looked at God first, he would have peace.

The reason I think this matters to me is cuz I get in this spot often where we have to sort of live in the world, right? Like we have to juggle. So oftentimes you'll be in a calling or something and you'll struggle cuz you'll think to yourself like, how am I actually doing good for my family? If I'm gone 80% of the nights, how is it that I'm actually blessing my marriage if I have to?

To 700 meetings. You know, like how, how can this add up? And it's tempting sometimes to think, well, God blesses me for doing what I'm supposed to do, so therefore it must work out. But the fact of the matter is sometimes you need to cancel the meeting and sometimes you need to not, or get a sub for your calling so you can take care of your teenager in crisis.

What I think the Lord is promising here. When you choose to serve just one master, when you choose to look unto him in every thought, like the doctrine, covenants teaches, what you are choosing is to be endowed with power. The Holy Ghost is with you when you follow this commandment to love God first. And if you'll do that, then he will teach you how to find harmony everywhere else.

The Holy Ghost is the one that will tell you. , I need to cancel this meeting. I've gotta go on a date with my wife, or he'll tell you I need a sub for this week cuz I need to go to my kid's dorm and I gotta help them. You will know because the Holy Ghost will teach you, but you need to love God first so that you can have access to that power.

That's the promise I think he's offering. That's why we can't serve two masters. We love God and then our fellowmen. And if we love God deeply enough, the power he gives us will help us love every one of our fellow. Better. And I just think that's something I can't pass up. I need that power, so I love it.

He also talks a little further, like in 28, he talks about the lilies of the field and what he's talking to the apostles about is don't get overly worried about the things of the world. And it's not worldliness that the apostles are thinking about. They're like, how am I gonna find food to eat? You know?

Cause they're gonna serve missions and they're not gonna be allowed to be fishermen anymore. They've gotta. provide somehow. And so they're worried about that and he's trying to help them understand, don't worry, the Lord has things prepared for you. God knows who you are and he knows what you need and he will take care of your needs.

And so he compares them to the lilies of the field. You can go into the notes and learn more about this, but the lilies of the field are those scarlet red poppies. You see them at the beginning of spring in Israel. We saw them when we went there, and they grow wild in the. Inadvertent places, like we were on top of a rocky hillside and saw these red poppies all over the place.

And I don't think he's talking about the beauty of one poppy here. When he says God understands and he look, look at a poppy and see how much he loves poppies. What I think is really powerful is what you see in 28. and why Takey thought for arraignment. Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, how they toil, not neither do they spin.

And then in 29, and yet I saying to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not a raid, like one of these. And he is talking about a field. You see that in 30. So to me, what I think he's saying is God can take this little amount that you begin with like a poppy and he can produce. Enough seeds and find ways to get them out and get, get them to germinate and get them to grow and produce this huge field of beauty.

If you'll just take this first step, if you will go and serve this mission, or in our cases, if we will go and serve in our families and in our. Communities. If we will do that, then he can create beauty out of very small contributions. If we don't get too fixated on the how , I think it was Elder Benard who was talking about President Hinkley and he said he was really frustrated cuz President Hinkley would often say things like, it will all work out.

And Elder Benner, when he was a young apostle was like, but how will it work out ? And so he talked about how over the course of time he learned to have faith like President Hinkley, that indeed this is God's work and it will all work out. In fact, you see that in 32. He says, your Fa, for your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all things shall be added onto you. It's almost like what you see with Mary and Martha. It's this invitation. Seek for things that are better when you have opportunities to be at the foot of the savior or put service in in the kitchen. Seek for things that are better, but again, you're gonna need the Holy Ghost cuz there's sometimes when you are supposed to serve in the kitchen.

So I think he's inviting you to put him first so that you have the power that you need to know when it's time to study and when it's time to serve, and he'll help you through it all. So I love those.

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Chapter seven kicks off with an invitation to be a righteous judge. Especially if you go on the J S t, you can see that a little more clearly because we live in a fallen world, and you're gonna have to make judgment costs. I mean, as a parent, You have to make a lot of judgment calls about what's good and what isn't and when to push and when to pull.

And so he is trying to teach us how to do that. A big indicator of almost like a preliminary step before we even tried to judge as he would judge, is to deal with our moats and our beams. So we touched on this a little bit last week, but a moat is a really small particle of some kind, and a beam is obviously a great big issue.

And what he's saying is, before you fixate on the. or the fixing that needs to happen in others. Pay attention to yourself. This is helpful I think in leadership, in teaching and in parenting, because oftentimes my prayers are about fixing the other persons, you know, like you, you, my prayers sometimes are about like, not taking the agency of my kids, but saying family, father, could you change their heart?

could you give them experiences that will change their heart? And those prayers I don't get answers to hardly ever. Really, what I get answers to is when I turn him and. Heavenly Father, what do I need to do better so that I can be a better mom to her or to him? Wh what do I need to change? And then I listen and then I act.

That's what I think he's trying to say. It's not that it's wrong to see that there are moats. It's that you won't be able to see them clearly unless you get the beam out of your own eye. What I love is the promise that he always has clear vision. So almost like if you've ever gotten in your car in the wintertime and you scrape most of your windshields, but you don't really do a super thorough job cuz you're in a reef,

I think I tend to get judgey when I'm driving a car like that cuz I don't have clear vision and so, assume things that are wrong. What he's saying is I always have a clear eye, so it, when in doubt, trust me, be like me. And if you go in the footnotes and in the notes, you can see more about this, but in their defi, when he gives the same direction he's talking about, this is where you find that verse of where he says, what manner of men ought you to be?

Even as I am, the kind of judge that he is, is a compassionate, forgiving, full, faceted judge. . What's really comforting about that, I think as people who sin is that we can trust that he sees fully, I, I talked to my Y about this a little bit cuz I think it's hard, especially as a teenager, when you have weaknesses or sins that are familiar, uh, that you fall into a lot.

You, you feel like the Lord must look down on you or that his forgiveness might have a limit because you fall into the same trap a lot. What I love is the promise that he can. Bigger, uh, he can see not just where your weaknesses are, but why you have those weaknesses to begin with. You know, maybe you were raised in a house where that was considered normal, or maybe you had a friend in junior high who died into this habit, and he sees all that.

He doesn't see it as a flaw in your character. He just sees it as a sin. And I feel like the savior, as the ultimate healer, sees a sin. The way the doctor sees a wound. It is something to be fixed. It is not part of you. It is something that. complicated things, but it's not. It's not you. It's not who you are.

So his job as a physician is to remove that intrusion or whatever it is that's causing that tumor to happen or that wound to happen. He wants to remove it. He doesn't see you as, he doesn't see those things together. I think you see that when he heals throughout the New Testament. He somehow is able to see the person and the disease as two separate things.

And so he cures the disease and he treats them as a person when nobody else would. Everyone else saw those two things as combined, and he sees them as something to be cured and something to be fixed, and I think that's how he sees us too. Then he gives us some guidance about mysteries, so you have to go into the J S T to understand this a little deeper, but if you go in five, he talks.

or in six, sorry. He talks about casting pearls before swine and not giving that which is holy to the dogs. It's really easy to read this and kind of take it at surface level that we're not supposed to take sacred things and toss them about, and although that's true, I think when you read it zoomed out a little bit and you see these invitations to ask and seek and knock in seven and eight.

I think he's trying to help us understand. How to gain access to the mysteries of God and we can't treat them lightly. I saw this once. I was at a conference once where Sister Eubank was there and one of the attendees, it was kinda a q and a, and one of the attendees at the conference made a bit of a suggestion, too, that she relayed to the leaders of the church that we needed more information about Heavenly.

and that if she would do that, then a lot of answers would, people would be more willing to stay in the church. And her way of handling that question was so good. You, I wish I had it quoted, I, I can't quote it, but she basically said, you're entitled to Revelation and to the mysteries of God, and so am I.

And I know things and they are, I can tell you how I received them. So, What she was testifying is that there are things you can know. I don't think she was trying to make any big, bold claims. She was saying there were things you can know about, all about your heavenly parents as a whole. There's only one way to find them.

You need to ask and seek and not Sister Du has a similar story. In one of her devotional, she talks about how there was a point of doctrine that came through the first presidency in the corner of the 12 that she had to wrestle with a little bit. She didn't understand the purpose behind the doctrine or behind the policy.

And she wrestled with it for a time and then received her answer. What I thought was really interesting is in the talk, she doesn't tell you the answer, , she, I really wanted to know the answer, but she doesn't tell you. Instead, she tells you how she got an answer, and I think that's what the savior is doing for us here.

He's saying there are mysteries of God to. Find you can seek this richer doctrinal knowledge, but I can't just give it to you. I can't cast these pearls before swine. Like I can't give it to someone who won't appreciate it. I don't think swine is meant to be this super pejorative term. I think it's meant to be like, if you're not prepared to receive it, then I can't give it to you.

So he invites you to engage in the wrestle. So if you look in seven and eight, he's saying, ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you'll find knock. I mean this. , an active process that we're supposed to go to to engage in that wrestle. I also love the guidance that you see at the end about stones and fish and bread.

This is where he says, trust that God gives you bread. In fact, God only gives bread and fish. He only gives you things that are good. He never gives stones and serpents. The reason I think that matters is cuz oftentimes we can see his. As stones when they really are bred. So for example, when I first got my YSA calling, um, I learned that the curriculum would not become follow me, that it would be a whole new curriculum, this curriculum about forgiveness.

And I saw it as a stone . I was excited to teach cuz I knew that would be fun for me, but I was like, I don't have any time to study anything beyond, come follow me. I spent so much time in come follow me. Couldn't I just teach? Come follow me. And I saw this almost like a stone, and it was tempting to me to go back to the state president and make a request.

And then I thought to myself, this can't be a stone. God never gives stones. He doesn't give serpents, he gives fish. So there must be bread here. So then I stuck it out and I went to the first few weeks and I started to realize the blessings of being in other parts of scripture that as I studied all the different parts of scripture that talk about repentance and forgiveness.

fireworks went off spiritually for me, not just in my alami study, but in helping my family. I also didn't appreciate how good it would be to teach this gift of forgiveness to people who. Soaked it up like they loved learning about the doctrine of Christ. They were so fun. My heart was so full at the end of class to be a part of that process was so full, like it was a whole belly full of bread, and I assumed it was a stone.

So th that's just what these verses remind me of. Anytime you see something from the Lord and you. Why did you gimme this stone? Trust that if you look humbly and you seek, and honestly, if you just start , that's for me, like I can pray to get clarity, but really what I have to do is just like get to work.

And if I will get to work and put it to the test every single time, that visual of a stone shifts to bread, every time I think he's given me a serpent, it turns out to be a fish. It just takes a little perspective. So I love that you learn those, those. I think Xavier knows exactly how hard this kind of discipleship is, and so he.

Clarifies things. When he goes a little further in 13 and 14, he talks about the straight gate. So I'm 14 because straight is the gate and narrows the way which lead it unto life. And few there be that. Find it. He knows in 13. You see that? He says like that broad, easy, open way leads to destruction. What you need to find is that narrow opening and as you go apostles and you teach the world, you're gonna have to teach them about this narrow opening that creates this gateway to the covenant.

and like we talked about before with Minigolf, I, I, another visual that helps me is like water slides . So you know how sometimes you're standing in line for one of those tube water slides and you stand in line for like a bajillion hours because they only let one person on the slide at a time. In fact, they don't even let the next person go until the other one's way in the pool at the bottom.

And I get really anxious and frustrated while I'm standing in line. And then when I'm the person in the tube, I'm incredibly grateful that they don't send more people down the like, there is some peace and comfort in knowing I'm the only person here. No one's gonna crash into me. I'm gonna make my way through.

That's the gospel, you guys. It's individual, one at a time. Covenants made with God an individual. Progression. It's not a race against others. No one's gonna come rushing behind us and pass us if we don't go fast enough. It is one-on-one and he seeks to guide us through. In fact, I really think that narrow opening creates that momentum that we need in order to stay on the covenant path and avoid distractions.

So I love that he reminds the disciples of that. He also warns them about false prophets. So this is interesting cuz they're gonna face this a lot, especially once the Savior's ministry is over and he, he shifts the weight of this to his apostles. There's gonna be a lot of splintering and a lot of others who claim lots of things.

And so he warns about that coming and he says, beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing. And inwardly they are ravening. I think this is a really powerful visual, but I also think there's something interesting about that inwardly part. I think I something about the idea of living a life of deceit and hypocrisy.

I think it eats at you. I mean, all of us have been in that spot where we're, we know we're in a train of lies, or you've seen your kids maybe in a chain of lies where you're like, just tell the truth. This is just getting worse. Like you're just tingling yourself up more. Just tell me the truth, , and they, they just don't.

Right. And I just feel like there may be a piece of that verse inwardly, they are ravening wolves because they are hungry, you know, whereas the sheep can subsist on the land and have protection from the flock. Ravening, wolves have to live on feeding off of others and they. They just get desperate. We see the same thing with the Leites in the Book of Mormon who dunno how to farm, and so they end up like becoming pillagers and there is a ravenous state to that kind of lifestyle and he warns about it spiritually.

Then he talks a lot about how to tell the difference because you can't always see, sometimes they are really convincing. Sheep when inside their really wolves. And so he helps you know how to do it. And the way you do it is from the fruits. So he talks about buy their fruits, you shall know them, which is really powerful doctrine when you consider the fruits of the gospel.

So the fruits of Jesus' ministry, what it, what it offered mankind as a whole, even those who didn't believe, like what his principles and his doctrines changed the trajectory of morality for the whole world. When you look at the fruits of the restoration, you can see. The book of Morman. You can see temples.

You can see priesthood. You can like, there are very obvious fruits. You can say the same thing about our modern prophets and apostles. What are the fruits of President Nelson's? , you know, prophecy when he teaches us things, what fruits can we see? Those are visible, measurable, even evidences that they are prophets of God.

Cuz that's the promise. The same way you see in Alma 32, by their fruits, you shall know them. So if you're feeling skeptical about prophets or about Joseph Smith or about Jesus in his ministry. Look at the fruits and then work your way back and trust that no good fruit can come from a wicked tree. So there must be goodness and that you can find it if you seek it in 21.

He warns kind of like he does with the 10 virgins parable, that not everyone who says to him, Lord, Lord, will. Receive the kingdom of Heaven. You can't just claim or hold onto someone else's oil. You have to develop your own. And so he talks about how some people have that impression. So in 22 and 23, he basically says they, they come to him and say, but Lord, we've done wonderful works in thy name.

We've lived good lives. Why? Why don't we have access to the Kingdom of God? And the answer, especially if you looked at the J s T version in 23, is that they don't. A relationship, they don't know him. And anytime you see that knowing, I feel like that is teaching us about covenants because covenants are how we come to know God, how we form a deeper connected relationship with him.

And it was really powerful to me when I zoomed out a little bit and looked at the, the wise men and the foolish man from a covenants perspective. Because I think what he's teaching with that parable about the wise men building his house on the rock and the foolish man building his house on the sand is that we.

Covenants. What he mentions here is that you can't just be a hearer of the word. You have to be a doer of the word as well. But the people who come to him think they are doers of the word. It's interesting to me, cause I've had friends who essentially kind of walk parallel to the covenant. Pla Elder Kristian has to talk about this, but they just don't wanna make commitments or covenants.

But they still lead good lives. They do lots of good, they donate money, they do lots of good in the world, but they don't want. They don't want to make covenants or have to feel tied down to anything and what he's trying to teach us, I think in the wise men and the foolish men. Why it's worth it to be tied down.

Because what the covenant path offers that you can't have if you just walk parallel to it, is the power of God. That's where you find his power, where you are linked into this great chain and this great work, and you have access to the power of the atonement. You have access to the keys of the priesthood so that you can have ordinances that will link you to him.

I think that's the power. What I love about the visual of the wise men and the foolish. . I think rocks and sand are an interesting comparison. I kind of picture this, like the benefits of having a house with a stable, sturdy foundation and having like an RV , because sometimes you guys, the RV lifestyle seems kind of appealing if you've ever seen them on Instagram, like my daughter Emily shows me a whole bunch of these posts.

She loves that, that vibe, and it seems really lovely to have. Kind of like rootless, living, and I think it is for a season. I, I found myself wondering when I was reading these verses like, why would anyone build on the sand when he's talking about building in rock? Basically what, what I see is if you've ever driven around your neighborhood or somewhere and you've seen a new house being built, and you'll see a, a foundation dug and the cement port, and then sometimes like rebar coming up out of the foundation.

to me that rebar represents covenants because that's, it's not just that you build a house on the rock, it's that you are tethered to that rock. You are. Tied to Christ, you are as he is, you are coming to see him as your savior. That's what links you. And I feel like that's the promise he offers because the warning here is storms are coming either way, , you know, like it's appealing to be in an RV unless there's a hurricane or a tornado.

And then I want a house. And so what he's saying is this mortal world, you're. Storms are coming. So you need to be at a sturdier foundation and you need some way to tether yourself to that sturdy foundation. It's not enough just to know my gospel, to think about my gospel and to think it's good. You need to make covenants and keep them.

And then he has this lovely ending where he talks about authority. So if you look in 28 and 29, the people who heard this doctrine, this idea of covenants or what I need to. Connected to him and have the stability that I crave in this world. What I need from that is authority, and that's what you see in 29.

They're astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one, having authority and not as scribes. The key component to me about when we talk about covenants is this is the only church in the world that can offer. Rebar. The only connection point because we have keys. The, the leaders of this church hold keys of authority, and that's what distinguishes this church from every other one on the planet.

You have authority. In fact, you can go on the notes and read some really powerful talks from prophets about this, but those keys give us power to do God's work here on earth to seal things on earth and in heaven. I mean, . So have power to extend beyond the veil is a, is a pretty big thing, . So it's important to understand that our church does that differently.

So all this understanding of. . I want to be someone who is rooted in and built on the rock. I don't want a sandy foundation that's mold, multiple and changeable and suffering to other people's whims and ideas about what is good. I want something that is solid and steadfast and true, and the only way I can have that is to make covenants.

And the only way I can make covenants is if I'm in a church that has authority. So I, I sort of, . That's one of those places that I had to zoom out a little bit so I could see the flow between them. But I think he's promising that that's what his church is offering. That's what he is establishing with his apostles.

This is the church we are building. It's a way for people to be tethered to me in these storms, and the promise is you will walk guiltless. You know, it's right back where we started at the beginning. If you, if you lean on him and you do the best you can and you repent and you lean on the atonement of Jesus Christ.

there will be a day when you can walk guiltless, where the treasures that have been laid up for you in heaven. The treasures of peace and rest and dignity and joy are waiting for you and, and we will find them there if we follow his path. So I love that promise.

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Welcome to the Creative side of Week eight, you guys? Okay? For those of you on YouTube or the podcast, I'm gonna give you a quick rundown of the three object lessons, and then those of you on the course, keep watching and I'll help you understand how to pull them off in your classes and in your families.

So first and foremost, I thought we would focus on prayer since so much of this week's portion of the Sermon on the Mount is focused on how to pray, how not to pray, and how to follow the example of the Savior in the Lord's Prayer. I thought it was worth some time to think about our own. Prayers and where they could use some

So I'm gonna give you some creative strategies on how to increase connection in your prayers and in your family's prayers throughout the week. So there'll be a challenge associated with that one. You don't need any supplies for that one. I'm just giving you a lot of creative ideas so that you can pick and choose what might work for you.

The second one is about. Well, the, the verse is that one about having your eyes single to the glory of God. It was a verse that really resonated with me this week, this understanding that my life actually gets simpler as I focus on God's directions first. If I'll look to him in every thought first, then my other.

worries tend to get clarified. And I wanted some way to demonstrate this so I'm breaking a rule. Uh, you know, here at the course I don't make any busy work for your kids on purpose. I don't think worksheets have a great power to teach the gospel , but in this case, I'm giving them something that looks like work with a twist.

So this is a challenge that to read instructions and I'll walk you through why it matters and how to pull it off after , but trust me, this one's worth. Okay. The third one is the more adventurous. This is Temple Prep Week. So my goal with this week, just like it is with Mission Prep, I'm hoping to get our kids more familiar with what the Temple is for and about before they ever take their own Temple Prep class.

So I'm taking some of the elements of Temple Prep and putting it into the course so that your kids will get more and more familiar as the years roll forward. And to do that, we're gonna talk about the wise men and the foolish men. So in the principles this week, in addition to the sermon on the. Survey, you're gonna find these little houses.

Each principle will wake two. There's a wise men house and a foolish man house, but the focus of these printables is not so much on the cuteness of the house, but on what they have underneath. So I'll talk to you about how covenants are something that tethers us to the rock. And we'll do it by dumping water and blowing fierce winds on both these houses and seeing what happens.

So, okay, that's your supplies list. You basically just need stuff you already have on hand. So follow the notes, grab what you need, and let's get.

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Thanks for being here, you guys. I sincerely appreciate you trying out these crazy object lessons and coming to study with me week after week. I, I hope you enjoy this week.

The, the Sermon on the Mountain is the words of the savior directly to us. It doesn't get much better than that, you guys. So dive deep if you can. As always, I would encourage you to pull up the notes. not because you'll see my insights, because, but more because you'll see all the ones I've found from the prophets and the apostles and the women leaders of the church that will help enrich your study.

It's also a good place to ask me questions on the fly. So if, you know, if you're curious how I put things together or where I bought things, that's a good spot to ask me. You can always ask me on the discussion boards if you're a part of the full course as well. That's an easy way to get my attention.

The other thing I would remind you is if these insights are clicking for you, if the the content resonates with you, I hope you'll share it. We created the YouTube channel and the podcast, at least the public podcast, to hopefully give you ways to consume the content faster and share it with others. So please do.

And then as always, if you're a part of the full course and you haven't yet messaged me either on Instagram or an email, and I will send you a link to the full podcast, that's the private podcast that has the insights as well as the creative. So you can listen to all this good stuff on the go and get yourself ready to.

Okay you guys, that's it for week eight. I hope you love it, and then come see me on Monday.