These Chapters Used to Make Me Sad - Mosiah 4-6 - CFM Week 18 Apr29-May5

More tips this week to help you study the Book of Mormon, but you'll also get to hear why these chapters and others like them made me sad when I was a teenager. Learn what I did about it, and what the difference is between Laman and Lemuel and King Benjamin's people. 

Transcript

Hello, welcome back, and thanks for being here. I'm Cindy Young, and this is Primarily Scripture. We discuss super simple study techniques to help you make the jump from reading your scriptures to studying them.

As the name suggests, even primary kids can do these things. And I am really excited at the thought of a whole generation of kids who are scripture study experts, even before  seminary.  But, what you won't find here, even though this is made for kids, is little kid stuff. If you've ever met someone in that, like, 8, 10, 12 year old range, you know that they are ready to be treated like the big kids they are. So that's what I do.

And since I'm talking with them at a grown up level, a lot of adults like the show too. So, grab your scriptures and your big kids and let's study.

We follow the Come Follow Me schedule, and to  give you a little help as you study, I create weekly worksheets, and they're 100 percent free. You can find them on the website. Just check the description for the link.

This week, we're in Mosiah chapters four through six. Let me turn there. And you guys, I absolutely love these chapters. They are so, so, so, so good. And here's the first tip for today.I want you to start by   📍reading the chapter headings. That way you kind of already know what you're about to read. It really helps to get your brain prepared, and it gives you this nice overview. And of course, in the scriptures published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, there are chapter headings already in there. 

But, if you get the free worksheets, there is a bookmark graphic over here on the left hand side. And it says, "What's the Story?" Every week I give you a chapter summary right here on the worksheets. and I do it slightly differently than what's in the scriptures. In the scriptures, these headings focus on the doctrine being taught, whereas mine focus a little more on the story, so you might like these better depending.
You get to choose. They're both great. Both are fabulous tools.

Let me give you an example of the difference between the two, okay? So the chapter 4 heading in the scriptures says,  "King Benjamin continues his address-  Salvation comes because of the Atonement- Believe in God to be saved- Retain a remission of your sins through faithfulness-  Impart of your substance to the poor- Do all things in wisdom and order" (so that's a whole list of things that King Benjamin is teaching) "About 124 B.C." It gives you the date.  Okay? Super great. Now you know what doctrine is going to be taught in that chapter. So helpful! 

Now, if you want to focus on the story, then look on the worksheets. The chapter four summary says this.  "The people believe King Benjamin's teachings about Christ and the Holy Ghost falls upon them. King Benjamin continues to teach them about the atonement, to believe in God, be faithful,  to help the needy, and remember that we all need God to help us. Watch yourself and make good choices."  Do you see how it still shows the list of doctrines that's being taught, but it gives you a little bit more emphasis on story?  And often that's helpful for our big kids.   

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I want to tell you about something that happened to me when I was reading these scriptures as a teenager, and as I was reading it,  I kind of started to feel bad.  It left me feeling a little bit down.  but why would I feel sad about that? I mean, let's look at a couple of these verses.

Like in chapter 5: "They all cried with one voice...  we believe all the words [that] thou hast spoken...  the Spirit of the Lord... has wrought a mighty change in us, [and] in our hearts...  and we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God." to do his will"

Basically, they're just having this amazing moment where they feel the spirit so much and they're almost jumping up and down, wanting to make covenants with God! I mean, that's a crazy powerful experience that they were having!

So why do you think I felt down after reading that story?  I'll tell you. It's because  I didn't feel like I had ever had a spiritual experience like that.  And I was a teenager, not a little kid, so I felt like maybe I should have had a spiritual experience, something bigger than what I have had already.

And reading this story made me wonder  why didn't I get experiences like that? Was I not good enough? Not righteous enough? I mean, maybe it wasn't true...  I was pretty sure that it WAS true. Didn't Heavenly Father understand that big spiritual experiences like that could help strengthen my testimony so much? So many people in the Book of Mormon get to see angels or hear the voice of the Lord.  They had crazy big spiritual experiences like King Benjamin's people, who felt the spirit and wanted to make covenants. Or the stripling warriors who were protected in war. Or the children of Israel who got to walk through the Red Sea on dry ground.  Can you imagine having the sea up on either side of you?  Amazing!

Why can't I have that? I thought.

And you know what? I bet if you asked your parents, your bishop, your teachers at church, a lot of them might also say that they have wished at one point or another that they could see a miracle or hear the voice of the Lord.

A lot of us wonder about this.  So you might wonder about it too. That's why I want to talk to you about it today because it made me feel bad for a while. And I started to question whether or not I had a testimony.

And so I started to pray
And I prayed a lot, so much,
but I still didn't see a vision, or hear a voice,
or have anything miraculous happen to me.

Until one day, I was practicing a hymn on the piano,
and the message of the words just filled my heart.
And I knew that it was true because of that feeling.

And I also knew that I had been building that testimony since I was like a baby.
It was so gradual that I hadn't even noticed it.

  📍 Like drops of water in a bucket, 
suddenly my bucket was full. 

I had felt bad when I read that story because I thought I couldn't have a strong testimony if I didn't have a big crazy experience.  But then the  📍 spirit taught me that that is not true.

In fact, and I want you all to remember this:📍 Laman and Lemuel had multiple big, crazy spiritual experiences.  They heard the voice of the Lord! They saw an angel! They held the Liahona.! And still they didn't believe! 

So what's the difference between Laman and Lemuel,  who saw and heard amazing things, but still didn't believe,  and the people of King Benjamin,  who felt the spirit, and then were, like, jumping up and down, asking, Please, can we make covenants?

Hmm.  It definitely wasn't that King Benjamin's people had a bigger, grander, better experience.  No, they just felt the Spirit. And feeling the Spirit and being forgiven of your sins is way more common than seeing an angel like Laman and Lemuel.

So no, that's not the difference. 

It was simply what they chose.  
📍 To believe,
📍 Or not to believe. 
That's it.   

So as you read this week, and you learn about people who felt a mighty change in their hearts... and I want to mark that because I love that... That is in chapter 5, verse 2. Be sure you mark that. That is so fabulous!  As you read about that,  please don't do what I did.   📍  📍 Don't feel bad because you haven't seen an angel or heard a voice from heaven, or even if you're not sure whether or not you felt the Spirit at all.  That's okay.    What's important is what you   📍 choose to believe and how you move forward.

So
📍 keep doing what's right.  
📍 Keep learning about the Gospel the same way these people learned about the Gospel and it brought the Spirit to their hearts.
And then also  
📍 pray and ask Heavenly Father to show you how the Holy Ghost will speak to you so that you can learn that and recognize it easier.
Because it is a little bit different for everybody, and learning to recognize it is important.

📍 And eventually, you will have a mighty change in your heart. Just because it doesn't happen all at once, doesn't mean it's not a mighty change.  Let me say that again.

Just because it doesn't happen all at once doesn't mean you didn't have a mighty change in your heart.

One drop at a time, you will get there.

And you know what helps a lot? Is  studying your scriptures. It gives you that knowledge, that opportunity for the spirit to come and speak to you.

The more spiritual experiences you have, the more your heart will change, and you will have that desire to follow Christ. It's such an amazing thing! I love it! So, I hope you will read your scriptures this week. Don't just listen to me, go read them for yourselves, okay? 

You guys, there's so much to find here in the scriptures, and if you don't believe me, go find the worksheets.  I've got multiple suggestions on there for you. Ooh, one of them even tells you to make a blanket fort, so don't miss that one. I love that one. 

Thank you so much for being here with me today.  Go read your scriptures, and I'll see you next week! Bye!

  📍  Thanks for tuning in to Primarily Scripture with Cindy Young. Don't forget you can subscribe to the newsletter and download free worksheets on the website PrimarilyScripture. com. And if you like the channel, be sure to subscribe, like, share, and leave a review. See you next time!