Ulisses Soares: Jesus Christ—the True Vine

Good morning everyone. Happy Thursday. Welcome to Inklings. We can't wait to see how Inklings is gonna go this morning because I'm at Bear Lake. You know what happens when I'm at Bear Lake. Sometimes we have really good internet and sometimes we don't but I'm in a part of the house where we think I'm gonna have good internet. We've been planning for this. Our cute friends who we stay with were so worried when I came up. Who loves this? We come up every year and they were so worried. Where was I gonna do Inklings? So they've been helping figure it out so hopefully you can hear and see it's a Bear Lake weekend everyone. So it's the one time of a year when our whole family is together in Bear Lake and I'm sitting on the porch and the phone on the hot tub with a whole bunch of these rocks propping it up. That makes this even funner. And okay and let's just talk about where we're gonna be. We are doing elder sources talk Jesus Christ the true Vi. That's where we're gonna spend our time. We're gonna be talking about why we abide in Christ and what we learn about the true vine that maybe is gonna help us get through some things in our life. And before we even get into the talk which is so good. I want to start in the scriptures again. We're gonna go into Luke so you're gonna want your new testament but we're also I want to go into the Book of Mormon just for a second as we're thinking through all of these things. So this summer what happened is I decided I was gonna try and read the whole Book of Mormon. It seemed like reading the whole Book of Mormon over the summer was a really reasonable goal to set. And then this summer has been so crazy and this is what always happens. Everyone is life just gets in the way. So I'm just trying to get myself through. This is how far I am so far. I'm just right here. But I try and do a little reading every night in the midst of every other thing that is going on. Which is a million things. All really good. And so my reading yesterday was I was learning a lesson that had never stood out to me before. So I want to go there and I just want to think about it as we're getting into this talk today and what we're gonna learn from the talk. So in the Book of Mormon if you want to grab yours we're gonna start out in chapter 7. And I want to be just watching for the details that we often overlook because sometimes when we read the Book of Mormon we just start getting into the story. And then we're in the story and this is true about us when we read the Scriptures is we already know where everyone came from and we know where everyone's going and we know where the story ends. So sometimes we don't get into the little details like we would in another story or in another book because we're like oh no no I already know what happens. So we just are going through. And this time for some reason there were a couple parts of this story that I was like wait why did that happen and why did it happen like this. So we're gonna be in Mosiah chapter 7 is where we are. And this is what happens. We just come out of that King Benjamin moment. We've come out of that moment where everyone has entered into the covenant they have no contention they've been having all of this peace everyone's been having you know all of that good learning. This is the where where the people are is in this moment which I think is really important to think about because when we look at our life and we're wanting to be led we're wanting to have those experiences where we see the hand of the Lord showing up in our story on a regular basis. I wonder if it's helpful for us to remember those moments happened when someone was participating in in a really intimate relationship with the Lord or we would call that a covenant relationship with the Lord where everything was aligned and when we align our lives like that so well. What happens is the spirit can actually lead us better and it's that being led is when I feel like we see miracles happening in our life. We're experiencing those just those fingerprint moments is what's happening. So we're coming off of that and it says after King Mosiah had continual peace for the space of three years he was desirous to know concerning the people who went up to dwell in the land of Lehigh Nephi or in the city of Lehigh Nephi. For his people had heard nothing from them from the time they left the land of Zara Hamla therefore they worried him with their teasing. So I wanted to stop right there and say okay we what are a couple things we learned that we might we might just skip over that verse we we might not even care what is happening there but first of all we learned it's a time of peace and no contention so that's gonna pave the way for a miracle to happen we're gonna learn that. The next thing that we learned is that they hadn't heard anything about those people and it's interesting that they weary him with their teasing which made me write in the side of my scriptures. Who was missing? Like who was it that they were worried about? Have we ever thought about it? Was it someone's son? Was it someone's daughter who went with all their grandkids up you know to this place that they were gonna go to and maybe they thought there was gonna be more back and forth and they were gonna you know be able to to stay in touch and then they had it and so the thought that this wasn't just like overnight he was like I wonder if we should go see what happened but it was this continual pleading this continual cry of what happened to those people we we need to go and check on the people so chapter 7 verse 1 is where we are and so in verse 2 it tells this King Mosaic granted 16 of their strong men could go up and and try and find this group who had left and then there's another really important part that I think sometimes we don't notice it says on verse 3 and it came to pass on the maro they started to go up having with them one ammon he being a strong and a mighty man and a descendant of their ahemla he was also their leader okay again let's just pause for a second and think through what we what we learn I love that when when does it happen like tomorrow he's just like you know what we we actually should go and find them bring me 16 of our very best men and then I love that he chooses um ammon and there's a couple standouts about ammon that we kind of want to hold on to and remember so he was a strong and mighty man that feels important he's going to be the leader that feels important but there's one line that you might just skip over because it feels like why do we need to know this about him and it's the line that says a descendant of their ahemla okay so why is that important to the story this is what I'm I'm wondering as I get in this time I'm like why did they feel like they needed to tell us he was this descendant of their ahemla and then this is what I want to think about next so just pause for one second because in my mind I want to think this okay here was this covenant people they're living in peace they're wondering what has happened to their family their friends their these people that they love that they're continually asking and pleading to know about this and so it is the morning of we are gonna go out and find them and they get going and they have this strong and mighty leader and in your mind doesn't it feel like everything should go really good because think about it their intentions are good they're what they've been doing to prepare has been good they're living in a way that is good and so it just it feels like the path should just open up for this amazing journey that's gonna happen right this is what I'm thinking in my mind and then it says this they knew not the course that they should travel therefore they wandered many days in the wilderness even 40 days did they wander and then we get down into seven and they go in they find this land, they see these people there, they're probably like, "This is it, this is going to be it." And immediately as they start walking in, they're surrounded by the Kingsguard, and they were taken, and they were bound, and they were committed to prison. So, I, in mind, I just marked down, okay, this is interesting because this is the outcome of the journey, which is surrounded, taken, bound, and then in prison. And is that the outcome that you wanted? Is that what you were thinking when you left, and you were like, "Okay, we're going to go out, we're going to find these people, and there's going to be so much for joy-sing. This is going to be such a good thing." And in the end, now they've wandered 40 days, they finally find civilization, they get there, and then immediately they're surrounded, and bound, and taken, and they're in prison, and do you think anyone is like, "You know what? We should have just stayed where we were." In that place where we had had peace for three years, and everything was so good, and all of this was happening, and don't you wonder about all of those questions? And I love that somebody put in the notes, and this is true, and I think important. That number 40 signifies something. We see the 40 with Jesus in the desert when He was going through the temptation. We see 40 with Moses when you have His whole entire story. You will see the number 40 regularly, and it often means a journey of some sort. It's a journey that leads to learning always. It's like this, it signifies this period of time of growth and preparation and readying for what is about to come next. So I have that also marked in mind, that it's super interesting. It was 40 days, because it kind of lets you know there's about to be something ahead. That's that 40 should signify to you. There's about to be a lesson ahead of where we are. So they're in prison, and they finally bring them out. They lose their bands, and I love this in verse 8, it says, and they were permitted, or rather commanded that they should answer the questions which he should ask them. So now we're in this moment, and then I love when Ammon starts talking. Well, first of all, Limhite talks first. Let's go there in verse 9. He says to them, "Behold, I am Limhite, the son of Noah, who was the son of Zinef, who came up out of the land of Zera Himmla to inherit the land." And now, in verse 9, we're right in the middle. If you just want to look again at that line that seems like not relevant to the story, I'm Limhite, the son of Noah, who was the son of Zinef, who came up out of the land of Zera Himmla. He immediately says that, "Who did King Mosiah send to be the leader of the whole group that was coming?" Ammon, a descendant of Zera Himmla. And I just, I put my scriptures and I was like, "That is not a coincidence. That is who was chosen to lead and to go into this situation, which was going to be a little bit precarious. And the first thing Limhite is going to do is introduce himself and say, "This is who I am. And I want to know why you came and you were so bold to come near the walls of this city. And I just wanted to know who you were or else I would have just caused my guard to put you to death. And so now you are permitted to speak. And then this is the most awesome part. He says, "Ammon says, I'm thankful and I will endeavor to speak with boldness because I'm assured that if you had known me," He says, "You wouldn't have put me in these bands because I am Ammon and I am a descendant of Zera Himmla. And do you love that right at the very beginning you see God orchestrating this moment? This is what I was thinking about all day yesterday that you might have had that moment of, wait a minute, we're going out to do a really great thing. So why the wandering for 40 years? Why the prison? Why are we bound? Why were we taken? Now I'm in front of the king. I'm going to have to explain what's happening. And you might have this moment of like, where is the Lord in this part of our story? Like, he should have warned us and told us not to come. We are about to be killed by the king or, you know, those things. And how often do we do that in our story? How often do we get into the details of the story? And what we're focused on is no longer the call, the mission, the thing that we set out to do. But what we focus on is day 37 and day 38 and day 39. And now we're in prison and we're taken and we're bound. And this, these like, these are big things, right? These are the things that, as we line them up, we're like, maybe we should just go home. Maybe we should just give up. Maybe we're not even supposed to be doing this. How many of us have had that moment in a time like this where we think, maybe I'm not in the right place and maybe we're not doing the right thing. And I love that in verse 14 it tells us, and it came to pass, that when Lim Hai had heard the words of Ammon, he was exceedingly glad and said, now I know of a surety that my brethren who were in the land of Zarahemla are still alive. And now I will rejoice. And on the morrow, I will cause that my people should rejoice also. And then you want to say this, at least I do. Oh, good. Well, that's the end of the hard thing because now they've found them, they've done the thing they were supposed to do. They know how to get to where they are. They can stay here and live in their land. These guys can go back. They can go back and forth and back and forth. Isn't that how you felt like the story shouldn't is right there. This huge rejoicing, we found the people and now we go back and tell everybody we found them. But that isn't what happens because what happens the next morning is they find out that they're in bondage to the Lamanites. And that in verse 16 it tells us, let's see, no, in verse 17 it tells us that Lim Hai sent a proclamation among all his people that they would gather themselves together to the temple. So I love that the bill, a temple, they're going to all gather there and come together to this place. And the king says to them, "O ye my people, lift up your heads and be comforted for behold, the time is at hand or is not far distant. When we shall no longer be in suggestion to our enemies, notwithstanding our many struggling which have been in vain." So we find out that this people who went over here, what has their life been like since they left? It sounds like this struggle, right? This is what is happening now, is this great struggle. And then there is this line that I have been thinking about. And it says this, notwithstanding our many struggles, and then look at this line at the bottom of 18, which have been in vain and then yet I trust their remaineth and effectual struggle to be made. So he sets the stage for what's happening next. And can you imagine if you're Ammon, can you imagine if you're the 16 men, all you were sent to do was just come and find the people. That's it. That was your job. That was the call. Go find the people. And now they found the people and they're enjoying this situation of bondage and there's going to be yet an effectual struggle to be made. And then look at verse 19, therefore lift up your heads and rejoice. Doesn't that feel like that doesn't match those two sentences right next to each other? I looked at the word effectual in Hebrew because I wanted to see in that time period, what did that mean, an effectual struggle that was going to happen? And it means an active or a powerful struggle is ahead of them. So as we're thinking about that, this effectual struggle that's going to be made. And then this moment where he's like, Lift up your heads and rejoice and put your trusting God in that God who was the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and also the God who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt and caused that they should walk through the Red Sea on dry ground and fed them with mana that they might not perish in the wilderness and many more things did he do for them. And that's where I want to stop in the Book of Mormon. I want to think about this moment of first of all, I wrote two things at the top of my scriptures. First of all, so much resistance for a cause that was good. Do you notice that? Like for Ammon who's living in this time of peace, his life is probably really good. He has his own little family. He has his life. They're living in a time of continual peace and no contention. And then he gets a call one night from King Mosiah who's like, hey, I want you to, will you just take 60 men go find out where these people are in his mind? He's probably like, yeah, I'll go and I'll come back. He probably tells his family, this isn't going to take that long. So we will be right back. And then look at what happens. And have you ever had a moment like that? A calling like that. Maybe your job or or maybe another situation where someone's like, hey, can you help here? And you're like, yeah, I would love to and you dive in. And then you realize this idea of the cause is good. The cause is good. And it's orchestrated by God. It's it's divinely orchestrated. It's a good cause. But why sometimes is there so much resistance for a cause that is good? Why does that sometimes happen? And that's what I've been thinking about is sometimes we enter into things. And I don't know if we realize like, Amin did that moment when the when the king king, Limhai says, I trust their remain it an effectual struggle to be made. Did you know you signed up for the struggle? Did you know you signed up for every day was going to be this. This hard, this like work, this battle every single day for the cause of good. And as we watched this happen, I think it is interesting that God knew he knew when he was like, okay, send the 16. He knew when he inspired King Rosiah to be like, I would make Amin the leader because of his ties to Zara Hamla. Did he know the things that we're going to help them get through the struggle ahead? And did he put the right people in place that were equipped for the struggle? Is that what happened? And as we think about our life and where we are in our life and what is happening and wherever you are, the struggle that you are in. Have you sat back for a minute to think, why am I here and why am I here now and what am I equipped with to help in this part of the struggle? And as you think about that, I want to think about there are probably talents you have that are going to help. The most important thing that was going to happen here is a reuniting of families, a group of people. That's what was that's what's going to be the most important thing. So I think we always keep in our mind what's what's God's greatest desire families. That's it. And it's it's grandparents and children and grandchildren. It's the next generation and the next generation and the next generation. We see him looking at how do I take care of the family? How do I keep them together? And then we see him saying if someone is in a situation that maybe isn't good, how do we send the rescue? And orchestrate what that's going to look like. But then I think this happens and here's the part that I think we forget the resistance is going to be hot and effectual struggle is going to be ahead. Okay, let's keep all of that in mind. But one thing we're going to watch that happens here is in order to get out of this situation, there has to be no contention. And for there to be no contention, there is one thing that has to happen. And then this is true over all of time. We have to assume the best. That's what we have to do. We have to assume the best because as soon as either King Limhai had not taken the time to let Amin talk and to say where he was from and to say what had happened in his life over the past however many years. If he hadn't assumed the best and allowed him that experience, the miracle wouldn't have happened. And if Amin had just gotten really mad and been like, hey, I'm here trying to rescue you and help you and find you and connect you back with your family. If he hadn't assumed the best, then the miracle couldn't have happened. And as you think about your life right now and your personal struggle, whatever it is, that effectual struggle that is ahead of you, I think it would be really interesting to say, how am I doing assuming the best. Now, I'm going to just say this from experience. This is really hard to do this. It actually requires being intentional and deliberate because we immediately go to this place of either I'm being taken advantage of or someone's manipulating the situation. Okay, we go to that place sometimes or we go to a place of this is unfair and all I'm trying to do is help. We could go to that situation or we see something happening and our judgment immediately is, how is this going to harm the situation. That's the natural man. That's fear. Okay, that is those are all responses of fear. That's fear based living. That's what's happening in that moment. And I think if we enter into situations with fear, then our immediate inclination is not to assume the best. It just isn't. It's not in us. So as we look at, okay, who's in charge of this story? God, clearly, because you see it as soon as he picked to ammon, you see it. So God is in charge. We're not, we don't have to worry about how this is going to turn out. That's not our job. We're just part of the story. But the story is his. It's his story and the family is his. It's his family. These are his children. He loves all of them. He wants the best for all of them. And I love that when we read just those few verses, we immediately have this moment where we're like, okay, wait, this is God's story. This is not my story. This is God's story. I have been asked to play a part. I can enter with fear, which will quickly lead to accusation or I can enter in with faith and recognizing the power of the atonement. And I can assume the best. And isn't it interesting that the outcome is going to be totally different? Like we see it here. If limhigh had entered in with fear, ammon would be dead. That's just it. That's what would have happened in the story. But because limhigh and ammon were living in a place where they were trying to assume the best, then God could ordain the outcome of the story. And it's making me think in my own life, okay, how can I be better at trying to assume the best in every situation? And it's the communication that becomes really important here because I love this in verse 10. I desire to know the cause whereby you were so bold as to come. Right. I desire this. I just can you just explain to me how did we get to this place where we are? And I love when ammon responds back and he says to him, I will endeavor to speak with boldness because I am assured if you had known. Don't you love those two thoughts I had desired and if you had known Think about what you just learned from those two lives that is critical learning It's it's two different ways to enter in and And that thought of if we feel resistance we might we might go to that place of fear and be like then we should just quit Then we should just give up That it's the easiest thing is this is not right and And we walk away from that thing, but if the cause is good and The resistance is coming because the cause is good Then how do we shift ourself to that faith? Perspective how do we keep ourself in the faith perspective and learn how to Assume the best to walk forward in faith whatever that is Okay, that was a half hour of getting us into the talk now But I feel like it is important for us to realize what was happening In this moment and as you keep reading through you're gonna you'll see this you have two kings Who actually know God that's what is happening and it's their Understanding of God's plan his ultimate plan that is gonna bring about the deliverance that comes It's it's them being able to hold fast to God and and then it's so interesting that everything else works out if they just Hold fast to God That's all they have to do just Just hold fast to the Lord then Guess what he can work out everything he knows how he's greater. He's bigger. He's more generous than We think that he is but But also that idea of that effectual struggle that's ahead fear based living Can consume us it can consume our minds and it can consume our hearts and it eventually It will cause what we see ahead of us to be filtered through that lens of fear and As soon as any of that happens it causes the miracle to be slowed right and King Limhai will continue to teach that as we go But I love when Elder Sures is like here is the right thing to do it is Just stay on the vine just stay on the vine. That's where the nourishment is gonna come that's where That's how you're gonna be Led through what you're doing especially in the moments when you're like wait, why is this happening and why is that happening like this and Why is the resistance still coming? Then there is that that idea of what Elder Sures is gonna teach us which is like to stay on the vine Just stay on the vine nourishment is is going to come even if the resistance gets harder There's there's something that's gonna come and we don't really say the word stay on the vine The word we use is a bite That's the word that we use is a bite and so now I want to take you into the talk for a minute because Let's see how we abide so we can get through the Infectual struggle that whatever yours is whatever your effectual struggle is What are we gonna learn now that is gonna allow us to abide so I want to start in paragraph three and He says this abiding in Christ is not an occasional or casual act It is a constant Conscious and sacred choice, okay? That's really important because we just watched a story Where your immediate inclination might have been go back get out Walk away right that that might have been Ammon's immediate reaction, but I love this thought that he was making a Constant conscious and sacred choice to abide in Christ and and let him lead It caused it's Elevating our thoughts he tells us so again Elevate your thoughts. Assume the best Assume the best the person that you're working with and thinking about Is also praying every morning They're also waiting for God to direct their path and and maybe they come and they're not super helpful in a given moment But we should assume the best and trust that that God can figure it out So I love that thought that Elder Suarez teaches us elevate your thoughts I love this number three govern your words in every setting And I think this is this part seems to be the most important part I was working with a group several months ago and What we were working on something that we knew was good we knew it was we all did everyone at the table knew it was good And I can remember at the end of the meeting saying the most important decision we can make right now is to have no Distraction and no contention and every person at this table has to make that decision right now no distraction no contention and Then we have set forth on this Grand project that we're working on and I will tell you that it is Every single day that I have to say those two words to myself no distraction no contention and Where contention gets stirred the most the fastest where it begins is Often because we didn't govern our words in every setting and so we either stirred someone up By how we were communicating we we didn't assume the best in a conversation Or we didn't enter in to a conversation With someone the way Lim high did I just I desired to know and Ammon If you had known me Right that's so important so I love that he's like govern your words and elevate your thoughts about the people that you're dealing with If we do that and then we allow our lives to be directed by his loving and constant influence through the Holy Ghost And we're choosing to listen to his voice and the voice of his servants This is how we abide is by doing that now It's it is tricky because he tells us in six we live in a world filled with many voices voices that relentlessly seek our attention and offer persuasive messages and invitations and so I think it's important for us to keep that in mind We're gonna hear a lot of distraction and There's a good chance we're also gonna hear contention so Staying in that place When we live in a world with so many voices it is gonna require what he said in paragraph three It's we can't enter in casually anymore. We don't live in a time where we can enter in casually We we've got to make a constant conscious and sacred choice That we're just gonna stay on the vine. We're gonna let the Lord lead. We're gonna assume the best We're gonna let the Lord lead what is gonna happen And we're gonna move forward like that and we're probably gonna have to make that constant choice over and over and over again and Okay, and someone's asking now What what do you do if you're in a situation where this is a part where we talk about how do you have boundaries in situations where you need boundaries and also assume the best okay, that's such a good question and We're gonna watch that again as we as we say in this part of the book of Mormon I think that One of the things that we'll learn is God is gonna be working with people at different Stages of recovery and at different stages of healing so we can't assume that everyone is at the same stage of healing as Everyone else is which is why we we create boundaries of safety for people And as you think about how you enter in within those boundaries I think And often it helps if you have a counselor or someone who's helping you Figure out what those boundaries are But I think as we look particularly when we look in family situations We're looking to see how do I assume the best so the next generation? who comes up is going to be the healthiest and cared for and watched over and understanding God's grand design for each of his children. And so I think when you look at where Limhai was asking that question, I desire to know this. Are you coming in Taharmas? That's what he asked. I was outside the city without my guards. Are you here Taharm? Is in essence the question that he was asking? Or are you here to help? And I think that maybe can help us assume the best and put our boundaries in place. I was thinking about a question yesterday that Joshua asked when he was outside of the city walls of Jericho. And he sits there and this man comes up to him. And he says, the question they asked is, "Are you for us? Are you against us?" That's a really telling question. It's the question King Limhai asked. And so I think the question is, are they entering in a posture of hurt or a posture of help? Will that hurt or help our family at this point? But I think we also remember everyone is in a process of healing. There's none of God's children that he would choose to walk away from. And so where are they in their in their process of healing? Where are they? And how is God working with them? And as you're balancing what that looks like, how can I assume the best of them in this situation? And assuming the best in them is going to allow them to also experience healing. So I think that's why he's like, you have the Holy Ghost to help you to help guide you through that process. But part of keeping the Holy Ghost is assuming the best and not causing contention. So that is a delicate balance that we are walking through. Let's just think about paragraph 8 as we're talking about this because he's talking about technology, but let's look at it with technology and without. My beloved brothers and sisters, true wisdom in our technological day is found in using modern tools with spiritual discernment through the Holy Ghost without allowing them to replace the rightful voice of the true vine. We can talk about this with technology in a minute, but let's just talk about it without technology. So true wisdom and I'm going to say this in every situation is found in using spiritual discernment through the Holy Ghost. So I think the Holy Ghost will part of his job. I love this is to help us discern and we talk about what discernment is, the gift of discernment is and the gift of discernment is to see the good and the bad in something and then to be able to make a choice. But I think sometimes we forget part 50% of the gift is to help us see the good. And so what if we were leaning into that a little bit more of okay, how can the Holy Ghost in this situation because I'm trying to assume the best? How can the Holy Ghost help me see the good? Someone just said something in the comments that was so interesting. I love this so much. My motto is help things go right. That is the best motto I've ever heard in my life. It reminds me of Sarah Granger Kimbles' house who is my favorite person in all of Navu. And that one moment when she just stood at her window and said, "How can I help?" And I have a friend who's on that team that was sitting around that table that I told you about months ago and every time I text her, like it is almost without fell, her first response is, "How can I help?" That is her immediate response is that. It's like innate in her to say that. And don't you wish you just lived your life in that? Like how can I help in this situation? And then let me try and discern the good and let me see how I can assume the best. And I will let the spirit help me discern what is happening in there. But I love the idea of that. Now let's shift for a minute from relationships. And I want to think about this one thing Elder Sware has teaches us that feels kind of like a tangent. Someone says they're in Navu right now visiting and I'm telling you right now, "Do not leave Navu without going to the Sarah Granger Kimbles home. It will change your life forever." And I cannot wait for the sister missionaries to tell you the story of that house. It's off the beaten path. You actually have to commit to go to that house, which makes it even better in my mind. But wander down there and you are going to love that lesson and then you are going to leave with your heart changed because you're going to become a, "How can I help?" Servant of God for the rest of your life. Sarah Granger Kimbles is the whole reason we even have the release society everybody. And this is my favorite thing about her because we created this benevolent society because one woman stood at her kitchen window and just said, "How can I help?" And then that's what happened. Okay, go back to paragraph eight for a minute because I think this is so important. He says this, "My beloved brothers and sisters, true wisdom and our technological day is found in using modern tools with spiritual discernment through the Holy Ghost without allowing them to replace the rightful voice of the true vine. This is going to become in my mind. This is something that I feel that one paragraph is going to be so critical to spiritually surviving the last days." And it's less important advice for us because we have grown up learning how to ask and then listen and we're okay with waiting for God to respond. We don't love it but we know how to do it. We know how to get on our knees. We know how to plead for months. We know how to be listening and watching for that small next right step. We've grown up and we actually know how to do this. Now it will become convenient for us to stop doing that, to start relying on other voices through technology. So we've got to watch that for ourself. That is not my concern. My concern is for our grandchildren and our children who didn't grow up practicing like that in the same way. And for them, AI is so quick and it so sounds like it knows what it's talking about and this is what I think you should do. And you can immediately be like, "Okay, now I don't have to worry if I'm making the right decision because someone else made the decision for me." And we don't realize that it is a machine that just made that decision for you. It doesn't know everything that's happening really around you. It's just taking a whole bunch of scientific and calculated factors and analyzing them and telling you this is what you should do and it is so compelling. The voice is that you're like, "Yeah, okay, that's what I'm gonna do. We're gonna lose the art of praying and listening. We're gonna lose that art. That's gonna have to be something that we are practicing so well and our kids see us practicing so well that it becomes compelling to them to want to do things the old way. It's gonna become a lost art to be someone that knows how to listen to the spirit. And for me, that is feeling really important right now. I had a sweet experience this weekend or this past week before we came. And as I was having this experience and thinking about it, the spirit had I had been woken with a prompting. This was an interesting story and maybe this is the way we need to start living. I had been woken with a prompting. The prompting was for me. It was clear. It wasn't understood but I knew I had been given a prompting and it was just one word and it felt like that one word was gonna be important on that day. and the prompting that came right after it was go and tell your kids that you have been woken with this random prompting and here's the sad part everyone was sleeping so I didn't say anything to anybody when it happened I just was eyes wide open for why is that going to be important in my day and sure enough within two hours that whole thing had come full circle and in the middle of it coming full circle my kids had woken up and and they were entering into this story that was happening they were entering into the story and watching it and they were like they could tell something was going on but they weren't like sure it was so funny that they just they were going in and out and giving me these looks like what is happening right now and it was when it was all over that I gathered everyone together and said I want to tell you this series of events that happened this morning so you can see how awesome they were but in my mind even as I was telling them the story I thought it would have been more awesome if I had said something two hours ago because they would have also been able to experience the working out and when I when we were all sitting on the steps and I was telling them about this experience and and Tyson said to me why do things like this always happen to you that's what that was his question and I answered back and said you know what things like this should be happening to all of us we actually all have the same gift and and then I said to them I had the strongest prompting this morning that I needed to wake all of you up and and tell you this this world and we were gonna watch for what was gonna happen and I didn't I didn't I mean who wakes up there older kids no one we all know this but I should have I told him and he's like but why because where we supposed to learn like the lesson you just learned and I sat there for a minute and then I was like no I think it was so that you would recognize that your privilege with the spirit could be higher it could be higher and what do you need to change so that it would be which is an interesting concept to think when you read this paragraph eight my beloved brothers and sisters true wisdom in our technological day is found in using modern tools with spiritual discernment through the Holy Ghost without allowing them to replace the rightful voice of the true vine and I think the the invitation becomes how are we gonna teach the next generation the art of hearing the spirit how are we gonna do that that's gonna require a conscious effort to be able to to teach that it will become a lost art and and it will happen quickly because AI is so convenient and it's so compelling and so how will we teach that to our kids of wait don't ask there yet start here I love the Elder Souris is like that can be part of the process we don't say we never use AI in our family that's that's not what he's saying it can be part of the process but those little things should add to our paper list or however we're keeping up okay um this is interesting I'm gonna add this and I'm gonna add this but I'm gonna be watching for different different answers to come in different ways that becomes so important and then he says in 11 so I combined my eight and my 11 together my beloved brothers and sisters in a world of many voices remaining connected to the true vine is not merely desirable it is essential to our spiritual survival and that's so important that's the part we have to remember and so I want to just before we end go into Luke 24 now for a minute because this isn't just an our day thing this isn't always thing and when we go into Luke 24 and we read about what was happening there it's right after all of those events happened for three days in a row and these two apostles are walking to Emmaus and it's gonna take them a long walk and as they're communing together and reasoning together and trying to figure out what just happened and they're sad and and I'm sure they're trying to think like is this is it now is this the end is it everything is over now what do we do like we just we just gave three years of our life to what what's gonna happen now and all those things Jesus said before you left what where do those like fit into the puzzle I think it is so interesting that we're we're watching them try to process this and and in this moment of reasoning right which that's what we're talking about we live in that day in this moment of reasoning Jesus drew near in Luke 24 14 and it says in verse 16 but their eyes were holding that they should not know him and he starts asking questions and there's two words I want you to pay attention to in this story this is the first holden okay their eyes were holding we don't it doesn't say how that happened it doesn't say if it was because of the veil it doesn't say it was someone's was trying to keep something from them it doesn't say because of everything that they were reasoning is what was making it so they couldn't see we don't know why they didn't know it was Jesus but we do know it tells us their eyes were holding they they couldn't see the thing they needed to see and so they start telling him everything that has happened and and he's he's saying to them what things like I love that he's leading them he's like okay let's go through this process of reasoning together then let's rather than you reason and and don't you wonder if their reasoning was in fear don't you wonder if it was in well then this happened and then this happened and I love that he's like okay let's talk it through what things and now they're gonna start this moment of like okay then this then this then this then this this is what is happening and you can see the wrestle in verse 21 when they're like we had trusted that it it was the Messiah like you can see them almost giving up that faith right because of their fear and then they talk about Mary Magdalene certain woman have made us astonished because they're they're saying this we don't even know if that can happen right so you fill this internal wrestle and they're reasoning is through and I love that they're reasoning it through with Jesus if you ever notice that before like if you want to know what it looks like to reason something out box the road to Emmaus because he's leading them through that and and he's asking them questions as they go like what about this and I think his questions are probably faith-growing questions and then he starts expounding unto them in all the scriptures okay as we're teaching our kids and our grandchildren that's one of the practices they need to know turn to AI and write down what you learn but also he expounded them in all the scriptures the things concerning what they were talking about that's part of the practice that should be part of our practice and then they get to this village and they're gonna split ways and they say to him abide with us because the day is far spent and it was in the moment that he took bread and blessed it and break and gave it to them in verse 31 here's the other word that I want you to hold on to their eyes were opened okay we could go one of two ways with what we just learned so we learned questions are important we learned reasoning through it with the Lord is important we learned scriptures are important but we Just learns the most critical piece of this. and it's going to bring us back to where we started. Because him taking the bread and blessing it and breaking it and giving it to them, sometimes we might look at that and be like, oh yeah, and he had just done that three days before and so it caused this memory to come maybe. But I want to think about this. Breaking bread and blessing it and giving it is an ordinance and covenant situation. Okay, we would think of it as the sacrament. And when we enter into priesthood ordinances and keep our covenant promises, we just learned our eyes will be opened. Okay, there's a process that is being laid out here, a road to Emmaus process that we just experience. In times of sorrow, and doubt, and fear, and distraction, we just laid out. When our eyes are holding and we can't see what to do, isn't it interesting that the answer is abide, walk with him. That's the answer. Let him ask you questions. What things were happening and talk it out with him. We do that when we pray to Heavenly Father, we talk it out. We, that you see them reasoning. He said this was gonna happen and then certain women said this was happening and then this happened and he's gonna push on them, oh, fools and so of heart to believe, all that the prophets have spoken, right? Turn to the scriptures, turn to the prophets. There are gonna be answers there, but then also those priest ordinances and covenant promises, this is the process of opening our eyes. This is the process. This road to Emmaus process is what is gonna help us abide. It's what's gonna help us hold on to the vine. That's what's gonna help. And as we go through that process, then the answers are gonna come. We are gonna get through the effectual struggle ahead. This is gonna help us get through the effectual struggle. So so much learning today, that learning about just because there's resistance doesn't mean that it's a good cause. The learning of assume the best about people that go into the conversation and say, I desire this and let the other person speak boldly and say, if you just knew me, right, allow those kinds of conversations, get away from fear-based living, live in that faith and assume the best mentality and let God do His great work where He is. And in the moments, when it feels like your eyes are holding, then Luke 24 has that, here's how to enter in. Here's how we interact with the true vine. Here's how we abide. And then we start walking through this. And this last lesson, this isn't just for us. Who do you know that needs to be taught this art of living up to our privileges with the spirit? And how do we pass that on? Because we're living in the day where we are needing to pass these things on to those who are coming behind us. These things that were so simple to us as we grew up because it was all we had, this is the gift we need to be passing down to those who are coming behind us. So, so many good things today, like a lot to think about between Mosiah and Luke and Elder Suarez, we had three masterful teachers teaching us, principles that are gonna be helpful to us. So, lots to ponder, so many good things. I'll see you again next Thursday. Have a awesome week, everybody.