Transcript
Duration: ~47 minutes

I am excited to be here because I’ve learned how to rename my emotions. Instead of saying I’m nervous, I’m excited.

I have to tell you, this spring I retired from teaching after fifty years. So this is a really hard thing for me to be right here, right now, and not say a few things that I’ve been saying for fifty years. I’m glad you’re all here.

They haven’t given me a role, and I will just say, you can sit by your friends today, but if there’s a problem, I am not above making a seating chart. Okay?

And extra points for everybody who read the sign and picked up the piece of paper on the chairs as we came out—you get extra points on that.

All right, so today we are—these last few weeks we are starting reading the Book of Mormon, and I’ve got to tell you, I thought, how many hundreds of times have the ladies in this room read the Book of Mormon? I bet if we tallied up all the numbers of times you personally have read the Book of Mormon, we’d be in the hundreds and maybe the thousands.

And I thought, what in the world can I bring to this group with all the times that we’ve read the Book of Mormon?

No, I’m fine. Thanks. Is this better? Oh yeah, okay.

All right, so I thought what I’m gonna ask you is: how are you going to read the Book of Mormon this time?

I don’t know if you remember this a few years ago, President Nelson talked about reading the Book of Mormon, and this is how he looks when he’s reading the Book of Mormon. He says the Book of Mormon is filled with truth. If you read it daily, you will have more truth and power in your life. It teaches us about the premortal world and the purpose of life. It gives more understanding about the atonement of Jesus Christ than any other book of scripture, and teaches us about the reality of God the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the holy priesthood. Studying daily from its pages will affect your life in a way no other book can.

Well, I gotta be honest. This is not how typically I read the Book of Mormon. Although this is how I read the Book of Mormon this last week for preparing this lesson.

But I had an issue, and I’m old enough now that I can’t tell you if this was three years or twenty-five years ago, but I think it was about fifteen years ago. I looked at it—it was time to start the Book of Mormon again—and I thought, I’m not getting that much out of it. I’ve read it a number of times, and this is how I’m reading it: blah, blah, blah. Oh, here’s this story where Nephi has a dream, blah, blah, blah. Oh, they go back to Jerusalem, blah, blah, blah. Oh, here’s the Liahona, here’s this, oh, here’s Second Nephi. I was reading story to story and mark scripture to mark scripture. That’s how I was reading the Book of Mormon.

And I thought, I’ve got to do something different. So I looked at different Book of Mormons, and I brought a few here today that I looked at.

Some people call this the Old Faithful or the Blue Book. This is the one I read in seminary. I call it the steroid edition, because it’s the first one with the Arnold Friberg illustrations in it. Think about that. I’m going to say that once more. I call it the steroid edition because it has the Arnold Friberg illustrations in it. And it doesn’t have many footnotes, and the footnotes it has are all just within the Book of Mormon.

Nowadays you can buy a facsimile of the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, and it’s interesting because it’s in chapters, but there’s no verses. And when you read it, it’s more like re-reading a story, a narrative. But I looked at it—my eyes are bad, the printing is not really easy to read.

I didn’t look at this very long, but this is a 1920 edition where they put the first time they did double columns, and they have scriptures and chapters and verses.

And then if you remember when President Hinckley was making the big outreach to the world, he actually allowed indie book publishers to publish versions for like Barnes and Noble, for bookstores. And this one, it says Another Testament of Christ, it’s got chapter and verses, no footnotes. It’s the 1920 version.

And then this one that was written by Penguin, because it is a Penguin classic, and it is actually the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon. It was the last edition edited by Joseph Smith before he was killed. I got quite excited about this, you can see.

Then I got this version, the Book of Mormon Restored Covenant edition. This is by the RLDS, Community of Christ now. Version, which is the 1908 edition. It’s got all the verses, but the book of Nephi, there’s only seven chapters, so think how long those chapters are. So only divided into seven chapters. And I was really excited about this because it has all the words of Christ in red. And when I was a kid, the Bible we had at our house had all the words of Christ in red. And I thought, oh, this is pretty good.

And then this is a gift issue edition of the Book of Mormon. I got to be honest, I think this is way too dangerous to read unless you’re sitting at a table, because if I should drop this or fall asleep or something, it would kill you if it dropped on you. But I liked it because it’s got all the illustrations by Minerva Teichert. So this is the post-steroid edition of the Book of Mormon.

Well, I didn’t recite on any of those, but I knew I needed to do it in a different way. And then I remembered, wait a minute, you’re a reading teacher. And I had an aha moment. I remembered I was a reading teacher. I had an aha moment. And I said, I remember something that I have been teaching my reading classes for years. And so this is what I did.

I got a two-dollar Book of Mormon from distribution. No markings in it at all. And I said, we say it’s another testament of Christ. I’m going to prove it. And so I got my red pencil out and I said, as I read this Book of Mormon, I am going to mark every time Christ speaks or there’s a prophecy about Christ, anything to do with Christ, and that’s how I’m going to read this Book of Mormon.

And I will tell you, it was the best reading I have ever done of the Book of Mormon. In fact, when I finished, I said, I think I’d like to read it again, but how am I going to do it this time? And I decided to turn my red-blue pencil upside down and use the blue side, and this time I went through and marked all the times that they talked about the atonement.

And I was astounded that with the exception of one book—and now I can’t remember the book, I think it’s Words of Mormon—there was something I marked in every book of Mormon about the atonement.

So I thought, what better way—and it is the first day of school for me—so everybody who picked up a piece of paper from the back, if you would pick up that, get your piece of paper, and if you didn’t, hurry and grab one.

This is the cheesiest, crappiest handout you’ll ever get in this building, because it’s a piece of paper, and you have to make it yourself. So this is what I call—well, let me go. This is the piece of paper. If you don’t want to do this, I can’t imagine why not, you can on a piece of paper with yourself just draw two lines. But what I want you to do is take your piece of paper and you’re going to fold it in thirds. Hold it landscape, fold it in thirds.

You didn’t know there was going to be arts and crafts today, did you?

Okay. What you’ve just made, we in the education biz call a graphic organizer. And this organizer is a KWL chart. And the KWL chart stands for something important. And you will put a K, a W, and an L at the head of each column because we are going to set a purpose for reading.

The reason I got so much out of reading the Book of Mormon when I was looking for Christ and when I was looking for the atonement is because I set a purpose for reading. I wasn’t just reading from story to story. It wasn’t just another reading.

So, Know is under the first column. The second column is What I Want to Know. And the third column is Learn.

Now under the Know column, we’re not—I’m not going to worry about that today because I know you know a lot about the Book of Mormon. And you can fill this out if you want or you don’t have to, but maybe you just know that this is a book of scripture, I have a testimony of it, whatever you feel like you need to know, but I don’t care what you put, if you put anything.

Here’s the most important column right now: What I Want to Know. And when I started, the first time I did, I said, where is Christ in the Book of Mormon? That’s what I put on my chart. The second time through, I said, what about the atonement in the Book of Mormon?

And as I was contemplating the lesson this week, Nephi 2 through 7, I thought, all these women in here are going to know these stories backwards and forwards. What can I do? What can I see in this that is more than just the narrative? What am I going to see? And this is what I came up with: How can I, Anita, hear the voice of the Lord?

And as I read this, I started paying attention to every time the Lord speaks or makes manifest something that he wants done.

Now, we’re going to leave the Learn blank because that is what I would expect that you would do at the end of these two years of what you’re reading and see what you find out about the Book of Mormon in your reading. It’s just a suggestion, okay? But it’s a good suggestion.

And for years, the missionaries have been saying to people when they give them a Book of Mormon, they say Moroni 10:4. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true. And if ye ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost. Everybody’s heard that verse?

I look at it, it sets a purpose for reading. Why are you reading the Book of Mormon? This is the purpose that’s been set.

Now, I’m looking at hearing the voice of the Lord in these chapters, and I remember a book in our little Relief Society book group. We read it a few years ago, a book called Hearing the Voice of the Lord: Principles and Patterns of Personal Revelation. And in this, I thought it was a really good book, but in this he has a little chart.

And this is my disclaimer. I’m giving you—I’m showing you the chart because he says there’s all sorts of ways we can listen and hear the voice of the Lord. And I would like you to just shout out, how does the Lord speak to us? I just like a couple of things. Somebody tell me how they—how the Lord speaks to people.

Thoughts in your mind. Is that less direct or more direct? If you had to put it on a continuum. You what? Absolutely. Okay. Speak to your mind. Something else. An actual vision. Okay. We’ve got visions. We have angels. We have literal voices, we have thoughts.

I’m gonna show you, this is his continuum, and first of all, most direct: visitations from the Godhead or angels; less direct: the light of Christ. Visions, still small voice to mind and heart, audible voice, intervention or change of outcomes, dreams.

And I’m gonna put this because most of my—in my life, most of my experiences where I know have been on the mind, and I am going, and I thought my aha experience in remembering: discernment, voice in mind, or sometimes in your heart, peace, burning, stupor, mourning, feels right, negative feelings—all of those are ways the Lord speaks.

So this is what we’re going to look at in Nephi 2 to 7. But first, I want to go back to Nephi 1 because it starts right out in it. Nancy talked about this last week, but I just want to—I’m trying to prove my point to you that you can find what you’re looking for here.

In 1 Nephi 1 verse 6: suddenly, and it came to pass as he prayed unto the Lord, there came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him, and he saw and heard much. Less direct, more direct. You decide.

And it came to pass that he returned to his own house at Jerusalem, and he cast himself upon his bed, being overcome with the spirit and the things which he had seen. And being thus overcome with the spirit, he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising God.

And it came to pass that he saw one descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his lustre was above that of the sun at noonday. And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament. And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth, and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read. And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the spirit of the Lord.

Man, if we were checking the boxes off, we would have checked a lot of those, hearing the voice of the Lord in those few verses.

All right. Nephi 2, and it starts with verse 1. For it came to pass that the Lord spake unto my father, yea, even in a dream, and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Lehi, because of the things which thou hast done, and because thou hast been faithful, and declared unto this people the things which I commanded thee. Behold, they seek to take away thy life. And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he should take his family, and depart into the wilderness. So here now we’ve introduced dreams.

And then I decided I’m gonna start and look at what do I need to do to prepare myself to hear the voice of the Lord, because we’re gonna see lots of examples of people who hear the voice, and people who don’t.

Now this he spake, verse 11: Now this he spake because of the stiffneckedness of Laman and Lemuel, for behold, they did murmur in many things against their father. If you want to know a recurring motif in the Book of Mormon, murmuring. We’re gonna see that tons.

Because they murmured against their father because he was a visionary man and had led them out of the land of Jerusalem, to leave the land of their inheritance and their gold and their silver and their precious things, to perish in the wilderness, and this they said he had done because of the foolish imaginations of his heart.

And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the oldest, did murmur against their father, and they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who created them. Neither did they believe that Jerusalem, that great city, could be destroyed according to the words of the prophets. And they were like unto the Jews who were at Jerusalem, who sought to take away the life of my father.

And it came to pass, in verse 14, that my father did speak unto them in the valley of Lemuel with power, being filled with the Spirit, until their frames did shake before him. And he did confound them, that they durst not utter against him; wherefore they did as he commanded them.

Now Lehi was able to—I don’t know that he was able to convince them but he was able to get them to do what he wanted to do. We’ll talk about this later about the difference between winning and winning over.

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature—now this is written by Nephi and as I’m going through at this time I’m picking up little bits of his personality and I just want you to think I think he was pretty proud of being large in stature because he mentions it fairly regularly, okay?

So he’s also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers. And I spake unto Sam, making known unto him the things which the Lord had manifested unto me by his Holy Spirit. And it came to pass that he believed in my words.

Reminded me of D&C 46, verse 13 and 14. To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world. To others it is given to believe on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful. This is one of the gifts of the Spirit. Some you get the visions and the speaking to by the Lord, and some of us get the gift to believe on the words of those that do it.

All right. Nephi 3. You’ll notice I know you know these stories. I’m picking up these things that I know from that I’m looking for. And once again, I’m seeing how the Lord communicates.

This picture is where they try to exchange the treasures for the plates, because now we’re talking about getting the plates of Laban. Or the brass plates.

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, returned from speaking with the Lord, to the tent of my father. Is this speaking with the Lord? And it came to pass that he spake unto me, saying: Behold I have dreamed a dream, in the which the Lord hath commanded me that thou and thy brethren shall return to Jerusalem. And now, behold thy brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment of the Lord. Therefore go, my son, and thou shalt be favored of the Lord, because thou hast not murmured.

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

And it came to pass that when my father had heard these words he was exceedingly glad, for he knew that I had been blessed of the Lord. And I, Nephi, and my brethren took our journey in the wilderness, with our tents, to go up to the land of Jerusalem.

And who couldn’t have seen this coming? And it came to pass that Laman was angry with me, and also with my father; and also was Lemuel, for he hearkened unto the words of Laman. Wherefore Laman and Lemuel did speak many hard words unto us, their younger brothers, and they did smite us even with a rod.

And it came to pass as they smote us with a rod, behold, an angel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them, saying: Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a ruler over you, and this because of your iniquities? Behold ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will deliver Laban into your hands.

And after the angel had spoken unto us, he departed. And after the angel had departed, Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur, saying: How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us?

And we know the story. They go there and Laban doesn’t take the treasure and give them the plates. He takes the treasure and chases them out and they run in fear of their lives.

And then we come to Nephi 4. And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.

Do any of us ever really know what’s going to happen? Because as I read this, I think, Nephi’s so faithful. He’s going, he doesn’t know what he’s gonna do. He’s just gonna go, and hopefully—and then I started thinking about my own life, and I think, how many times do I let myself be led by the Spirit? Because, frankly, I don’t know what’s gonna happen tomorrow.

Well, we’re gonna go through this next story, contents of the brass plates. And again, we talked about this last week, but we know the five books of Moses, the history from Adam down, and also a record of the Jews from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah; and also the prophecies of the holy prophets, from the beginning, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah; and also many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah. And it came to pass that my father, Lehi, also found upon the plates of brass a genealogy of his fathers; wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph; yea, even that Joseph who was the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt, and who was preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he might preserve his father, Jacob, and all his household from perishing with famine.

How big do you think those brass plates were? I’ll show you how big I thought they were. I’m going with a gift copy of the Book of Mormon, okay? This is how big. They were made on brass. This is why I’m grateful to Minerva Teichert. Look at the plate. This is why he needed Zoram to help carry the plates, okay? These were a big, big deal. These were heavy.

And I wanted to point out the characters here, because we’ve got—I’m assuming that’s Zoram, and that’s Nephi, dressed as Laban, and there’s Laman and Lemuel, with the camels ready for the quick getaway, okay. And we’ve got those characters, but there’s one other thing that Nephi got besides the brass plates. He got the sword of Laban.

Now, I did something just for you, so you don’t have to—I did a deep dive into the sword of Laban. You don’t want to see what comes up on my Google searches now that I’ve done that, because I googled Sword of Laban, and I came upon an LDS guy who’s also a knife and sword aficionado. And I know this because the background of the room he’s in has got nothing but knives and swords hanging on the wall. And he’s talking about this, and it’s a 35-minute video. I’m telling you, you don’t need to watch it. I’ve done it for you. And I never remember my dreams, but last night I had a dream about knives. And so I’m just saying.

And he has done the research. And he has said, I know what the Sword of Laban—oh, he didn’t say I know. He says, I’m LDS. Here’s what I think the sword of Laban looks like, and it’s not going to look like it looked in Minerva Teichert’s, you know, the kind of curved blade. He says that’s not the kind of Bronze Age—he had all this stuff, archaeological digs, he had how they made the stuff, and this sword would have been about a yard long. This is what—he’s got, oh, 41 inches, okay? This is what he thinks the sword of Laban would look like, and you know what, that’s good enough for me, because he has spent a whole lot of time looking at it.

But that’s what the sword of Laban—and I think it’s interesting that he brings back two things: the sword of Laban and the brass plates.

Proclaim peace. Patrick Mason talks about this. He says, as Nephi and his brothers return to the family camp, he is now custodian of two very different tokens of power: God’s word and Laban’s sword. The record provides no evidence that Lehi took any notice of the sword or approved of Nephi’s possession or use of it. As Nephi explores the records, though, alongside his father, the words begin to sink into his heart, and he exults in their great worth. Throughout the family’s subsequent journey in the wilderness and across the ocean to the promised land, the brass plates loom large in Nephi’s account, and he quotes liberally from their pages. They, along with his father’s and his own visions, clearly become the biggest influence in his life. Yet Nephi never divests himself of Laban’s sword. It will assume no formal role in his life until after the family ruptures in the wake of his parents’ death. Therefore, he’s keeping this exceedingly fine and most precious temptation that he can never quite bring himself to jettison.

That brings me a couple of weeks ago in our ward, we had a talk about winning versus winning over. And it was by Peter Olsengong. It was a terrific talk, and he talked about sometimes we’re looking more to win than win over. And I have seen this in 1 Nephi 4. So let’s talk about winning versus winning over Laban and Zoram. We’ve got these two guys in this chapter.

Verse 10: And it came to pass that I was constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shrunk and would that I might not slay him. And the Spirit said unto me again: Behold the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands. Yea, and I also knew that he had sought to take away mine own life; yea, and he would not hearken unto the commandments of the Lord; and he also had taken away our property.

And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me again: Slay him, for the Lord hath delivered him into thy hands; Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief.

And we all know how important those brass plates were, to have the word of God, to have the lineage of Joseph, and I think that’s really interesting too, that Lehi is a descendant of Joseph. And do you see any similarities between Joseph’s family and Lehi’s family? Just leave it to you to think about how siblings get along.

Now Zoram, just later in that same chapter. And it came to pass that when the servant of Laban beheld my brethren—okay, in the picture, they’re getting ready to leave—and was about to flee from before me and return to the city of Jerusalem. And now I, Nephi, being a man large in stature, and also having received much strength of the Lord, therefore I did seize upon the servant of Laban, and held him, that he should not flee.

Now, what do you do with Laban? If he goes and raises the alarm, you’re in trouble. You’ve already killed Laban.

And it came to pass that I spake with him, that if he would hearken unto my words, as the Lord liveth, and as I live, even so that if he would hearken unto our words, we would spare his life. And I spake unto him, even with an oath, that he need not fear; that he should be a free man like unto us if he would go down in the wilderness with us. And I also spake unto him, saying: Surely the Lord hath commanded us to do this thing; and shall we not be diligent in keeping the commandments of the Lord? Therefore, if thou wilt go down into the wilderness to my father thou shalt have place with us.

And it came to pass that Zoram did take courage at the words which I spake. Now Zoram was the name of the servant; and he promised that he would go down into the wilderness unto our father. Yea, and he also made an oath unto us that he would tarry with us from that time forth.

In my life, I wonder if too many times I’m trying to win instead of win over, and we know that with Zoram, he stayed with them, and it worked.

Just an interesting little—now, First Nephi 5. It came to pass after we had come down into the wilderness unto our father, behold, he was filled with joy, and also my mother Sariah was exceedingly glad, for she truly had mourned because of us. For she had supposed that we had perished in the wilderness; and she also had complained against my father, telling him that he was a visionary man; saying: Behold thou hast led us forth from the land of our inheritance, and my sons are no more, and we perish in the wilderness. And after this manner of language had my mother complained against my father.

And it came to pass that my father Lehi spake unto her, saying: I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision I should not have known the goodness of God, but had tarried at Jerusalem, and had perished with my brethren. But behold, I have obtained a land of promise, in the which things I do rejoice; yea, and I know that the Lord will deliver my sons out of the hands of Laban, and bring them down again unto us in the wilderness. And after this manner of language did my father, Lehi, comfort my mother, Sariah, concerning us.

I think he’s trying to win her over. And she spake, saying: Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness; yea, and I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons, and delivered them out of the hands of Laban, and given them power whereby they could accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them. And she was comforted. And everybody rejoices and gives thanks to God. So he’s winning over Sariah.

Okay, last trip to Jerusalem. I’m trying to think, I think ever, but at least in these chapters. And this is the one time that Laman and Lemuel aren’t whining. Because it says, and now I would that ye might know, that after my father, Lehi, had made an end of prophesying concerning his seed, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto him again, saying that it was not meet for him, Lehi, that he should take his family into the wilderness alone; but that his sons should take daughters to wife, that they might raise up seed unto the Lord in the land of promise.

And it came to pass that the Lord commanded him that I, Nephi, and my brethren, should again return unto the land of Jerusalem, and bring down Ishmael and his family into the wilderness. And it came to pass that the Lord did soften the heart of Ishmael, and also his household, insomuch that they took their journey with us down into the wilderness to the tent of our father.

I think this would make a great reality show. 90 Day Fiancé, Love Boat, Love Is Blind, Dating Game, Love Island. I just can’t imagine with bringing all these sisters and how it all worked out. But apparently it did.

Well, of course it didn’t last long. And because Nephi’s being grieved by the hardness of their hearts. And I did find a little book called The Lost Plates of Laman. They were made on tin, and apparently this fellow got them in. And this is Laman chapter 2 verse 24. And it came to pass that our father got wind of our murmuring. Yea, he did speak harshly unto me, and also unto my brother Lemuel. Wherefore we did suspect that our youngest brother Nephi was the one who had squealed on us. For at the first faint sound of a murmur, he would shinny off pell-mell to our father, and behold, we did decide that we would have to be more careful about where we did our murmuring.

Yes. Thank you. She said, in her mind, murmuring is rebellion, complaining, this is hard. Some people are just in that mode, the whiny mode, yeah. Thank you.

All right. They’ve forgotten again, and Nephi starts listing, how is it that ye have forgotten that ye have seen an angel of the Lord? And how is it that ye have forgotten what great things the Lord hath done for us, in delivering us out of the hands of Laban, and also that we should obtain the record? So he’s going through and listing this, and it turns out one of the daughters of Ishmael is sort of—and her mother—they’re all kind of coming in and jumping on the bandwagon with the complaining.

And then once again their hearts are softened, they’re sorrowful, and Nephi did frankly forgive them all that they had done. So it’s kind of a recurring setup here.

Well that brings us to the end of our reading for today but I wanted to say—and Nancy talked about this last week—Nephi wrote these thirty years later but he did not—I can think of only two people in the Book of Mormon who actually read the Book of Mormon, and that’s Mormon and maybe Moroni. Okay. The Book of Mormon was written for us.

And this is from Nephi saying: And now, my beloved brethren, all those who are of the house of Israel, and all ye ends of the earth, I speak unto you as the voice of one crying from the dust: Farewell until that great day shall come.

And then in First Nephi 19: Wherefore I, Nephi, did make a record upon the other plates, which gives an account, or which gives a greater account of the wars and contentions and destructions of my people. And now I, Nephi, write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are engraven upon the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them for the learning and the profit of my children.

Hear ye the words of the prophet, ye who are a remnant of the house of Israel, a branch who have been broken off; hear ye the words of the prophet, which were written unto all the house of Israel, and liken them unto yourselves, that ye may have hope as well as your brethren from whom ye have been broken off; for after this manner has the prophet written.

The Book of Mormon was written for us today.

So, what have we learned? Couple of things. Nephi wrote this book for us. The Lord can speak to us in many ways, but how do we listen? How do we hear him?

Now, I wanted to—old habits die hard. I wanted to give you an assignment and I thought that was too hard. And I said, well, let’s just call it a challenge. And I thought, an invitation. I’m going to issue an invitation.

What do you want to get out of the Book of Mormon? What is it that you want to have to learn from the Book of Mormon?

This is the Moroni 10:4 that we started with, and when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

I would hope that you would set a purposeful reading. I know what works. If you set a purpose, it says by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. And if you seek that, you can find the truth that you are seeking in the Book of Mormon.

And I say these things in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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