Hey there everybody welcome out to another episode of Redeemed Through His Blood Scott Durfey here joined as always by Dave Durfey. Hi everybody good to be here talking about continuing our conversation and learning together about faith. Second episode on faith right here Dave last week's we began the discussion around faith it's important.
We talked a lot about some of the things that were discussed or are discussed in the lectures on faith and we went through some five I think it was five important steps or keys to faith that we're given to us by our prophet in April of 2021 conference talk called faith in him we'll move mountains. Yeah that's really a classic monumental talk that all of us should study it if you haven't had a chance this week to study it.
I encourage you to do it this coming week you know it's it's really he just really invites us the prophet. Yeah of God invites us to increase our faith increase he uses that word and I just I want to reiterate make this point everyone has faith. Everyone faith is the principle of all action and I just in the general Scott in the general I just want people to know that faith is the moving cause and the moving power of all things.
If you don't believe you do nothing our belief is what is what determines our actions. That's that president president English you say that all the time believe is what is the force behind our actions. Well you can take that at any level. Let's increase our faith. Second let's increase our faith in God. And third let's increase our faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement. Let's be aware more aware of what we believe in and what is the the cause of power and action in our life.
Let's just be more aware of that and then let's try to increase our faith in our Heavenly Father and our relationship with him. Which will have amazing miracles and power in our life but ultimately to receive redemption exaltation to know that we've been forgiven of our sins. We will need great faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement in that same talk that we talked about last week you know he he in essence says that. Faith in Jesus Christ Scott is the solution to all of our problems.
That is that's quite a quite a statement. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to all of our problems. I've heard other I heard Elder Rasman say that in an amazing talk he gave on overcoming suicide and all of the. You know current issues of our day that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ solution to all of our problems. And I also have to read this the Lord does not require perfect faith. For us to have access to his perfect power.
We don't have to have perfect faith and in fact we won't in this life we can't. Now God has perfect faith by the way I'm repeating reviewing here God has faith that that's the power by which he works. Mother in heaven has amazing perfect faith as the power by which she works. The faith is the power behind God it's by faith that he created the world it's by by faith that he is God. I mean I just hope that we can come to a better understanding of what faith is and then to be able to.
Obtain the faith that we need in God in Jesus Christ to work out our our redemption. So with that let's let's kind of pick up where we where we left off Scott faith is again the first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the first principle. Of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it also the first principle in the doctrine of Christ the doctrine of Christ which is so well defined and taught over and over again in the Book of Mormon.
Faith in Jesus Christ in his Atonement is where it all begins. We talked last time about desire and humility and how we kind of come to begin to obtain faith. But faith in Jesus Christ is the power behind our ability to repent to participate in redeeming ordinances to be able to receive the Holy Ghost in our life and faith is the power to endure to the end. Well faith is actually the power that will bring the joy that comes as a result of participating in those things too Dave.
Yeah it's it's all of that absolutely. Faith is the power behind it. That's right. I hope that our listeners can before they move on before we move on in our podcast to repentance and we'll spend several podcasts on that because that's kind of the essence maybe of the course is how can we repent how can I be forgiven and how can I forgive.
But before we before we do that one must understand that faith is the power behind all that and if we don't have that that level of faith to be able to repent again we will not be able to to accomplish or receive that that may be greatest miracle of all to know that we're forgiven
and know where we stand with God and last week we introduced the idea that to obtain great faith one must understand this from the lectures on faith one must understand the attributes the character and the perfections of God and of Jesus Christ.
If we're going to have faith in Christ to repent of our sins we must understand his care we must have faith in his character we must have faith in knowledge of his attributes and believe in his perfections we must have that in order to really work out our repentance.
But Scott we must also to really be able to have the the power of faith and to obtain the eye of faith where we not only believe in things that we that are true that we can see but we believe in things that are true that we can see through an eye of faith in the lectures on faith. I think it's lecture six we learned that to obtain the faith of God and to increase our faith we must come to the understanding that the course of life which we are pursuing is pleasing to God.
So this again requires some effort Scott it requires some work to know that the course of life which we are pursuing is pleasing to God. I've always loved what Elder McConkey says about faith he says faith is a gift of God. Okay you got that we talked about that last week it is a gift it's also a decision it's also a choice but it is ultimately a gift of God bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness.
It is always given when righteousness is present and the greater the measure of obedience to God's law the greater will be the endowment of faith. So again to obtain the highest levels of faith one must know that the course of life that they are pursuing decisions and choices and actions that they're taking is pleasing to God.
You know you've experienced this I've experienced this at times in my life not continually or constantly I don't think none of us do but when we know that what we are doing is pleasing to God it definitely increases our confidence to approach him to go to him. It doesn't when we sin he wants us to pray to him he wants us to approach him when we hit rock bottom that's when we should call out to God no doubt.
But when we are doing those things that we know are pleasing to him it does give us in our own heart and mind the confidence to approach him in a different sort of way and to ask for things that we might not have asked for before. And it does create certain opportunities and experiences and things happen in our life that would maybe not normally happen and some of those may be really hard things God.
Some of those may be Abrahamic sort of tests and trials that we receive as our as our faith increases. I'm telling you to increase your faith it's not for the weak or for those who are wimpy in lecture six lecture six it talks about we need the kind of faith to be able to suffer as the ancient saints suffered where they were willing to give their all even their lives if necessary.
It takes that level of sacrifice and sometimes consecration which is not always easy but this is the highest this is the highest level of faith to be able to know that what we are doing the course of life we're pursuing is pleasing to God.
When we talk about faith and I think I talked about this towards the end of the last episode you know this is where in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous for example you know one of the things that is so crippling to people I was going to say alcoholics but we don't have a corner on that but it's fear you know fear of the unknown just fear of so many things and when it and I don't remember exactly the page and I'm not going to take time to look it up is somewhere in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous about halfway through.
It talks about how fear and faith cannot be together you can't have fear and faith in the same person they just can't exist together. That work that we put in in establishing a solid second step which is a second step is knowing him right knowing the Savior knowing our Redeemer and then making a decision to turn our will in our life over to him. You know as we do that in this is this was true for me this has been true for every alcoholic that I've ever worked with it's worked the steps as well.
But as you know in the beginning in the very beginning you know sometimes we get to that point after having reached that rock bottom and rock bottoms a decision we all could make that decision regardless of our circumstances should we choose. But you know coming out of that rock bottom experience we may not have the amount of faith that will propel us into a life of happiness and joy immediately.
And so you know this is one of those things that we build as a little bit of faith is given we get his spirit as we get the spirit we get a little increase in faith when that happens we get an increase in the spirit and so on and then all those things start to lift us. And so we don't have the fears in us that we have had in the past and we're not crippled by any of that or all of that.
And it's because we are coming again to know him and making a decision and as we start to in a few weeks as we start going down the repentance process we start to make that decision to turn our will over to him and then again more faith comes. And I think there's just a beautiful phenomenon that takes place around that faith and having having the works to gain more faith to put into achieving more faith in our life.
I love that Scott and I I love the phrase which is really unique to the Book of Mormon is this idea of an eye of faith. So let's talk about an eye of faith for just a minute. I know it's referred to and there's lots of evidence is examples of it in the Bible. I in fact love maybe we should turn to Hebrews 11 Scott I love this and this is definitely an eye of faith describing Abraham describing Abraham and and Sarah's faith in Hebrews chapter 11.
Let's just turn there and read this verse one of my one of my favorites in the New Testament. At least in Paul's writings. These all died. This is Hebrews 11 13 speaking of the patriarchs the prophets the saints before Christ. These all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embrace them and confess that they were strange strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
It doesn't use the phrase eye of faith but it it definitely paints this picture that the promise the ultimate promise that they look forward to was of course Jesus Christ and his atonement and they saw it. They prophesied of it. Many of the prophets wrote of it. I'm sure that you didn't have to be a prophet to have a gift of prophecy and testimony of Jesus and to be able to see that.
I think it's also true for the second coming of Jesus Christ Scott. We're kind of in a position where we look actually backward because the atonement of Jesus Christ has been fulfilled. But we need faith also looking forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ and I I think with an eye of faith we can see it and which will help us prepare for it. I'm not I don't know exactly when it will be and and no one does not even the angels in heaven apparently. I believe that we will know.
I believe in doctrine coming to this 106 that it better not take us as a thief in the night or we're in trouble.
I believe that maybe Samuel the Lamanites that's an example or kind of a type precedence that if God would tell Samuel the Lamanite when Jesus was going to come to the people in the Book of Mormon that maybe he might tell our prophet President Church when he might be coming and the president may say what you've got to you got six months or you've got six years or whatever the case may be.
Don't wait for that. I mean we should we should act like he's coming tomorrow. We should all prepare today like he's going to come tomorrow. But I believe that our prophets will have some idea and will will help us if we'll stay close to the prophets. Nevertheless they saw the ancient saints saw him coming right. We can look backwards and we can see him in Gethsemane with an eye of faith. We can we can look upon the cross and we can see with an eye of faith.
We've talked about when he invites us to come unto him. Where does he invite us to come? I think he invites us to come back to see him in Gethsemane and on the cross and I believe he invites us to go forward and to see him coming and Adam on Diom and or to his temple or to when he appears on the Mount of Olives and and to to see that.
It's so interesting giving patriarchal blessings and and kind of getting a glimpse of these these youth and their families being prepared for the second coming of Jesus Christ and helping to prepare others for the second coming of Jesus Christ and even presenting their families to Jesus Christ when he comes again. I believe that's all going to happen Scott and and with something of an eye of faith. We can see that.
Yeah, we should look for that. We have a lot of examples of that throughout scripture. One of my favorite ones is in first Nephi chapter five where Lehi and Soraya you know Lehi had sent his sons to obtain the brass plates and in all of that. Soraya had been a little bit upset because her sons had been gone so long and and even began, you know, according to the scripture. She had supposed that we had perished in the wilderness. This is verse two of chapter five of first Nephi.
She also complained against my father telling him that he was a visionary man saying behold thou hast led us forth from our land of our inheritance and my sons are no more and we perish in the wilderness. Of course, you know, a mother, you know, and the fear around all of that I can't even imagine.
But after this manner in verse three of language, did my mother complained against my father and it came to pass that my father spake under her saying I know that I'm a visionary man for if had not been if I had not seen the things of God and a vision, I would have not known the goodness of God, but had tarried in Jerusalem and had perished with my brother and but and this is the this is the key. But behold, I have obtained a land of promise. Where were they? They weren't in the land of promise.
Oh, yeah, he could see it on this day, right? I mean, he's though he'd already obtained it. But he's not saying I'm going to obtain a land of promise. I have obtained a land of promise in which the things I do rejoice. And I know that the Lord will deliver my sons out of the hand of Laban. So he saw the land of promise and spoke as as if it were in present tense, not future tense. That's a fit level of faith, right? Right.
And he also had that faith that his sons were coming back, which of course they did. Yeah. Well, the this I of faith is a phrase, quote, I of faith, right, is three places in the Book of Mormon. It's a it's in Alma chapter five. I was almost the first to use it that amazing chapter where he's kind of asked 42 questions, right, about where you were you at spiritually. He's asking the people, the church. And so he introduces the phrase and he he asked these questions.
Do you exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? So do you exercise faith in Jesus Christ and his redemption? Do you look forward with an eye of faith and view this mortal body raised in immortality and this corruption raised in corruption to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body.
So he's he's saying or suggesting that that's something else we should look forward to and seek to see with an eye of faith is the resurrection, the judgment. I find that when I when I try to envision that, Scott, that can be a powerful motivating force in my life is to try to see ourselves in the presence of God resurrected beings being judged by him. That's that's powerful. There's a power in that.
So he uses the phrase, do you look forward with an eye of faith? Alma in Alma 32. Again, we talked a lot about that chapter last week. But in verse 40, he says, and thus if we will not nourish the word looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, you can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life. So he's suggesting that if you can't look forward with an eye of faith to the tree, if you can't see it or get a glimpse of it.
And sometimes we don't going back to Lehi's dream because of Mists of Darkness, but we need we need to see it with an eye of faith and look forward to the fruit thereof. If you don't, you're never you're never going to get to the tree to pluck of the fruit to enjoy the fruit or the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our life. And then the brother of Jared or it's actually Moroni in ether in the book of ether.
Moroni is amazing chapter, which I think is one of the great chapters of the book of Mormon and one of the greatest chapters on faith is ether chapter 12. And he writes, And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad.
I think sometimes when we get discouraged or weary and well doing and we become maybe frustrated and and the living the gospel is seems to be harder for us than maybe the effort that we're we're, you know, then then the blessings maybe or the joy that we're getting out of it.
This is why because we lack the level of faith or the gift of the eye of faith to be able to see beyond this veil of tears to the blessings and promises redemption exaltation that that God has promised us that requires an eye of faith. And when one has that that level of faith, Scott, when we have that assurance, that confidence, that trust in God, and we can see it, that we can with all of our senses, it becomes reality to us.
It's like we can smell it and taste it and we can taste the fruit before we even get there. These are the individuals who live the gospel with such great joy and happiness, even in the even in the midst of their trials and their afflictions. And that's the that's the level of faith we all need and it it relates to repentance because ultimately Scott with an eye of faith in order to be forgiven. One must see that they're forgivable and that the Lord will forgive them.
You know, we didn't talk about this last week, but Elder Bednar in that classic talk about he was in a hospital, a young man wanted a blessing, he had cancer, newly wed, he'd only been married a few weeks when he found he had cancer. And Elder Bednar was a man to give him a blessing. I think Elder Bednar knowing him as a missionary or something.
Anyway, he, he, Elder Bednar says, I never thought about this before, but before I gave him a blessing, I asked him, John, do you have the faith to not be healed? Before I give you a blessing, I need to know, do you have the faith to not be healed? So this is a really important point in our discussion and understanding of faith is faith is not getting what you want. Faith is in receiving and being willing to accept what God wants. That's faith. Faith is not getting what you want.
Faith is knowing the will of God and seeking to carry it out. I think that's so important that you, you can't, that's why last week we talked about you can't exercise faith without revelation. Well, the reason that is, is because you need to know to really have the faith of power to be able to command, as Jacob described, right, in Jacob 4-6, to be able to command the sea and the trees and all of that to happen.
Before you have the faith to move mountains, you have to know that's the will of God. You cannot do that on your own. It's a gift from Him and it has to be according to His will, not just according to your faith. It takes both of those. I'm impressed and I actually did a search, one of my favorite scripture searches, Scott, is to look up in the scriptures how many times it says, according to your faith, according to your faith.
That is, I like 20 something times in the scriptures, according to your faith. Well, that's one part of it. The second part of it, this is like a pair of scissors, it takes two, two blades here, is according to His will. It's according to your faith and second, and maybe even more important, just as critical for sure, is it must be according to His will. Well, just think about that in terms of repentance and forgiveness for a minute.
None of us who really know God, if you know His character, attributes and perfections, if you know His mercy, if you know His grace, if you know His love, there can be no doubt in your mind that He wants to forgive you. You know that's His will. So, okay, that's blade one. Blade two is, do you have the faith? Do you not just believe in Him, but do you believe Him that He will forgive?
I just think that's really critical that we think about this in terms of forgiveness and where we stand with Him and our relationship with Him. Yes, He wants to have a relationship. That's His will to have a relationship with us, to forgive us. But do we have the faith, according to our faith, are we willing to do what it takes to receive that forgiveness in our life? That takes faith. It doesn't just take faith to be forgiven.
It takes faith to act and perform according to what He has asked us to do to repent of our sins. So, another term, that term, I have faith. I love that term and I think that it can be really powerful if we try to look forward and look backward. Look backward to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, look backward to even the creation in the fall.
If we can look backward with an eye of faith and see those events, and then look forward to not just the second coming of Jesus Christ, but look forward to our own personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In fact, what's the last verse of, are you in Ether 12? I am. Look at the last verse. Read the last verse. I think this is what Moroni is inviting us to do, looking forward to Jesus. Read the last verse of chapter 12.
And now I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father and also the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. So, how does that relate to having an eye of faith? Well, I think that, you know, one of the biggest questions I think that we have when it comes to having an eye of faith is, how do I even obtain the eye of faith?
You know, all of this stuff that you're talking about is interesting and it's important and it's desirable. I think it's one of those things that we all, for the most part, have a desire to participate in. But I love that this, and I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written. Boom, that's it, right? Seek Jesus of whom the prophets have written. Absolutely. And that's how we begin to obtain this faith. How?
That the grace of God the Father and also the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. And I love that all three of them are brought into this. I love this first, yeah. Because all three of them are important in order for these effects to take place in our lives. The administration of which comes, all of this, the administration of which comes through the Holy Ghost, right? Which beareth record of them and may be and abide in you and abide in you, to live in you, to be, to just abide.
I think abide with me, to even tide. Be with me. So to have that with us. And I think one of the questions that comes up for me, and it still comes up for me, Davey, every even, this is I think the third time we've done this series on faith. And I still ask myself the question. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on my faith. I feel like it could definitely use some improvement and some growth.
And I'm definitely working on that. And then, you know, as I have this experience in my own life and then share it with others, the question often comes up, this is great, but how do I obtain it? How do I get it? And I love that you just ended. I mean, you just brought that scripture in because that's the answer to that question. Yeah. Well, and going back to our previous podcast, right? It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of effort.
It takes a lot of intentional planning and acting to study, to take action, to do all of those things. President Nelson invites us to do those five keys to increasing our faith. Yeah. It takes work and planning, Scott, to do that. It definitely takes seeking. In fact, in that talk President Nelson gave, he talked about paraphrasing, but something to the effect. You know, the Lord, the Lord, it's hard for the Lord to love a lazy learner. I said that wrong. You'll have to cut that. Yeah, I will.
The... Let me look it up. Let me look it up. I got it. Sure. I'll get it quick. So, are we on? Yeah, we're on. You know, President Nelson says in that talk that we referred to last session, lazy learners and laxed disciples will always struggle to muster even a particle of faith. Yeah. Lazy learners and laxed disciples. We can't be lazy learners and we can't be laxed disciples. It requires some effort. So, I think about that in terms of repentance and forgiveness. You know, Scott, I just...
It really requires some effort on our part. And knowing that God is more than anxious to offer us His mercy, grace and forgiveness, it requires effort on our part to come to that point where we're willing to cry out and wrestle, as we talked about last week. Right, yeah. To wrestle, do the wrestle with God as Jacob did and as Enos did, the wrestle with God in order to receive that gift that He is so willing to bestow upon us.
I love another unique phrase on faith in the Book of Mormon is the phrase that is, I think, four times in Alma chapter 34, Scott, faith on to repentance. You know, Amulek uses that phrase, the faith on to repentance. Do you have enough faith on to repentance?
Last time we talked about, you know, if we keep repenting of the same sins over and over again, I think, again, without exception, it's because we lack the sufficient faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the power behind repentance, to really feel forgiven, or even to receive the enabling power of the atonement of Jesus Christ in our life, to have the strength to be able to keep the commandments and to overcome our sins. But I really love that phrase, faith on to repentance.
Yeah. And one of the places is in Alma 3417, therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that you may begin to exercise your faith on to repentance. And then this is another answer to the question I posed a few minutes ago. So how do we obtain that faith, right? That you call upon His holy name, that He would have mercy upon you. We'll talk about that as we talk about repentance more, but you know, to have that experience, right?
Therefore, may God grant unto you, my brethren, that He may begin to exercise your faith on to repentance, that you begin to call upon His holy name, that He would have mercy upon you. And again, that calling upon His holy name, right? Well, that calling upon His holy name is, in my mind, is more than just a simple prayer. Yeah. Calling upon His holy name, Scott, is calling upon His character, His attributes, His perfection, His love, His mercy, His grace.
And I think it also means to participate in the ordinances of the Gospel. And it's through those ordinances that we get to calling upon His holy name that our faith even increases to yet a greater degree. Yes. And which leads us into another idea on faith, that there's a difference by saying, I have faith in Christ, and I have faith in the name of Christ. That's another level of faith, Scott, to say I have faith in Jesus, or to say I have faith in the name of Jesus. That's, those are related.
They're definitely related, and I don't want to complicate this. But it's a different level of faith. And I think it's really interesting, could be powerful for our listeners, to make a study of that. How many times in the Scriptures it talks about that we are saved by faith in His name. Faith in His name.
That includes, according to Elder Oaks in his book, in his holy name, where he said that when he was called as an apostle, he went to the Scriptures to find out his responsibilities, and he went to section 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 23, where it says an apostle is to be a special witness of the name of Christ in all the world. Well, he said, I think I had some idea of what it meant to be a special witness of Christ.
But what did it mean? This was his question that led to this amazing 99 page, it's very short, 99 page book that he wrote, called it in his holy name, which I really recommend to our listeners. He said, I didn't know what it meant when it said to be a special witness of the name of Christ to all the world. Well, when it understands that, they will come to a better understanding of the difference between having faith in Jesus and having faith in the name of Jesus Christ.
Faith in the name includes not just faith in Jesus as a person, as a spiritual coach, or as a role model, but to really have faith in him as a savior, redeemer, as a God, not just as an elder brother, but as a God who has power to redeem us, who has power to forgive us, to understand, to have faith in the name of Jesus Christ is to understand his identity, to understand his character, to understand his attributes and perfections.
That's all inclusive in what it means to have faith in the name of Christ, and to know that it is in his name and his name only that we can be saved. That's a different level of faith, and in essence Elder Oaks kind of says towards the end of his book, this is what separates us from other Christians. Other Christians believe that they're saved by faith in Christ, which is awesome. There's power in that. But we are saved, we believe that we are exalted.
We are exalted by faith in the name of Christ through the ordinances, through the covenants, through the powers, perfections and attributes of Christ. So that's something else to consider in your study of what faith is, is the difference between faith in Christ and faith in the name of Christ. What difference do you think it would make, Dave, if a person just has faith or faith in the name?
I know that there are some obvious answers to that, but do you mind kind of expanding based on your experience? What's the main differences there? Well, okay, so as a sealer in the Temple, Scott, I go every Thursday morning at my museum there, just a little after 5 a.m. I get dressed and we have a little prayer meeting and by 6 a.m. I'm usually involved in performing sacred ordinances in the sealing rooms of the Temple. At that early hour, there are many people who come.
It seems like on Thursday morning we have this pretty steady, consistent, staple group of three or four individuals who come. Every Thursday morning I see these people and they become friends of mine and they don't just come on Thursday morning. They come on many mornings and they're able to. Most of them are retired, a little older, and so they're able to. You know, I'm not saying this is what everyone should do, but I'm just answering your question.
And this one sister, I talked to her privately last week, not last week, but the week before. And I asked her about her feelings about the Temple and in saving her dead. Scott, this is a woman who is not just have faith in Jesus Christ, but she has faith in the name of Jesus Christ. And she knows that through these sacred ordinances that she's not only being exalted, but that she is helping others to be exalted in the name of Jesus Christ.
So, I know that's not a great answer. I'm just giving you an example of someone who, the difference between having faith in Jesus and going to church and serving and ministering. There's power in that. That's a wonderful thing. But faith in the name of Jesus Christ is, I mean, she has many of these individuals who she has worked for. She sees them. She has a relationship with them. She knows the power of these ordinances.
It's so sacred and reverent to her. And she's done thousands and thousands of names. She's such an example to me, such an inspiration to me. And there are others like her. I know there are many others like her. And I just think that faith in the name of Jesus Christ is to know him. It's to know him. It's to know him by name. To know what his name stands for. To know not only his character attributes and perfections, but to know his power.
To know his power and to participate in the power of godliness through the ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ, God. That's the difference. To really know the power in the ordinances. That can include the sacrament. I don't think you have to just go to the temple to receive these blessings. There are many people who still can't go to the temple every day or even weekly or even monthly.
But it's to know the power of those ordinances which are all done that we may receive the name of Christ and exercise faith in the name of Christ. So I hope that that's helpful. I'm not sure I can... I don't think I can do it justice. I don't think any of us can really do it justice, but I think you did a really good job of that. When I look at that question myself, what's the difference between faith and faith in his name?
There's a lot of answers to it, but maybe I can just share it instead of through a definition, maybe an experience. So when I have faith in Jesus, and alcoholics anonymous, it's part of the 12 steps. I think I've said this before. One of the things that we say is that we believe that God could and would if he were sought. Could what? Restore us to sanity is what we call it, which is to take care of all the problems that we've brought into our lives through our addictions, etc.
But if I have faith in him, well, back up. So we say in alcoholics anonymous that God could and would if he were sought. And to have faith in him, that is God could. I believe he could. But will he? That I don't necessarily have as much faith in. That's a different level. Until I, Dave, enter into the faith in his name relationship part of that relationship. That's really is where we begin to enter into the relationship. Faith in his name connotes mostly a relationship with him.
And taking upon ourselves his name. Well, that's what I mean. Yeah, that's what I mean. Taking upon ourselves because of faith in his name, we take upon ourselves his name. You know, last season, and I don't know if this season we'll get around to doing something similar. We tend to, it seems like every season. But, you know, one of the things that many of us are struggling with in the church is our families.
Some of our families are deciding not to some of our families are making other choices that we wouldn't make if we were in their shoes, potentially, that are bringing potential grief and disharmony and division, etc. You know, one of the answers to that has always been, and I think that Elder Oaks gave it to us best, is in order for us to really be at peace with what's happening with our families.
And he didn't make a promise that we could control him. He didn't make a promise that we could change him. But in order for us to be at peace with what's happening in, you know, some of our families, we must focus on our own covenant relationship, our own faith in his name.
And when I think of it that way, you know, that covenant relationship that I have with him because of the covenants I've made, because of promises I hear when I go there to the temple, because of promises I hear there, I know that by taking upon me his name through that covenant relationship, that his blessings and the effects of his atonement are made available.
And it's not because I'm doing this, but I'm learning this, that they're also available, the conditional and the unconditional effects of the atonement of Jesus Christ are also available to them, if they will also take upon them his name. But if I take upon me his name and I've entered into that covenant relationship, the worry about what's happening to those around me just kind of dissipates and there's a great deal of peace that enters in its place.
I love that, Scott. I really love that. This is part of the sacramental covenant that we make every Sunday. Exactly right. You know, I'll just quote part of the prayer on the blessing on the bread and it says, this part of the sacramental prayer and covenant that we participate in every Sunday, Scott, if we participate in the sacrament.
In the prayer on the bread, it says that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy son and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, get this, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy son. What does it mean to take upon us to be willing? We make a covenant every Sunday, Scott, that we are willing to take upon ourselves the name of thy son, of God's son. What does that mean? How does that apply to faith in the name of Christ and ultimately to repentance and forgiveness?
Well, I really think about that every Sunday when I make that covenant. Am I willing to take upon himself, to take upon myself, his name? Am I willing to participate in the ordinances of the house of the Lord? Am I willing to put all of my trust in him, not just as a historical figure, not just as a prophet or a miracle worker or an inspired teacher,
but do I really see him as my Savior, my God, and am I a disciple of his by taking upon myself his name? If you take upon yourself somebody's name, Scott, I mean that's a pretty sacred relationship, right? Well, yeah, it's not only a sacred relationship, but it's a relationship that comes with some responsibility. Yeah, there you go. There's just a responsibility that I remember one time getting in trouble when I was a kid with Craig, my cousin, and grandpa, your dad, said to both of us,
guys, derphys don't act like that. You know, there's just something about the name, responsibility, expectations. Yeah, you know, I'm going to go back to what you said, you know, as you were reading the blessing on the bread and the sacrament prayers, where it says that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy son. And then it gives some, some, some, what does that look like? And always remember him.
So how do we take his name upon us besides entering into that covenant relationship, which is cornerstone key of all of it? But once we've done that, then we're willing, then we always remember him and we keep his commandment that he's given us. Why? That we may always have his spirit to be with us. Which ministers? The Atonement of Jesus Christ into our lives. The effects of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power of Jesus Christ through his Atonement into our lives.
Right. And this part about remembering him. So I'm moving on a little bit from, from faith in the name and taking upon ourselves the name. This covenant that we make to always remember him. So I'm reading from the lectures on faith. Number, number seven. Faith is a principle of action and power in all intelligent beings and works by mental exertion. Just think about that for a minute. Faith works by mental exertion. How's that connected to remembering him always?
That requires immense mental exertion. And I have, here's another unique phrase in the Book of Mormon, which I love. It's a, let's see, one, two, three times in the Book of Mormon. I love the phrase firm mind. And I think this is directly related to our faith in our Heavenly Father and faith in Jesus Christ and in our ability to always remember him.
In, in Jacob chapter three versus one through two, Scott, you want to read that? Yeah. Jacob chapter three versus one through two. I just think this is such an important scripture to be able to really feel the love of God. Or in other, in other words, to really believe that he sacrificed his son. I mean, the ultimate sign and evidence of his love is the gift of his son. Read verses, Jacob three versus one and two.
But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart, look unto God with firmness of mind and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction. All, all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive this pleasing, the pleasing word of God and feast upon his love for ye may, if your minds are firm forever.
That amazing. Yeah. Very amazing. Firmness of mind. Yeah. And you may, you may receive the pleasing word of God to me as thy sins are forgiven me. Yeah. I love thee, my son, whatever that you can imagine those pleasing words of God may be to you personally. Yeah. But to really receive that, Scott, I must, I must act in great faith and with firm mind and a firm mind to me is to remember Jesus Christ always.
That takes such great firmness of mind. Mental exertion is required. You know, this firm, firmness of mind was a word used by Helaman to describe his stripling warriors. Right. Right. In Alma 57, he talks about firmness of mind. This is what not one of them was lost. They were all wounded. All of them were wounded, but none of them were lost because of their faith and their firm mind. I don't know. You want to read that?
All right. This is Alma 57, verses 26 and 27. And now their preservation was astonishing to our whole army. Yay, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe that there was a just God and
who so ever did not doubt that they should be preserved by his marvelous power. Now, this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken. They are young and their minds are firm and they do put their trust in God continually.
Is that not just such an amazing example of what we're talking about? Yeah. Yeah. I've preached teachers and Deacons quorum and all other organizations throughout the church could have such such power exceeding faith and firmness of mind because their minds were firm and they trusted in God.
And therefore they were preserved. I mean, just think about the rising generation. Think about our own families. Think about individual. Think about myself, yourself individually that exceeding faith is definitely related to a firm mind. A firm mind to me is it really takes great effort to be able to remember Jesus always. I think that's the firm mind he's talking about. It's the same as in we're giving we're giving this imperative in doctrine coming in section six verse 33.
Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not fear not. Remember that verse, Scott? Oh, yeah. Look unto me in every thought. Yeah. Well, that takes that takes such a firm mind. That takes such great effort. I don't even know if that's completely possible. Somebody told me, you know, they have how many different thoughts, thousands, thousands and thousands of thoughts you have every day. And we get this commandment to look unto Christ. Revelation through Joseph Smith to Oliver Cowdery.
Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not fear not. Behold the wounds which pierce my side and the and the Prince of the Nails in my hands and feet. Scott, that requires a really firm mind. Yeah. And I love that, you know, where it says look unto me in every thought. And then there's a semicolon there. Doubt not fear not. You know, I don't know if the intention was when this was written was behind this, but to me it is.
And I think it is, you know, if you want to know how to get rid of doubt and fear in your life, look unto me in every thought and that faith, right? And then and then and then that will the seed of faith will grow and it will grow and grow. And as we've talked about exactly and and it will be all things will be made perfect unto him through him. Yeah. So I used to always tell my students when we would when I would teach this lesson, God hates a hard heart, but he loves a firm mind.
Yeah. And he hates a soft. He loves a soft heart, but hates a mushy mind. God hates a soft mind, Scott. Oh, yeah. He loves soft hearts, but he hates soft minds. I how can we firm up? I used to ask my students, firm up. Everybody's so worried about firming up their bodies and lifting and firming up. Well, I just invite our listeners in connection to increasing their faith to maybe consider ponder, meditate, study, even write as the spirit comes to you.
What can I do to firm up my mind to firm up my thoughts? You know, what do I need to do to in to increase the firmness of my mind? I believe that will have a direct impact on our increasing the level of our faith and hope our hope our listeners will accept that maybe invitation.
Good invitation, important invitation. And, you know, gang, I think and I probably we should probably be making this invitation each week, too. But, you know, this Sunday as we take of the sacrament, I hope, and it's our invitation as well.
I hope that we really consider the things that we've talked about here today. Faith, faith in the name of Christ. What is all what is all of that mean? How does it apply to me? And maybe the most evasive, seemingly evasive question of all is, how do I obtain it? I think that we've kind of did a good job today in laying out the way that that can take place in each of our lives. So obviously, as we move into repentance and the process of repentance, faith is going to be absolutely imperative.
We have got to have a level of faith in order for the repentance process to begin to do what it's intended to do. And that is to clean us so that we can become closer to him and even become joint heirs with him. In fact, in fact, Scott, just one more time, I just want everyone to really take this to heart that repentance. This was in an article I read years ago.
Repentance without faith in Jesus Christ. And this is a firm faith and then maybe even a faith in the name of Christ. Repentance without faith in Christ is dead. I mean, you're just going through the motions. Here's the words. This again from Jesus, the very thought of the in an article written years ago by Todd A. Britch. He said, we discovered the fact that repentance is a dead and useless principle.
Unless it is preceded by faith in Jesus Christ. This is the key. It is the key to our spirituality. It is the key to our spiritual progression. It is the key to our redemption, our exaltation. Well, it's the key to putting on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and all of the effects that come with it. It's the power of everything we do and everything we become.
Gang, thanks so much for being with us today as we walk down this path. It's so important to each one of us. Hopefully, hope you are feeling our heavenly Father Spirit as we do. We look forward to being with you again next week. Until then, be well. Thank you.