Science of Dating 11: Help #1: Expect Heaven's Help

So we have come to the end of the pitfalls. Ten pitfalls. I know there's more, but those are the ten I wanted to focus on. The pitfalls that we often fall into in relation to If we avoid the traps, if we could avoid, you know, navigate the land without falling into these pitfalls, it will dramatically increase your happiness and help find an eternal companion. So avoid the mistake.

But now I want to talk about what are the helps available? What help does Heavenly Father give us so that we hold on to our faith? I want to talk briefly about Peter, the night that he walked on the water. Jesus comes to them walking on the water. Peter cries out, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And Jesus lovingly says, Come. Now, how much experience has Peter had with Jesus? What has he watched him do? What experience has Peter had that has given him confidence?

He knows that is the Son of God. He knows he is a miraculous being. He has full confidence in Jesus. And so he jumps out of the boat. And that confidence allows his feet to hit that water and it's solid. All of the experience that he has had with Christ confirms to him that he can do this. And he jumps out of the boat. Now I would dare say that if you walk around and ask young Latter-day Saints, say 14-ish.

Do you believe there is an eternal companion out there for you? I think they would show that same level of confidence and say, absolutely. Everything they have learned about God and the plan of salvation and their trust in God would say, of course. I think they are confident that Heavenly Father would never send them to earth at this time without sending companions, matches, many of them.

I think there was a point in all of our lives where we were very, very confident that there, yes, there was an eternal there is an eternal companion out there. Now going back to Peter, after he lands on that water, he saw the wind boisterous. And he was afraid. And being afraid, he began to sink. And there's the enemy. Being afraid, he began to sink. Fear is the enemy of faith. What's more, fear causes us to make some really dumb decisions.

Joseph Smith, bless his heart. I'm so grateful that he left this account in the scriptures, cause he could easily have taken it out. But fear causes us to make some dumb decisions. Joseph Smith made a decision in fear. That I am sure he regretted for the rest of his life. Joseph is translating the Book of Mormon. Joseph probably doesn't have a dime to his name. He's very poor. And he is supposed to publish this Book of Mormon. It will cost$3,000 to produce 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon.

And Joseph Smith does not have three thousand dollars, but Martin Harris does. And Martin Harris is helping him. He's financially contributing. He's making it possible for Joseph to focus on the translation. And now all of a sudden Martin says, I want to take the manuscript home. I want to show it to my wife. Now tell me what every fiber of Joseph Smith's body said to him. Absolutely not. That's a dumb idea. That's no way. But Martin has the money that Joseph needs to produce the book.

And can you see his fear take over? If I lose Martin, I don't know how I'm gonna possibly publish this book. I don't have any money. And in that fear he made a decision, a foolish decision. And the Lord will later tell him. Would you turn with me to Doctrine and Covenant, section 3, verse 5? The Lord will rebuke him for his

Trusting in the arm of flesh instead of having faith. He would basically say, You should have trusted God. If Martin had gotten mad that Joseph, if Joseph had said, no, you can't take the manuscript. And Martin said, Well then I'm leaving. If Martin had gotten mad and left, the Lord would have provided someone. But Joseph made a decision in fear that he ended up regretting.

And then the Lord says, Section three, verse five, Remember also the promises. Remember the promises. Hold on to the promises. My worry is that that confident 14-year-old who said, I know there's an eternal companion out there. Might hit twenty, twenty-two, twenty-five, twenty-seven, thirty. The older he or she gets, and the more failure in dating they experience, the more relationships break and they have bad dates, the more.

It goes wrong. More they fall into pitfalls, the more they have their heart broken. And the more time passes, I worry that fear is going to replace faith. And fear is going to creep into their life. And at that point, that's when we make dumb decisions. When we're afraid. We need to remember the promises and hold on to those promises and not let fear cause us to make a dumb decision. With all my soul I testify to you that the truth is still the same. There is an eternal companion out there.

That God didn't send you to earth without many matches. Now, I also testify, I'm gonna try and say this a bunch of times today, because I know what we're gonna talk about today could be very painful to hear. A testify of a God who is beyond time. He does not operate in time. He is beyond time.

You don't run out of time with God. I think some people get to the point in dating that they're in panic mode. It hasn't happened, it's not happening, and they're in panic mode, and the panic sets in because of time. But God is outside of time. Trust him. No one runs out of time to receive a blessing they sincerely seek. Trust him, I testify. that he doesn't send his children to earth and not provide matches for them, many of them.

Now don't get panicked because it hasn't happened or it's not happening. There is time, there is plenty of time. But even if it doesn't happen in your timetable, trust that God is outside of time.

Today I want to focus on what are some of the promise. Now, next week we're going to talk about the rules of revelation. What are the rules of revelation that govern relationships? They're a little bit different. We need to understand the rules of revelation in relation to Because sometimes we get the idea that you're gonna find an eternal companion the way you found investigators in the mission field. And that is not the case. The rules of Revelation, but today I wanna talk about the promises.

I want to talk about God's priorities. And I know this is a sensitive subject because Sometimes when we get frustrated we lose faith. We lose we our fear causes us to lose faith and we don't necessarily reflect God's priorities. But I want to testify today and convince you that there is nothing more important to Heavenly Father than helping you find an eternal compassion. He is not distracted by other, quote, more important things.

It's conference time right now and I know that uh that uh there's a lot of buzz about what is the prophet gonna say and I know It's kind of, let me give you an analogy. Sometimes we think that the Lord is over here with the prophets, seers and revelators, running the church, helping them know what they need to do, helping them with their talk.

Guiding the leadership of the church to run this church. And you're over there saying, Lord, I need help with a companion. I'm looking for an eternal companion. Sometimes we have the impression that the Lord looks back at me and says, just a minute, I'm busy with the prophets. That the Lord has higher priority. Let me testify that the reality is.

I b allow I know I'm being a little facetious, but allow me. I think the reality is President Nelson is asking for help with his talk and the Lord is saying, just a minute, I need to help this person find an eternal companion. That is his highest priority. It is more important than anything else. And if you think that That he is not actively involved in helping you. May I convince you that that is a promise you need to hold on to. There is nothing more important to Heavenly Father.

than creating your eternal family. That is his highest prior. Let me see if I can convince you of Let me take you back to the beginning of all scriptures. It's interesting. When Moroni starts translating the book of the brother of the Jaredite. He points out in the very beginning of Ether chapter 1 that their scriptures began with the creation. I think that's so significant. Every set of scriptures begins with the creation.

And every time you go to the temple, you hear the story of the creation. It is the story most told. Now think about that for a minute. Why does he emphasize so much the story of creation? Every time you go to an endowment session, you hear the story of creation. Every time you open up the scriptures, they begin with the story of creation. When Ammon was teaching Limonai,

As soon as he was ready to be taught, he began with the creation. So, what in the world does the creation have to do with your eternal family? Let me point out that the story of the creation is answering a question. And let me testify that it is not how did you create the earth? Sometimes when you watch the story of the creation, we assume he's answering the question, how? How did you create the earth? That is not the question he's asking.

If he were what someday he'll answer that question. In the millennium he'll answer that question, and his answer will be very different than the story we get when he tells the story of the creation, because he's answering a different question. If you'll turn with me to Moses chapter 1, the missing first chapter of the Bible, this is the way the Bible began before the apostles. This chapter was taken out. Now the Bible begins with Moses too. The creation.

But the question he's answering when he tells the story of the creation was taken out of the Bible. So it's been restored in Moses chapter 1. Moses chapter one verse thirty. Would you read that? Let me let you ponder that for a second. What is the question he's answering in the story of the creation? Not how. He's answering the question, why? Moses says, Tell me, why are these things so? Why is there an earth? You need to hear this over and over and over again.

You need to hear God's highest priority. And you need to understand why he created this.

The story of the creation is the answer to that question. So let's take a look at the creation. He's gonna build an earth. He's gonna piece it into different pieces and talk about those different but he's answering the question, why did you make an earth? So let's take a look at this. I'm in Moses chapter two. I've broken this down into different days. And so you can kind of see each day is broken down. I'll give you the verses. Moses chapter 2. Let's start in day one.

Day one goes from the middle of verse one through verse five. That is day one. Now, let me tell you what he has to do. He has to take matter unorganized and bring it to life. This is a living planet. When he says in verse 3, let there be life, or sorry, let there be light, a synonym for life in this case is life. Let there be light. He brings a planet to life. He makes it a living thing. This earth is a living thing. He brings light to darkness. Life. To unorganized matter.

Now look at verse 4. Every single time, notice this, his assessment of his work. When he looks at the planet that they brought to life, I God saw the light and that the and that light was good. Now think about that word. It was good. When would you use the word good? What would you say was good? When you write a paper in your college classes or when you turn in an assignment and the professor says it was good, are you pleased? Do you think you got a good grade if you got if he says it was good?

Good kind of comes across as, oh, it's mediocre. It it suffices. And I don't think Heavenly Father is downplaying the creation. I don't think he's downplaying the world. But he's revealing his priority here. Good seems to me to say, okay, move on. It passes the test, okay? This is not the goal. This is just a step. It's like he's saying, check that box now, move on. It passes.

Now move on. It's not an assessment of the quality of the earth. It's a declaration of his priority. And he's getting to, he's showing you an urgency to move forward. Okay, it's good. It's good. You've created an earth, it's good, move on. Do you see? He's starting to answer that question why? Now, day two. Again, this isn't how we don't get all the details of how. This is an emphasis on what he's trying to create. So day two, he described. His purpose in watering the earth. He needs dry land.

But he needs water. He needs the whole water cycle. He needs to water the dry land. And so he separates land and water, and he gets the whole water. You see where he's going? Do you see what he's hinting at here? He's telling you why he created the earth, and I need dry land, but I need to water that land. That's day two. And when he assesses the very last, so day two goes from verse six to ten in Moses 2. And the very last word of Moses two ten.

I God called the dry land earth and gathered together the waters, kite all the sea, and I God saw that all things which I had made were good. Again the word good. It's good. It'll do. It's satisfactory. Again, he's not assessing the value of the dry land. I would use and is fantastic. He uses the word good. But he's not assessing the value of the of the creation.

He's declaring his priority. And now that I have dry land check. Okay, move on. This is an important step. Now move on. I'm getting to the important stuff. I think that's so significant. Do you see what he's answering? The question he's answering? All right, day three. Now he plants. crops, he plants food, he grows food.

Day three is verses eleven through thirteen, and he plants seeds. Now we have corn on the cob, and strawberries, and pineapple, We have fruits and vegetables and tomatoes and onions and everything that I love. He plants food. Now do you see what he's talking about? He he he wants dry land with water, and now he's pl growing food. Now, total side note, I know a lot of people who are obsessed with food. They live to eat. And God creates that food. And what does he say? End of verse twelve.

I God saw that all things which I had made were good. Again with the word good. Not fantastic, not magnificent. Corn on the cob is magnificent. Oh my goodness, every single fall when the corn on the cob comes out, that salt and pepper corn from Schmidt's, oh my goodness, it is so fantastic. And he says it's good. All the fruits and vegetables that we love. Good. I love bread. All the grains and we make bread oh and he says good. Again, he's not assessing the value of the fruits and vegetables.

С декларизм and I need food for my main purpose. I need food. All right, day four. Day four goes from Moses 2 14 through 19. This is where he puts the world into orbit. He has it circle around the sun. He there's sun, moon, and stars. Now I would suggest clearly there was a sun in day three, or there's no photosynthesis. There's no plants if there's no sun. But day four was about putting it in orbit.

So now we have winter and summer. Now we have frozen water in the mountains that will come running down and feed those crops in the He can move the water and hold it. Frozen in the mountain. I just think he needed seasons, he needed an orbit, he needed the sun to rotate or the earth to rotate around the sun. He needed the earth to spin. So he puts it in orbit. He has a moon. And again, you see his purpose here. He's getting to his his his his reason for creating the earth.

And I need f I think this is a whole commentary on, I need frozen water to stay in the mountains and then come down as the spring starts and water. He's made that possible. Do you see what he's getting at? Do you see what he's emphasizing here? He's getting to his main creation, and this isn't it. So he assesses all of the sun, moon, and stars, the orbit, everything. And he says, end of verse 18, Moses 2, 18, that it was good. I God saw that all things which I had made were good and Good.

That's a good do you realize that if the earth were tilted even half a degree more in either direction, life on this planet would not be possible. the precision involved in this earth spinning on its axis and then rotating in its ro in its orbit around the sun, the precision of that. And when the Lord does it, he says, That's good. Again, not a commentary on his creation. He's declaring his purpose. And check the box.

Now, day five, verses 20 through 25. A lot of people ended at 23. I believe wholeheartedly that 24 and 25 are continuing day five, which means he's going to say good twice. I think that's significant. But now we need companions. I'm guessing those of you listening to this, somewhere in your home or your apartment, somewhere where you live, there is a sweet little animal that brings you a great deal of comfort. They fill our lives with joy. Oh how we love animals.

They provide food, they provide labor, they provide companionship. What an important piece of the puzzle. And so the Lord provides animals. above the s the land, on the land, below the land, he fills it. Now notice he says it twice in this day. First in verse twenty one. The last part of verse twenty one, I God saw that all things which I had created We're good.

And then verse twenty five. I God made the beasts of the earth after their kind and cattle after their kind, and everything that which creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and I God saw all these things. We're good. He's made everything else. He's made companions for us. He's made food for us. He's got the water cycle going. He's got the earth capable of taking care of us. But there is no man on the earth, and right now everything is just good. D'y see his priority?

Good. He says it twice on day five. Everything's good. Now the only difference between day five and day six is his children have been sent. So the conclusion of everything else, up to the very end, he says everything's good.

Now day six, he says, Let us make man in our image, male and female. And then he says in verse 28, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. So, what has he created? If there's a male and a female and a command to multiply and replenish the earth. Clearly, they've been married. They are husband and wife, and they've been invited to bring children into their family. That's what he created. Day six was the creation of the first family.

Not just man, not just man and woman. It was the family, the command to multiply. That was part of day six. Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Have a family. He creates the first family. Now. Now what words do we use? Now that he has a family on earth, not just food, not just water, not just light and day, not just seasons, he's made the earth capable of providing for that family.

But now that the family is there, verse 31, I God saw everything that I had made, and behold, all things which I had made were very good. Now he's revealing why he created the earth. It's very good. The difference between a good earth. And now things being very good was the advent of the family. Now all of those things are good. But family. I testify that God is declaring that his greatest priority is the creation of families. There is nothing more important. Everything else is good.

Now we go to work, uh we gotta put food on the table. We've got an education. We need an education. Education will allow me to provide for my family. I need an education, I need transportation, I need a home, I need all those things. But God would say those things are good. And the creation of the family is very good. Now did he answer the question why he created the earth? Let me give you a second witness.

And Doctrine and Covenant section forty nine was given to the shakers. Lehman Copley was a shaker. He joins the church. And the Lord says, look, the Shakers believe some errors, and I need you to go correct them. So Layman Copley's going to go back and talk to the Shakers. And the Shakers don't believe in marriage. I don't believe there are any shakers left and that's that's probably why. You don't believe in marriage?

Your society's gonna fall apart. But listen to the command that all of our c or the Lord is gonna tell Laman Copley to go tell the sheikh. So he says in verse fifteen, section forty nine verse fifteen, again verily I say unto you that whoso forbiddeth to marry is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man. Now verse sixteen. Therefore, wherefore it is lawful that he should have one wife.

And they twain shall be one flesh. Now listen, all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation. So why did the Lord create the earth? So that we could create families. They are the heart and soul of our society. They are everything that is right. You want a strong community, you'll have strong families. You want healthy individuals, make sure families are strong.

The Lord created the earth so that we could create families. It is very good. Everything else has its place. Your education, your job, Your hobbies, your entertainment, all of those things are good. but the creation of a family

is very good. Now, does he ever use a more superlative word? Starting in section four. repeated in section six, and then in eleven, twelve, and fourteen. He uses the word marvelous. A marvelous work is about to come forth. Not good, not very good, but marvelous. So what is marvelous about the restoration that was coming forth? What is marvelous? What does God consider marvelous? If the creation of a family is very good, what does the Lord consider to be marvelous?

Well, let's turn to the very first section of the Doctrine and Covenants. That is not section one. Section one was given in a year and a half after the church was organized, when they're deciding whether or not they should print the revelations. And the answer was yes, and the Lord gives section one and says, put that first and make it my preface. The very first section of this restoration was given to a 17-year-old. A 17-year-old kid.

And the Lord says, turn to section two, the very first chronological section of the Doctrine and Covenants. This restoration began with this revelation. Behold, I will send you the priest. I will reveal unto you the priesthood by the hand of Elijah. He's already talking about Elijah because what will Elijah bring? He will bring the power to seal and make eternal. He will bring the power to seal families.

I will reveal unto you the priesthood by the hand of Elijah before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, who are the fathers. That's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the covenant fathers. Elijah will turn us to the covenant, and the hearts of the fathers, the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. Elijah came to seal families.

Now, verse three. If it were not so If Elijah didn't come, if we create families but don't seal them for eternity, What does verse three suggest this whole earth was? Were it not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming. I testify. The whole earth was a waste. If we don't seal families. This whole earth was a waste. It is very, very good to create a family, but it is marvelous To qualify for the blessings of eternity and seal that family. Make that family an eternal family.

If we don't do that, this whole earth was a waste. Now I know you can go to the terrestrial kingdom and you can go to the telestial kingdom and those people who go there will choose to be there and they'll be happy. But honestly, if we don't create eternal families, this whole earth was a waste. And let me tell you how I read that verse three. If my family Does not if I don't create And then live in such a way that that family is sealed for eternity. Then my whole life was a waste.

I did some good things. But I missed out on the marvelous thing. And if that's the case, my whole life wasn't waste. So my whole life. Even though I'm busy doing good things, I gotta earn a living, I've got to do all the good things to provide for my family like this earth provides for us. That's good. And I created a family. That's very good. But I now strive to make sure that family ends up worthy, sealed, living the covenants that make that family an eternal.

Now you tell me. What is Heavenly Father's highest priority? What is his highest price? Given all these scriptures, if this earth was created for families, if if the whole earth would be wasted. If we don't seal families with the power that Elijah brought, And what is God's highest priority? Now I would this is this is where we need to check here. Is it your highest priority? Do your priorities match Heavenly Father's priorities? If they do, I promise that you will see his hand help you out.

If you get distracted, if you lose your faith, if fear causes you to make some dumb decisions, and your priority doesn't match Heavenly Father's, I think that's one of the major pitfalls we can fall into. But I testify with all my soul. The Heavenly Father has no higher, greater, or more pressing priority. than helping you create and then seal an eternal family. That's why he created this earth. Heavenly Father has no greater priority. There is nothing more important to Heavenly Father.

And helping you find an eternal companion so that you can create a family. And then helping you with the covenants necessary to make that family eternal. So why is there a Book of Mormon? Why is there a general conference? Why do we go on missions? Why is there temples and chapels and institutes? Why do we have scripture? All of those things are means.

And he he yes, they do take his attention. He needs to run missions and he needs to help prophets speak to us at general conference. He needs to run this church. But all of those are means to creating eternal families. Therefore, I testify, and the hope you can hold on to, and the promise you can hold on to, is that nothing is more important to Heavenly Father.

Than helping you find your eternal companion and creating an eternal family. He will be more involved in that decision. He will be more involved in that pursuit than anything else you pursue in life. If you're trying to investigate the Church of Jesus Christ, he'll help you. But the the means, but that's a means to getting to that eternal family. Of all the things that are going to bring his help into your life the most.

There is none greater than the pursuit of an eternal family, the creation, and then the making eternal. Of the family. Of that I testify. Hold on to that promise. Expect his help. Expect. Facilitate. Ask for. Make this your highest priority. All other things are good. but the pursuit of a family, and to make that family an eternal family. is marvellous.

I just w I wish I could shout this from the rooftops. I wish heavenly angels would accompany this and just help you understand. I wish the crescendo and the music and everything, I wish I could shout it with the thunder. Heavenly Father's greatest priority is to help you establish an eternal family. He will be more involved in that pursuit than any other. You can expect his help in that more than anything else. Now that leads us to next week.

We need to talk about the rules of revelation for relationships. We'll do that the next couple of weeks. But I leave you with my solemn testimony that there is nothing more important to Heavenly Father. than to help you find and establish an eternal family. And I say that in the name of Jesus Christ.