The following transcript is intended to aid in your study. However, while we try to go through the transcript, our transcripts are primarily computer-generated and often contain errors. Please forgive the transcripts’ imperfections.

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[00:00:00] Tammy Uzelac Hall: In the September 2021 publication of the friend magazine, the song peace in Christ was included. Now, some of the lyrics are this, and I think they're beautiful. There is peace in Christ. When we learn of him, feel the love he felt for us when he bore our sins. Listen to his words, let them come alive. If we know him as he is, there is peace in Christ.

I have been singing this song all week as I've been studying and preparing for second Nephi chapters 20 through 25 because the words of Isaiah about Christ can bring us peace. In a world of division, captivity, sorrow, and destruction. And honestly, you guys, I don't know about you, but I could really use some peace right about now.

Welcome to the Sunday on Monday study group, a desert bookshelf plus original brought to you by LDS living, where we take the come follow me lesson for the week. And we really dig into the scriptures together. I'm your host, Tammy use a lack hall. Now, if you're new to our study group, Please follow the link in our description that will explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your come follow me study.

Just like my friends from Farmington, Utah, Danine Noden, Karen Walters, Helen and Myrtle. Ladies. I'm so grateful. I got to meet you. Thanks for coming to say hi. Now, here's the best thing about this podcast is we have a study group and each week we're joined by two of my friends and it's always a little bit different each week.

And today we have two originals. Oh my gosh. I even said at the very beginning, you guys have been doing this so long, I don't even know what we have to prepare for. We've got him back. Tyler Collette and Abe Mills. Hi guys.

[00:01:37] Abe Mills: Hey, hey, how you doing?

[00:01:38] Tyler Collet: Hello. Glad to be back.

[00:01:39] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, I tease Abe because he's in Florida and we're in Utah.

I'm like, Abe, you must be ready for bed right now. sleep, right?

[00:01:48] Abe Mills: We don't sleep. We don't, we don't need it.

[00:01:50] Tammy Uzelac Hall: No. Tell us what you just finished recording though. You said you just finished recording a video.

[00:01:55] Abe Mills: So we actually, we went live on YouTube with our, yeah, we have a YouTube channel called Sunshine Mafia.

And so one of the things that's happened since our last meeting is that Our third son got a mission call. He's, he's not done with high school yet. So, but he's, he'll be going on a mission right after high school. So he put in his papers and he's going to China, Hong Kong mission. It's kind of an amazing unexpected thing, but yes, very, very excited about that.

And, um, he's super excited. He does not, he has no idea. He's, you know, he's been learning and listening to stuff, but, uh, With our YouTube channel, a lot of people have questions about it. Some people were like, how's he, why is he not going to school, going, playing football first and, you know, going to do wrestling in college first and all this other stuff.

And so we had a Q and a session live so that we can kind of answer some of those questions and talk about the mission.

[00:02:55] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Fantastic, Abe. That is pretty cool. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of fun. Both of my girls are talking about my younger ones are going on missions. Well, they're talking about it and they both do speak fluent Chinese.

And so I am like, amazing. They, well, they did the Chinese immersion program here. And so, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm like, Oh, where will they go? There's so many great options. I don't know. Maybe they'll end up in Ohio, Chinese speaking. I don't know.

[00:03:18] Abe Mills: Yeah. There's an elder here in Florida that got called Mandarin speaking and he knows Mandarin from growing up.

[00:03:24] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah. Oh, my girls go to Florida. Okay.

[00:03:27] Tyler Collet: Yeah. That would be nice. I'm gonna give a shout out to Abe's YouTube channel, Sunshine Mafia. It's a great channel. It really is. It is. If you haven't seen it, look it up on YouTube, subscribe to it, because they put out great positive content.

[00:03:43] Tammy Uzelac Hall: It's so happy. Yeah, I totally agree.

Go check them out. Yeah. In fact, we'll put a link in our show notes so that people can go and click on it and just automatically see all the goodness that you and your family do. So awesome. Thank you. Okay. Well, if anybody wants to know more about my guests, do go check out our show notes, but you guys know, Tyler and Abe.

But if you don't, you're going to want to know them and you're going to have a good time today because we are going to dive into second Nephi chapters 20 through 25. So whether you're studying alone with family or friends, let's dig into these parts of Nephi and the words of Isaiah. Okay, you two, what did the Holy Ghost teach you this week as you studied second Nephi 20 through 25?

[00:04:23] Tyler Collet: You know, for me, uh, as I was going through this, a couple of things popped into my mind. The first one being in chapter 25 of 2nd Nephi. Um, I learned that I would fit in really, really well with Nephi's people. When he said, For behold, Isaiah spake many things which were hard for many of my people to understand.

I relate to that. I'm right there with you, Nephi. Dumb it down for me.

[00:04:58] Tammy Uzelac Hall: This is some heavy Isaiah. These chapters, there's a lot in here.

[00:05:04] Tyler Collet: There really are. And a lot of words that I still can't pronounce correctly.

[00:05:08] Tammy Uzelac Hall: So Oh, I'll make sure I'll have you read those verses then.

[00:05:12] Abe Mills: I appreciate it. You bet.

[00:05:14] Tyler Collet: But you know, overall, uh, I think the Holy Ghost has, uh, It really taught me to have my trust in the Lord and to be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost.

[00:05:27] Tammy Uzelac Hall: That's awesome. That's a great answer for these verses and chapters. Thanks, Ty. What about you, Abe?

[00:05:32] Abe Mills: Yeah. I think on the, on the same line, my scripture that really stuck out to me was just a couple of verses down from where Tyler was talking about, and that's in second Nephi chapter 25. Verse four, which really talks a lot about how Nephi glories in plainness.

My soul, the lightest and plainness unto my people that they may learn. And I feel like sometimes when we, when we go and we don't understand something at first, uh, we get really discouraged. Um, but I think as we, you know, seek out the spirit and we read the words of, you know, prophets, whether they be living or dead prophets.

We can learn these things as we develop our relationship with Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ through prayer, fasting, pondering. And in it, it basically says, uh, If it says here, um, for, because the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you. Nevertheless, they are plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy.

So I am not filled with the spirit of prophecy. And that was one thing that that spirit told me, but, um, but I do feel like, um, it's saying there that whatever it is that Isaiah is teaching us, it's important for us to know how to use it. Like in our daily lives, how does it function in our lives? And that's the plainness that I think Nephi is talking about.

[00:07:01] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh, I think you're absolutely right. And I also think you're selling yourself short because the fact that you're just reading scriptures, you, you have the gift of prophecy by studying him and reading him, your promise that so that you can understand what he's writing. So I I'm thankful that you shared that.

Those are great, great things that you guys learned from the Holy ghost. I'm really looking forward to our discussion then of these words of Isaiah and. You know, Tyler, that's pretty funny. I think you would get along great with those people. I think all of us, my kind of people, yeah. Every one of us are like Isaiah, but I think by the time we're done, we'll be saying Isaiah, we're going to love these.

This will be so funny.

[00:07:39] Abe Mills: Oh Isaiah. Oh Isaiah. There's some days. Yeah. I can't wait. There you

[00:07:43] Tammy Uzelac Hall: go again. So I'm really looking forward to your thoughts. So let's do this. And in the next segment, we're going to jump right in to something really cool that Nephi wants us to know.

Segment 2z

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[00:08:03] Tammy Uzelac Hall: So I sent something in the mail to the two of you, and so I'm going to let you open it now. Go ahead and open it. All right.

[00:08:12] Tyler Collet: Oh, very good. I like that.

[00:08:13] Abe Mills: What is it? Oh, it's an invitation.

[00:08:16] Tyler Collet: You are cordially invited to rejoice and delight.

[00:08:22] Abe Mills: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:08:24] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I love it. Okay. How about that? Now, here's my question before I show you what I do with scriptures.

What do you guys rejoice and delight in? I'm gonna tell you right now what it is. It's a movie with a bucket of popcorn and milk duds and a Diet Coke. I couldn't be happier. Nothing makes me happier than going to a movie. I love it so much.

[00:08:43] Abe Mills: I'm there with you. I am there with you. I love a movie. I love popcorn.

The popcorn is so delightful. I can say that.

[00:08:50] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I'll rejoice all day long for that. So that's, that's my rejoice and delight. If I'm just going to be honest, cause you can give church answers, but really what makes you rejoice and delight? I love a

[00:09:01] Abe Mills: good dance party, like spontaneous, just bust out the music, get the whole family in there.

[00:09:12] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I wish you guys could see this in a video, that was awesome. Yes. Dance party. What about you, Tyler?

[00:09:21] Tyler Collet: I have a few things. Uh, right behind my corner, autographed. baseballs. I love that. That's so fun to me. Um, but also playing games with my family. I enjoy that too. I rejoice when I win.

[00:09:37] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay. You do. I'm ruthless.

You win.

[00:09:41] Tyler Collet: I'm cutthroat. The game of life. Strato. I don't care what it is. I played a win.

[00:09:46] Abe Mills: Do you guys do a victory dance? We have a victory dance. Mm-Hmm . You have to do a victory dance if you win.

[00:09:51] Tyler Collet: You know I win so much that they get sick of it. .

[00:09:54] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Tyler, that's awesome. Game on. I'm gonna take you because here's the deal.

I was with some friends this weekend and they wanted me to play games, and I'm like, I'm not really a game player. And they asked why? And I said, 'cause I always win. And it's just not fun for anybody. And I did. Guess what? I did. We played games and I beat, I won the majority of the game. Sorry. Shout out to all my girlfriends.

Hey, we were playing Mahjong and I just kept winning. So game on Tyler, next family reunion, I'm going to, we're going to play a little game of life.

[00:10:25] Tyler Collet: Okay. Well, I look forward to it.

[00:10:27] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay. So I sent these guys an invitation and it does say you're cordially invited to rejoice and delight. And let's turn to second Nephi chapter 11 verse eight.

And we're going to connect this verse to your invitation. Here we go. Second Nephi chapter 11. I know we're not in 11, but we have to start here so we can do something. Second Nephi chapter 11 verse eight. And when we get there, Tyler, will you read that for us, please?

[00:10:54] Tyler Collet: And now I write some of the words of Isaiah.

That whoso of my people shall see these words may lift up their hearts and rejoice for all men. Now these are the words. And ye may liken them unto you and unto all men.

[00:11:07] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you. Looking at that verse, the come follow me manual, I really appreciate how they said in a sense, the invitation to read Isaiah's writings is an invitation to rejoice.

That's what that verse is teaching us there. We are going to rejoice in his words today. And so I wanted us to take a minute and we are going to do a Nephi's chain of rejoicing and delighting. I want to show you all the verses where Nephi tells us the things he rejoices and delights in. So here's our scripture chain.

We're going to start in second Nephi chapter four verses 15 through 16. Okay. Here's all the stuff that Nephi rejoices and delights in. Abe, when we get there, will you please read that for us? Second Nephi chapter four verses 15 and 16. All right.

[00:11:51] Abe Mills: And upon these, I 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.

My heart ponder at them and right at them for the learning and profit of my children. Behold, my soul delighted in the things of the Lord and my heart ponders continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.

[00:12:13] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you. Now as we're reading the things He delights in, I want you to kind of be thinking in the back of your mind if you can relate to any of these delights and rejoices 'cause I think you can.

Okay. Well, right next to that verse, let's put the next one. We're going to go to Second Nephi, chapter nine, verse 49. And Tyler, will you read verse 49 for us please?

[00:12:31] Tyler Collet: You bet. Behold, my soul abhorreth sin, and my heart delighteth in righteousness. And I will praise the Holy name of my

[00:12:40] Tammy Uzelac Hall: God. Thank you. Okay. But next to that verse, second Nephi chapter 11 verses two and then four through six.

Okay. And we have quite a few. So we'll read verse two. Abe, you hit it. And then Tyler and then me, we'll each take a turn reading verse two and then four, five and six.

[00:13:03] Abe Mills: Got it. And now I Nephi. Write more of the words of Isaiah, for my soul delighteth in his words. For I will liken his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children.

For he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him.

[00:13:18] Tyler Collet: Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ. For, for this end hath the law of Moses been given, and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world unto man are the typeifying of him.

[00:13:34] Tammy Uzelac Hall: And also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord. Which he hath made to our fathers, yea, my soul delighteth in his grace and in his justice and power and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death.

[00:13:48] Abe Mills: And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that save Christ should come, all men must perish.

[00:13:55] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay. We're going to put next to that. The next scripture in the chain is second Nephi chapter 25 verses four through five.

[00:14:04] Tyler Collet: Wherefore hearken, O my people, Which are the house of Israel and give ear unto my words, for because of the words of Isaiah are not plain unto you, nevertheless, they are plain unto all those that are filled with the spirit of prophecy.

Okay, I'm going to stop right there for just one second. That just makes me feel about two inches tall. If I can't understand the words of Isaiah, am I not filled with the spirit of prophecy?

[00:14:29] Tammy Uzelac Hall: No, you are

[00:14:35] Abe Mills: Right

[00:14:38] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Rest easy rest easy.

[00:14:39] Tyler Collet: I promise keep going but I give unto you a prophecy according to the Spirit which is in me Wherefore, I shall prophesy according to the plainness, which has been with me from the time that I came out from Jerusalem with my father. For behold, my soul, my soul, delighted in plainness unto my people that they may learn.

Yay. And my soul delighted in the words of Isaiah, for I came out of Jerusalem and my na hath beheld the things of the Jews. And I know that the Jews do understand the things of the prophets. And there is none other people that understand the things which were spoken unto the Jews like unto them, save it be that they were taught after the manner of the things of the Jews.

[00:15:18] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay. And then one more verse. Turn the page. And we're going to go to verse 13.

Abe, will you read 13 for us?

[00:15:26] Abe Mills: You bet. Behold, they will crucify him. And after he is laid in a sepulcher for the space of three days, he shall rise from the dead with healing in his wings, and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Wherefore, my soul delighted to prophesy concerning him, for I have seen his day.

And my heart does magnify his holy name.

[00:15:50] Tammy Uzelac Hall: And then one more to add to our chain. Let's go to second Nephi chapter 31 verse three, one of the last things Nephi is going to say to us. And Tyler, go ahead and read that.

[00:16:02] Tyler Collet: For my soul delighteth in plainness. For after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men.

For the Lord God give us light unto the understanding for he speaketh unto men according to their language unto their understanding.

[00:16:16] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you. Okay. Now I want us to think about everything we just read that Nephi delights in. And now what struck you and what can you connect with? Like what do you, what do you delight and rejoice in when it comes to spiritual matters?

[00:16:34] Tyler Collet: You know, I like the last verse that I just read for my soul, delighted than plainness. It's nothing fancy, it's simple, um, and that, for me, and those that are like minded, that's, that's a great deal, because, you know, the gospel isn't playing this gospel, it really is. And, uh, Yeah. That, that's what stands out to me is the plainness of it.

[00:17:00] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah. Well, and the promise in that verse that he's going to give light unto the understanding. Yeah. I think we'll experience that today. We will absolutely get the light of understanding as we study Isaiah's words because they're plain. They will become plain to us. That's the goal. What about you, Abe?

What do you rejoice or delight in?

[00:17:21] Abe Mills: I definitely delight in the plainness, but I delight in the scriptures because he said he delights in the scriptures. And I know that like when I'm reading the scriptures. On a regular basis and I'm studying the scriptures, you know, my mind is, uh, it's focused, it's focused on the things of God, which will help me in my life on a daily basis with everything that I encounter and the things that I'm going through.

Uh, it helps give perspective and it helps have the spirit of Christ in my life. Absolutely.

[00:17:55] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you.

[00:17:56] Tyler Collet: You know, Tammy, one more thing that I delight in, and that is you and your knowledge of the scriptures and the ability to, I don't want to say interpret, but more or less interpret a lot of the scriptures through other scriptures.

And you, you make such good sense, um, out of things that are somewhat difficult to understand. So I delight in that as well.

[00:18:24] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, you know what? That is very kind of you. And I look back at that verse you shared that, that light and understanding, because here's a fun story. I shared this with some friends a couple of days ago when I got hired to teach seminary.

Now, listen, I've told everybody, I didn't even know Christ came to America until I was in the MTC. So there's that. I didn't know a lot. I'm on my phone.

[00:18:45] Abe Mills: That's a good one. Gotta learn that one. For sure.

[00:18:48] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah. I read 3 Nephi 11. I told my companions, I'm like, did you guys know this happened? And they're like, are you a convert?

And I'm like, no, I'm actually not. I know what the little stream says. It says give. And I can tell you all the prophets in order, but there was no song with Jesus holding an American flag. So there you go. Um, yeah. But I was laughing because I got hired to teach seminary and I had my area director come to visit me.

And a student asked a question and I didn't know the answer and I made it up and it was totally wrong. And class got over and he came into my office to talk to me and he said to me, so tell me about that question that student asked. And I looked at him, I'm like, I didn't get it right. Did I? And he's like, no, no, you didn't.

You did not get that question right. And I'm looking at him and I'll never forget this moment of my life. He takes his fists and he pounds them on my desk and he says, Tammy, you have got to be willing to pay the price of personal scripture study. There is no other way. And I just started crying and I looked at him, I go, I just want to get married.

I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to teach seminary. I'm sobbing. And I just want to get heavenly father's like, listen, settle down, Tam. All right. You're not getting married for quite a while, so you might as well pay the price. And I've just never forgotten that, but there is so much truth because it was like I said, the scriptures were crazy.

Jesus came to America and now here I am reading Isaiah and it's the point where I can read some of these Isaiah verses and go, I know exactly what that means. That is the light of understanding and it becomes plain the more you read and the more you study. And so I think today is going to be such a fun discussion.

As we dive into these chapters, you will retain it and remember it so that when you're reading it again or teaching it. You'll be able to then go, Oh, I know what this means. And it's just going to be, in fact, here's, what's cool about the word plane is when I tell you what it means, you will immediately go, Oh, that makes sense.

Therefore, that is the plainness that it just, you were like, Oh, okay. So we're going to have a lot of fun with this and we are going to just now in the next segment, we're going to really dive into these chapters of second Nephi 20 through 25 with the goal of delighting and rejoicing in the words of Isaiah and also ultimately finding peace in Christ through these chapters because hopefully by the end.

We are all going to be so excited to RSVP to this invitation that Nephi gave us to delight in the things of the Lord. So we're going to look at some of these words and we're going to study them and we'll do that next.

Segment 3

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[00:21:27] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Here's my question for you too. If I were to show, okay, this is actually, this is a genuine question because this happens a lot in my family. I don't know. Do you guys have teenagers that like to watch Instagram videos and Tik TOKs and YouTube videos? Yes. And you have to really Uh, kind of. Yeah. You kind of have to rein it in, right?

Or control it? Definitely. Okay. So if I were to show you a stream of videos from any one of those platforms that were solely about the word contention. What do you imagine the videos would include? What do you mean it comes to mind or plays out?

[00:22:04] Tyler Collet: Fighting, uh, People yelling, people, People pushing, wars,

[00:22:11] Abe Mills: People talking negative things that shouldn't be said about other people.

Disagreeing, disagreements, pitting ideas against each other and talking over one another.

[00:22:26] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah. Is contention a problem? Oh yeah.

[00:22:31] Abe Mills: For sure.

[00:22:33] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Tyler, do you face it in your job? Oh, every day. Tell me about it. Give me a story.

[00:22:40] Tyler Collet: You know, when you experience a lot of those, they all, they all sit in there, but when you try to pull one out,

[00:22:49] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Are they all kind of the same story?

It's okay.

[00:22:51] Tyler Collet: They're all kind of, they're all kind of the same story, but yeah, it, it, uh, is very unfortunate really, um, and it usually has to do with two parties and then we get introduced as a third party. And, you know, it's funny because, uh, our job as law enforcement is basically to confront people. Right?

Oh, yeah. Confront them. And a lot of confrontation leads to contention.

[00:23:23] Abe Mills: Okay. Mm hmm. Talk to me about that.

[00:23:25] Tyler Collet: And, uh, it, it, it's strange because, you know, if, if we get, if we get dispatched to something or, or we are at a home for, uh, you know, for whatever reason, we're there because there was some sort of contention that happened there and it may have escalated, uh, or maybe we were called before it escalates, but I'll, I wouldn't say all the time.

But a lot of the time when we get there, it escalates a little bit more, but I am going to brag, um, we've got some great people for our agency that know how to talk to people, know how to listen to people. And they're able to take a lot of that contention, a lot of that anger and bring it down to where it's manageable.

It's where we can work with those people.

[00:24:19] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay. Cause I was just going to ask, how do you deescalate a contentious situation? And you're saying by listening,

[00:24:26] Tyler Collet: yeah, listening and talking to them.

[00:24:29] Abe Mills: Well, and I think, you know, what you're saying is that, you know, I think what you're saying is applicable to all situations.

And you see so many times, even online, people just, they just, it's like becomes this thing where it just builds up and people, you know, you get one person says something and then the other person's got to tell that person and then the next thing you know, it just keeps building up until people are so angry and you know, you can't say a word without somebody just freaking out about this word that you said or this, you know, having a view, whether it's politically or whether it's, you know, otherwise, you know, you say something.

And it's like, there's guests, this person already is so hyped up about it and you can't, you know, you got to figure out how do you like, how do you take that and go, okay, how do we like, you know, I am a person and we're just, we're just talking.

[00:25:22] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well you're a social media family. Have people come after you?

Have you had to deal with this

[00:25:26] Abe Mills: All the time, man, all the time we get all kinds of comments. Well, so most recently we've had people, like I said, they, they, they're saying the stupid that Jordan's going on a mission because. He should be playing football and then he can go on a mission later. Um, just this last weekend, it's always this interesting thing where we're kind of like, okay, something happened.

It was to us and it was unfair. And it wasn't nice. And so how do we bring that up in our social media without being hateful, but at the same time, bringing it up. And so, cause things like that happen all the time. And we have people that say, you know, negative things, call names and all other things as well.

We just got to get rid of most of that stuff. Um, instead of just responding to it every once in a while, we respond to things. A guy today, you know, Jordan is ranked number one in the state in Florida and, um, he's beaten all of the guys that in, in every division in Florida, that would be, you know, of note.

And this guy said, we had a video and a guy says, ah, being number one in Florida is like being the nicest looking girl in Alaska. And I'm like, wait, what does that mean? First of all, like, why would you say something like that? So I had to like. You know, I had to comment, I couldn't just leave it there because it's like, Hey buddy, you know?

Yeah. And so I just told him, I was like, Hey, you can only wrestle the people that are put in front of you. And Jordan has wrestled people from multiple States and has beat, you know, I basically, you know, gave him a list of division one schools that they're committed to that are good schools and he's beaten all these guys.

And so I said, we'll continue to wrestle the best competition that we can find. And we'll do it unapologetically. And lucky enough, he wrote back and said, Hey man, I'm sorry. I was trolling you, you know, like everything's cool, but it's just like, you know, sometimes you go, how do you juggle that where you want to stand up for what's right, but at the same time, you don't want to cause.

A contention that's going to continue and sometimes you can't help but have contention when you confront someone because most people we live in a day and age where if you say something to someone, they feel like they should be able to say and treat people however they want to without any consequences.

Yeah. Yeah. So unfortunately that's what we're seeing, you know, a lot.

[00:27:48] Tyler Collet: So, you know, Abe, I like what you said when you do have those trolls coming at you or your family through the YouTube channel or other means, but how you said, just get rid of it. Don't respond. And to me that exemplifies the savior on turning the other cheek.

Um, they're just words, you know, and I've come to understand that my career as well because people don't like law enforcement. And they let you know, and there's not anything you can do about it because if you do try to stand up for yourself and so now wait a minute, it doesn't matter because there's somebody with a video recorder that has edited it to make it look like, you know, it's more aggressive than, than what the whole situation even was.

So I, I've learned that, that they're just words. You know, the old adage sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Yeah. Right. It's, but I loved it. I loved that, uh, connection that I got on. Get rid of it. Don't even respond to it. Well,

[00:28:54] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I'm glad you, I'm glad you brought it back full circle to Christ, Tyler, I, because that's the whole point of these, some of these chapters, because they're Lehi's children.

Really? We know had a problem with contention and the problem got worse in future generations leading to division, captivity, sorrow, and complete destruction. So I asked you to, to read over. Second, Nephi chapters 21 through 22 looking just for any words that can bring us peace or reinforce the love that Christ has for us or anything that would help with contentious situations.

I'm just curious. What did you guys find?

[00:29:31] Abe Mills: Uh, so I have, I have a couple, uh, a couple of verses here because I feel like I'll read the verses chapter 22 and verse one and two, and it says, and in that day, Thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me.

Comforted is me. That's interesting how they wrote it is. Uh, but, but the set, the second verse goes on to say, behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation.

[00:30:09] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yes. Yes.

[00:30:12] Abe Mills: So I just feel like, you know, sometimes when you have those kinds of confrontations and you have those opportunities where things could escalate, I feel like Having this being grounded in the purpose of life and also what the purpose is in that instance can help us to stay away from, um, and be more like Christ in those situations.

And, you know, sometimes it's, it seems really easy to go, you know, like, I'm so angry about this, but when we think about the way Christ thought he saw all of these centers. And he saw them as people and he saw their souls. He saw them as children of God. And so if we're able to, to, to take that and do that in our lives, I feel like we'll treat people differently and we'll be able to look at them and the things that they're saying from a different perspective.

[00:31:09] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Beautiful Abe. Wow. I really appreciate that you shared those two verses. What a great example of peace in Christ. Thank you. What about you, Tyler?

[00:31:19] Tyler Collet: You know, as I was going over these, I also thought about, Hmm, you know, how, how do I, how do I reinforce the love that Christ has for us? And the, the, uh, general conference talk, uh, entitled overcome the world and find rest from President Nelson in October of 22.

It was screaming in my head, particularly the part where he says, my dear brothers and sisters, so many wonderful things are ahead. In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior's power that the world has ever seen. Amen. Amen. Ever

seen. Yeah. Ever seen. We're talking Moses. We're talking Nephi. We're talking Lehi. We're talking all of the prophets before Joseph Smith. But yet. The world has ever seen is yet to come. Wow. Between now and the time he returns with power and great glory, he will bestow countless privileges, blessings, and miracles upon the faithful. And that right there, honestly, it is just a perfect example of Christ's love for us.

[00:32:39] Abe Mills: Well, and it gets, and I, and I feel like what you're saying is like, it gives us perspective, right? Cause it's like, It's easy to go to look at what's happening, like, you know, you see the rivers drying up and people are like, what the heck is going on? And people start getting scared of stuff. They're talking about it.

Like, right, this is a conspiracy theory. This happened that happened. But like, the more that we know more, the more that we, that we study and understand what God is doing, the less fear that we have. Right. The more we understand it and the reason and the purposes behind what God is doing. We have no fear because we understand it and we know that we're doing, we're like, okay, we're part of that plan.

We're in there, you know? And yeah, so it's cool to be able to, to, like you said, to, to look at prophecies and to know that, Hey, that's something that I know about through Isaiah. Yes.

[00:33:27] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yes. And oh my gosh, all of this is so perfect because as we rejoice and delight in these words, as we remove contention, I really like in chapter 22 verse three, cause I just noticed this as you were talking, it says, therefore with joy.

Shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation? And I'm just imagining this bucket of joy and it's probably the biggest bucket you can carry and you can just go and dip into this well of salvation. And that to me, because I'm thinking a bucket with a bucket of anger has holes in it. A bucket of contention doesn't carry very much.

And so you, you can't take a bucket of contention to dip in the wells of salvation. You'll get nothing. And so by rejoicing and delighting and having joy. In all of the signs of what both of you talked about in the fact that Jesus is coming and that we can have peace in Christ and it will overcome all, all the contention, all the yuck.

That's the message of these chapters of Isaiah. That's what we're talking about is the, the days leading up to the savior coming and then when he's here and the millennium. And so we're going to have some real fun now as we get into some of these Isaiah chapters. And in fact, We will need to study a very specific topic that you guys for more than 36 years, it has captured the attention of our prophet.

So we're going to tell you what that topic is in the next segment.

Segment 4

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[00:34:56] Tammy Uzelac Hall: So here you go, you guys, any guesses what the topic is that has captured our prophets attention for 36 years, the second coming. Ooh. Yes. Kind of. Close. I love the guess. Any guesses, Tyler?

[00:35:14] Tyler Collet: Uh, repentance.

[00:35:15] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Ooh. I like that too. Solid. Yes. Solid. Absolutely. Let's read this quote. Here we go. This is from October, 2020 general conference, and you need to read the footnote to this part of the conference address because it's so great.

So Okay, Abe, will you read this quote from President Nelson?

[00:35:34] Abe Mills: You bet. For the more than 36 years I've been an apostle, the doctrine of the gathering of Israel has captured my attention. Footnote, I have spoken of Israel in at least 378 of the more than 800 messages I have delivered during my 36 years as an apostle.

[00:35:52] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Can we just stop there for a minute? Can you believe that? That is a lot of talks about the gathering of Israel and that's in the footnote. That is so cool. Okay. Keep going.

[00:36:02] Abe Mills: Everything about it has intrigued me, including the ministries and names of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their lives and their wives. The covenant God has made with them and extended through their lineage.

The dispersion of the 12 tribes and the numerous prophecies about the gathering in our day. I have studied the gathering, prayed about it, feasted upon every related scripture, and asked the Lord to increase my understanding. That's President Nelson.

[00:36:30] Tammy Uzelac Hall: There it is. So it's the gathering of Israel and it's here in these chapters.

So of course we're going to talk about it. So let's do this. Go into your scriptures, grab a scripture marker, something to mark your scriptures with and we're just going to hit it. And I want you guys to write as many notes as you can and ask as many questions as you can think of. So in second Nephi chapter 20 verse 20 and I want you guys in your scriptures to bracket off versus 20 all the way through 27.

Here's what you want to know about these verses. There are three major players featured in all of these verses. And to the outside of my scriptures, I wrote them down. Number one, the first major player is the God of Israel. The second major player is the remnant of Israel. And the third is the enemy of Israel.

So let's just look at verse 20 and it shall come to pass in that day. So whenever you see in that day, it's talking about today, our day in that day that the remnant of Israel. Okay. That's us. And such as are escaped of the house of Jacob shall no more. Again, stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy one of Israel in truth.

So that verse is specifically talking about those who will escape God's wrath due to their righteousness because they've stayed upon the Lord, the Holy one of Israel in truth. Now, all of the events in these verses that you just bracket it off. They took place when the Assyrian empire was destroyed through God's divine acts and a remnant of the house of Israel returned to the land of promise.

Now there are clues that these events will occur once more during our day. So this is talking about old time Isaiah. But the wording there is applying to us. The remnant of Israel will be those members of the house of Israel who survived latter day wars, destructions caused by modern day Assyria. That has become the code name for world power.

When you see Assyria in here, code name for world power. When you read Isaiah. Now the remnant of Israel will return to their lands of promise. They will rebuild their temples and renew their covenant status with God. God will in turn fight their battles against Assyria with similar powers that displayed when he overcame Egypt in Moses' Day.

And I like how you brought up Egypt, Tyler. Like of all the things we've seen, it's gonna be even more amazing in our day. Right. That is awesome because right here we're seeing what it was like for them. We're gonna replay this, but it's gonna even be bigger and more amazing. That's so cool. You said that.

Okay, so let's read a little bit more about this. Turn the page into second Nephi chapter 21, and we're going to look. At versus 11 and 12. Now here is something really cool. You guys, when Moroni came to visit Joseph Smith during the whole first vision era, back in the Joseph Smith history, remember Moroni came to visit him in the night three times and every time he came, he repeated the exact same thing and he quoted scripture.

Well guess what he did. He quoted Isaiah chapter 11. Which is second Nephi chapter 21. Of all the scriptures he could quote, Moroni is like, let me quote to you Isaiah chapter 11. And then he said, he said, Joseph said, quote, Moroni quoted the 11th chapter of Isaiah saying that it was about to be fulfilled.

Not yet, but about. So what in the world could these verses be about? It's about our day and it's about the millennial reign. So we're going to go into chapter 21 verse 11. If you want to bracket off versus five through 10 and just put millennium, do that because that's what those verses are about. Five through 10 is all the millennium.

And I really like the wording here. This is where the wolf will dwell with the lamb. The leopard will lay down with the kid. And I took two colors. I took one color to be the wild carnivorous animals and they took another color to be the tame animal because you notice the two that juxtapose each other.

You have the wolf, the leopard, the lion, the bear, but you also have the lamb, the kid, the calf and the cow. All of those will lie together when the savior comes again and we're in the millennium. So that's describing the day and what it will be like. But then we come to verses 11 and 12, which are so cool.

Okay, here we go. Verse 11 and it shall come to pass in that day. What do we know in that day means today and today there it is. See, it's so plain to you guys. Now, you know it, this is awesome. Okay. In that day, you know it that the Lord shall set his hand again. The second time. Now wait. When was the first time Tyler already told us about that?

The first time was Moses when he set his hand upon the people as they were leaving Egypt, the children of Israel. So we know he's capable of saving a group of people. We know he's capable of saving a nation. So he's done it one time. So He'll do it a second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria and from Egypt and from pathos and from Cush and from Elam and from Shinar and from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.

Now, all of those things we just read, I've bracketed off where it says Assyria to the end. It just means. everywhere, the entire world. That's what all of those places mean. You don't have to know them specifically.

[00:41:42] Tyler Collet: I'm so glad you read that. Not me. We would still be on that verse.

[00:41:50] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay. So right here, I think this is so cool because something you want to know about this is it says that in that day, the Lord shall set his hand again a second time to recover the remnant, but in Hebrew it's not recover, it's acquire.

He will acquire the remnant of his people. And how does the Lord acquire us through covenants? We become his, he, we are sold. That's what that word peculiar means. It doesn't mean weird or wackadoo. Um, at the time of the Exodus, when Moses is with the children of Israel, he wanted to make them a peculiar people in the book of Exodus.

It means owned. It means becoming one with the savior through covenant. So he's going to acquire his people through their covenants. And then we have in verse 12 and he shall set up an enzyme or an enzyme, however you want to say it. Tomato, tomato. I don't really know. Some people have opinions on that, but that word right there is important.

Not because it was the name of the magazine for our church for all those years, because this is so cool. Highlight Enzyme or Enzyme. In Hebrew, what this is, it's a flag or a banner. It's a big gigantic flag or banner that tribes and families had individual banners and they would wave them in the air for all of their family members and everyone in their tribe to see as a symbol to assemble and get ready to give notice to everybody.

Everybody come in, bring it in. Kind of like in sports, right? All right, bring it in team. Bring it in. That's what this ends and is going to do. So he shall set up an ends and a signal for everybody to bring it in for the nations and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Now highlight outcasts of Israel. So the outcasts of Judah in Israel, they will see the ends in. They will see this flag waving. Now one thing you can put next to ends and as the flag, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. So they're going to see the gospel of Jesus Christ waving and, and your chip, both of you have kids that have served missions or on missions that are waving their flag.

Oh, are they waving that flag? And they're doing their best to wave that flag too. All of the outcasts of Israel, because what the outcasts of Israel are is they will recognize the divine signal from God. They're going to gather to Zion. Then the gathering is centered on temples and temple work. And Joseph Smith said this in history of the church.

We have that in our show notes. If you want to read that the outcasts of Israel are just People who haven't learned and they're going to come in and they're going to do and partake of temple work.

[00:44:24] Tyler Collet: And I would even think that that would, uh, include those on the other side of the veil. Uh, and that's why the temple work is so important.

[00:44:32] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Right. Oh, Tyler. I really like how you just included that. You're absolutely right. I felt the spirit when you said that it's exactly what it is. Outcasts on both sides of the veil.

[00:44:43] Abe Mills: Yeah. And it's amazing how the church, the church has, uh, well, we continue to shift towards. More temple work and more people being involved in temple work at a younger age and being more involved at a younger age.

And, you know, you get kids that go there. I had a girl that came in the other day and she wanted to go, but she was a little afraid of the water. Well, she can now be a witness and she can also do other things there. So I thought, you know, that's amazing. It is amazing.

[00:45:15] Tyler Collet: Uh, our state presidency, and I, and I don't know if this is, uh.

Area wide, or if it's church wide or not, uh, but our stake presidency has come out and they are highly encouraging to what Abe was saying, uh, the younger and younger focus to do temple work. They are highly encouraging the return missionaries to become ordinance workers in the temples. Yes. And, and that's, I mean, when I go to the temple.

I see my mom there. I see grandma's there and grandpa's there, you know, you don't think of an ordinance worker as a 20 year old, 21 year old. Uh, so that's really cool

[00:45:58] Abe Mills: in our area. They've even talked about, um, like my son's going on a mission. They're like, Hey, let's get him. To the temple and let's get him being an ordinance worker before he goes.

Wow. And that's something that I, you know, that's something that's a new idea.

[00:46:13] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Anna did that my oldest, she worked in the temple before she went on her mission.

[00:46:17] Abe Mills: So lots of, lots of amazing opportunities. Oh, so you can see that

[00:46:21] Tammy Uzelac Hall: happening. Absolutely. You can. Okay. Well then let's connect it to verse 16 because talking about temple work and covenants, it says verse 16 and there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people.

The word highway there. Is covenant path. And when you think of a highway though, think about this for a second. When you think of a highway, what are you imagining? Slow moving cars or Fast.

[00:46:45] Abe Mills: Fast.

[00:46:46] Tyler Collet: See, and I picture both. Not cool. I picture both.

[00:46:49] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah. Talk to me about that and, and covenant path. This is cool.

[00:46:53] Abe Mills: Well, yeah,

[00:46:55] Tyler Collet: I picture, uh, I picture LA traffic. Los Angeles traffic. And sometimes it takes a while to understand a gospel principle or a concept or, or to receive an answer to a prayer. And then there's other times where there's nobody in front of you and you open it up. And sometimes you can just get to where you're going much quicker.

And, uh, for some people. You know, some people take that route, other people are stuck in traffic and you know what? That's okay. Just as long as you're not looking in the rear view mirror in either slow mo or pedal to the metal.

[00:47:38] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, because at the end of the day, you're on the highway. That's all that matters.

[00:47:41] Tyler Collet: At the day, you're on the highway and you're always moving forward.

[00:47:44] Abe Mills: But listen, don't speed or else Tyler will get you don't speed. To go along with that, uh, when I see a highway, you know, I think of a wide road, you know, like very wide. And with what you were saying, like you do see people, they drive at different speeds and things like that, but man, I've seen some, some amazing things this past year from people who just joined the church.

Actually, we have a member of our ward who is, uh, he's a, he's Jewish and he joined the church and he go, he understands this so well because of his understanding of the Torah and the things that he knew from being Jewish that he is at the temple twice a week. He does not miss and he does hundreds of baptisms and confirmations every, every time he's there.

[00:48:39] Tyler Collet: I bet he's grateful to have a temple.

[00:48:41] Abe Mills: Yeah, he's, it's, for him, it's, it's amazing to see the fire, how much fire he's on. So when you said highway. I picture him on that highway, man, out there just doing it. So that's so cool.

[00:48:53] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay. This is so great. Let's just finish 16 and then we have a great quote. So here we are and there shall be a highway.

I mean, how brilliant to use that word for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel. In the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt, we have this really great right here. Like he's done it before. He can do it again. I've already redeemed a group of people.

I've already helped them get out of what made life so hard. I can do this. This is easy for him. That's what he's saying. I got this. I'm going to get you from a to B and the end. We've talked about this before. You were in Egypt and you couldn't stay there. You want to get to the promised land. You're going to have to go through the wilderness.

So jump on that covenant path and let's just ride it out together and end up at the same place. And so that is what the gathering is about. And a different, I love that idea. Different speeds. Everybody's doing it at different speeds. But like you said in your quote, Tyler, we're going faster and faster than we've ever gone.

Because this is the winding up scenes for the second coming. It is the gathering of Israel. Here's what the prophet had to say on June 3rd of 2018 about the gathering. And Tyler, will you read this for us?

[00:50:00] Tyler Collet: Sure. The Lord is hastening his work to gather Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today.

Nothing else compares in magnitude. Nothing else compares in importance. Nothing else compares in majesty.

[00:50:17] Tammy Uzelac Hall: There it is. Okay. So in order for the gathering to be successful and be important and all of this, he said, there's actually a place that we absolutely must avoid. And we're going to discuss that place next.

Segment 5

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[00:50:41] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Second Nephi chapter 23, you guys look at the section heading because there is a place. In the section heading that we need to avoid. This word is going to come up a lot in the next couple of chapters and we're going to mark that word. But what is the place?

[00:50:55] Abe Mills: Ooh. Babylon.

[00:50:55] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Ooh. There it is. Babylon. Let's mark that.

I'm going to give you the verses that it's in. Put a square around Babylon. And if you have a color that is like a bat, like for whatever reason, light blue is a bad color for me. So everything bad in scripture is in light blue. So pick your color, put a square around Babylon. You're going to find that in verse one of chapter 23.

Then it shows up again in verse 19, chapter 24, verse four, you're going to find Babylon and then you're going to find it again in verse 22 of chapter 24. So go to verse 22 and then you're going to find it in chapter 25, verse 10, chapter 25, verse 15. Okay. Here is what this means. So the kingdom of Babylon, it was a very mighty political and military threat to ancient Israel.

So you'll appreciate that Tyler, a military threat to ancient Israel, but to Nephi's people and to us today, the bigger threat is what Babylon represents, which is worldliness and sin. So now go back to what that says. Babylon will fall forever, meaning worldliness and sins will fall forever, gone. Amen.

Isn't that awesome?

[00:52:08] Tyler Collet: That's awesome. Yes.

[00:52:09] Tammy Uzelac Hall: So let's go into a couple of things about this Babylon and we're going to talk about it and we're going to look at chapter 23 and 24. Here we go. Oh, this is so cool. Yes. I do love these. I love Isaiah so much. Second Nephi chapter 23 bracket off versus one through five.

Okay. Verses one through five. This is interesting. So according to Don Perry, and you can read these verses cause it's true. I wrote this in my scriptures. It says, beginning with Joseph Smith and continuing through the administration of all the latter day prophets. The Lord has been preparing his saints to become Zion people, a righteous army to battle against modern day Babylon and its evil forces.

So let's just go into a couple of these verses. Second Nephi chapter 23. Let's look at verse two, lift up a banner upon the high mountain. You guys know what that banner is, right? What did you immediately imagine when you hear lift up that banner?

[00:53:07] Abe Mills: Flag. Yes.

[00:53:08] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yes. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ upon the high mountain exalt the voice unto them that shake the hand.

This is cool. Underline shake the hand. It actually is in Hebrew wave the hand, meaning beckoning others to join us. Come on, come. You're going to love this. So we're missionaries are shaking their hands day and night that they may go into the gates of the nobles. Gates of the nobles can be translated as the gates of Zion.

And then he says, I have commanded my sanctified ones, underlined sanctified ones. We become sanctified through covenants and through temple being temple worthy and temple attending people. That's how we become sanctified. So right there, I have commanded my temple attending and temple worthy people. I have also called my mighty ones.

This is cool. It could also be translated as my warriors. I have commanded and called my warriors for mine. Anger is not upon them that rejoice in my highness. Now just mark that for a second. What does that look like in real time? What do you imagine? Who do you know that can rejoice in someone in the Lord's highness?

[00:54:16] Tyler Collet: The apostles and prophets. That's what pops into my mind.

[00:54:20] Abe Mills: Those who are righteous or at least striving to be righteous.

[00:54:25] Tyler Collet: Yeah. I like that.

[00:54:26] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I do too. Okay. So go back into these verses then because here we have the righteous who are being prepared. Here are the ones who are going to be able to overcome the powers of Satan.

But meanwhile, Babylon hasn't fallen yet. And so chapter 23 is going to give us several warnings for those who not only follow after Babylon, but they also trust in Babylon's wealth and power. It's, it's false and you just can't trust in this. So here's a warning. Let's start with verse six, how will he, okay, this is cool.

The connection to the word how a right here is dogs or wolves who howl in distress. You know what that sounds like, right? Now you can imagine a dog howling and wolves. They howl and something's wrong, right? So right there. How he. For the day of the Lord is at hand. Oh, who is going to howl?

[00:55:18] Abe Mills: The people are scared.

[00:55:22] Tammy Uzelac Hall: You're absolutely right. The people who are scared, the people who are wicked, how ye for the day of the Lord is at hand. It shall come as destruction from the almighty. Therefore shall the hands be faint. Every man's heart shall melt verse eight and they shall be afraid pangs and sorrows. Pain is like a sudden sharp pain, but sorrow usually is a long emotional feeling.

So you have, you have pangs and sorrow shall take hold of them. They shall be amazed at one another and their faces shall be as flames. Abe, that's what you were talking about. That, that faces as flames refers to the shame of sin, the shame that we get when we are, when we commit sin or we know we're doing something wrong.

Now, that's not to say that you should feel shame because there's guilt and shame. This is for people who just, the way it's talked, like you, you hide your face because according to scripture, you catch, like we read that the wicked will catch on fire. That's another allusion to this, that their face shall be red as fire because they just refuse to repent.

They know what they've done is wrong and they don't care. So that's what we're talking about right there. Then we have verse 11 and I will punish the world for evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease and will lay down the haughtiness of the terrible.

Okay. You can kind of get an idea of the warnings that the Lord has for everybody who wants to live in Babylon, who wants to trust in Babylon. And I go back to this verse in seven where it says, All the hands shall faint and every man's heart shall melt because there is such a great quote from Elder Bednar and he's quoting Elder Holland.

And this is in his 2020 conference talk called We Will Prove Them Herewith. We're going to go ahead and play that soundbite so you can hear this part of his talk from his general conference address. And then I'd love to know Abe and Tyler, what your thoughts are.

[00:57:14] Elder David A. Bednar: Well, I was serving as the president of Brigham Young University, Idaho, elder Jeffrey R.

Holland came to the campus in December of 1998. To speak in one of our weekly devotionals, Susan and I invited a group of students to meet and visit with Elder Holland before he delivered his message. As our time together was drawing to a close,

I asked Elder Holland, if you could teach these students just one thing, what would it be? He answered, quote, We are witnessing an ever greater movement toward polarity. The middle ground options will be removed from us as Latter day saints. The middle of the road will be withdrawn. If you are treading water in the current of a river, you will go somewhere. You simply will go wherever the current takes you. Going with the stream, following the tide. Drifting in the current will not do. Choices have to be made. Not making a choice is a choice. Learn to choose now. Close quote. Elder Holland's statement about increasing polarization has been proven prophetic by the societal trends and events of the 22 years since he answered my question. Foretelling the widening divergence between the ways of the Lord and of the world, Elder Holland warned that the days of comfortably having one foot in the restored church and one foot in the world were vanishing quickly. This servant of the Lord was encouraging the young people to choose, prepare, and become devoted disciples of the Savior. He was helping them to prepare and then press forward to and through the proving, examining, and trying experiences of their lives.

[00:59:12] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay, now, Tyler, why were you shaking your head?

[00:59:14] Tyler Collet: Uh, because as he was reading before he got to the part where he spoke of one foot in, one foot out, I had actually written that down on my paper.

I did. Um, and I, I tell my son who's on his mission, that very thing, um, you can't have as a missionary, you can't have one foot in the mission field and one foot in the world. It's either dedication or not. And, uh, that's. the same for all of us, right? Uh, one foot in, we go to church on Sunday. We're very spiritual on Sunday, but then Monday through Friday, Saturday comes.

Do we still have both of our feet in, or do we have one foot in for Sunday and our other foot in for the rest of the week? You know? Yeah,

[01:00:09] Tammy Uzelac Hall: you're totally right. Tell me what you're thinking, Abe.

[01:00:12] Abe Mills: Yeah. So I feel like, um, this is something that has played out for, uh, actually you talked about missionaries and my son who's in Fiji and a lot of the conversations that we have when we talk to him.

Are around like, you know, being fully committed and, uh, and you know, really putting your all into everything that you're doing, that he does on his mission. And so I feel like in life it is not just, it's not just with the gospel, it's with anything that we do, but it just goes to show you that it's a true principle that if you, if you try to half do something, it doesn't work.

And, um, and when it comes to the gospel and you think about, Oh, this is the thing that's really hard for me, this isn't working. And you look at those things, like, Oh, how much time am I spending on it? It's kind of like, goes back to your story that you talked about where you had a question and you couldn't answer that question and he's saying, you can't take a shortcut.

You can't take a shortcut. Right. And, and sometimes it makes me want to cry cause it's like, Oh, this is going to be so hard to do all this. But it's the things that are hard that, that, uh, that really make us better, you know, whether you're doing, you're an athlete or a musician or you're reading or your job is doing whatever it is, you have to put your time in and you have to put your effort in and it's hard, but it makes you better and you can only, you can only know.

What your soul will delight in once you get there. Right? Because you're like, oh, I never knew that this was going to be as amazing as it is. There's a whole nother level that I didn't even know was there. And once you get to it, you're like, oh my gosh, if I would have known five years ago, what this would be like, I probably would have tried harder.

And so it's, it's, it's, it's a constant battle with ourselves to keep ourselves focused on the things that we need to stay focused on.

[01:02:08] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, Abe, as you were saying, it's hard. It is hard. And there's a reason it's hard. And it requires effort. I appreciate everything that both of you said, because I go back to verse three of chapter 23, where it says the sanctified ones are the ones who are temple worthy and temple attending.

Boy, nothing requires more effort than to get a temple recommend all the things we have to do to have a recommend and then to go to the temple that you can't have one foot in and one foot out. If you're doing all of those things and you're attending the temple, and I look back at that verse in verse two, where it says, exalt the voice unto them, wave the hand that they may go into the gates of Zion.

I'm looking at those who, those of us who are waving the hand versus the hands in Babylon that are faint. There's two different things going on there. And I may, I think there have been times in my life where my hands have been faint. Absolutely. And then there are times when I am waving, come join, come in.

And so that's a good check. Where are your hands? And I think that's what Isaiah is trying to teach us here is there's two different groups of people. There are the saints, the sanctified ones, and then there are the ones who live in Babylon. And so if you go into chapter 24, you can bracket off versus 10 through 19.

And those are again, more warnings about the people who live in Babylon. And so as we've had this great discussion, I appreciate everything you guys have said, cause this has been so cool. We're going to add one more piece to this idea of the gathering and what the whole point of the gathering is because it's been so important to our profit, but why does it matter to us?

And we're going to find out in the next segment.

Segment 6

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[01:03:51] Tammy Uzelac Hall: This is fun. Can you guys get a piece of paper? I need you to just get a plain white piece of paper. All right. Cause I'm gonna have you draw something on it on that piece of paper. What I want you to do is draw a house that's the size of the paper and I want a roof and then a square house underneath it and give me a pitched roof.

All right. Give me some room to write in that roof. So a nice pitched roof connected to a square house. Show it to me when you got it so I can make sure I approve.

[01:04:27] Tyler Collet: I'm not an architect. I

[01:04:29] Abe Mills: know that this isn't a square, but it's, it definitely has four sides.

[01:04:35] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay. Let me see your house.

Oh, perfect. Awesome. Okay. That's great. What do you got, Tyler? Okay. Yeah. Oh, look, Tyler

[01:04:48] Abe Mills: got us a window. windows in the door. Mine looks like a shed.

[01:04:54] Tammy Uzelac Hall: You wish you had that in your backyard. Now in the roof, I'm going to tell you guys a couple of things that I want you to write in the roof. So leave a little bit of space at the top and then about a little bit down. I just want you to write the name Abraham. But leave us some, a little bit of space above Abraham.

So write Abraham and then draw like a genealogical connecting line to his next son, Isaac. And then draw a little line to his next son, Jacob. Now we know that Jacob's name was changed to Israel. So put Israel next to Jacob. And then I want you to draw a little genealogical line from Jacob down to the house.

Okay. Now in the house, I want you to draw a straight line all the way across from one side to the other. Okay. And we're going to put people living in this house now, and I'm going to give you the letters to put in there. So here are the names, and you just put the first letter of the names that I say.

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher. Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, Benjamin, and Dinah. Write her whole name out, please, because it's one of the only daughters we get to hear about. Dinah. Okay. You have just drawn the house of Israel. That's what it is forever. Every time I'd read the house of Israel in the book of Mormon, I thought it was literally a house in Israel that some guy lived in and we were going to meet him at the second coming.

I had no idea what it meant. So you just drew the whole house of Israel. Now here's something so fabulous is you belong to the house of Israel and next to Joseph your J down there at the end, do two little genealogical lines off of the J. And you're going to put Ephraim and Manasseh. Tell me what tribe do you guys belong to in the house of Israel?

Ephraim. You're from Ephraim? Mm hmm. What about you Abe? Manasseh. Oh, fantastic. Manasseh. So cool. It is so cool. Okay. Now, how do you know that?

[01:07:12] Abe Mills: For a patriarchal blessing. Yes. I get a patriarchal blessing.

[01:07:15] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Number one reason for patriarchal blessings. Any teenager listening right now, hear my voice. If you're thinking about the patriarchal blessing, that is the spirit telling you to get the patriarchal blessing.

It's the single most important thing you can do as a teenager. Go get it. Find out what tribe you belong to because every tribe has a specific duty or responsibility in building the kingdom of God. Now, what is Ephraim? I had a student who got his patriarchal blessing, and I saw him at school the next day.

He told me he was getting it over the weekend, and when I saw him, I said, what tribe are you from? I'm so excited. And he goes, Ephraim, like everybody else. And I went, Oh, I get that, but then I was like, it's Ephraim like everybody else. I said, do you understand how awesome that is? Because Ephraim is the tribe that gets to prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Ephraim and Manasseh. Those are the two tribes responsible to get this earth ready for Jesus to come. So when you get your patriarchal blessing and you're assigned to one of those tribes, you become part of the house of Israel. But before you actually got your blessing, here's how you became a part of the house of Israel.

You got baptized baptism equals adoption into that house of Israel. That's why we do missionary work. That's why your kids are out there. We want everybody to get baptized so they can join the house of Israel. But why? What's the big deal. Now, this is so cool. I'm going to give you an acronym because we want the Abrahamic covenant.

So up by Abraham, when the Lord made the promises with Abraham, here's the Abrahamic covenant. And it's such a great, this is the best acronym I've ever found for that, for the Abrahamic covenant. You're ready. It's L D S just like our church LDS. It means land. Deliverance and seed. So the Lord says to Abraham, I'm going to give you land, your land of your posterity, the lands of your inheritance, which Abraham never got.

I'm going to give you deliverance, deliverance from your enemies, which he didn't get delivered from. And I'm going to give you seed to outnumber the sands of the seashore. Your posterity will be enormous, which you didn't really have. But then he did because all of us here, we will get lands. We will get to become like our heavenly parents and create worlds.

We will be delivered from the enemy. Satan. And we will have seed. Put section Doctrine and Covenants section 131 verses one through four next to seed. That's the section that talks about the celestial kingdom. And this is a cool verse of scripture. Tyler, will you read that for us?

[01:09:43] Tyler Collet: In the celestial glory, there are three heavens or degrees, and in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood, meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage.

And if he does not, he cannot obtain it. He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom. He cannot have an increase.

[01:10:05] Tammy Uzelac Hall: That word increase means children and posterity. It does not mean going up or down vertically. So you don't get to have sea doubt number the sands of the seashore. Isn't that awesome?

That's the Abrahamic covenant. That's our why. Why do we care about gathering? Why do we care about baptizing? Because we want everybody to have the awesome blessings of being part of the house of Israel. But here's the best part of it all. I asked you to leave a little bit of space at the top of that page, right?

Here's why above Abraham, I'm going to have you put another name and let's go to second Nephi chapter 25. Okay. Second Nephi chapter 25. And we're just going to read this verse, verse 26. Did you already have this first marked in your scriptures? Yes. Oh, yeah. So good. Okay. A read verse 26.

[01:11:00] Abe Mills: And we talk of Christ.

We rejoice in Christ. We preach of Christ. We prophesy of Christ and we write according to our prophecies. That our children may know to what source they may look for remission of their sins.

[01:11:13] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Awesome, and then Tyler read verse 29.

[01:11:17] Tyler Collet: And now behold I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ and deny him not and Christ is the Holy One of Israel.

Wherefore you must bow down before him and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul. And if you do this,

[01:11:37] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Verse 29 is kinship wording. Look at that. He is the holy one of Israel. Go back to your house of Israel and put Christ at the very top. He is who's in charge of this house of Israel. He is the head kinsman. And so when we. Deny him not, then I love how in here, if we worship him with all of our might, mind and strength and our whole soul, we will in no wise be cast out, meaning he will do what he did for the Egyptians.

He will save us. He will protect us. In fact, I really like how we read earlier when it talked about how Nephi says, I delight in his grace and his mercy and his goodness. Like, this is what we delight in. We delight in the house of Israel. We delight in the gathering. This is what the prophet's been talking about.

Find people, bring them in so that they can worship Christ. Now in second Nephi chapter 25, when I was in ninth grade seminary, my seminary teacher had me take a pink pen and I had to go through and they said, highlight every time you see any reference to Jesus Christ in chapter 25. Have you ever done this before?

Or in chapter 25. It is. Okay. I'm going to give you time to do that right now. Starting in verse nine, at the end of verse nine, it says, Lord, scan your eyes and just see what you notice. Go ahead and pause this segment and those of you listening, grab something to mark and highlight every time you see the name for Christ, any type of variation of his name.

So pause it, go find him and then come back once you found them all.

What'd you guys notice?

[01:13:17] Tyler Collet: Oh, it's like everywhere

and not just everywhere, but stated differently

[01:13:27] Abe Mills: over and over again. Like it would say Christ, the Holy one of Israel, Christ, the only begotten of the father, you know, the Messiah, the Lord God, yeah. Lots of different names.

[01:13:41] Tammy Uzelac Hall: It is so prolific throughout this whole chapter.

And I think back to this gathering that we just want everyone to know. About Jesus, we want them to know about Jesus in the way that chapter 25 knows about Jesus. And so let's just end with verse 17. And I want you guys to read this now, and I want you to come up with connections. What does this verse mean to you in light of everything we've learned today?

Let's see if that really did work. If the spirit of prophecy. And understanding Isaiah is going to happen. This is so cool. Okay. We're going to challenge it. Here we go. I'm going to read verse 17. And the Lord will set his hand again the second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state.

Wherefore he will proceed to do a marvelous work in a wonder.

[01:14:35] Abe Mills: It means a restoration of what Jesus brought to the earth when he himself came, which is he fulfilled the law and he brought away for us to return to live with the heavenly father again. And so he's saying he will set his hand again and they will restore that his church again to the earth.

[01:14:57] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Awesome, what did you get out of it, Tyler?

[01:15:02] Tyler Collet: You know, I, I look at it as kind of what you made mentioned, uh, with Moses being delivered and the power that God gave him to deliver those people. And I look at it as, uh, the second time to restore his people. So. For me, that's a second deliverance for us in our day and to deliver us out of Babylon and to prepare that way, as you mentioned, the tribe of Manasseh, the tribe of Ephraim, it's our task to prepare for that second coming.

And, and as relating that back to President Nelson, when he said, you know, soon we're going to see the just wondrous miracles that the earth has never seen before. Uh, that's what that means to me.

[01:15:53] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Awesome. You both, you both got it. Right there. You understood Isaiah. This was the coolest two hours as we studied these words, because I watched your eyes come alive.

And I wish you guys could see the video about how many times they shook their head. Yes. Like, Oh yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. How are you feeling about Isaiah now?

[01:16:14] Abe Mills: I love it. I wish I could study with you all the time when we do, when we study. That is when I understand Isaiah is with you.

[01:16:21] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Call me.

Call me anytime. But you started to catch wording and phrases and nuances and you were like, Oh, I know what that means. And so this is, this is so cool. And that is the whole purpose of these chapters is. Just to help bring people in to the house of Israel so that they can learn about our savior Jesus Christ.

And then we go back to, again, what the prophet said, it is the most important thing happening on the earth today. And we can see why. So in this last part, verse 26, we talk of Christ. We rejoice in Christ. We preach of Christ. We prophesy of Christ. And we write according to our prophecies that our children may know to what source they may look for remission of their sins.

My last question to you is this, I had the fortune. Of knowing both of your parents, all, both of you. I know your moms and dads and I want you to tell me how your parents lived. Verse 26. How did they teach you about Christ?

[01:17:14] Tyler Collet: Examples? They were always an example. Uh, I can't think of a single time when my dad was in the Bishop Rick as the executive secretary, where he complained once about having meetings on Sundays or even during the week.

Uh, home teaching. Back when it was home teaching. He was constantly going. He, uh, didn't complain about it like I do, but, uh, and my mom, same thing with Relief Society and Visiting Teaching and just their, just their love for Christ and their desire to see my love for Christ grow as their has, uh, they, they did a wonderful job with being an example.

That's, that's the word I'll use.

[01:18:08] Abe Mills: It's a great word. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I, so I know your parents. Tyler as well. And they're wonderful examples. I've seen both of your parents, uh, Christlike acts. Um, and I can remember from years and years ago, I can remember them doing it. So, um, I, you know, with my parents, I feel like it's the same way.

It's, they showed me what it was, what it meant to serve, what it meant to love. And, um, they, the way that they do it is, uh, to me, so inspiring that it's just, it became part of who we are as a family. And, um, and so that's what we try to do with our kids as well, but. Uh, they, they lived great lives of service.

Almost every time I meet someone who knows my parents, they'll say, Oh, we love your parents. And, um, they'll mention something about how they serve and how they love people. And, um, to me again, it's something that I've known my entire life because they did it with me. And I know that, um, I, I hope, well, I think they actually do listen to this probably probably listening to this right now, right now, right now.

[01:19:22] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Hey, mom and dad,

[01:19:24] Abe Mills: give me a call. I love you. I love you. Mom and dad

[01:19:28] Tyler Collet: . You know, I believe that I believe it because not only do I see it in you and I've seen it in you, but I also see exactly what you described about your parents. In your children. Yeah. So you have passed it down to generation and you're teaching them and showing them.

And I believe that they're going to teach their posterity that too. So I can see that it's a beautiful, beautiful chain that, that, uh, is created there.

[01:19:59] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, same to you, Tyler. You both are great examples. Absolutely. Well, and I'm thinking about my mom and dad and Tyler, you both know my parents and I think my parents for me, they, their feet are all in all the way in.

There's never been a time in my life where they had one foot out, at least that I'm aware of now. Who knows? Maybe they struggled, but I never saw that had both feet. All in all the time. And that's the example that I really appreciate because it's so easy to just teeter. Um, and so, yeah, I think solid, going back to that word, solid, solid people, man.

[01:20:35] Abe Mills: Yeah.

[01:20:35] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Solid, solid, solid people. Yeah. I do love them so well, thank you you guys. That's the end of our discussion. That was really remarkable. Okay. Gather your thoughts and what's your takeaway from today?

[01:20:45] Abe Mills: So one of my takeaways from today, I like, I'd like to do two. And so one of my takeaways from today is that.

Isaiah, Isaiah can be amazing and awesome and, and he can be understood. And so that's something that I'll strive to do a little more after this today. But the second thing that I'll take away is that the gospel is plain and the plainness is that Jesus Christ. Is the savior. And if we can remember that it will give us a different perspective and help us with how we approach our lives, with how we approach our relationships with people, with how we approach our relationship with our heavenly father and with our savior.

But we have to just keep it to that plain thing because I think sometimes when you think of Babylon or like Tyler said, the great and spacious building in the dream, You know, those types of things are there to distract us and make us put our faith in something other than the Savior. So if we can be plain and we can keep our faith in the Savior, then our lives become much more.

Delightful.

[01:22:08] Tammy Uzelac Hall: That's good. I like that, Abe. Thanks.

[01:22:13] Tyler Collet: For me, um, I, I think I've learned that it's okay to be in the traffic jam on that highway, but also at the same time be on the open highway. And it's, they're both a progression and they both lead you to your destination. And for me and, and what I try to teach my kids, that destination is, is Christ.

And, uh, you know, I can take a step back or take my foot off the throttle for a minute and I can appreciate how or where rather my, my kids are, um, And where they are with Christ in their life and you know, it, it is, as Abe said, it's a very plain thing, but it's so beautiful at the same time. And it's, it's one of those proud dad moments, you know, that I know Tammy, uh, Gail is.

Very proud of you and your siblings. And, uh, it's, it's a proud dad moment and to see them on that highway as well. And, you know, whether they're in that traffic jam or, or cruising along, they're still moving forward. That wheel is still spinning. And, uh, I think it's okay if the wheel spins a little slower for.

people than others. Uh, just as long as, as our focus as a put it so beautifully as our focus remains on Christ.

[01:23:52] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Amen. That was my takeaway. Mine was the highway discussion. 'cause like we said, we went with something so plain, the highway, we know that word and the way that we discuss that was just, it just evolved so beautifully.

And my mind is still playing with that because then I'm like, and then sometimes your car's broken down on the highway. And that's okay because you're still on the highway because when your car is broken down, you're looking for help. And I think of how many times I have looked for help or given help to somebody who decided to stay.

They just had a flat. And so the wording, that wording is so beautiful to me now. And we are, it is a fast paced highway, but Yeah. At least you're on the highway. So that was a great discussion. So thanks guys. You're awesome. I love you both.

[01:24:37] Abe Mills: You are awesome. And I love you and you Tyler.

[01:24:41] Tyler Collet: I love you guys.

Appreciate you guys. I can rejoice and delight in your guys friendship and love.

[01:24:48] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well what was your takeaway? Now listen. Do this, go and join our group on Facebook or on Instagram and share what you've learned. And you can even ask questions, which is so much fun. And you might have a ton cause there's some weird things.

There's the word dragon actually appears in the book of Mormon. So if you want to know about that, ask me. And then at the end of the week on a Saturday, we're going to post a question that will come from this episode. So go comment on the post that relates to this lesson and share your thoughts. You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode on LDS, living.

com slash Sunday on Monday and go there anyway, because it's where we're going to have links to all the references as well as a transcript of this whole discussion. So go check it out. The Sunday on Monday study group is a desert bookshelf plus original brought to you by LDS living. It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall.

And today our incredible study group participants were Abe Mills and Tyler Collet. And you can find more information about my friends at LDS, living. com slash Sunday on Monday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger, and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom.

Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week. And please remember you that are of the house of Israel. You are God's favorite.