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] Who out there has fomo Now? FOMO is an acronym for. Fear of missing out, or maybe you have jomo, which is the joy of missing out. Listen, the older I get, the more I have Jomo just saying, but sometimes I do have fomo. I, I fear that I'm missing out. There have been events that I wish I could have had a ticket to or times when I just wanted an invite.

Well, today's discussion of doctrine and s sections 27 through 28 describe an event that I am 1000% certain I will have FOMO if I don't get invited. This event in the scriptures lists some of the guests. It has a dress code and getting an invite is doable if we are counted among the Savior's. Friends, welcome to the Sunday on Monday Study Group, a Deseret 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 Uzelac Hall. If you're new to our study group, please follow the link in our description and it's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your come Follow Me study. Just like my listening friends, Kaya Chessman and Laurie Casing, who I met in St. George and we found out we're kind of kindred spirits.

So, hi ladies. Now another awesome thing about our study group is each week we're joined by two of my friends, so it's always a little bit different. But today I have one friend and it could only be one. When I had her name come to my mind, I thought nobody else can just, it just has to be her, and it is Amber Dawn Pearce.

Hello, Amber. Hello, Tammy. You're so sweet. Now listen, this, my heart is so happy right now. You guys have to know how much I love Amber. I've been a long time follower of hers on Instagram, and she has the greatest life story and conversion story, and she shares it all on her Instagram account. And so I'm just so excited to learn from you today.

Learn. I don't think you're as excited as I am to to be here with you. Oh, and Amber, tell us a little bit about yourself and why you're so great. I know you're not gonna brag on you, so if you don't I will. But give us something. What, what do you want people to know about you and why I am so great? Um, okay.

Well, I am a mom of five. And I had a little bit different of an upbringing. I am definitely a flower child. My parents were literal hippies. My dad started a hippie commune and I grew up a very hippie life. I lived in a house with no, uh, plumbing or electricity, and I watched the, how the gospel transformed and blessed my parents' lives.

They, they converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ when they were living in a hippie commune. And I just can't stop sharing about my love for the gospel because of all the wonderful things that I learned, um, from that unique upbringing. Wow. Oh, I was so hoping that's what you would say. I didn't even prompt her, everybody, but I don't know about you, but if I was hearing this on a podcast and I heard someone say that, I'd be like, I'm in.

I cannot wait to hear her stories. It's gonna be so, and the thing I love about you is on your Instagram account, you're very open, you're very transparent, you share a lot of stories about your upbringing and about the gospel. And I also love that you will combat a lot of negative, uh, anything negative about the church.

You'll just hit it head on and talk about it. And so it's really fun to follow. We're gonna put the link to her Instagram account in our bio of her 'cause if you want. So if you wanna see a picture of her and read more about her, check out her bio, which will be at lds living.com/sunday on Monday. But for those of us listening right now, Amber, what's the name of your Instagram account?

It's my name Amber Dawn Pearce, and I'm a a pear pierce, not a pie pierce. So it's P-E-A-R-C-E. Oh, that's a great way to say that. P Pierce. Yeah, go check it out. I highly recommend it. I have enjoyed it. My friends and I, I, before I ever met Amber, we had been following her for a long time and talking about her story.

So we actually met up in person last fall and I knew right then, I'm like, you've gotta be on the podcast. So here we are. Oh, it's gonna be good. Yay. Okay, so everyone grab your scriptures and let's dig into doctrine and covenant sections 27 through 28. So right outta the gate, Amber, tell me what did the Holy Ghost teach you as you read these two sections, so many unexpected things, but the main thing that stood out to me as I was reading in section 27 is how many times the Lord said I have committed.

Oh, I have committed, and he says this five times in section 27, and gimme the verses. I wanna mark them. Okay. Yeah. So the first time he says it is in verse five, and towards the bottom. The second time, he says it again in verse six. Then he says it again in verse nine and [00:05:00] verse 13. And verse 16. Oh my gosh.

That's so cool. And each time he is saying a different thing that he's committed to for a different person to do. You know, whether he's committed. To Elias, the keys of bringing to pass the restoration. You know, he's, he's talking about these different very important things that he's committed to different people about bringing forth the gospel.

And so of course, I had to go look up the word commit in the dictionary. Mm-hmm. And to commit is to give in trust, to put into the power of another. And I have to backtrack a little bit because when I read the scriptures, I, I'll ask two questions. And the first question is, what does this teach me about God?

And the second question is, what does this teach me about me? And so I learned something important about God in these verses that this is how he works. Like for everything that was restored. Christ could have come and restored each of those things himself. Right? But that's not how he works. He commits very important specific things to different people, different ones of his children.

'cause each time in these v verses, he's talking about a specific thing he committed and who he committed it to, and a different person for each thing. And so what this teaches me as well about me is that God has committed something to me and I, it's my responsibility to find out what that is. Now, if I could finish that sentence for myself, would it be, what would it be?

If you could fi finish that sentence for yourself, would it be, I have committed.dot. To Amber, to Tammy, and it is so important for us to understand what he is committed to us and then to stick to that, right? Because as we get into section 28, we see what happens when someone tries to do something that is not their role, their responsibility.

But I just felt such power in that, that what the Lord has committed to each of us. That is the coolest theme for this section. I am so grateful you pointed that out. I've never highlighted those in any time, in any That is so cool, Amber, because now as you're talking about that, before you even said it, I was prompted to ask that same question of myself, like, what has he committed me to do?

I, I wanna know, in your own world, in your own sphere, what, what's one thing that you feel like he's committed you to do? I feel like he has committed me to witness of him specifically online in social media, to not be afraid to share my testimony. Wow. I would agree with that. That's exactly what I would've said for you.

That's so cool. I, I feel like for me, he's committed me to, to teach the scriptures. I, and I would've never have known that, but growing up, there was nothing in my life that made me think I'm gonna be a seminary teacher, or I'd like to preach the good word. Everything in my life had a, I had a much different plan than what I ended up with.

But one of the things I've definitely gained such a strong testimony of is as long as I'm doing the things and, and then there are the seminary answers, reading my scriptures, saying my prayers going to the church, attending the temple, paying my tithing, that there is so much truth to God, can make more out of your life than you can make out of your own.

And I have seen that. And as a result, I felt like I was committed to really teaching the seminary scriptures and institute. And I've loved being able to bear witness of the truth. Like I love the scriptures so much. That's it. I've been committed to teach from the scriptures. That took me a long circle to wind that down.

That's what I feel committed to do. Teach the scriptures. 'cause I love them. And what were you gonna say? Oh, just, and when he commits something to us, he gives us the power. That literal power to do it. Yes. The absolute ability. What a great question. I would love everyone to think about that. In fact, write that down in your scriptures or your journal.

What has he committed me to do? And really think about that. That might even be my question at the end of the week. What do you feel the Lord has committed you to do? Or what have you done to help build the kingdom? Because that's the other thing I feel like everything he commits his people to do is to build the kingdom.

That's his whole goal. He's not gonna commit you to be a really great dresser or he's not gonna commit you to, I dunno, do something that doesn't help build the kingdom. So this is wow. Out of the gates. That was such a cool discussion. Amber, thank you for coming prepared with that. Oh, you're welcome.

Awesome. By the way, everyone, she's also a seminary teacher and a seminary director. In her cute hometown [00:10:00] of New Mexico. Is that right? Yeah. Yep. Mm-hmm. I live in New Mexico, so we're in for a treat. She knows her stuff. Oh, that was so cool. Okay, so last week, let's think back. Remember last week when we learned that in June of 1830, Emma and Sally Knight, they finally got baptized, but they couldn't get confirmed because their confirmations were disrupted by a mob.

Well, two months later, Sally and her husband Newell visited Emma and Joseph, and it was decided that they would now be confirmed and that the group would partake of a sacrament together. So Joseph runs on his way to obtain wine for the sacrament that they're gonna do, and while he's going, he gets stopped by an angel.

Hmm. So in the next segment, we're gonna find out what that angel had to say.

Segment 2

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Let's turn to doctrine and cabinet section 27. Mark verses one and two. This is what the angel had to say to Joseph. Amber, will you read those verses for us? I will listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, your Lord, your God, and your redeemer, whose word is quick and powerful for behold. I say unto you that it matter if not what you shall eat or what you shall drink when you partake of the sacrament.

If it so be that you do it with an eye, single to my glory, remembering unto the Father my body, which was laid down for you and my blood, which was shed for the remission of your sins. Thank you. Let's mark that in verse two where it says it matter if not what you shall eat or what you shall drink. And I, this is awesome because it's going to change the way we can do sacrament.

It will be in 1906 that the church officially uses water exclusively. And there have been times, and people have great stories about sacraments, where they've used something other than bread and water. I've done a sacrament camping and we use saltine crackers and blessed a canteen of water and the canteen was individually pouring into everyone's Sierra Cup.

So I, I love this because the whole goal was just for us to remember with an eye single to his glory of why we're doing the sacrament. But when I was talking to Amber about these verses, she set, she's got this wonderful experience with these specific wording the angel used, and I asked her if she would share this story.

So Amber, tell us about your experience with this verse. Oh, I will. The reason these verses stood out to me is because I. I'm the type of person that would've asked this very specific question, like, really? Oh, we're doing the sacrament, but can you, I need to know the details. Should it be white bread or wheat bread?

And please let it be Mrs. Jones homemade bread because that one tastes the best. You know? Right. I want the details about how to obey this command, and then I'm gonna stick to that so perfectly to prove that I'm a righteous daughter of God. I love the details so much that I get stuck in things that matter.

If not, okay, what of anything that we do, what matters? Does it point us to our Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ? What it says in the. The these verses here do, are you doing it because you're trying to prove yourself? Or are you doing it because you have an eye single to the glory of God? But most of my life I had an eye single to my glory.

I was very much so this checklist person, and I have this righteous daughter of God checklist that I knew if I checked all those boxes at by the end of the day, then I could also check that box that I am enough and I am worthy of God's love and that he's pleased with me. And did you create that on your own?

Like give me, like, talk to me about that checklist. What did that look like? You know, it was all of those things that we learn in church that mm-hmm. You know, like you said, mentioned the primary answers, but I. It was even like more detailed than that. Like, say your prayers, but Amber, if you didn't kneel down for at least five minutes mm-hmm.

10 minutes, then that wasn't a very good prayer. You should be doing more. Right. And wow, something happens. You know, like I, I've done this my, my whole life, but something happened about four years ago where if you do this for long enough and everything, what people tell you that the gospel's supposed to bring joy, it was not joy for me.

It was, it became this huge heavy burden because what, guess what, no one could possibly check all the boxes that I made for myself. Mm-hmm. And I started having these feelings, like, I don't think. I don't think I can [00:15:00] do this anymore. It would be so much easier. My life would be so much easier if I wasn't a member of this church.

Yeah. My life was so, would be so much easier if I walked away from the gospel. And it reminds me of this quote by Sherry do or she says. I fear that some of us understand just enough about the gospel to feel guilty. Guilty that we are not measuring up to some undefinable standard, but not enough about the atonement to fill the peace and strength, the power and mercy it affords.

Hmm. And that was, that was me. Mm-hmm. And I knew something needed to change. And I did have this understanding that if I walked away from the Gospel of Christ, it would not be be because the gospel didn't work for me. Right. It would be because my incorrect beliefs. About God, about the gospel didn't work for me.

But I didn't even know what was wrong at that point. But everything came to a head where I started to experience just extreme anxiety over whether I was faithful enough, whether I was good enough. And I started that an anxiety turned into insomnia. Hmm. And I would go for days without sleeping. And then that all turned into the most horrendous vertigo that I've ever experienced that would not leave.

I had vertigo. I could not get out of bed for over a month. Wow. And my husband and I, of course, were desperate to try and figure out what was going on, why I was all experienced, all of this. I had never, I still hadn't made any connections. I just thought, oh, I'm just, something's wrong with my body. I'm stressed out.

And one night as I was desperately trying to sleep in and outta sleep, and also just like, why can't I sleep? What's wrong here? And these words came to me, Claire, as ever. And I knew it was my heavenly father communicating to me. And the words were words that I had heard before or read before in the scriptures.

And these words were ye no, me not. Hmm. And I laid there in bed completely blown away, sobbing. Like, wait, what? How? How is this even possible? I have been trying to follow you the best I can my entire life, and you're telling me that I don't know you and. I honestly didn't even really understand. It wasn't computing in my brain until I finally, actually months later went into the scriptures and read where, who the Lord said those words to where he said them.

And when, at one time when he said them, he said them to the Pharisees. And so I looked up in the Bible dictionary what philosophy the Pharisees followed, right? Mm-hmm. And it says in the Bible dictionary, the tendency of their teaching was to reduce religion to the observance of a multiplicity of ceremonial roles.

Mm-hmm. And to encourage self-sufficiency and spiritual pride. Mm-hmm. Oh my gosh. I can't tell you how hard it was to read those words. I'm like, I bet. Like that is me. I am a Pharisee. Wow. And. I wasn't turning to the Lord, I was turning to myself this self-sufficiency. Mm-hmm. And I realized that, and you know, just like if we get so hung up on the sacrament, bread and water, and how many ounces of water are we drinking, what kind of bread?

You know, that's, it's the exact same thing. We're missing the mark, the sacrament there is to remind us of our savior. Don't focus on the wrong things. And I learned even more by, in, in Mosiah three 15, king Benjamin describes the Israelites and what their big problem was. I love how when sometimes we look into the past and read Bible stories and we're like, oh my goodness.

Like they were so, like, why didn't they get it? We judge them without realizing, oh yeah. Whoops. I'm the same way. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And so this verse, verse 15. He says, yet they harden their hearts and understood not that the law of Moses avail with nothing except it were through the atonement of his blood.

So he is saying this problem with Israelites is what they were focusing on the law of Moses instead of focusing on the [00:20:00] point of it. But he, an example of a people who got it right were the people of Amon, anti Nefa Lehigh's in Alma 25, 15, and 16. They did keep the law of Moses, but not withstanding the law of Moses.

They did look forward to the coming of Christ, considering that the law of Moses was a type of his coming. They did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses, but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ. Hmm. And those verses taught me so much about, I. The why behind we do how we do things.

If you're doing things just to look to Christ and to come closer to Christ, that burden turns into joy. Yeah. But if you're doing things because you're trying to prove yourself and you're going to be the most amazing disciple, you're just sure of it. It, you can't, you can't do it. Right. You can't do it.

And it starts feeling, uh, like a burden. And so in all of this, I was like, okay, heavenly Father, if I don't know you, teach me who you are. Tell me what to do with this checklist of, of mine. And he wiped it all away. Like the checklist went away. And he let me know my only labor, my only labor was to look just like the Israelites to be healed from the serpents.

Their only labor was to look. To the brass serpent, which symbolized Christ. Yeah. And I knew that I needed to let that all go and just every day look to Christ and let him heal me and let him tell me what was needful that day. And I really feel like that's what he means when he says, come unto me all you, that labor in our heavy laid and and I will give you rest.

Yep. All of you that are laboring under all these extra rules that you've put upon yourself, like, come to me and I'll show you what it is really to follow me. It's restful, it's peaceful, it's joyful. You know, Amber, here's what I love, what you just did with this verse. I, I cannot believe how much I've learned and how many notes I've taken because you read this verse in context of the history, and you think it's solely about the sacrament and getting water versus wine, right?

And when you dive into this verse, then there is, it just opens up the way you just taught it to us for so many things. Because when you were talking about your list, the word that I noticed you said was more, I felt like I had to do more. Like there was the stuff we've been asked to do, but I'm gonna take it a notch up.

I'm gonna do more than I've been asked. And that is such an easy rabbit hole to go down as members of the church where we try to overdo stuff, especially sometimes as women, when we're in charge of activities or things, we want to just make it so much better and we're gonna make it better than the last presidency or whatever it is.

We, I find myself tending to want to do more or do better. But the reality is, is the way to check yourself that you just taught us is in verse two. If, if you're doing it with your eyes single to his glory, then do it. But if the reason you're doing it has nothing to do with the savior, our heavenly Father, yeah, it's, it's patting on the back, the accolades.

You'll get it, it doesn't matter to him. He's just saying, none of this matters to me. I just need you to do it with your eyes, single to my glory. And then I'm just thinking about it makes so much sense now that our prophet has encouraged us to study the savior Jesus Christ. Everything we can find about him and the atonement.

Um, because when you said, you know me, not that just hit home, I wonder how many of us just really don't know who the savior is or haven't put in the time to know him because we're so busy doing the checklist. And I, I just, your testimony and your experience has been moving and it has just kind of reframed this whole section for me because.

Yeah. Am I doing it with an eye single to his glory? So, thank you. Thank you for sharing that. And so after you learned all of this, then I have to question you and wonder, did you sleep better? Yes, I did. You were, you were able to sleep. Yeah. It's been a process like, of healing, but yes, I, I sleep better, I have less anxiety.

Mm-hmm. Every now and then the spirit will be like, Amber, your checklisting. Right. And I realize, oh, wow. That's why I've been having so much anxiety. Again, I'm, it's an easy thing. It's a lifelong pattern, right? Yeah. It's gonna take a while to, to get away from that, but it's powerful to, to sit down and ponder as often as needed.

What am I doing that is. Not, doesn't matter. What am I stressing about That's not mattering Or what question am I asking? And I'm paralyzed because I don't know the answer to this question when the answer [00:25:00] would be, yo, it matter if not, I, I don't know if God says yo, but, um, he does for you speak. That's your language.

I love it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It, it, it matter. If not, can you just, just move forward with an I single to my glory? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Thank you. Wow. What a great way to view that verse and the lesson that we just learned from that. I wrote so many notes, so thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, well that's just two verses in section 27.

So this wasn't all that the angel had to say, and this wasn't the end of the revelation for Joseph Smith in section 27. So in the next segment, we're gonna learn about a future sacrament meeting that many of us will have the chance to attend. And like I said, I will have FOMO if I'm not invited. We'll do that next.

Segment 3

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So Amber, when you got married, did you have a marriage dinner or a luncheon? How old were you? Tell me about your marriage and, and how you met your husband. All that fun stuff. Oh, this is way too fun. Really? How many details do you want? Seriously, give it to us. I met my husband at a family prayer ward.

Prayer? Yes. At BYU. Okay. It was, and it was a pretty quick, I don't, I know it's really unique to have a quick courtship in marriage. I met him in May. We got married the following December in the Salt Lake Temple. Nice. And. Yes, we had, we had a line, the, the in between. That's a cool, that's cute. A line. Sure.

Yes. With all of our friends and family and yeah. What point must them too unique. Right. And I love how you said friends and family are invited. What was the point of the line? Why do we have those? Uh, to celebrate our, the start of our new family, this new family unit and mm-hmm. Perfect. And eat good food.

Absolutely. And eat good food. So this is so fun because. One of the things that I've learned as I've studied Section 27 is there's sort of a line, if you will, there's going to be sort of like a dinner or a marriage feast that will take place and the savior speaks of it in the New Testament. He also refers to it again in doctrine and covenant section 27 verse five.

So will you read verse five for us, Amber? And just read until you get to the word Earth. Yes. Behold, this is wisdom in me. Wherefore marvel, not for the our cometh that I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth. Thank you. Now this the footnote A at the word drink. You wanna look down below because five A, he says the same thing in Mark and he says it in Luke.

He's like, I will come and partake of this with you again, meaning the sacrament. He's speaking of this future. Marriage supper. A great cross reference to the outside of verse five you wanna put is Revelation chapter 19, where it speaks of this marriage feast, like this big dinner that the Savior's going to have.

And it's, it is symbolic, but it's also real, which I think is so cool. There are three persons or groups who are invited. We have the bride groom, who's Jesus Christ. We have the bride who is the church. And then we also have guests who are going to be just individual members of the church who've qualified to be invited.

So this is why I'm gonna have fomo. I wanna make sure I'm qualified. Now, what we do know in section 27 is he lists those who will be invited to this big feast by name. And we're going to get something to highlight our scriptures with. 'cause we wanna highlight their names. And I'm gonna go through each verse and have you mark their names.

The first thing he says in verse five, he says, and with Marna, whom I have sent, so Marna will be there. Then he says in verse six, Elias will be there. In verse seven, we have John, the son of Zacharias, so that's John the Baptist. In verse nine we have Elijah, and now I'm seeing all of the I have committed.

Thank you very much, Amber. Yeah, that's so cool. In verse 10, we have Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham. In verse 11 we have Michael or Adam. In verse 12, we have Peter, James, and John. And then he gives us another little clue about who else will be invited in verse 14, and also highlight the also, and also with all those whom the father had given me out of the world.

And so it made me think like, who is that exactly? And I have a cross reference for US Doctrine and Covenant section 84, verse 63. The, the, also those whom the father has given me out of the world. Let's turn to section 84 and read verse 63. 'cause it's [00:30:00] a really important word and we've talked about it before on this podcast.

And I love this word in the scriptures. And Amber, will you read that for us please? Yes. And as I said unto mine, apostles, even so I say unto you, for you are mine apostles, even God's high priests. Ye are they whom my father hath given me. Ye are my friends okay? Highlight what he calls them. What's the word that he calls them that I just think is the coolest?

Friends? Yes. Highlight friends. One of the things that we know about this word is friends is a covenant word. It's a word that the Lord specifically calls those who have entered into and made covenants with him. So any one of us who have entered into covenants with the Savior are his friends, and those of us who keep covenants are his friends.

So next to verse 14, I put that reference and then I put keepers of the covenant, his friends, and then I put me in big letters like I hope that's me. I'm really hoping I'm one of his friends and that I'll be invited. We're gonna read this quote by Joseph Smith because he also talks about who will be invited to this big feast.

And Amber, can you read this quote for us from Joseph Smith about who's invited? Those who keep the commandments of the Lord and walk in his statutes to the end are the only individuals permitted to sit at this glorious feast. Paul wrote, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith.

His laborers were unceasing to spread the glorious news and like a faithful soldier when called to give his life in the cause which he had espoused, he laid it down. Follow the labors of this apostle from the time of his conversion to the time of his death, and you will have a fair sample of industry and patience and promulgating the gospel of Jesus Christ, derided, whipped, and stoned the moment he escaped the hands of his.

He as zealously as ever proclaimed the doctrine of the savior. Reflect for a moment brethren and inquire whether you would consider yourselves worthy a seat at the marriage feast with Paul and others like him. If you had been unfaithful. Had you not fought the good fight and kept the faith, could you expect to receive?

Thank you. Wow. Yeah. Tell me why you said wow. Well I've just never heard that quote before, first of all. And it's just so powerful. Like it's just 'cause I feel that desire so deeply in my own heart to be able to, to do that, to give my life to the savior. Yeah, absolutely. And this great it, what we're talking about with this marriage feast is it will be a great and last sacrament.

Like it will be literally the sacrament where we will partake of the bread and the water with the savior there. That will be astounding to me. And to think of all the people who are invited and yes. Verse 14, I pray that is me. I'd love to know Amber, what are some of the things you found as you read these verses?

'cause I'd love some of your insights. As I read these verses, I was like, what there I, there's gonna be a sacrament meeting right? With Christ where I get to go. Hopefully. Like, I don't know, like, I guess I, I've heard these words before, but I didn't really fathom that. Like, will I get to go? Well, I, I, I felt the same way you did.

Mm-hmm. Where I was Totally. Uh, yeah, me, me, pick me. I wanna be there. That will just be, that would be amazing to be with all these people and to be with the savior and, you know, going back to things that have been committed, like all these amazing people who gave their life to Christ and took the keys that were committed to them and did the work they were supposed to do.

For me, that's like, I have to do the same too if I want to be there. I have to take what is committed to me and do it. I mean, I love so much that you began teaching us about the word committed because now my mind is swirling. When I, when I put that into context of here, the people who will be invited were the people who stayed committed.

Not only were they committed to do things, but they did it. Yeah. And so I just, I love that so much now because when I wrote in my scriptures, what has he committed me to do? I want to insert me now and, and maybe write my own verse about me and he who has committed her to teach from the scriptures, she'll be invited.

So I love that you just, you taught us so much about that word committed 'cause now it [00:35:00] makes so much more sense who's being invited. The committed ones. Wow. So let me ask you this question though, 'cause I wanna know. So you've, you've had your own experience where especially when you weren't able to sleep and you were like, I would be so much happier if I didn't do this.

Give me one way or something that's helped you stay committed, especially because you get a lot of negativity coming at you with what you do. How do you stay committed? Oh, this is a good one. Honestly. Can I tell a little story? Yes. Do we have time to tell a little story of why Talk away, sister, please tell it.

I'd love it. Okay. Okay. This is why I stay committed. I was in a park one day and it was during CI was sitting in my car that you're not allowed to get out, and I had my windows down. And all of a sudden this homeless woman rushes up to the side of my car in this panic, and it startled me. And she was like, I need your phone.

I have to get on a, a virtual court date, or they're gonna find me and put me in jail. I have. And she was like, grabbing for my phone. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on here, hold on. I'm like, I, I'll help you. I'll help you. I'll gimme the phone number. I'll hold my phone, we'll put it on speaker.

And so we, we got onto this virtual court date and we were put in this virtual waiting room. And during that time she started telling me a little bit about her life. And I started asking her different questions and I asked her, you know, kind of like, man, I wonder if I can somehow help this woman. It was very clear that she was a, a drug addict from the scars on her arms and.

I just, I said, do you, do you have any family? And she's like, oh, no, no, no. My whole family are drug addicts, my parents, my siblings. And she said, basically told me that she cho, she chose this life, that she chose to be homeless and that all she had to worry about was getting her next hit. Mm-hmm. And the, the judge came on the call and she had her court date and the call ended and I asked her at least, I mean, know, can I run over to the rest, you know, corner restaurant and just get you something to eat?

And she accepted. And as I drove away from that experience, I was just deeply saddened. Just overwhelmed with. This, the pain, the sorrow, the suffering in this world. And ignorantly kind of blaming God, right? And out loud, crying to him like, why aren't you helping your children? Why is there this suffering?

And the spirit immediately interrupted me and said, I am helping my children. I helped you. And all of a sudden I had this realization that I had never had before of, whoa thi this is how my parents started. Their family. They were drug addicts in a hippie commune. But God paved a way for them, and they made the choice to change their lives.

And had they not, I would have been in a very different situation. I would've had a very different life. I wasn't very far from this woman that I met in that park. Mm-hmm. That could have been me. And when I had that realization truly of how God, he, he has given me my life. Look at what he has done for me.

And it just started this fire in me, uh, this deeper commitment that my life is yours. I, I'd never understood that before. And that's what keeps me doing what I do. Wow. Amber, I. That was a good story. I'm so glad you shared that. Thank you. What a great realization for all of us to stay committed because now it helps us reflect on what has the Lord done for us and wow, what a great reason to stay committed.

So thank you. Okay, so we've talked about this great and last supper and this linear that we're going to hopefully have with the savior. For those of us who are staying committed. For those of us who are his friends, we want to be invited to this event. And in section 27, there's actually sort of a dress code for it.

If you're wondering, should I wear Sunday Best? Is it business casual? We're gonna find out what it is in the next [00:40:00] segment.

Segment 5

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Oh, what to wear to this great event. You know, I will be honest, I thought of Elder Holland's conference talk in 2005. Do you remember when he said, our clothing or footwear need never be expensive? Indeed should not be expensive, but neither should it appear that we are on our way to the beach. I remember when he said that because I was like, ouch.

I have worn flip flops to church, but whatever. I know sometimes people do, it's fine. No judgment. But that was one of the first times that Elder Holland ever was like, maybe we should think about what the way we dress and the way we go to church. So one of the things about this section is that it actually kind of lays out what we're supposed to wear if we get invited to this incredible meeting.

And the attire is in verses 15 through 18, all of it. Now, if you scan your eyes over all of these verses, Amber, what could we label these verses as? The armor of God. There it is. Go ahead and just write to the outside the armor of God. That's what it lays out. Everything about that. And so you look at that and go, okay, all right.

The armor of God. But this is really important for us to know, and Amber's got some pretty cool insights about her understanding of the armor of God, and I'd love for you to share that with us. Oh, for sure. So first of all, when I think of armor and the scriptures, I can't help but think of Captain Maroni.

Mm-hmm. If you'll remember, if you go to Alma chapter 43, this is where he meets with the Lamanites for battle. Sarah Hena is the captain of the Lamanites and the Lamanites. All they have is a little loin cloth on. And then their weapons, nothing else but re moron's army. They have arm shields and head shields and breastplates and they, they are completely covered in armor.

And I love to imagine what Zara MNA in his army thought when they met up with Captain Rony and his army. Like they must have been like, oh no, we're, we're in trouble here. Um, but really, can you imagine, what if Zahena would've said to Captain Uni, um, this isn't very fair. It could you, would you mind like, taking off some of that armor?

So you know, we're a little bit on a more fair playing field here, Uhhuh. And, and the answer is obvious. It'd be like, no way. No, no, no, no way. Let's go. Um, but. This is how we are when we make covenants compared to against Satan and, and his angels and his followers, that they've got zero armor. They, they have some weapons for sure, and we experience them, but they have no armor and they're up against us and we are covered in armor as we make covenants.

But Satan, what does he want? He wants us to take off that armor. Wow. Because we, he has zero power. He has zero power as long as that armor is on. So the, the only reason we would need armor right, is if we are at war, if we need protection. And we have to know very specifically, what are we protect? What is the weapon?

What are we needing to protect ourselves from, and what will that protection need to be? Mm-hmm. So when it comes to Satan. The only thing that has power over him, all power over him is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our armor. And I had this really neat experience understanding like, okay, then how do we get the armor of Jesus Christ upon us?

I, I was at a time in my life where I felt like the attacks of Satan were nonstop on me. I was overwhelmed. I was constantly having to say, tell him to leave in, in the name of my savior. And during this time, I came across this really cool experiment that was done in a high school where they took two identical plants.

I. They put these plants in the high school, they were treated the exact same ways for the same amount of sunlight, the same amount of water. But the difference was one plant had a sign on it that said that instructed the students to yell at the plant, criticize the plant, tell the [00:45:00] plant hateful things, right?

Mm-hmm. The other plants, the students were instructed to give praise to that plant, only say good and kind things, and it blew my mind what the results were. This, this plant that was receiving all this hate and criticism. Mm-hmm. It started turning brown and dying and withering away. The plant that was receiving all of this praise was just flourishing and grew tall, and I.

In that moment, like I feel, I feel like this dying plant with this, these attacks of the adversary on me. And I was like, man, I wish, I wish that there was something Yeah. That, that I could do. Like maybe I could. And, and literally the brain, the thought came into my mind. I wish I could just take a sharpie and write all these powerful things on my body.

And as I'm thinking this, the spirit was like, Amber, what do you think your garments are for? Mm-hmm. We talk all the time about taking the name of Christ upon us. You could basically just say, I'm taking the armor of God upon me. All the ways that we take the name of Christ upon us, every covenant that we make.

Taking the sa sacrament, putting our temple garments on, that is the armor. God. Yeah. And so we need to be aware that Satan wants that off, and he will do everything he can to convince us to stop doing those things that need, bring the name of Jesus Christ, the power of Christ into our lives. Stop doing the things the way we live our lives.

It shows that we've taken his name upon us. Oh my goodness. Well, and, and I'm thinking about how you said the armor is the Savior. And one of the things we learned in Old Testament year is when the Savior calls them the garments of skin, the Hebrew translation is garments of or, and the word or in Hebrew can be skin or light.

And there are many scholars who believe it's garments of light, not garments of skins. And so then you think about how many times in the scripture the savior says, I am the light. So it really is we're putting him on us. I was so hoping that this is where you were gonna go. Oh my gosh. Because I, I did not know that Amber was gonna talk about garments, so since she did, it opens the door for us.

Then to connect this whole entire section back into Matthew, you wanna go to Matthew Chapter 22. Okay. Matthew chapter 22 talks about the allegory or the parable of the marriage supper. Which we've already talked about, the marriage supper, but you wanna see these verses now in this light. This is so cool.

This is the parable. And in verse one it says, and Jesus answered and speak unto them again by parables and said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son. So this is exactly what we talked about. When the savior comes again, we're going to have a line or a supper.

We're going to have a sacrament. So this is the sacrament. It's talking about it. And one of the things about this parable is that in this parable, he talks about how they invited all of the people who they thought for sure would come, that it was a no brainer. They went out, invited all the nobles, all the wonderful people, and they just basically were like, yeah, we can't go.

We're busy. We don't have time. And they actually said no to the invitation. And the king was furious. And so then he says to his servants, all right, fine. That's it. None of them are worthy. They can't come. In fact, it's interesting because in verse five it says they made light of it, like the people who got invited, made light of the invitation.

And in verse six it says, and treated them spitefully and slew them. I. They were like, we don't have time for this. We're not going to the, and it's interesting 'cause the king thought, surely these people would come to the marriage supper for my son. So then he turns to his servant, he's like, all right, fine.

Then go out and gather as many people as you can find. That's in verse 10. Go gather both the good and the bad. And the wedding was furnished with guests. Then verse 11, and when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. Now here's what you wanna know about this, and Elder Bednar does a wonderful job.

He actually talks about this in a conference talk. What he says in his talk is it was the custom of the day for the host to provide wedding garments for the wedding guests to wear. They would actually give them clothing for everybody to wear so that everybody looked equal. There was no rank or station.

Everybody was equal at the wedding feast. So the king looks out and he sees there's a man that had not on a wedding garment, and in verse 12, he saved unto him, friend. Now look at, right, that word right there. What did that word just tell us, Amber. [00:50:00] But that was someone who followed Christ. Yes. He says, friend how kames thou in vier not having a wedding garment.

And then it says, and he was speechless. Now, elder Talmage says this about that he was speechless. It's not that he didn't have anything to say, it's that he chose not to speak because of the guilt that he felt for not having on the garment. He fully knew that he should have been wearing it. And he refused to speak or say anything because I just, he, you know, he, how does he answer that?

Yeah, I just didn't wanna wear it anymore. I was tired of wearing it. It wasn't something I, because the word friend is a covenant word. And then look at verse 13, then said, the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And then verse 14, for many are called, but fewer are chosen. But the footnote down below says, wherefore all do not have on the wedding garment. Wow. So I love studying this and, and the talk the elder Bednar speaks of this is called, I. Put on th strength Oz Zion. I highly recommend you read that. That's where I found all this information specifically about this parable.

So now it goes back. Isn't that interesting? I, I'm so glad you taught us that, Amber, because the armor of God. Absolutely. Garments. And I think we live in a day and age right now, and this will be my soapbox forever, but unfortunately we have called garments, underwear, and Satan absolutely wants to make sure we do that when the reality is they are the garments of the holy priesthood and we have the choice.

I don't wanna be that guest who just has, can't say anything because I'm choosing not to speak. It's not because I wasn't given the opportunity. I was his friend. I entered into his covenants. It's, and that is exactly the message Elder Bednar has in his talk. Oh, so powerful. I loved it. And honestly, what stood out to me is that that friend part, like this is, this was a follower of Christ.

Yeah. It makes me so sad. Like, oh, you could have not only been there but stayed there. And it just makes me think of those that I love that, yeah. Have chosen to take their armor off and I don't, I don't know that they've realize what they've done. Yeah. And it goes back to that word committed and how easily Satan is with us to make us feel like we don't really need to commit.

Yeah. Sometimes I think Satan even goes it matter. If not, don't worry about it. Right. Yeah. Making us matter. Oh, obsess about the things that don't matter. Right. And then forget about the things that actually do matter. 100%. That is exactly it. Wow. That was a fun discussion, Amber. I love it. I love those verses.

I have put garments to the outside of that. I think that is such a wonderful way to reframe the armor of God and just really make it hit home for all of us. 'cause I think you're right. I think that is awesome. So thank you. Thank you, thank you. Okay, well that was a remarkable segment. I loved that. So one of the things we're gonna talk about then is this revelation is so cool, but interestingly enough is the idea of revelation.

It was kind of an interesting new concept for the saints. So as the restoration continued to unfold, one of the things we've learned is that early church members, they knew the prophet Joseph Smith could receive revelation for the church, but they wondered could others. So questions like this, they became critical when a certain man decided he could receive revelation for the church.

We'll talk about who that is and what it looks like today in our world. We'll do that next.

Segment 6

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Let's turn to doctrine and cabinet section 28. We're just gonna look at the section heading for this, and then Amber's gonna teach us something really cool. So I'm gonna read the section heading, and here's what it says. Revelation given through Joseph Smith, the prophet to Oliver Cowdry. So highlight who this revelation is given to, to Oliver Cowdery at Fay at New York.

September, 1830 Hiram page. Now highlight his name. Hiram Page is a member of the church and interestingly enough, if you wanna just put to the side, you can find this in the beginning of the Book of Mormon, but he was one of the eight witnesses of the gold plates. So his role is pretty important in the church Hiram page, A member of the church.

Had a certain stone and professed to be receiving revelations by its aid concerning the upbuilding of Zion and the order of the church. Several members had been deceived by these claims, and even Oliver Cowdery was wrongly influenced, thereby just prior to an appointed conference, the prophet inquired earnestly of the Lord concerning the matter, and this revelation followed.

It starts out, behold, I say unto the Oliver. Now, just before we [00:55:00] even get into what the revelation was about, I'd love to know, Amber, the fact that it's given to Oliver Cowdry. What does that kind of say about maybe us as members, or that Oliver was deceived? Tell me your thoughts about that. Well, that none of us are immune.

Mm-hmm. You know? Yep. That anyone, anyone can be deceived. We all need to be aware and on our guard. Yes. So I feel like Section 28 is a wake up call for every one of us listening right now. If Oliver can be sead, any one of us can be. And here's some of the verses that he said to him. We're gonna go through and highlight and read some of these.

Let's read verse two. Amber, will we read that for us? But behold, verily barely, I say unto thee, no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church, except in my servant Joseph Smith Jr. For he receiveth them even as Moses. And let's read verse six, now, verse six and seven.

I'll read those. And thou shalt not command him, who is at thy head and at the head of the church for I have given him the keys of the mysteries and the revelations, which are sealed until I shall appoint unto them another in his stead. Then let's go to verse 11. Go ahead and read that Amber. And again, thou shalt take thy brother Hym page between him and be alone and tell him that those things which he hath written from that stone are not of me.

And that's Satan Deceiveth him. Thank you, Amber. So here are these verses where the Lord is speaking to Oliver. All right, listen, Hiram, he, he can't receive revelation for the church and only the person who can is the prophet Joseph Smith at the time. Isn't it interesting in verse 11 that he said, you're supposed to go and talk to hi to Hiram page and then tell him that his revelations that the Satan has deceived him.

I wonder what that conversation was like. Right? Oh, but one of the things that's interesting is this is happening to us on a regular basis and we don't even know it. And so one of the things that I love you said to me is that you've had your own experience with sort of this warning that's found in doctrine Cabinet section 28.

I'd love for you to tell us the story. I wanna know how does this apply to you and me? Yeah. Well, first of all, I am, it's just in my nature. I am a seeker. Mm-hmm. Like any self-help book out there, any how to book out there that can make me more efficient or do things right, like I am learning it, give it to me all.

And I, I'm a seeker of spiritual things as well, but there was a time in my life where I say I probably spent more time in the secular area than the spiritual. And the spirit kept on nudging me like, Amber, you, you gotta be in my word as well. Like, what stood out to me here was actually in verse one, I don't think we read it, where, uh, he made it clear to Oliver what he could.

What could be revealed to him. He could read the revelations and the commandments, and then he could receive insights concerning what has been revealed. Mm-hmm. It's basically like what we are doing right here, right now. Right? Yep. It's totally fine to be in the word of God and then just expound some insights that might help people and, and so my first lesson here was how important it is to be in the word of God in the first place.

Yes. You gotta be there if you wanna receive additional revelation, and I, I love this quote by President Hinkley. He said, I do not concern myself much with reading long commentary volumes designed to enlarge at length upon that which is found in the scriptures. Rather, I prefer to dwell with the source tasting of the unadulterated waters, of the foundation of truth, the word of God as he gave it, and as it has been recorded in the books we accept as scripture.

Oh, I love that. And that message came very clear to me. Like, Amber, you need to, it's great that you wanna seek all these things, but you need to be in the word of God over and over and over again. I am a slow listener, just FYI. And I was having a hard time doing that. And then one day I was walking.

Outside the north side of my house. And I had planted some daisies along this wall on the north side, and I noticed as I was walking by, all of them were growing completely sideways. And it was like they were reaching as much as they could to the side. Why? Because it was the north side of the house. It doesn't get sun.

And they were reaching, reaching, reaching for the sun. And as I was observing [01:00:00] this, the spirit was like, even the flowers know to reach for the sun. Amber, like, could you please? And so I relented and realized the importance of spending more of my time in just the pure word of God. And I realized the value of it because I.

I love this little fun fact. Did you know that when federal agents who are over counterfeiting and discovering counterfeit money, they don't learn to spot counterfeit bills by studying other counterfeit bills, they learn to spot counterfeit by absolutely mastering the look, the feel, the smell, everything about the real thing.

They know the real counterfeit bills. I mean the real bills, the genuine bills so well that when they see counterfeit, they immediately can spot it. And as I learned this, I'm like, oh wow, this I understood that scripture in Moroni Moroni seven 19. We should search diligently in the light of Christ that ye may know good from evil.

It doesn't say search in darkness so that you will know good evil, search the light of Christ. If that's where you are. Then when something comes at you, you will know if it is counterfeit or not. And I knew the Lord was preparing me for something hindsight, right? Mm-hmm. Because shortly after this, where I just upped to my game and I was more and more in the word of God, it, reading and studying general conference talks and scriptures, um, I decided to, that I was gonna join this, this program.

And the reason why I, and it was just a program on how to live a better life, right? Set goal. Mm-hmm. Kind of self-improvement kind of thing. But I wanted to join this particular one because, uh, it was led by a member of the church and she had such great gospel insights and I'm like, oh, this is totally safe, right?

She's a believer, so I'm not gonna be deceived if I follow this program. And as time went on, like every now and then, I would just be like, huh, just that, huh, feeling right? Like, mm-hmm. Something is, hmm, not sitting right. And, but I kept on listening and, and finally it got to the point where I was like, there was nothing like outright like, no, I can't listen to this anymore.

I just felt like, no, that something's not right here. And so I just stopped listening even though I had gained so many profound and fantastic insights from her. And then months passed and it just came into my mind one day. I'm like, oh, I wonder, you know, maybe I'll go back and listen, um, again to this person's podcast.

And I went back and listened to find out that she had left the church and. And there were many people who were following her because truly she had really beautiful insights. But what was kind of crazy is that not only had she left the church, but she was using beautiful stories and verses from the Book of Mormon to justify and explain why the church wasn't true.

Oh wow. Like she was giving her own take on things that actually sounded like this beautiful and great idea. And it was very, very, I think had I not been in the word of God and known what it was, and it was revealed to me the truth of it, I could have been swayed by it. Mm-hmm. And, and 'cause even though I knew this wasn't true still, I, it kind of like I.

Wow. It shook me just a little and made me question myself, am I wrong? Like, could, and part of her claim was that you can receive so much knowledge outside of the church, like that we're confined in this gospel, which, you know, couldn't be further for the truth. But, um, it made me start questioning, oh, maybe God wants to show me more and I'll learn more if I actually leave the church.

Yeah. Wow. And so I learned some really important lessons from that experience, especially being, like you said, in this world of, of influencers. Mm-hmm. And I love that even in the, the, the section heading, it says, wrongly influenced, thereby, yes. Oh my goodness. We have got to be careful of what we are in being influenced [01:05:00] by.

Yep. And so number one. Be so careful about those that you follow. I don't think anyone should ever like follow someone with such love and passion and go to that one person because they're so amazing. If you're like having these feelings and feeling that this is where you wanna get all your learning from, that's a little bit of a, a red flag, right?

Yes. That this main source of your learning should be in the pureness of the gospel. Number two, like time to tap out. If they start pointing you towards anyone besides Jesus Christ and who he has called to be his mouthpiece, right? Tap out if they start criticizing in any way the lead leaders of the church or doctrine.

But here's two things that I've learned from Hiram Page that protects us from deception. The first one. Is that, if you notice in the heading he, he received revelation just on the up building of Zion and the order of the church. It was probably things that seemed natural, like, yeah, this is, we are seeking this revelation.

We, we are waiting to hear this. So there are many things that have not been revealed yet. Right? Yeah. So if someone starts claiming that they have this extra knowledge and revelation on something that has not been revealed yet, yet that we're waiting for, it can be tinting. 'cause we, so we want to know, right.

Like, we need to wait for the correct source. And this is the other thing I learned from him. Isn't it interesting? How did he receive this revelation? He received it by looking into a stone. Mm-hmm. How had the prophet received? Some of his revelation. Yeah. Same way by looking into the stone. So I see people doing this in our day, like saying, well I really received this revelation while I was in the temple.

Mm-hmm. Trying to give their revelation credibility. Or I received this revelation while I was in the scriptures, in the Book of Mormon, in a conference talk, whatever, trying to say. Yeah. The prophet receives revelation this way too. So then what I received has to be true. 'cause I received it in a similar way.

Yeah. I'm sorry. But just because someone says they received revelation in the temple, in the scriptures in prayer, doesn't mean mean that it was from God. If what they are teaching is not in line with the gospel of Jesus Christ and in line with what his mouthpiece has revealed, then it is not from God.

Period. Yeah. End of story. What she just said is an absolute truth and everyone needs to remember that. I'm so, 'cause it's one of the things we teach as seminary teachers that you can receive thoughts, ideas, revelation. But again, if it doesn't match up with the doctrines of the gospel and what has already been taught, then it's not of God.

And I'm so grateful you just pointed that out. 'cause that is our litmus test. Is the I single to the glory of God? Is it about the savior? I mean, I'm just, I love everything you've taught us right here because it is easy. I think one of the things we've also learned never get ahead of the brethren and that's okay.

'cause I think when, and I love that you brought up Pyra page. I don't think there was any malice in the things he was saying. I bet he had great ideas for the building up of Zion and the order of the church. I am confident of that as one of the witnesses. I don't think he was a bad guy. I think what we're being taught here is that's great Hiram, but the only person that can receive revelation for the church is the prophet.

So remember that and and whatever you're getting, great. Keep it to yourself. Because you can receive revelation for yourself for sure, but once you start receiving revelation for other people in the church, you're out. You can't, it's, it's against, it's contrary to the tenets and beliefs of our religion.

So, oh, I love, love, love that. Yeah. Yeah. And even as you were talking about, like, I think this person that I loved and followed, I don't think she had mal intent. Yeah. Either. But it just goes to show how careful we need to be. Anyone can be deceived and we, we need to know these little red flags, these, these warning signs.

And I love that. One of the most common questions that I hear from people is, but how do I know if it's from the spirit? Right? Mm-hmm. That's a common question. Well, how well this is, this is answering it. This is a big one. Yeah. Right. If, if it is not, if it doesn't line up with the gospel. It's not from the spirit and you need to immediately, it's, there's power in shutting that deception down.

Yes. I have found when I'm like, no, that is not true. Right. Following that is where beautiful truth and revelation comes. I think it's part of that test. Wow. Absolutely. Oh my goodness. Amber, thank you. Thanks for sharing that personal experience that that was really for you. I'm, and for me for hearing [01:10:00] it, it's great to be reminded about how easy it is to find yourself in a situation where you're like, oh yeah, I really like everything they're saying.

And so you do. You have to keep yourself in check, check and, and I like how you said, you were kinda like, Hmm, I'm not sure. Go with that. That's the spirit. Yeah, for sure. Oh my gosh. Great discussion. And yeah, the fact that it's given to Oliver Cowdry, I like how you said at the beginning, it can happen to any of us and we have to teach our kids this.

Like, who's your source? Please do not let social media be your source for truth. Because, no, I like how Gordon Beagley said, go to what is true and study that because there are a lot of high re pages out there, unfortunately. And so section 28 is a great section for all of us just to kind of like, let's get back here.

We go back on the path. So thank you for sharing that. Well, there's one more thing in Section 28 that I really like, and it's one of the things that Oliver Cow's asked to do. He's indeed, he has said, don't follow Hiram page anymore, but then there's one more thing he is able to do. We're gonna talk about that in the next segment.

I would like to thank Hiram Page for his example. I know we just got talking about him, but I just think it's interesting 'cause little did he know in 2025, many of us would need this lesson, but the Lord knew. So thank you Hiram. I, I applaud you. Now this section ends with an instruction for Oliver and Amber.

You talked a little bit about this and I wanna read these verses back in section 28. You started out by saying, in verse one it says, behold I see unto the Oliver. That it shall be given unto entity that thou shalt be heard by the church in all things whatsoever. Thou shalt teach them by the comforter concerning the revelation and commandments, which I have been given.

And then we go to verse four, and if thou are led at any time by the comforter to speak or teach, or at all times by the way of commandment unto the church, thou maus do it. Isn't that interesting that how many times we are moved by the spirit to speak and teach things? And then the last thing that Oliver's told to do is in section 28, verse 16, will you read that for us?

Amber and thou must open thy mouth at all times, declaring my gospel with the sound of rejoicing. Amen. Amen. Now, I love this verse when, when I read it immediately thought of Amber, because I wanna know what moves you to open your mouth and you're really good about it. You share your stories, you preach of Christ, you talk of Christ, you testify of Christ.

How did you get to the point where you were brave enough to open your mouth and do it? It was definitely a process. Number one, it started with a prayer telling God how much I hated social media and that I would testify him, but just not on social media. Sure. Be careful of those prayers of what you, you don't want to do.

And so I started sharing where I was comfortable. I started like blogging a little bit, but it was interesting. Even then I was like, I'm only going to share what I have in common with other Christian faiths because I don't wanna ruffle any feathers. You know? Mm-hmm. Can't we just be unified in Christ?

Yeah. And that's as far as I could really take it. I really didn't have a whole lot of courage, so don't think so great of me. But at one point when I was, you know, writing a blog post, that was you, you would not have been able to tell that I was a member of the church. You could tell that I was a Christian.

Not specifically a latter day saint. Mm-hmm. And then these words came into my mind and it was basically Amber. I have lots of people sharing about Christian faith. I need you to share what they don't know, what they don't have. And I was just like, ah, kind of, you know, that stab to the heart. I need to have this courage to share.

And honestly, when I think of the sound of rejoicing to rejoicing, can I share the, the example that comes into my mind, the person that comes into my mind. The woman at the well? Yes. Yes. Oh, that's, that's a great example. She, but, and, and if you think about her, like what made her go from this woman who was hiding at the well by herself in the middle of the day?

'cause she didn't wanna be around people 'cause she was ashamed of her life to running into the city and not even caring what people thought about her. And like, come, come see this, this man, what, what did that? And it was the savior revealed himself to her and she, she [01:15:00] couldn't shut her mouth. Mm-hmm. There that rejoicing was within her.

And if, as we ponder and think about things in our life that make us rejoice wi the ways the savior has witnessed himself to us, it gives, it starts giving that, that courage to, to speak up. Mm-hmm. And. It is amazing that witness causes us to do things that truly we would never do. I, I think of two examples and these, both of these examples is why I have the gospel in my life.

Number one, how my dad was introduced to the gospel, he and his parents. Yeah. Tell me about that. He and his parents were driving through Utah and they didn't know anything about the church of Jesus Christ, the Latter-Day Saints, but his mom really, really wanted to go to Temple Square and just like, what is this place?

What is this about? So they went to Temple Square and they received a tour, and while they were on the tour, they realized that the man that was giving them this tour was a heart surgeon. And my dad's mother, my grandma was just like, wait, what? Your heart surgeon? Why are you here? You. It's such a prestigious and so much knowledge to have to be a heart surgeon, yet you are volunteering.

He had explained to her that he volunteered one day a week at Temple Square and she's like, wow, what is it about this faith that would make a heart surgeon give up that time, give up that amount of money to be here teaching about this gospel? And it was because of that, that when missionaries showed up at their door, they were welcomed in.

Hmm. Side note, that heart surgeon was our prophet President Nelson. I was just gonna ask that. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Wow. So crazy. Years later, my dad wrote him a letter and said, this is when we were there. This is what happened. Was this you? And he is like, yes, that was me. So it's kind of neat. But what, you know, one example of what this.

Testimony of Christ causes us to do just out of ordinary things. The the second one is, so here my parents are, my dad joined the church when he was, um, 16, but the church wasn't a part of his life anymore after he left home and he had started his own hippie commune. And then my mom came to live in it.

They met and got married and were living in this hot hippie commune. And they both had addictions they were struggling with. And then harder and harder drugs started coming into this commune. And they wanted, they started seeing that they needed a way out. You know, my mom was pregnant with her second child and she's like, I need a way out.

But they just didn't know a way out. And I think when that desire starts in our hearts, like God provides a way, right? Mm-hmm. So right around that time to two. Their home teachers. We call 'em ministering brothers now. Like what causes two men to have the courage to drive up to a drug infested hippie commune?

Like I would be like, um, sorry, but there's no one who wants to follow Jesus here. Right? Yeah. But they had the courage to drive up to that hippie co commune, everybody scattered because they thought it was the FBI. My dad didn't though he knew, he immediately knew like, I know who these people are. Yeah, they're members of the church.

And it was that interaction that started a chain events that helped my parents leave the commune and brought my father back into full fellowship and my mom got baptized. But that's just another example of like when, when we understand. When we see the witnesses of Christ in our life, we can't help but do out of the ordinary things.

Things that bring us out of their comfort zone, but help us to speak up and proclaim His name. And I, I felt I shared that experience I had where I knew Christ had saved my life, and that's what gives me the courage to speak up and proclaim his name. Oh my gosh, Amber, that was such a cool story. Oh my goodness.

I mean, I go back to verse 16, that thou must open th mouth at all times, declaring my gospel with the sound of rejoicing. [01:20:00] Story after story that you shared were examples of people who were not afraid to open their mouth at all times. A heart surgeon giving a tour. On Temple Square two missionaries teaching the gospel, two ministers who are willing to go into a drug infested commune all for the sake of just declaring the gospel.

And they're not afraid to open their mouths. That is so powerful. And now here you are doing the same thing. You're opening your mouth, you're declaring his gospel. And I just, I wonder now how many times I have been afraid to open my mouth and what, what might come by way of us opening our mouths and declaring the gospel.

And I love that idea with the sound of rejoicing. Like the woman at the well who after getting called out for being a sinner, did not take offense. She immediately knew who the savior was and ran and converted the entire city and telling everybody who he was. That is powerful. Wow. Amber, thank you. Thank you for sharing your family story and your own story.

And thank you for being an example of this, of sharing your testimony and your witness of him on social media. While we did just say in the last segment to be careful of who you follow. We still stand by that. But I will say this about Amber. She's not trying to get revelation for the church. All she's trying to do is say Amen.

Hallelujah. The church is true. And that is what I love about you. You're not preachy and you're not trying to get anybody to like you more. You don't care about that. You hit things head on. You declare the truth with stuff that's out there that is anti against the church. And I just, I love that about you.

So thank you. Thank you for being a voice. That is a sound of rejoicing. Ah, you so good. Are welcome. I love it. Well, what a great discussion this has been so good. We're done. That's the end. Oh wow. How fun is that? So just gather your thoughts and think about all the things we studied and talked about and what is an eternal truth, something that you learned or weLearn that the Holy Ghost taught you.

I wanna go first. Okay. Okay. Because I'm lost. I love when you started us out by talking about, I have committed. I mean, that seemed to be the whole theme of this entire discussion. How committed am I and what will my commitment look like? Am I going to get invited? Am I committed to sharing the gospel? I just, I love it.

Am I committed enough so that I don't fall by way of temptation of people who claim to know more? I just think that theme for me resonated. And I highlighted the word committed in purple because that's my eternal truth color this year. Uh, I just love it. I think the Lord just is asking us to be his friends and to stay committed.

So that's my takeaway. That's what the, that was my eternal truth for today. Love, and thank you for teaching that to me. Oh, so good. Oh, well, for me, the word, the word of the day for me was friend, right? Yeah. 'cause I need that constant reminder still, like I said, I feel like I've gotten better about letting go of that checklist and trusting that I don't need to prove my worth.

I came here with my birth, there's, there's really nothing to prove. Yeah. The only thing is to be a friend to Jesus Christ and to trust that he sees me as his friend. It just makes me think of who I was in the pre-existence and what kind of relationship I had with my savior there, and then trying to remember that relationship here and reconnect that friendship.

And man, I'm so excited to learn that I have that opportunity to be in that most beautiful and sacred sacrament meeting that will happen someday as a friend, because I'm his friend, not just because I'm some person who loves Jesus and goes to church, but because. I am his friend and I will know him and he will embrace me, and I just, I can't wait.

It's such a beautiful, encouraging thing. I'm gonna give you, we forgot to say this, but I think you'll love this so much because in James chapter two, verse 23, you will love this scripture then. Okay. In James chapter two, verse 23, it says, and the scripture was fulfilled, which sayeth Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.

Oh, the father of covenants called the friend of God. And so I think that about you. You are a friend of God, for sure. That's gonna be my new favorite scripture. I love that. I didn't know that Scripture. Thank you. Isn't that fun? Yeah. That's how we get it. That's how we connect it to the word friend. So, oh, thanks friend.

Thank you friend for being here. This was so fun. I love it. Thank you. Wow. What a good discussion. Yay. Okay. Oh, that was so fun, that [01:25:00] discussion. My goodness. It was good. All right. Share with us what was the eternal truth that you learned, or what did the Holy Ghost teach you? Go join our group on Facebook or follow us on Instagram to share what you have learned.

Then at the end of the week on a Saturday, we will post a question from this discussion, which we already said at the very beginning, so kind of think about that. What have you been committed to do? 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 at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday, and it's not a bad idea to go there anyway, because it's where we have links to all the references and a transcript of this entire 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 participant was Amber Dawn Pierce. And you can find more information about her at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday.

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 that you are God's friend and you are his favorite.