Christ asked His disciples in America three questions before His ministry there ended: 1) What shall I give unto you? 2) What do you desire of me? 3) What should I do unto you? We can think about how we would answer these questions today and learn a lot from the people’s responses in 3 Nephi 27–4 Nephi. Their answers set up one of the great eras of unity recorded in the Book of Mormon.
Segment 1
Scriptures:
3 Nephi 27:19-21 (Doctrine of Christ)
3 Nephi 28:9-10 (Bring souls to Christ’s joy)
Segment 2
Scriptures:
3 Nephi 27:1-2 (The disciples prayed and fasted)
Jacob 3:1 (Christ pleads our cause)
3 Nephi 27:3-7 (The Nephites asked what to name the church)
Segment 3
Scriptures:
3 Nephi 28:1-3 (What do you desire)
3 Nephi 17:21 (One by one)
D&C 11:12-13 (What is the spirit?)
Words of the General Authorities:
My beloved sisters and brothers, since that experience, I have tried to take up my cross more earnestly, with more resolve to find where I can raise an apostolic voice of both warmth and warning in the morning, during the day, and into the night. (Jeffrey R. Holland, “Motions of a Hidden Fire”, April 2024 General Conference)
Wholehearted, unreserved devotion to divine responsibility. (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Greatest Possession”, October 2021 General Conference)
I don’t want your time or your money or your work as much as I just want You. That tree you are pruning. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want the whole thing down. And that tooth. I don’t want to drill it, or crown it, or fill it. I want to have it out. In fact, I want you to hand over to me your whole natural self. And I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my will shall become your will. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, as relayed by Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Greatest Possession”, October 2021 General Conference)
Segment 4
Scriptures:
3 Nephi 28:4-6 (What did the Three Nephites desire)
CR: John 21:21-23
CR: D&C 7
Segment 5
Scriptures:
Mormon 9:30-33
Hebraism:
3 Nephi 30:2 ex. And of your, and your, and your… (Repeated possessive pronouns)
Genesis 10:20
Exodus 20:10
Exodus 27:3
Segment 6
Scriptures:
4 Nephi 1:3 (All things common)
4 Nephi 1:16 (Happier people)
4 Nephi 1:20-28 (Final pride cycle)
Galatians 5:22-23 (Fruits of the spirit are joy)
3 Nephi 27:27 (What manner of men)
Words of the General Authorities:
Tonight, and tomorrow night, you might pray and ponder, asking the questions: Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life or the lives of my children? I will do that. And then I will find a way to preserve that memory for the day that I, and those that I love, will need to remember how much God loves us and how much we need Him. (Henry B. Eyring, “O Remember, Remember”, October 2007 General Conference)
Quotes:
Why would it matter to a people what they were called? Why would it be so important for them to be called Lamanites? Why would a group choose to forsake the transcendent privileges of unity in order to be designated by this or that name? The answer is simple: pride. A desire to be different. A yearning to be acknowledged. A fear of being overlooked. A craving for public notice. The righteous feel no need for attention, no desire to be praised, no inclination to demand recognition. The prideful demand their rights, even when they are wrong. The prideful feel that they must do things their way, even when that way is the wrong way. The prideful insist that they must pursue their own path, even when the road they take is wide and broad and leads to destruction” (Joseph Fielding McConkie, Robert L. Millet, and Brent L. Top, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 4:204–5).
View transcript here.