NEW TESTAMENT 2023 - WEEK 07 [MATTHEW 5; LUKE 6] - Creative Come Follow Me with Maria Eckersley

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Welcome back you guys. This is week seven of Creative. Come follow me for the New Testament and I just wanna congratulate you officially. We are now at the yellow belt level . So if you're following along on your Discipleship Dojo card with your families or your classes, you've reached a new level and it seems perfect today because this is the Sermon on the Mount.

You guys we're going to study it in two weeks. We're gonna cover the first half this week. And this is what almost everybody would call the Savior's most important sermon. It's so important that he delivers it multiple places, . So a lot of people wonder if. , the ones we're gonna study today are actually the same sermon, um, but they're called by different names.

So usually people call the one that we're gonna study in Matthew five, the Sermon on the Mount, cuz he describes being up on a mountain and talking to the disciples who are following him. The sermon on the plane is what you're gonna find in Luke cuz he talks about being on a plane. Now it's very possible that the plane and the Mount are the exact same place.

these two writers are talking about the same sermon, but since we also find it in third nephi, I think what's beautiful about this is to understand that he is a master teacher. He is someone who embraces repetition, and when he has important doctrine to teach, he teaches it multiple times. , I think, especially because of the kind of doctrine he's gonna teach us today.

So for me, what I put at the top of my margin, . I think the Sermon on the Mount is basically a Temple prep class because you know how last week I was telling you about preparing my son Jack to go to the temple and I taught him at home a few times, temple Prep, and I feel like basically what you teach in Temple Prep is about covenants, why they matter, what the blessings are, and some warnings about if you choose not to , you know that that's basically Temple Prep.

It's this invitation to. Take where you are and elevate to something higher, and that's kind of the sermon on the Mount, you guys. He's not teaching brand new people who've never heard of his doctrine. He's teaching people who will be his apostles. In fact, people just got called to be his apostles. He's teaching those who are already believers who maybe even have already made covenants with him at baptism and now they want to go some.

Higher they want to become as he is, and so the Sermon on the Mount is the savior's answer to that. He's saying, this is a chance for you to understand how I became this way and how you can replicate it. What's tricky about the sermon is it's really easy to read it and see all of your flaws because you're gonna compare yourself to all of these perfection pending people, and it's gonna stress you out.

What I love is our apostles and prophets have repeatedly told us about the nature of perfection, that it is this process that we are becoming perfect the same way the savior's gonna teach his apostles to become perfect. My favorite quote this week is from elder. This is in his bu, therefore perfect.

Eventually talk, and this is what he said. We put this issue in context. May I remind you that we live in a fallen world for now. We are a fallen people. We are in the intellectual kingdom that's spelled with a T, not a c. As president Russell M. Nelson has taught here in mortality, perfection is still pending.

So I believe that Jesus did not intend his sermon on this subject to be a verbal hammer for battering us about our shortcomings. No, I believe he intended it to be a tribute to who and what God, the eternal father is and what we can achieve with him in eternity. Isn't that great, right? It's just anytime you get into the Sermon on the mountain, you get into the verses and you feel overwhelmed.

Remember that He's describing the nature of God. He's describing his nature. He's trying to show you why it's worth it and why he, he chooses it. So keep that in mind as you study. The other thing I think you should keep in mind, it really helped me this week to think about my temple covenants as I was studying this Sermon on the Mount, because again, I think since this is like a temple prep, he's almost hinting at all the covenants in the verses.

And so I wrote, you know, just like we have studied in the past, the last few weeks or so, we talked about those five covenants that you make in the Temple Endowment, and you can find those online. , you know, print it everywhere and then write those down. And then as you're studying the sermon on the mount, try and identify which covenant he's helping them prepare to make.

Because I found so many great connections between the doctrine he's teaching here in his sermon and what we learn in the temple about covenants and why they matter. And you could see all five of them scattered throughout the verses. So this is Temple Prep, you guys. So grab your scriptures, grab your notes.

The words of the savior are waiting, so let's get.

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At the beginning of Matthew five, you're gonna find the be attitudes, at least that's what most people call them. It's these quick short versus all about how to achieve a state of blessedness happiness or being fortunate. Interesting thing about the be attitudes is they, Don't seem to fit. It's like an opposite of what you think the world would tell you creates happiness.

So for example, you're gonna see things like blessed are the poor in spirit. So you really literally could translate to, oh, how fortunate are those who are poor in spirit? Oh, how fortunate are those that mourn? Like it doesn't, it doesn't fit. So that means we have to unpack it a little bit. We have to try and understand the doctrine behind it.

I wish I could go slowly through each one, but we'd be here for like 10 hours. So instead I'm just gonna hit a few highlights. , before you actually get into the B attitudes, one of the things I would direct your attention to is what you see in verse one. So this is an invitation to go. I don't know if this matters logistically, but I love that before the savior will teach these people who are gathering, whether they be his apostles or apostles and disciples or whoever is here, he invites them to go up the mountain.

You know, it has kind of a Moses sort of feel, but I think what it is is an invitation to. Step to higher ground. He is physically teaching them a spiritual lesson that if they want to come closer to him, if they want to understand how he is who he is, they're gonna need to come up a little bit. And that helps me as I think about how I should teach that there are times when I need to find ways to invite my family and my students to come up in other ways.

Anyway, I just think that that's an important piece of this sermon. I also really love what he teaches about. This, the shift. So kinda like I said before, I think when I look at moron I 10 32, where he says, come on to Christ and be perfected in him, that's the whole message of the sermon. It's, you've already reached this level.

Now I want to take what you think where you are right now and elevate it and take you somewhere higher. I'm gonna take you from this terrestrial level up to something higher. And so it's this invitation to rise. And he does it through a whole bunch of different guidelines. So the first one, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

That seems counterintuitive, right? But since I studied repentance for like 24 weeks with my ysa, I know this phrase, the poor in spirit is what happens when you have a broken heart and a contract spirit. You see this? I put it in the notes, but you can see it in the Book of Mormon. When the people who just heard King Benjamin sermon initially feel this like, Ache.

In fact, they fall to the ground because they see the gap between themselves and where they should be and where God is. And they, it's just this, they can't imagine crossing it. And then they learn about the atonement of Jesus Christ and that's where they, the Holy Ghost fills them and they realize they don't have to cross that big distance on their own.

They're supposed to use the at. In fact, what I would tell you is if any of these characteristics of Christ that you study this week seem out of reach and you feel. empty, almost , or you feel like you, there's no way you can cross that gap. What you have to remind yourself is about the power of the atonement.

It is designed for us to be able to cross those gaps. We're not supposed to do this all on our own. We're supposed to turn to him for that guidance. So keep that in mind as you studied these blessed states. I love the first one, poor and Spirit, just cuz it simply means you. open, you know, to have a broken heart and a contract spirit means you are broken open like a seed in the soil, ready for nourishment and water, and a lot of growth.

So that's what you see in the first one. Another one you see is lesser to those that mourn for they shall be comforted. I love this. Turn a phrase. I think it, it promises a symmetry that all your aches and pains and struggle that you experience in this mortal life is recorded somewhere and you will be comforted whether in this life or in the next.

For me, I think most of it happens here and I, I guess I can't really imagine what happens there, but. I think he does a lot to find ways to fill us up here when there are holes and there are vacancies, he finds ways to fill it. Usually it's through other people. I think it's why we're directed to mourn with those that mourn in the Book of Mormon, cuz it's part of our covenants.

And the great part about that is if you experience that mourning phase with a friend or a family member, Then you also get to feel the full phase. You get to rejoice with them. I think that's why we have shared struggles so that we can lift each other in the hard times and rejoice when times are good.

Another thing you're gonna see in this one is that blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. I love elder bred NA's teachings about this. He talks about how meekness is a, how did he, I put it in my margins. It is a settled and calm demeanor. Meekness is not weakness. It is not passivity. It.

it is settled. It is what President Nelson described as being at rest. It is, I am calm in the face of danger and fear and doubt, and I, I can find my center, um, that's meanness this ability to control my emotions. In fact, I feel like most of the Sermon on the Mount is all about controlling inside. What describes, and the Pharisees taught the Jews is that they need to control the outside.

What people can see, and what the Savior is saying is come up to this level. This is, you know, temple Prep. I want you to turn inside. What can you do inside to change how you interact with the circumstances of your world? And neatness is a big one. Another one you're gonna see is if you go in six, blessed are they, which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

We already saw this happen with the savior where the disciples left him hungry when, when he was about to meet the woman at the well, and they came back thinking he would still be hungry, and he says, I have meat. You don't even know about . You know, that's the promise is that you, if you are hungry and thirsting after righteousness, you'll be filled.

There is never. , there is never, you can never be full. There's always more to consume, always more to enjoy. So it's invitation to hunger and thirst after the right things. I also love that in seven it says, blessed or the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. And I think the question is how? Right? Like how do you be merciful?

Thankfully the scriptures are really good at teaching us this. I particularly love, like I thought about Nephi and how merciful he is to his brothers. Lots of hard, you think about Moses, you know, he was up on the mountain trying to get the fullness of the gospel, and by the time he gets down, they're worshiping a golden cap, like.

How, how does he stay with them? How does he still love them and care for them for 40 years of wondering how, how does the savior himself love and show mercy to those who are so cruel to him and who literally seek his life all the time? How does he do it? And I think the, the clue is in the Book of Mormon.

So if you look in NEI story for example, in fact you can find this, in all of those, you can see that what they do is they turn to. , they turn to God. The father Nephi, when he's struggling with his brothers on the boat, he turns to God. He, he doesn't worry about his circumstances. He doesn't pray to try and change them.

He just turns to God the father, and pleads for the strength to break the bands, right? But that's, that's the invitation, is to go deeper instead of looking outside about how to change your circumstances, look inside for how you can center yourself better. That's the in. That kinda gets added into at eight.

So if you look in verse eight, blessed are the pure and heart for they shall see God. One of my favorite talks about this particular verse, cause there were conference talks on every one of these be attitudes, many of them. So go in the notes and you can learn them. But I love the understanding that to see God means that you see the God in others and in yourself.

Remember how we talked about how repentance is changing your viewpoint, getting a fresh perspective on God, on yourself, or on those around you. . I think that's what it means to be pure. And heart means you're gonna see divine in sources that you would've looked past before the same way I think the disciples see the Samaritans differently than they ever had in the past because of the encounter they had with the woman at the well.

So I think that's the invitation. You will see God in this life, not just in the next one. Another one is about being a peacemaker. The nine Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. What I love. , the concept of being a peacemaker. So I really see it as not someone who just.

Puts out fires. You're not someone who just deals with contention. Once it's already there, it means you're gonna set up structure. So remember we talked about this in the Old Testament, that I feel like as a mom, my job is to create jobs and to create structure and curfews and boundaries on tech and things like that.

So that. I can stop contention before it starts. You know, like on our job chart we have this positive thing where it's like if you're, you have a certain job, it also means you get to be the DJ in the car. So, for example, if some, we all get in the car and there's a fight about who gets to do what, the DJ technically gets to Trump, everybody else and pick the music, it stops contention before it starts.

So when you think about peace and being a peacemaker, don't just think about putting out fires. Think about what can I do proactively to make peace, to make space for peace? The other thing I love in the notes is it a peacemaker is someone who extends the peace of God to others. Meaning, I'm gonna bring the gospel to all the world.

I'm gonna shine my light out so that others know that there is a source for peace. That's a way to make peace before there's ever contention happening. Don't you love that piece? Okay, so another one, you go into 10. Blessed are they, which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

In 11, blessed are you and men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you. Fall asleep. For my sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad. Great is your reward in heaven. This is a, this is a big one you guys, and again, this is when you hear these verses and you know you're nowhere near this level.

Just remember this is describing dot, it's describing the people who belong in Zion. It's something we aspire to be. So that's the imitation in 12 us that he's. If, if you struggle, you will belong. And what I love about that is sometimes when you face incredible opposition, especially about your faith, it should remind us that that's a good indicator that you're not of the world, you've found a way to elevate, to live higher and that you're in good company.

You know, I don't, none of us have had the kind of persecutions that those in the scriptures have faced. So if you. Joseph and Hiram even, this is some of the ones I pulled out in the notes. We won't come anywhere close to the difficulties they faced, but I do believe there is a, a brotherhood and a sisterhood that comes from that sort of struggle and that when we are all united in one place again, we'll be able to put our arms around each other and say, great job.

You know, you made it. So I think there is peace in this promise of, even if you're persecuted, for my sake. Great. Is your. As great as it is to turn inward and purify the natural man and come closer to Christ. That way we're not intended to stay inside. Once we've found that spot, that rest, once we've uh, been working in that process, our job is to.

Shine it out so that others see, and you're not supposed to wait until the end. You know? We're not supposed to wait until we're perfected. In order to share what we're supposed to do is show progress. The same way if you came across your friend and asked them what they were doing, they wouldn't wait until they've hit all their goals to tell you about it.

What's powerful is if they tell you in the middle where they can say, yeah, it's hard, but let me tell you why it's worth it. Here's the changes I've seen. . That's what the Savior's trying to help them understand is it's not enough to just change the inner self. Now you have to use that better version of you and project it out so that others will come.

I think this matters cuz it's really tempting sometimes to wait until the end of our trials to testify , and I just think there's great power. In the middle. So one of my favorite memories is I ran one marathon, guys. I've done one , and it's with my two sisters, Sarah and Emily. We ran a marathon together, we trained in different states, and then came together for the actual marathon, and it was pouring rain and it was like it poured rain for hours before the marathon and for the entire marathon.

and I can still remember putting a post up about, uh, being about to start. It's a video of me and Sarah and Emily like in our ponchos in the rain, saying like, we don't know how it's gonna go, but here we go. And what I loved is after the race, when I was able to check on social media, I could see all these people who added comments like, you can do this.

I know it's hard, but you know, don't be afraid of mile 17. Like, they gave all these great comments that were encouraging along the. and I thought about the difference that would've happened if I had waited to post until I had a medal on my neck. . Not that we won anything, everyone gets a medal. But you know, like I think if I had waited for, then it would've been people saying, congratulations, that's so great.

I've never done that. But instead it was people saying what their heart experiences were and how they, you know, like you can do it. If I can do hard things, you can do hard things. I just felt like it, it shifted for me. It helped me realize that when I'm shining my light out, I'm not supposed to wait till the end.

I'm supposed to teach in the middle. I'm supposed to be in that messy middle and say, here's the growth I've found. I'm not perfect yet. I'm still figuring this out one step at a time, but I've seen change. Like, let me show you what I've seen. I think there's power in that you guys, and that's what he's inviting them to do is don't get stuck just thinking about yourself and what you can do.

Use that as fuel to light up other people's fires so that you guys can grow together. This is supposed to be perfection that comes over a very long period of time. So don't wait until you get to the end to testify about why it's worth the process. So that's what I see when I see him invite them and he doesn't a few different ways.

He talks about being the salt of the earth, that they are this great preservative that will help people come into Christ. What I love about the salt analogy. , it's unique, right? So it has a very distinct flavor. There's nothing else really like it. A tiny amount packs a really big punch. , I've been teaching Sam, uh, how to make pasta sauce for Meatball Mondays.

He's been doing it for like the last month and it's been funny to. , try and help 'em understand the importance of salt. Anyway, so it has has a lot of value. It also doesn't take much to be of value and I think that's what we are. Right. , I, it's the same way. If you heard Sister Porters talk about the woman at the, well, she talks about the little maid and naiman and how that little maid was like salt.

She just had a few sentences in that story, but because she said what she said, it changed the trajectory of Nayman's life. We're invited to be salt and to take the powers. Preserving families and preserving relationships with God out to all the world. And the way you do that is to hold up a light. So if you go a little further in 14 and 15 and 16, these are those epic verse about light.

You are the light of the world. Let your light so shine. Men Don't like 15, neither do you. Men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but put it on a candlestick. You are supposed to beam out this change in yourself. In the middle of the change, you're supposed to talk about how it's working and why it's working.

what I think is really important to notice, and I didn't realize that until this time, I studied almost every time the savior talks about either you being the light or him being the light. It's almost always followed with a to a teaching about law because sometimes you guys, it's tempting, I think, to hold up a comfy Jesus

I don't, I don't know how to describe it. You know, like people want to just teach Jesus and not talk about what that even means, and I think sometimes it require, When he teaches about his law, he's saying, you can't just hold me up as a light. It's not this general generic light. It is a light that will guide them towards where they need to go and if they're actually gonna become something, they need to follow the law.

So they need to understand his commandments. They need to follow them. So it can't just be this comfy version of Jesus. There's a great Elder hollow quote where he talks about this. . He says people want a God that they can, that that's comfortable to them. You know, the one that will pat their heads and tell them to go pick Mayor Golds.

And he's like, does that sound like the God We know the one that tells you to, like if your, if Ns you pluck it out. I, there's a, it's in the notes, you wanna find it, but he's like, you need to teach the real Jesus, because anything else that we teach, anything less than that won't lead people to actual joy.

The Sermon on the Mountain is designed to help us find ways to access joy in this life and the next. And if we teach, Muted version of the law, or we bypass the law altogether and just talk about Jesus, we're missing the point. We're missing what the steps, they'll actually get them to find happiness. And that's discouraging in its own right.

So you gotta teach both. So what he says is he talks about what version of the law they need to see him as if they're gonna hold up his light. It can't be the light of the law of Moses because he came to fulfill the law of Moses. So if you look in 17 think, not that I'm come to destroy the law or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

And then he talks about how he fulfills every jot and tittle, every little punctuation mark of the law of Moses. He instituted the law of Moses, so he. He's the fulfillment of it. We're gonna talk about this in the object lessons, but one of the simplest explanations I found, I think it was in Jesus, the Christ, James Hellman talked about how a seed is destroyed in the process of a plant growing, but that's the whole purpose of the seed, and that's kinda the same idea with the law of Moses.

It is designed to be a preparatory gospel, something that would help the people come onto Christ and recognize him when they saw him, and now they're to the next level. They need to become perfected in him. So you get a different level of discipleship, and that's what he's trying to help them understand.

I, I'm not getting rid of the law. I'm fulfilling it so that we can do new things. We won't need circumcision anymore. We won't need animal sacrifice anymore. All the feasts and festivals. All those things, especially all the extra parts of the love Moses that the Pharisees added and the scribes added, all that's gonna be done away with so they can do something more, something better, and something that will actually bring them closer to God.

So that's what he teaches about. I do love that in 19, he says, whosoever shall do and teach these things, talking about his commandments. The same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. It is tempting, I think at times with our families or the classes we teach to try and. Discipleship, more palatable, , and what he's saying is, if you're seeking what I know you really want, which is joy in the long run, then you can't short sell the gospel.

Don't, don't trim it. Don't try and make it comfortable. Just teach truth. If you'll do it and teach it, if you'll demonstrate it in your life and then teach it, people will come and they'll understand it's worth. He gives them interesting advice. In verse 20, he says, before I say it to you, that accept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

You shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. It's interesting cuz the scribes in the Pharisees are really good at trying to exceed in righteousness. , you know, they almost have a contest of like, if you're gonna take a hundred steps then I'm gonna take 80. Or you know, like there is a comparison that happens with the scribes in the Pharisees and I don't think the savior is encouraging that at all.

In fact, what he's saying is you need to exceed. Internal stop focusing on what others will see and focus on what's in your heart. That the way to come closer to understanding commandments of God and keeping them is to change your heart. Because what describes in the Pharisees had done, like we talked about in the past, is they had this core understanding of the commandments, and then they built all these fences, almost like firewalls.

That's how I picture. You know, we, we set up firewalls and tech safety nets so that our kids don't accidentally run into pornography or accidentally run into problems. But really what's the most powerful firewall of all is if I teach my kid in the center of all this craziness, what is good and what is true, and what is pornography and how do I avoid it?

If I teach truth at the heart, then no matter what they encount. , they can be safe. Cuz the word of God is more powerful than a sword. Right? So that's I think what the Savior's trying to teach them. He's. Look in and exceed their righteousness inside. Stop thinking about what other people will see and turn in.

So he's taking all these commandments that you learn from the law of Moses and he's adding to them. Remember we're going to a temple prep level. We're saying, why did we follow all these commandments? It's so I can get up here. And so that's what you'll see throughout the next 10 or so verses. So he talks about, you've heard thou shall not kill and then in 22, but if you're angry with your brother, you're in danger of judgment.

This was really interesting. You can see in the J S T that he takes out without a cause. That's the way it's written in Third Nephi as well. But this is guidance that is hard to swallow sometimes. You know, this idea that I'm not even supposed to ever be angry, even if I'm actually the one that's right.

That this is hard and I just think he's trying to say like, I want you to turn in. I saw there's a really cool example. I've been in the Book of Mormon more lately and I. The difference between Alma's people and limb. Hes people, do you just remember this part of the Book of Mormon? So like both of them are in bondage of the leites.

Uh, the, they run into Lamanites and the laminates put heavy taxes on them and you know, make their lives harder. And what's interesting is the people of limb high kind of. Push back like three different times. They go up to war against the laminates and lose, and they have incredible opposition. They weren't, I don't think they were evil people, but they weren't living righteously and they weren't connecting with God.

And so by the time they get to that third loss of life, they are in a state of humility because of their life, and then they turn to God. People of Alma are very different, so they're the ones that are kind of being persecuted. One of the old wicked priests of Noah who knows Alma personally and is like, I'm gonna make your life miserable.

And so he, he pushes down on the people of Alma. And what they do is very different. They don't retaliate against the Leites. They don't go up against them in battle. What they do is they turn to God and they seek deliverance. And what God does in that situation is he blesses them that their burdens will be lighters.

Remember that part at the Book of Mormons? And I just think the contrast is really powerful. I think this is what he's trying to teach us. . Don't even be angry with them. Don't let that anger fester in. You Agree with your adversary quickly. If you look in the footnotes, this doesn't mean you're just rolling over and taking everything.

It means you're finding ways to find peace. You're seeking sources of strength that are not from your circumstances, but from your center. That's what I learned from Alma. I think you see the same thing with Moroni a lot of times, like there is. , there is a peace and a comfort that comes from centering on God first.

And what's interesting is both people of Limba and people of Alma end up at the same place. Right? They all end up back in ze hemla with everyone. One just had a much harder road. The people of Limba had a much harder full of mourning and loss road, and the people of Alma had hether burdens lifted and found deliverance through miraculous means.

I think it's the same thing. We saw how in the Old Testament, you guys like he is letting you choose. Both roads lead you home, but oh, we should pick the one that is, that is under his care, where he is in charge. And I think that's what these phrases about, avoiding contention really mean. He's saying, look to me first before you.

argue before you get angry, before you lose your temper. Look to me first and see what I can do. And I think there's power in that. So you look a little bit further, and there's warnings about adultery. So this is where he says, you know, you've been warned in the commandments to not commit adultery. And then he extends it.

Remember he's trying to get them to that higher plane. So he says, whosoever look on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her in his heart. This. . Here's what I think is interesting it, I think we are promised in the scriptures that the desires of our hearts count. So even if I don't have the results to show that I did what I was supposed to do, even if none of my kids follow after me and partake at the covenant, you know, like if none of them follow my steps, I still can show that the desire of my heart was in the right place and what I did to try and do good.

Mattered. And what the savior promises is that when he judges you, it will be based on the desires of your heart. You learn that from Alma and the book Mormon. So I think it's fair to say the opposite of that is also true , that your desires of your hearts, even if you never act on them, if they are. Wicked or evil, they also will be judged cuz he's judging you on the desires of your heart.

So, which means it can go either direction. So I think it's sometimes it's easy to read that and think, well that's not fair. Like how can he, how can he judge me on my, what I'm not even doing? And I think you have to remember, that's the promise in all the good ways. That he's promising that even things you can't do and don't have the capacity to fulfill, if your desire is there and you hoped it would happen, he will weigh that.

And I, so I, I think you have to take, this is what it means, I think, to worship the real Jesus Christ. It's, we wish we could just hear the comfortable side, but there's both right? There's, there's fairness in his judgment. . So you see that in 28. Then this is those verses that I talked about from Elder Holland where he says like, if parts offend, you cut them off,

If your eye offends you pluck it out. I just think this is, you're supposed to make bold changes, you know, like if you're truly repentant, you're willing to make big changes. It's why the Antifa Lee has buried their weapons in the ground never to get them out again. It means like, I realize that these boundaries.

not gonna work for everybody, but here's the boundary for me, for between me and God, this is what I'm choosing to sacrifice. It's what I'm choosing to do to be closer to him and he. I think recognizes and will inspire you to make bold changes to your life. And that's what those verses teach me. Don't be afraid to make bold changes.

They're sometimes necessary, and sometimes your limits and boundaries are very different than the other people around you. But that's okay. I think that's the whole idea behind the strength of the youth, right? It's just this idea of like, I'm gonna connect with God and find out what my boundaries are, and I'm gonna adapt my life to what he sees I need.

So I think he sees some of that in the sermon on the map. You go a little bit further and you see warnings about swearing, so it's easy to see this as just. don't have profanity in your life. And I suppose you could take it that way from the footnotes, but I also think he's trying to help you see what was the habit was to swear on something.

You know, the same way like people gambling might put their car keys in the pot and then they have this fear of not winning because they're gonna lose their car. That's the same thing that happened with swearing. It was like this idea of like, I swear by my house, or I swear by heaven, or I swear by whatever, which was some way of putting like weight on you so that you.

Honor your word because you were afraid of losing all those things. What he's trying to teach them in these verses that say, but let your communications be yay, yay or nay, nay. What he's saying is, your word should be enough like you've been living at this level and now I need you to elevate. And to elevate means you don't need to put anything.

If you say you're gonna do it, you do it because it's your word. If you say you're not gonna do something, then you don't do it no matter how tempting it is. And no matter how often, Satan comes at you with it. You don't do it because you don't need to swear by things. I think it's the same thing we see in Dr.

On Covenant in 76. So forgive this little tangent here, but this just was coming to me as I was studying this morning. You know how in section 76, he basically says, here's the three kingdoms of glory. He describes them and tells you what they are. I, I described it when we were setting it together as like the price is right and how he opens all three of those prize doors so you can see all three of them.

And what he says is even the lowest one is better than you can even imagine. What's powerful to me about that teaching strategy is he's basically saying, I'm gonna take away all fear. I don't want you to make a decision about which one you want because you're afraid of the punishments that will come. I want you to make a decision because you want the joy that is there.

You see the difference, and you. The peace and the joy that is obviously right here. And that's what I think he's saying here too, is stop pushing yourself into making decisions based on fear or social worries. Make decisions because you believe it's right and you know it to be true. That's what you swear by.

I just think there's something powerful about this understanding of God doesn't want us to make decisions because we're afraid of him. He wants us to make decisions because we love him and we honor him and this is how we show it. Um, so you'll see some of that in the sermon. , when you go a little bit further, he gives us guidance about turning the other sheik.

This is similar to what we just studied in the Book of Mormon, this understanding that there will be times when you turn, when you have the option to bite back and to throw an insult back, or to slam a door back , and you choose not to. There is. in that space, that space between, uh, it's often attributed to Victor Frankl.

I found out it's actually Steven Covey who was quoting someone that sounds like Victor Frankl, but he says between stimulus and response, there is a space. And in that space, I can't, I don't have it written in front of me, but he says basically it's the difference between how you feel there. There's freedom there because you choose how to react to a stimulus and nobody can really make you mad.

You choose it. And so I think that's what he's saying here is in this moment, When you are insulted or offended or hurt, you have an option to choose. To turn the other cheek. I don't think he's asking you to be a victim. In fact, I think there's a lot of great quotes in the notes about this, about how that's in not at all what he's asking you to do.

What he's asking you to do is make the choice that in this situation, when a Roman soldier asks you to walk a mile with him and carry his stuff, you choose to walk two cuz there's power in that choice. When you choose for yourself, you're emboldening yourself. You're finding. , and that's what you see the savior do Often when he chooses to pay tribute to Caesar, he finds power in that moment.

He could have done a lot of other things, but instead he chooses his next step. And I think that's what the Lord is trying to teach us. It's a, it's a look inside and you choose for yourself how you're gonna react to the stimuli around you and see what happens next. I just, I think there's power in that.

Control in that meekness that he's demonstrating. And then we get, we get closer to perfection by these middle ones where it says, love your enemies. This is in 44. Bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you. Pray for them, which despitefully use and persecute you, that you may be the children of your father.

Okay? He may it the son to rise on the evil and the good and send it arine on the just and the unjust. This is hard, hard doctrine, but remember, elder Holland said, this is not supposed to be a battering ram. This is a reminder of who God is and how God is that he is someone who loves his enemies. We saw this all throughout the Old Testament.

Remember there were so many times that children of Israel turned against him or used his doctrine to manipulate and. Turn hearts and change things. And he is someone who is good at this. And it is such a blessing that he is good at this, cuz that means when we offend even inadvertently, we will be forgiven.

When we need a cloak, he will give us a cloak and a coat. Also, when we need him to walk a mile with us, he will walk up us too. That is his nature and that's why he's inviting us to be like, And he knows it's hard and he knows we're gonna be imperfect at it, but he invites us to take these slow steps up, keep with me, you know, my yolk is easy and my burden is like, just stay with me.

And then he talks about how, what reward have you if you're only around people who like you, that's I'm 46. And then the epitome of all of this is in 48. Be there for perfect, even as your father, and which is in heaven is perfect. And we've studied this in the past. I love President Nelson's perspective on perfection being a process and that the perfect state.

At a far distance. the visual. That always worked. In fact, I think it was the very first object lesson I taught in the. As a pine cone to a pine tree, the perfect version in a scriptural sense of a pine cone is not a very symmetrical, perfect pine cone. It is a big lush pine tree, and that's what we're shooting for.

I do think, though, that sometimes we get so comfortable in the idea of perfection being something that happens later, that we slow down the process that we could put into place. Now, we know from the Book of Mormon that this life is a time to prepare to meet. . So we have actual power at our disposal to come closer to perfection.

That's what the Sermon on the Mount is all about. So we're not just supposed to push aside this as hyperbole. We're supposed to dive in and say, what can I do? And there's a lot of things I've learned about this process, but I've actually learned some spiritual shortcuts to this goal because I think we can do a lot more than we think we can in this.

One of the things that helps me visually is I picture Trivial Pursuit pieces, . I don't know if you guys remember those when you were a kid, but you know how they had all those little pie pieces and to play the game of Tri Trivial Pursuit, you were trying to accumulate those little pie pieces and get them in your circle.

That's kind of how I see the characteristics of Christ, that this life is a time for me to accumulate those characteristics of Christ so that I can bless and do good in this world, not, not so that I become something amazing, but so that I can be a powerful instrument in his hands. And so I. , I can shortcut that process.

If I pray for help in an area where I know I'm weak, there's a conference talk all about this. If you go on the notes, you can find it. But I loved this strategy of like, okay, if I'm, if I'm struggling in charity, and I start to pray for charity. I look in scriptures for guidelines about charity. I look at people around me and see people who are naturally great at charity and then take comfort in knowing that immortal person can be great at Charity

And then I practice it and I try and do better. It's actually, I found a spiritual shortcut because when you're anxiously engaged in that process of becoming more like Christ, he blesses you with power to accomplish. Not because my efforts are so great, but because he dumps out goodness on you, like he can't wait to give you his grace to help you accomplish these, to get all those puzzle pieces in all those little trivial pursuit pie pieces in your, in your peace.

Cuz he wants you to have a fullness. That's the whole goal. And he'll give you the power you need to pull it off and I just love that.

[: 00:38:37

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we'll go a lot faster through Luke six, and so much of it covers the same kind of sermon that we heard in Matthew, but there are a few things in Luke that you just don't wanna miss first, where it. . So one of the things I really love about the Savior's teaching, he's a master teacher because he teaches with the scripture and he teaches through his life.

Just like we saw with the woman at the well last week, he's gonna do something similar here on the road to the synagogue and with a man with a withered hand. So the short version is as they're traveling, they're consuming some food that's in a field. This is totally legal with the law of. , you just couldn't get a sickle and like hack down a bunch of other people's crops, but as you were going, you could take some food and consume it on the on the go, and it's the Sabbath.

So these scribes and Pharisees are. Lying in, wait, hoping It just, I mean, they're on the road between towns and I find myself thinking like, what are the Pharisees doing there? Did they just follow him around hoping to get ? You know, it almost seems like trolls on the internet where commenters are just like, you're like, why are you here?

Why are you on this live? Why are you on my video? Why? But that's been happening for a long time, you guys. So that's kinda what's. What's powerful to me is the savior doesn't like lash back at them. I mean, he instituted the Sabbath, you guys, he knows the Sabbath and exactly what the boundaries are and he doesn't lash out at them.

He just teaches them scripture. This was really helpful to me cause I'm like, this is how I should handle this. When these things happen to me, I should seek opportunities to teach. And so that's what he does. He gives an example of the spirit of the law by talking about David in a time when the soldiers were starving and so they were able to eat the holy bread that is in the tabernac.

That is a bread that is designed only for the levies to consume and only at certain times, like there were a lot of boundaries about that shoe bread. But he said, when people are starving, you help . When the soldiers who are trying to defend you are starving, it's okay to make changes. He teaches them from scripture cuz that's where the Pharisees are comfortable.

And then he demonstrates it in the synagogue. So you go a little bit. And he says he's in the synagogue in six and he sees a man whose right hand was withered and the scribes in the Pharisees in seven watched him. See, it's just they're lurking whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him.

They're hoping to catch him, and he knows their thoughts. And so he turns to the man and he says, rise up. It's one of my favorite things that the savior does when he heals. He almost always invites them to rise up. In fact, those words are used, you know, like the pool at Bethesda and the woman with the issue of blood.

All of them are asked to like, rise up. Take the dignity that you have as a child of God and rise up. Don't look at all the people who are judging you. Don't look at anywhere else. Just look at me and rise. And he does. And then there's the, the miracle occurs. What's powerful about the situation with the man with a withered hand is having a withered right hand matters in Jewish tradition, because they use their hands for very separate things.

They don't have running water, they don't have sanitizer. So your right hand is used for eating. It's used for contracts, it's used for, you know, anything that's clean. Your left hand is used for things that are not clean so that you could kind of keep things more safe. What that means is if you have a withered right?

You are gonna be an outcast in society. You can't participate in things the same way cuz no one will trust your ability to be clean. And especially at things like an offering at the temple where you're supposed to put your right hand on the animal. That can't happen. So he's, he is in an outcast, probably in the exact same way that the woman with the issue of blood is.

So for the savior to see that and heal him is giving him dignity, right? That's what the savior does. So he gives him dignity despite the fact that the Pharisees are. Waiting in the wings to jump all over him and he restores his hand and then in 11, and they were filled with madness and communed one with another.

What they might do to Jesus. . The hypocrisy in this is kind of staggering to me, like they're jumping all over Jesus because he's healing someone on the Sabbath. He's doing good on the Sabbath, and at the very same Sabbath, they're plotting his death. That's, that's a pretty big hypocritical leap, and I think the Savior's trying to point that out and he says it in nine.

He's like, you can see. His argument, he says, then Jesus said unto them, I will ask you one thing. Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it? I think the reason he asked that is cuz he knows exactly where their hearts are. He knows what they're plotting to do and what what they hope to accomplish.

And he just hopes, I think, to point it out so that they will see the contrast and. In verse 12, you learn that the savior prays all night on a mountain to understand who to call or, or just in preparation for the calling of the 12th. And then you see them laid out who these 12 apostles will be. And the meaning of the word apostle is one who was sent forth, or one who will be sent forth.

What I love about that is that's essentially what the savior is for God the father. He is someone who is sent forth to do a great work, and that's what he calls his apostles to do and he endows them with power to do it, and we'll see that their growth happen over the course of the gospels. One of the ways I think he helps them to grow is by teaching them the sermon on them out.

So again, while this could be new, you know, like this could be another version of what they heard back in Matthew or a different, or the, the same. I think this is their mtc, they're about to be sent out to do. A scary great work, . And he knows they need tools to accomplish it and to grow into the men he needs them to be.

And the sermon on the Mount provides them that. But before the actual sermon starts, you see something interesting happen. So basically around 19 sounds like there were a whole bunch of people at this particular sermon and they're all coming in, seeking, seeking healing. And what I love is in 19 it says he healed them all.

So before he teaches the doctrine, he heals. And I think there. beauty in that because of what you read. So for example, when you go in the verses, he guides them against, in those same ways you saw in Matthew. But knowing that they came from a position of being vulnerable and weak and maybe on the margins of society because of their illnesses or their disabilities, he's trying to help them understand where they really belong.

So he says to them, he says this, says, apples in 20, blessed be poor for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you. That hunger now for you shall be filled. Blessed are you that weep. Now you shall laugh. I just love that verse. It's not in the Matthew version, but I just think that's the understanding, right?

That that your. Your pains are understood and known in heaven, and he will, he will find ways to bring you joy. You're talking to people who have dealt with illnesses and disabilities for I don't know how long, so to promise them that they will feel full and that they will feel joy. I just love that piece, man.

He also warns that it's not gonna go great. , this is interesting to me. Cuz remember, your disability or your wounds would've kept you from Jewish society for the most part. Or they would assume you must have a sinful history or that your parents had a sinful history. It cast a big shadow on you. So you would think if they're all healed of their maladies, that people will welcome them into society.

But I think what the savior knows is you are here as my disciples, you are coming closer to me. That means you're gonna get pushed away for a whole different. Where you used to get pushed out because of your illness, now you're gonna get pushed out because you're gonna testify of me, and let me tell you why it's worth.

And so that's what he teaches them. Rejoice. Even if this happens to you, if you have people turn against you, rejoice, there will be great joy that will come because of what you've suffered, because the prophets suffered the same thing. Now, how many prophets can you think of in any book of scripture that have suffered injustice and persecution and pain because they would not cower under somebody else's intimidation?

You know, you think about Joseph in Liberty Jail. You think about a Benedict at the court of King Noah. You're in good company and he invites. To come and to to be like they are. I also love how he talks about loving your enemies, doing good to them that hate you. They're gonna feel this hostility when they go back into regular life and they have to be able to control the natural man.

So it's that same guidance. I did think it was really helpful to start circling all the action words. What can I do to be a better disciple? I can bless, I can love, I can pray, I can turn. All those things are tucked into these verses. So if you're looking for better ways that the spirit can teach you how to be a better disciple in your circumstances, circle those action words and.

what comes to the surface the most, and I think it's a good indicator of where I needed to work, . So you'll see that as you study. He also gives you, tells you in 30 to give to every man that ask if the. So at first in 30 and 31, it almost seems like the golden rule as people ask you for help give, give what you can as do unto others as they would, you know, would have 'em do it to you.

It's like Golden Rule 1 0 1 and then in 32 he takes it to an AP level , where he's basically saying like, give to those that don't ask of you. In fact, those that hate you do good to them as well, cuz what profit do you have if you're only taking care of the people who already like you? What are you, what do you need me for?

This is kind of the critical piece I think about this doctrine. When we as the natural man version of ourselves struggle to forgive or to give generously, or to not judge. It's because we are limited. The promise though is if you'll turn to the savior, he will make up the difference. So what he's saying here, If you choose this AP level of the golden rule, what will happen is you'll have an increase of my influence in your life.

You will have an increase of the atonement of Jesus Christ in your life, and anytime you increase in, in using the atonement of Jesus Christ, you increase in power and ability to withstand everything that's coming your way. So he is trying to fortify them and he needs them. He needs them to. So he gives them advice on it.

He talks about being kind. He talks about judging not in 37, being merciful in 36. And then I love the promise that you find in 38. I have a big heart on this. Says give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, press down and shaken together and running over. I always think of this like, Jason at Halloween.

So we have this thing where we'll sit out on our patio or on our driveway with, you know, a fire pit and the kids will come around, Jason, I'll sit out there on lawn chairs and the kids come around and we give them their candy. What Jason does though is as soon as any kid from the neighborhood comes, he takes like two big handfuls of my carefully measured candy stash and he puts it in their basket and like within 40 minutes I'm down to almost nothing because he.

Contain himself and all. As soon as the kids leave, I'll be like, Jace, we can't do that. Like, we're gonna run outta candy. You need to. And he's like, I don't care. . We'll go buy more candy. And he does. Like, he'll buy candy from our older kids who have gone out trick treating and have a whole pillowcase full.

He'll pay them 10 bucks and get them to dump their whole candy sash into my binge so that he can give generously. That's the promise of the gospel you guys. As you give generously in his way, you will never run out. You are basically gonna be like the king size candy bar house on the block perpetually.

If you trust in him, if you, if you want things for the right reason and you seek to do good, you will never run out. So don't, don't be cy with your charity. Give generously keeping mounds like that's what it says on the verse. In good measure, press down and shaken together. Running over there will never.

Too much charity. Keep giving and see what he does to refill your stash. Jesus warns these apostles about letting the blind lead the blind, and he talks to 'em about how they each need their own connection. So I'm 40. The disciple is not above his master, but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master.

I think what he's trying to teach the apostles and us is that each of us need to form our own connection. It's the same thing that President Nelson taught at conference about taking charge of your testimony, that you need your own connection to personal revelation so that you can know for yourself, and so that when the prophets and apostles speak, you feel.

A harmony, a resonance from what they're saying so that you know for yourself and can act. So he is teaching the apostles that same thing. We're gonna talk about this in the object lessons, but I think there's power and even a safety net of sorts built into the gospel by having the 12 apostles and the first presidency who each have their own access to revelation.

And then as they work together in a council, they see that their revelation is in harmony. And if it isn't in harmony, they don't take action yet. They wait until all of them have that. Feeling that same resonance and that's when they move forward. So I think there's power in that understanding. You go a little bit further and he warns about judgment.

He's talking, remember, these are the apostles and he's teaching them about judge, not because you have things in your eyes. So this is moats and beams. So moats are small, beams are big, and he's saying you have a big beam in your eye and you spot emote in someone else's eye and you're trying to guide them to get it out.

You're not gonna be able to do that unless you get rid of your issues first. He's not saying that we should never. See other people's mouths or that we should never try to help somebody who's struggling. What he's saying is you need clear vision first. You need to be able to see for yourself. This is why I think so often in conference, you hear the general authorities speak about their daily repentance, how important it is to them to continually be seeking to repent and come closer.

They're constantly trying to say, do I have any beams? Like before I give you any guidance, I'm gonna check to make sure I don't have any beams in my eye. And I think there's power in that. There's, it's a, you know, book of Mormon teaches that, are we not all beggars? All of us have impeded vision in some way.

So we need to turn to ourselves first before reaching out to help others. You also see promises about fruits that by their fruits you shall know them. It's this promise of. What will happen, that there will be effects of their teaching, that they will see changes in hearts and then they'll know they're on the right track.

I also love what CM 46 and why Call Yumi Lord and Do Not the things which I say whosoever. Come up to me, hear with my sayings and do with them. I will show you whom he is like, and this is when he talks about the wise man building his house upon the. What I think is really instructive about this is he's trying to help those who will be his teachers to say, you need to do both.

You need to study and learn from me, and then you need to do, it's what we just saw him do with the Pharisees. Remember, he taught them scripture on the road to the synagogue and then actually enacted how you should act on the Sabbath by healing the man with the withered hand. That's what he's inviting them to do.

He's inviting them to dig deeper and to trust that they might be the one that has the issue and they have to fix that first, and it's. Posture of humility. What I love is the antidote to all those worries about hypocrisy and about. Any of those vices is to simply ask, Lord, is it I, there's a great conference talk about this in the notes, but I think what he's trying to say is, remember when the Savior talks about, there will be someone who will betray them to, will betray him, and all the apostles basically say like, is it, I like.

They are in such a state of humility that they don't even trust their own selves to know. They all know that they're, they're vulnerable. And I think that's what you hear from our prophets and apostles today, that they are all vulnerable. They're ordinary men trying to do extraordinary tasks with the help of the Lord.

And none of them is coming from a position of, I can't be, I can't be tempted, I can't be the word. So he is trying to keep them in this posture of humility and repentance so that they can. Found it on the rock. In fact, I love that phrase. It says in the end of 48, vehemently upon the house and could not shake it for it was founded upon a rock.

If you've ever wondered how to become unshaken, you know, like Jacob talks about in the Book of Mormon, how to be Unshaken, how you can't be pulled from your foundation. This is how the Sermon on the Mount and all these smaller guidelines of how to live your life at a higher level provide you. Connection to a foundation so that when trials come and wins, come, you are unshakeable and don't we all want that?

So I love that. That's how the sermon ends here.

[: 00:54:30

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Welcome back guys. This is the creative preview for week seven. So let me show you three potential object lessons you could use for this week's study. Although I have to say it's the Sermon on the Mount. You could take almost any verse in the sermon and make an object lesson out of it. So I just picked three, but there are loads more.

The first one I would tell you is um, this is what I'm calling an inertia challenge. So it's guts and glory week on the chart if you haven't noticed. So this means we're gonna do something a little bit out of our comfort zone. And for me, I decided falling eggs was way out of the comfort zone. , we're gonna actually talk about the attitudes and what they mean and how they help us receive the blessings God has waiting for us.

And so you're gonna do that by making eggs fall in a very daring way, . So just trust me for this one. You need lots of eggs on hand. If you don't have the option to get messy, you could. Plastic Easter eggs filled with like Play-Doh. You just want 'em to have some density, some weight to them. If that's not an option, you could use like balloons filled with flour that are about the same size.

You're just going for this kind of size. Even a golf ball would probably work. Um, just something that's got a little bit of weight and it's about this size. The other thing you're gonna need this week is a wedding ring and engagement ring, and that's for your second object. Listen. So one of my favorite ways to teach the law of Moses is, and how the savior fulfilled the love of Moses so that he could present this new gospel is to use rings.

So do you wanna use your engagement ring and your wedding ring? Since it's Valentine's Week, my hope is that you'll actually tell your kids the story of your engagement and your wedding. You know, open that up if you want. You could go back to the lots of Love Fest principle from last year and talk about your love story.

But my hope is that you'll use these two rings to teach about how the savior fulfilled the love, Moses, and I'll show you how. The third one involves a little bit of fire, so I guess this has some guts and glory to it as well. I really wanted to talk to my kids about the role of an apostle, since the apostles are called this week.

I think we have to put a spotlight on it and talk about what apostles are sent forth to do and to teach that in a more adventurous kind of way. You're gonna. Use some fire . So we are making what I would call a special witness spiral. So I'm gonna see if I can pull it up for you. It is basically a spiral of paper that reacts to heat.

So your heat source could be a candle, it could be the stove top that you have in your kitchen. It could even be a fireplace in your living room or any combination of those. But you're gonna need a source of heat and the printable as well as a pencil and a sewing pin. And I'll show you how to teach about the apostles with this simple little gadget.

Okay, let's get started. You guys.

[: 00:56:57

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All right you guys, now you have everything you need for week seven. I hope you enjoy it. Just remember, this is just the beginning. We're in the first half of the Sermon on the Mount. We get even more goodness straight from the Savior's voice next week as we study part two.

So study this week, learn all you can, and then come back next week eager for more. I just wanna let you know there will not be alive this week like we normally have Mondays at 10, simply because I won't. Around. Jason and I are taking a trip with my parents, so I'm not doing a live this week, but I will pop in on the course to make sure if you have any questions, I'll watch for those on the discussion boards.

And if you're not in the course and you wanna reach out to me about something, feel free to reach out to me on Instagram. I'm sure I will pop in and out of there as often as I can next week. But otherwise, enjoy the Sermon on the Mount you guys and dive in. There's so much to study. You could take apart each and every verse and find what you need for your family or your class.

So take some time with the. The other thing I would remind you of is if you're hoping to share this content with others, you can find the insights in their full form on YouTube and then in the audio form on podcasts, just search creative, come follow me and you can find it either place. . If you're in the course and you want access to the creative side so you can hear the object lessons on the go, then message me back either via email or on the discussion boards or even via Instagram, and I will send you your private link so that you can hear the creative as you're going about your day.

But otherwise, enjoy your week you guys, and I will see you for part two next week.