What I Say Unto One

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What I Say Unto One.

• www.kevinhinckley.com

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Todays Society
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Family Portrait
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BYU Professor

• On these cold winter mornings I am
  reminded of an early winter morning a
  number of years ago when one of my
  teenagers headed for the front door
  with his backpack slung over one
  shoulder. He was in an obvious hurry to
  get to the school bus. I noticed out the
  front window that snow was rapidly
  coming down and that my teenage son was
  about to step out into the dead of winter in a
  T-shirt, jeans, and Nikesan outfit more in tune
  with a warm spring day.
• Where is your coat? I asked, reacting in my
  typical fatherly manner.
• Dad, nobody wears coats! was his simple reply.
  And with that, the front door swung open and off
  he went into the cold, snowy day with very little
  between himself and the elements. I continued
  watching through the front window as he tiptoed
  through the piling snow, trying to keep the slush
  from slipping down into his low-cut sneakers. I
  worried as he pushed his hands deeply into his
  pants pockets, trying to cover as much skin as
  possible with the single layer of cotton denim.
• And then, there they wereall those brave
  teenagers standing at the corner waiting for the
  approaching yellow bus, and most without the
  needed winter coat. I knew the garment well. With
  its waterproof outer fabric its sleek, smooth
  inner lining and its thick, body heatcapturing
  interlining, it hung readily in the front closet
  of each of their homes.
• But apparently this generation had decided that
  while this garment offered needed warmth and
  protection, it would be an embarrassment to
  actually wear a winter coat to school. Does this
  sound familiar? (BYU Devotional, Brother Rory
  Scanlon, Jan 2008)

Question Where is the gospel application here?
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How do we get scripture?
Problem or Need
The Lords Servant
Lord

• 1- One of the Lords Servants
• 2- Asks for help with a problem or need
• 3- Lord supplies guidance or instruction
• 4- His instruction is recorded so that all might
  profit

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DC 25

• 16 And verily, verily, I say unto you,
  that this is my voice unto all. Amen
• Nephi records
• for I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it
  might be for our profit and learning.(1 Nephi
  1923)

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By July 1830

• Emma and Joseph married in 1827
• Emma basically disowned by her family
• Lost one baby in Harmony, Penn.
• Seen her husband arrested twice
• She is 26

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Emma Smith

• Section 25- Given to Emma Smith
• Question
• What might have been her concerns or questions
  that prompted the revelation?

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Shortly before her death

• Question. What of the truth of Mormonism?
• Answer. I know Mormonism to be the truth and
  believe the Church to have been established by
  divine direction. I have complete faith in it. In
  writing for your father I frequently wrote day
  after day, often sitting at the table close by
  him, and dictating hour after hour with
  nothing between us.
• Question. Had he not a book or manuscript
  from which he read, or dictated to you?
• Answer. He had neither manuscript nor book to
  read from.
• Question. Could he not have had, and you not
  know it?
• Answer. If he had had anything of the kind he
  could not have concealed it from me.
• Question. Are you sure that he had the plates at
  the time you were writing for him?
• Answer. The plates often lay on the table without
  any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small
  linen tablecloth, which I had given him to fold
  them in. I once felt of the plates, as they thus
  lay on the table, tracing their outline and
  shape. They seemed to be pliable like thick
  paper, and would rustle with a metallic sound
  when the edges were moved by the thumb, as one
  does sometimes thumb the edges of a book.
• Question. I should suppose that you would have
  uncovered the plates and examined them?
• Answer. I did not attempt to handle the plates,
  other than I have told you, nor uncover them to
  look at them. I was satisfied that it was the
  work of God, and therefore did not feel it to be
  necessary to do so

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Section 25
Question Is it possible for us, today, to get
caught up in murmurings about things that are
withheld from us?

• A revelation I give unto you concerning my will
  
• Behold, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou art
  an elect lady, whom I have called.
• Murmur not because of the things which thou hast
  not seen, for they are withheld from thee and
  from the world, which is wisdom in me in a time
  to come.

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A Caution-

• And verily I say unto thee that thou shalt lay
  aside the things of this world, and seek for the
  things of a better.

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The Dunkerat Miramar

• the instructors insisted that
  virtually anyone can be taught to get out
  of the Dunker.
• First, maintain your reference point.
• In the most chaotic situations, that means
  identifying and holding on to something that will
  will help you stay oriented
• Their second mantra is to wait for all the sudden
  and violent motion to stop
• Eventually, the chaos subsides, the tumult
  ceases, and its a lot easier to handle the
  situation.
• Ben Sherwood, The Survivors Club, p. 7

Question In chaotic and uncertain times, what
are the reference points you focus on until the
tumult ceases?
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The Desires of Emmas Heart

• In the last anxious hours before the Prophet
  Joseph Smith left for Carthage in June 1844,
  his wife, Emma, asked for a blessing. Unable
  to grant her wish at the time, Joseph
  instructed her to write out "the desires of
  her heart" and he would confirm the blessing
  by his signature upon his return.
• Among the desires she expressed in her short,
  self- inscribed blessing was her fervent wish "to
  honor and respect my husband as my head, ever to
  live in his confidence and by acting in unison
  with him retain the place which God has given me
  by his side."
• She expressed a "craving for wisdom" that she
  would not do or say anything she would regret
• she desired the Spirit of God and a fruitful mind
  that she would be able "to comprehend the designs
  of God, when revealed through his servants
  without doubting"
• she sought wisdom to rear her children to be
  "useful ornaments in the Kingdom of God"
• and prudence to care for her body that she would
  live to perform "all the work that she
  covenanted to perform in the spirit world"
• and, finally, she asked for "humility . . . that
  she might rejoice in the blessings which God has
  in store for all who are willing to be obedient
  to his requirements.
• Heavens Are Open The 1992 Sperry Symposium on
  the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History,
  208-218.