"Those who seek so to do." Wentzville Ward Combined Lesson Re-Recording From 2025.03.30

This is my, I guess, re-recording of our second hour Sunday discussion from this last fifth Sunday. I had mentioned to a few people that I intended to record it during the lesson, but I forgot to invite someone to do that. So here is the recording. It probably won't come with quite as much excitement as the actual event did, but let me share with you my thoughts. So President Mayer, in our Stake Bishops Council some time ago, a couple of months ago, suggested that we as bishops follow the guidance and inspiration of the Spirit and provide a lesson or a talk maybe more frequently than we have in the past. And so I wanted to share with you some of those thoughts that had come to me as I prepared over time for this lesson. So the title of the lesson is Those Who Seek So To Do, and that comes from a verse in the Doctrine and Covenants that we'll talk about here in a minute. And let me start by sharing some of my notes, my chicken scratch from Elder Kieran's visit this last week at the Combined Leadership Conference and the Priesthood Leadership Conference that we had on the 22nd of March. There you can see on the top is the date. So when he first came in, one of the first things that he said is, I wish we could do this outside. It was beautiful. You know, so relatively small group of bishops, stake presidents, branch presidents, a few others in this first meeting. And he came in the room with the other members of the Seventy, Elder Bangader, Elder Dubé, and Elder Morgan, as well as a couple of other individuals who they'd been meeting with. And he immediately went to the pulpit, and this is what he said, I wish we could do this outside. It's a beautiful day. And then he said, thank you for being so, for being so bright and full of beans, for being here and so bright and full of beans. And I thought he said beams, like, you know, sunbeams, brightly beams, our Father's mercy. And it took me some time before I realized maybe he did say beans, because I did write down beans there. But in the end, he did say beans. And this is what it means. So it's a British saying, you know, he's obviously British. He says he's half British, half Irish. But being full of beans, meaning means you're lively, energetic, and enthusiastic. So I would encourage you to be full of beans and full of beams. And what kind of beams? Our Father's beams, the mercy and the inspiration that comes from heaven, from our Heavenly Father, be full of those beams, in addition to full of beans, you know, cheery and enthusiastic and exciting. So I always like when I'm teaching or giving a lecture or lesson to share a little bit about the process of learning and my process of presenting. First thing, what are we going to talk about? We'll talk about that here in a second. How does it apply to me? So what? What do I do with that information? And then what do I do next? So these four things, four steps, I think I learned from a presenter, a teacher, an educator some time ago, and they've become valuable to me, not only when I'm teaching or presenting, but also when I am learning. What's being taught? How does it apply to me? What do I do with it? What do I do next? I think sometimes we forget that, what do I do next question. So let's talk about what we're going to talk about. Three topics. Those who seek so to do, look unto me in every thought and be still and know that I am God. And you can see these verses here, Doctrine and Covenants 46, Doctrine and Covenants chapter 6, and then Doctrine and So these are the references for the topics that we're going to discuss. And I would encourage you, you know, to follow along in your scriptures, if you'd like, take some notes, write down your thoughts, I would suggest not, you know, personally, I find I do this maybe too much, I try to keep a record of what's being said, as opposed to just writing down the inspiration of what I am personally receiving during what's being said. And there are a lot of speakers, you know, Elder Bednar is one that sticks out to me, who will always refer and recommend that we, as opposed to recording everything, we should record what inspiration we receive. So, as we're going through this lesson, consider that. And this is definitely going to be an abbreviated version of the lesson that I gave in Gospel Doctrine class, combined class. Okay, let's talk about those who seek so to do. So questions for you, what do you seek? And how do we choose what we seek? Sometimes we assume that what we should seek or what we seek should just be given to us, right? And we'll talk a little bit about how we're choosing and what we're seeking down the road. Elder Kieran, these are again notes from Elder Kieran, he counseled us to let the truth expand, rise up and burst out of us so that we can become a beacon of light. We need to allow that truth, that beacon of light grow lighter and brighter within us. So that's what I'd encourage you to consider as you're looking for what to seek is things, items, knowledge, intelligence, enlightenment that will allow you to become lighter and brighter and that will expand and rise up and burst out of you as he referred to it so that you want to share it with other people. So consider that. Interesting comparison metaphor here, you can see me cutting a tree down there, that was last year. And then you can see some of the logs that came from that tree. This will just keep cycling forever and ever. So on the left there, this is oak, this is really dense oak, super, super dense oak. And it's looks really good, really heavy, right? However, some of that was hollowed out. And this, you know, these are not from the same tree, but they're from the same tree felling adventure. I didn't realize when I was cutting these trees down that these were totally hollow. We probably had a bunch of animals living in there too, hopefully they escaped before the trees came down. But oftentimes as we're seeking, you know, we're seeking for something like this, a solid, dense, you know, from a burning standpoint, energy rich, full of, you know, able to burn for hours and hours, this really dense, rich pin oak that you see there on the right side. But oftentimes what we find is this hollowed out, you know, it looks like good wood on the outside, but on the inside, it's rotten. My father, one of his favorite sayings was from his father who would say, occasionally you can find a good biscuit in a trash can, but that's not the place we go to look for good biscuits. Go to look for any biscuits for that matter. So be cautious what you are seeking. Be very cautious. So questions, what do we seek? I would encourage you to read each of these verses. You know, we believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men. Indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul. We believe all things, hope all things, have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there's anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. That's what we should be seeking for. And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom. Yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom. Seek learning even by study, and by faith the truth will make you free. And this comes from the For the Strength of Youth guide. Your Heavenly Father is a God of truth. He is all-knowing. All truth comes from Him and leads to Him. You show that you value truth as you seek learning, live with integrity, and bravely stand for what you know is right, even if you have to stand alone. Doctrine and Covenants 88. Also, I give unto you a commandment that you shall continue in prayer and fasting from this time forth. And I give unto you a commandment that you should teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom. Teach ye diligently, and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, and in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand. And then again from the For the Strength of Youth booklet, Heavenly Father wants His daughters and sons to always be learning. You have both temporal and spiritual reasons to seek and love learning. Education is not just about earning money. It is part of your eternal goal to become more like your Heavenly Father. Living with integrity means you love truth with all your heart more than you love personal comfort, popularity, or convenience. It means doing what is right simply because it is right. Period. End of story. You have something precious to share. The gospel of Jesus Christ holds the answers to life's questions. It is the way to peace and happiness. You may not know everything, but you know enough to help others understand and value true eternal principles. So, a couple of comments for you. I have always found that we can find truth, knowledge, wisdom, and enlightenment in many places. It doesn't just have to be within the scriptures or within the walls of the church or the temple. We can find truth in many, many places. You know, oftentimes there are movies, books, podcasts. Wonderful, wonderful truths can be found there. But, I would encourage you to be very selective with what you consume because oftentimes that truth can be mingled with or presented with or conflated with things that aren't true or items or concepts that are misleadingly or quasi-true, if you know what I mean. So, be very cautious. Be very careful. But, we can find truth everywhere. So, keep your spiritual antenna up. As we discuss what we just discussed there, that you can find truth everywhere, I would encourage you and those of us that teach to make sure we focus on the core doctrines, the simple doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Focus on these core doctrines. That's what we're here to learn. Yes, there are plenty of ancillary doctrines out there, so to speak, but this, again, from Elder Kieran, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, from his mouth to my ears, and now from my mouth to your ears, we need to focus on the core doctrines, the sweet, simple knowledge of the core doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, that's what we should be seeking. Again, occasionally you can find a good biscuit in a trash can, but that is not where we should be going for biscuits. Okay, let's look at a couple of verses. Doctrine and Covenants 1117. And then, behold, according to your desires, yea, even according to your faith, it shall be done unto you. Doctrine and Covenants 137, verse 9. For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works and according to their desires. So, we're talking, obviously, about desires and intents. Mosiah 513. For how knoweth a man the Master, whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart? What are the thoughts and intents of your heart, brothers and sisters? Doctrine and Covenants 633. Fear not to do good, my sons and daughters, for whatsoever you sow, that shall ye also reap. Therefore, if you sow good, you shall also reap good for your reward. And all of these verses were compiled by the late Neal A. Maxwell. We're going to watch a little video, a short video here from Elder Maxwell. Actually, everything depends on our desires, which shape our thought patterns. Our desires precede our deeds and lie at the very cores of our souls, tilting us toward or away from God. God can educate our desires. Others may seek to manipulate our desires, but it is we who form the desires, the thoughts, and intents of our heart. The end rule is, according as our desire shall it be done. For I, the Lord, judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their heart. One's individual will thus remains uniquely his. God will not override it, nor overwhelm it. Hence, we'd better want the consequences of what we want. There's so much to unpack there. I would encourage you to spend some time especially evaluating this last sentence. We better want the consequences of what we want. Sometimes we want what we want, but we don't realize, or don't think about, or choose not to realize that there are consequences attached to what we want. So, consider that as you're trying to figure out what to seek and why you seek what you seek. Moving on. How do we measure, or maybe when was the last time we measured or evaluated what we spend our time doing? These are all tape measures. They're all different manufacturers, and they are all very close in measurement length, but they're all slightly different, even though these are, you know, well-known manufacturers. You might recognize some of those. I have one or two of those at home. So, how do we determine what a standard is? That's the next question. There are a bunch of standards out there. There is a National Institute of Standards that publishes and posts standards, and I would question, and this is a question for your consideration, a rhetorical question perhaps, how did we establish these standards? Ultimately, anything that is a measurement device, and I have right here a measurement device that we call a Bolle gauge. Essentially, I can measure, it's a caliper of sorts, I can measure the inside or outside diameter of something up to a certain size within a tenth of a millimeter. It's very precise, but the question now is who determines what a millimeter actually is? Is that something that came down from Mount Sinai with Moses from Heavenly Father? This is a one millimeter length, or an inch, or a foot. All of these lengths are arbitrary. Now, I mean that in a nice way. They were established, and set up, and determined by man. They're arbitrary. So, they have meaning to us because they've been around for so long, and because we use them, you know, in our various fields, and you know, at home, and what have you, but these are arbitrary measurements. But there are some measurements, some standards, that are not created by man, or the world, if you will, created by God, based on eternal truths. That is what we should be using to measure, or compare, or evaluate what it is that we are seeking, and seeking for. Again, let me say that again. There are eternal standards, values, if you will, that we should use to compare what we're learning from, and what we're learning, and what we're choosing to learn. And those things are eternal, and those things, those standards, do come from God. So, here's some comments from Elder Gene R. Cook, shared again by President Mayer with us in our stake bishops council not too long ago. There are eight standards here that we'll listen to him discuss when it comes to how we are choosing what we seek for, and how we seek for it. I would like to suggest eight standards against which a person can measure one's own teaching of the gospel, or doctrines taught by others, to help one unravel illusions and discern the truth. These standards might be entitled spiritual guides for teachers of righteousness. One, the teacher will not only teach the truth, but the spirit of the Lord will accompany the truth and the teacher. Both should be subject to spiritual confirmation at any time. He will not teach without authority, nor speak independently for himself, knowing that even the very elect can be deceived. Two, the teacher will be in accord with the general authorities as a group and as local leaders, knowing they are guides to safety. He will have desires to follow and conform to their teachings and example in all their spiritual and temporal declarations, knowing the Lord gives them the gifts of discernment. He will not complain, criticize, or speak evilly of the Lord's anointed, knowing that such a practice is an early warning sign of apostasy. Three, the teacher of righteousness will teach from the holy scriptures and that which is taught and confirmed by the Holy Ghost. He will not teach for doctrines the commandments of men. He will not mingle the history and opinions of men with the scripture, nor spend religious instruction time teaching speculation or the philosophies of the world, thereby giving Satan's views exposure. He will not teach doctrines upon which the Lord's prophet has not spoken. He knows that the scriptures lead one to faith on the Lord and under repentance and bring a change of heart. Four, the teacher will teach in simplicity to the true needs of the people basic gospel doctrines like faith, repentance, and prayer, which all men can apply. He will not look beyond the mark by exaggerating, by teaching in the fringe areas, by expanding on the scriptures, or by teaching exotic extremes in any principle like excessively lengthy prayers, false doctrines about the Savior, about Adam, or extremes in diet or politics or investment schemes. He will remember that Satan works in the extremes. He knows of the exactness of the Lord's doctrine, but also of temperance in all things. Number five, the teacher will speak in the light of day. He will not speak of secret doctrines, of special elite groups in the know, or of secret ordinations. Whatever he does will be in the plain view of the people. He knows that doctrines and ordinations are subject to the open view and vote of the saints. Six, the teacher will treat all those being taught as likened to himself, not esteeming himself above his brethren. He will seek excellence before the Lord, but not to excel over his companions in the work. He knows that none is acceptable before God save the meek and lowly in heart. Seven, the teacher of righteousness will be anxious to glorify the Lord. He will refuse to assume any glory unto himself. He will not practice priestcrafts, that is, preaching and holding himself up as a light to the world for gain or for the honor of men. He will be a preacher of righteousness, speaking forcefully against sin, having an eye single to God, not to personal gain, honor, or popularity among men. He knows worldly aspirations leave the door open wide to apostasy. Lastly, number eight, the teacher himself will be in the process of continual personal repentance. He will be an example of meekness, charity, pure motives, dependence on the Lord. He will not just be teaching the doctrine, but also applying it. All in all, it will be evident whom he represents. So there you have it. Some standards, not that this is all inclusive, but these are standards for you to compare what you're seeking and how you're choosing what you're seeking. And the data that comes from your seeking, how you can compare this and measure this against these standards. So I encourage you to review these. Think about it. Maybe go to this talk online and consider what you can do to more fully evaluate what it is that we're consuming from the standpoint of what it is that we want, what it is that we're seeking. So Sister Tracy Browning is one of my favorite speakers. Her comments and thoughts oftentimes resonate with me in very specific ways. Here we're talking about how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ impart their wisdom. Well, let me just read it. God the Father in his Son's way of imparting the wisdom to us prioritizes inviting the power of the Holy Ghost to be our personal teacher as we center Jesus Christ in our lives and in our faithful seeking for their answers and their meaning. They invite us to discover truth through the devoted time spent studying Holy Scripture and to seek for latter-day revealed truth for our day and our time. Imparted by modern-day prophets and apostles, they entreat us to spend regular worshipful time in the house of the Lord and to take to our knees in prayer to access information from heaven. Jesus's promise to those present to hear his Sermon on the Mount is as true for us in our day as it was during his earthly ministry. Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Our Savior assures that your Father which is in heaven gives good things to them that ask. The Lord's method of teaching is line upon line, precept upon precept. We may be required to wait upon the Lord in the space between our current line of understanding and the next yet to be delivered. This sacred space can be a place where our greatest spiritual conditioning can occur. The site where we can bear with patience our earnest seeking and renew our strength to continue to keep the sacred promises we have made to God through covenant. Our covenant relationship with Heavenly Father Jesus Christ signals our prevailing citizenship in God's kingdom and our residency therein requires aligning our life to divine principles and putting in the effort to grow spiritually. Let me just go back to this sentence. This sacred space can be a place where our greatest spiritual conditioning can occur. The site where we can bear with patience our earnest seeking and renew our strength. How many of you have conditioned your bodies through exercise and how difficult is that? I was a cross-country runner in high school and I remember doing conditioning exercises that were just excruciating. Oftentimes we experience these excruciating conditioning experiences but it's in those experiences that we can gain some of the greatest clarity and move forward in our spiritual progress. Let's listen to Elder Uchtdorf now. It's in Doctrine and Covenants section 6, verse 36, where the Savior says to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not. Harriet and I love this scripture. It appears also on the back of For the Strength of Youth and you see it right here. It's a guide for making choices and it reads on here, look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not. I keep a copy of this guide in my shirt pocket. So you might say that I keep this scripture close to my heart literally and figuratively. When I read the scriptures I sometimes like to put myself in the place of those who heard these words when they were first spoken. Can you imagine how Joseph and Oliver might have felt to hear this message from the Lord? It was in April 1829 and God's great and marvelous work was just about to come forth to the world. The church had not yet been organized and the Book of Mormon was still being translated. But Joseph Smith at that time had already begun to learn what the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ was going to mean to all the world. Yes, to all of God's children. He had received life-changing visitations from heavenly beings. He had also been hated and persecuted mercilessly for testifying of those experiences. And that was just the beginning. If Joseph had been allowed to look into his future, what would he have seen? In the next 15 years the work would grow in amazing ways. Stunning truths revealed about the doctrine of Christ, the nature of God, and the divine destiny of all mankind. Priesthood keys, covenants, and ordinances would be restored including temple ordinances that bind families eternally. But there would also be terrifying moments. Joseph and his family would be forced from their homes at least four times. He would be tarred and feathered. He would be betrayed by friends and spend four miserable months in the dungeon-like place, ironically called Liberty Jail. And finally an armed mob would take his life at the age of 38. And yet the Almighty Lord, knowing all this, said to Joseph and Oliver, look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not. Why? Because God knew that if they spent their time worrying about the opposition they would face in the future, it would absolutely paralyze them. On the other hand, the Lord also knew that if they looked forward with faith in him, they could face their fears and doubts and accomplish amazing things in his work. I don't believe God wants his children to be fearful. No, he wants us to trust him and be courageous in his cause. Yes, we all have experiences in life that are difficult, even terrifying. They are part of mortal life. But so is joy. So is faith. God has filled our journey with much that is virtuous, lovely, and of good report and praiseworthy. We just have to look. We just have to seek after it. So I invite you to put Jesus Christ in the center of your frame. Focus on his love, his goodness, his absolute power. Look for evidence of these beautiful truths as you read his words in the Doctrine and Covenants this year. When you look to him with all your heart, there's no room for doubt or fear and everything else becomes clearer as you move forward and upward. My dear friends, as one of his special witnesses, I testify that the Savior knows you perfectly. He loves you perfectly. He knows what your future holds. And knowing all that, he's telling you, look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not. This is my witness and my blessing to you in the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Amen. So rejoice in the sweet and simple knowledge of the core doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the sweetest and simplest of those core doctrines is that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Focus on him. Learn of him. And we can begin to experience that peace that we've talked about. So that's where our focus should be. And in addition to that, we can be still and come to know more fully our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. As we exercise our ability to become more than who we are, which is really just a recognition of who we actually already are, the becoming of who we can become, we can also more fully know who we are. And not only know who we are, but also know of our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father, as well as the core tenets, the simple core doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So again, in reference to Sister Tracy Browning's talk, our Heavenly Father wants to feed us. He wants to give us line upon line, precept upon precept. Just like these young birds who don't know how to feed themselves, we have to learn how to do this. We have to seek the ability to feed ourselves. We have to learn by wisdom and also by faith, by knowledge and also by faith. We have to learn how to learn, and we have to find those sources that teach us true doctrine and truth. Being able to discern what's not true, what's partially true, what's got some truth in it, but not really helpful. We also need to understand that even though someone may be in a specific leadership position in the church with a specific calling, holding specific keys, that doesn't make them perfect. That also doesn't mean that every word that comes out of their mouth is absolutely true. Once in a while, probably more often than not, many of us in church callings make mistakes. The good news is there are always opportunities to improve. We compare what we've said and learned and what we've taught and what we've understood against those standards we've talked about already, and we can come to know what's true. We can clarify if a mistake has been made, seek greater light and understanding, and if need be, set things aside and move forward in faith. I mean, set misunderstandings, set things we don't quite understand yet aside and move forward in faith with the understanding that we currently have, allowing our Heavenly Father His time during which He can prepare us to more fully understand His will. Our Heavenly Father will take care of us. You know, Brother Fryhoff sung this song a couple of weeks ago now. As we consider the flowers, the birds they're taken care of by our Heavenly Father. He will take care of us as we do our very, very best to seek and to be still, know that He is God. Okay, so recap. What have we discussed? How does it apply to me? What will I do now? I have a couple of questions for you to consider in reference to Doctrine and Covenants 101. How can I be still and how can I know that He is God? And that's my invitation to you, is to consider how you, how I, how each of us can be still, how we can choose to be still. Is that spending more time in the scriptures? Is that tuning out some of the distractions that we oftentimes have? Is that just driving to work without the radio on? Or maybe changing it to the scriptures or some meaningful conference talk that we have? There are so many ways. And as we consider how we can be more still, also consider how each of us can know that He is God. Maybe not just believe or feel, but come to know. And as I mentioned before, there's always great content, not always. There can be great enlightenment principles in other media sources. At the end of one of my favorite movies, The Avengers, which one it is, Wong asks Bruce Banner, what will you do? And so that's my ask to you. What will you do? Hopefully, what I've been able to share with you has been helpful and meaningful. You'll be able to put some of these principles and ideas into practice. Ultimately, the goal here is just to create better understanding of who we are and what we can do to become more than what we currently are. Which again, is basically uncovering who we already are. Sounds like a contradiction in terms, but it's really not. So allow me to share my testimony with you. I know the gospel is true. I'm grateful for the opportunity that I've had to share and prepare this content, and for the time that I have to spend with each of you. It's been a great blessing to spend this time with you, not only in preparation for this lesson, but also to spend time with you at church and in other activities. I'm grateful for all that you do, for all of your service and sacrifice, and desiring to become more like the Savior Jesus Christ. And I say that in the name of Jesus Christ.