Come Follow Me Mosiah 1-3: Insights By Gogo Goff

I hope you enjoy some insights from my Come Follow Me Mosiah 1-3 (If you missed last week’s insights for Come Follow Me Enos–Words of Mormon click here). Save this pin to read later.

Intelligence.

“And he also taught them concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, saying: My sons, I would that ye should remember that were it not for these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God.”
Mosiah 1:3

The scriptures are the greatest under-tapped resource on earth, they are vast reserves of knowledge. Satan seeks to get us to neglect the scriptures either by not reading them, and therefore not unlocking the knowledge they contain, or by not applying the knowledge and thereby not unlocking the power contained in the knowledge.

The true power of the scriptures comes when we not only gain knowledge but we apply that knowledge by listening to and following the Holy Ghost.

Knowledge is knowing who God is. The application of knowledge is yielding to the enticings of the Holy Ghost to come unto Christ.

President Joseph F. Smith taught: “Pure intelligence comprises not only knowledge, but also the power to properly apply that knowledge”

Therefore, knowing that the glory of God is intelligence (D&C 93:36), one could say that the glory of God is not only being all-knowing but in the proper application of that knowledge. We read the scriptures to know, and we follow the Holy Ghost to apply that knowledge to become like God.

Which way do you face?

“And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them;”
Mosiah 2:6

The people in the time of King Benjamin pointed their tents (and thereby their families) towards the Temple and the Prophet. Which way are you pointing your tent? Let us be careful to pitch our tents in the direction of the Lord, and resolve to never move them to “save face” with those around us.

“When people try to save face with men, they can unwittingly lose face with God.”
Elder Lynn G. Robbins

 Service.

“And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”
Mosiah 2:17

What role does service play in the plan of Salvation? President Marion G. Romney taught the following: “Service is not something we endure on this earth so we can earn the right to live in the celestial kingdom. Service is the very fiber of which an exalted life in the celestial kingdom is made.

Knowing that service is what gives our Father in Heaven fulfillment, and knowing that we want to be where He is and as He is, why must we be commanded to serve one another? Oh, for the glorious day when these things all come naturally because of the purity of our hearts. In that day there will be no need for a commandment because we will have experienced for ourselves that we are truly happy only when we are engaged in unselfish service. Let us use the freedom which comes from self-reliance in giving and serving.

Can we see how critical self-reliance becomes when looked upon as the prerequisite to service, when we also know service is what Godhood is all about? Without self-reliance one cannot exercise these innate desires to serve. How can we give if there is nothing there? Food for the hungry cannot come from empty shelves. Money to assist the needy cannot come from an empty purse. Support and understanding cannot come from the emotionally starved. Teaching cannot come from the unlearned. And most important of all, spiritual guidance cannot come from the spiritually weak.”
The Celestial Nature of Self-reliance: Oct 1982.

The Resurrection.

“And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him…And he shall rise the third day from the dead”
Mosiah 3:9-10

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the most important event in human history. From the suffering in the garden to the crucifixion on the cross to the ultimate victory of resurrection morning. Without the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we are hopeless as all good things would end at death.

But glory be to God, death is not the victor, Christ won the victory over the grave answering with a resounding yes the age old question “If a man dies, will he live again?”