< ALMA 5 >
v.. 1 Now it came to pass that Alma began to deliver the word of God unto the people, first in the land of Zarahemla, and from thence throughout the land.
The Midterm of Life
Alma is preaching to the people of Zarahemla, they are lifted up in pride, persecuting the more humble members of the church. Alma sees this issue and steps down from his position of chief judge.
Consider the Audience:
King Benjamin – Very righteous audience
Abinadi – Very wicked audience
Alma – Audience is in the middle, not incredibly righteous, but not incredibly wicked. Alma wants his audience to recommit.
Are you ready for the final? Alma is going to give you the questions that are going to be on the test so you can prepare.
To pass, you only have to get one question right. It has to be the right question. You can get them all wrong, but if you get his one key question correct, you’ll be fine.
Find the question marks in Alma chapter 5
1) V. 6 -13 (a lot of question marks here that drive at the same question) – have you sufficiently retained in remembrance? Remembering the triumphs and mistakes of their fathers and what God has done for them.
a. What’s the point of this exercise? It gives us confidence that God can do the same kinds of things for us. Remembering is a very important idea in the Book of Mormon and is found over 100 times.
b. The scriptures weren’t always called scriptures, they were originally called books of remembrance.
c. What is the power of remembering our ancestors? What have they done for us? Can help keep things in perspective.
2) Have ye spiritually been born of God? 5 v. 14 – King Benjamin spoke about becoming the children of God. Isaiah asked, “who shall declare his generation?” Do we match that description? Have we chosen Christ as our Father?
3) Have ye received His image in your countenances? V. 14 and v. 19 – (photos of celebrities and their kids that look alike). Is there a resemblance of God in our countenance? We often hear that we have some features that ties us to our parents. Do people see Christ in us? What we have in our hearts often shows up in our face.
4) Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? V. 14 – What is the mighty change (see Mosiah 5) – it’s the attitude of wanting to choose good. I want to be a good person, I want to do what’s right. I want to please my Heavenly parents. Do we no longer have the disposition to do evil, but to do good continually? Not just out of obligation, or social pressure or routing, but because we want to.
5) Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? V. 15 – what does your testimony tree look like? Is it a Charlie brown Christmas tree, are you caring for it?
6) How do picture the final judgement going? v.15-25 – How do you imaging that day going? He gives you some multiple choice options here. Option A: v. 16 – righteous work, welcome! Option B v. 17 – lying to the Lord, yeah, I did the right things. Option C v. 18 – souls filled with guilt and remorse. Which scenario do you see happening. Alma whispers for us to choose option A.
7) Can you look up to God at that day with a pure hear and clean hands? V. 19 – You need to have both: clean hands and a pure heart. It’s not enough to just not do bad, but you also have to do good. (Bendar talk on clean hands and a pure heart). Are we working on both?
8) If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? v. 26 – Why the sacrament and church meetings every week, why general conference every 6 months? To keep out faith burning bright. To keep us in remembrance.
9) Have ye walked keeping yourselves blameless before God? Have ye been sufficiently humble? Are your garments cleansed? V. 27 – Christ’s blood has that power to clean us. Do we wash ourselves each week through the sacrament. Are we humble enough to accept that sacrifice.
10) Pride, envy, and persecution – do we have these things? V. 28- 30 – do we struggle feeling like we are better than others because of our money, or our position? Are we envying others because they have more than we have? Are we annoyed at God because others have more?
11) Will ye persist? V. 53-55 – Are we determined to continue in our path distancing ourselves from our Redeemer?
What was the only question you had to get right? Will ye persist. You can do poorly on all the other questions, but if ye answer, no! I’m not going to persist. I’m going to change. If you can answer that question honestly, then you pass. You are headed in the right direction.
v. 31-34 – You don’t have to persist, you can repent. You can eat of the bread and water of life freely if you decide to come to the tree of life. Everyone can get an A. Enjoy the graduation ceremony.
v. 57 – Will you come out of the world? Are you willing to be separate? Are you willing to stand up and stand out? It’s hard to hide your candle under the bushel. The good Shepherd is calling us. You look forward to the judgement with faith.
Truth: God invites us to frequently examine our faith and make corrections as needed.
I will go and do: What changes or course corrections do you plan to make as a result of taking this mid-term?
Kudos to Benjamin Wilcox for laying this out. His teaching with power YouTube videos are probably the best resource out there.
The Midterm of Life
Alma is preaching to the people of Zarahemla, they are lifted up in pride, persecuting the more humble members of the church. Alma sees this issue and steps down from his position of chief judge.
Consider the Audience:
King Benjamin – Very righteous audience
Abinadi – Very wicked audience
Alma – Audience is in the middle, not incredibly righteous, but not incredibly wicked. Alma wants his audience to recommit.
Are you ready for the final? Alma is going to give you the questions that are going to be on the test so you can prepare.
To pass, you only have to get one question right. It has to be the right question. You can get them all wrong, but if you get his one key question correct, you’ll be fine.
Find the question marks in Alma chapter 5
1) V. 6 -13 (a lot of question marks here that drive at the same question) – have you sufficiently retained in remembrance? Remembering the triumphs and mistakes of their fathers and what God has done for them.
a. What’s the point of this exercise? It gives us confidence that God can do the same kinds of things for us. Remembering is a very important idea in the Book of Mormon and is found over 100 times.
b. The scriptures weren’t always called scriptures, they were originally called books of remembrance.
c. What is the power of remembering our ancestors? What have they done for us? Can help keep things in perspective.
2) Have ye spiritually been born of God? 5 v. 14 – King Benjamin spoke about becoming the children of God. Isaiah asked, “who shall declare his generation?” Do we match that description? Have we chosen Christ as our Father?
3) Have ye received His image in your countenances? V. 14 and v. 19 – (photos of celebrities and their kids that look alike). Is there a resemblance of God in our countenance? We often hear that we have some features that ties us to our parents. Do people see Christ in us? What we have in our hearts often shows up in our face.
4) Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? V. 14 – What is the mighty change (see Mosiah 5) – it’s the attitude of wanting to choose good. I want to be a good person, I want to do what’s right. I want to please my Heavenly parents. Do we no longer have the disposition to do evil, but to do good continually? Not just out of obligation, or social pressure or routing, but because we want to.
5) Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? V. 15 – what does your testimony tree look like? Is it a Charlie brown Christmas tree, are you caring for it?
6) How do picture the final judgement going? v.15-25 – How do you imaging that day going? He gives you some multiple choice options here. Option A: v. 16 – righteous work, welcome! Option B v. 17 – lying to the Lord, yeah, I did the right things. Option C v. 18 – souls filled with guilt and remorse. Which scenario do you see happening. Alma whispers for us to choose option A.
7) Can you look up to God at that day with a pure hear and clean hands? V. 19 – You need to have both: clean hands and a pure heart. It’s not enough to just not do bad, but you also have to do good. (Bendar talk on clean hands and a pure heart). Are we working on both?
8) If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? v. 26 – Why the sacrament and church meetings every week, why general conference every 6 months? To keep out faith burning bright. To keep us in remembrance.
9) Have ye walked keeping yourselves blameless before God? Have ye been sufficiently humble? Are your garments cleansed? V. 27 – Christ’s blood has that power to clean us. Do we wash ourselves each week through the sacrament. Are we humble enough to accept that sacrifice.
10) Pride, envy, and persecution – do we have these things? V. 28- 30 – do we struggle feeling like we are better than others because of our money, or our position? Are we envying others because they have more than we have? Are we annoyed at God because others have more?
11) Will ye persist? V. 53-55 – Are we determined to continue in our path distancing ourselves from our Redeemer?
What was the only question you had to get right? Will ye persist. You can do poorly on all the other questions, but if ye answer, no! I’m not going to persist. I’m going to change. If you can answer that question honestly, then you pass. You are headed in the right direction.
v. 31-34 – You don’t have to persist, you can repent. You can eat of the bread and water of life freely if you decide to come to the tree of life. Everyone can get an A. Enjoy the graduation ceremony.
v. 57 – Will you come out of the world? Are you willing to be separate? Are you willing to stand up and stand out? It’s hard to hide your candle under the bushel. The good Shepherd is calling us. You look forward to the judgement with faith.
Truth: God invites us to frequently examine our faith and make corrections as needed.
I will go and do: What changes or course corrections do you plan to make as a result of taking this mid-term?
Kudos to Benjamin Wilcox for laying this out. His teaching with power YouTube videos are probably the best resource out there.
v. 6 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to the church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers?
Remembrance
Alma is speaking to members of the church, people who have been baptized, he is speaking to people in our demographic.
Forgetting deliverance breeds pride:
1) Remember! You were delivered only when you humbled themselves
2) Remember! Your freedom was not earned, it was given
3) Remember! Becuase forgetting that makes your prosperity feel deserved or like we did it on our own.
Alma is telling us that wealth becomes bondage, status becomes bondage, pious religion becomes bondage. Remembering where we came from, what God has done for us keeps us free.
"When you look at the dictionary for the most important word, do you know that it is? It could be 'remember'. Because all of you have made convenants - you know what to do and you know how to do it - our greatest need is to remember." - Spencer W. Kimball, "Circles of Exaltation" June 1968.
Remembrance
Alma is speaking to members of the church, people who have been baptized, he is speaking to people in our demographic.
Forgetting deliverance breeds pride:
1) Remember! You were delivered only when you humbled themselves
2) Remember! Your freedom was not earned, it was given
3) Remember! Becuase forgetting that makes your prosperity feel deserved or like we did it on our own.
Alma is telling us that wealth becomes bondage, status becomes bondage, pious religion becomes bondage. Remembering where we came from, what God has done for us keeps us free.
"When you look at the dictionary for the most important word, do you know that it is? It could be 'remember'. Because all of you have made convenants - you know what to do and you know how to do it - our greatest need is to remember." - Spencer W. Kimball, "Circles of Exaltation" June 1968.
v. 26 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
This is the best video to watch, it just is awesome:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/04/the-music-of-the-gospel.title1?lang=eng
This is the best video to watch, it just is awesome:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/04/the-music-of-the-gospel.title1?lang=eng
v. 48 I say unto you, that I know of myself that whatsoever I shall say unto you, covering that which is to come, is true; and I say unto you, that I know that Jesus Christ shall come, yea, the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace, and mercy, and truth. And behold, it is he that cometh to take away the sins of the world, yea, the sins of every man who steadfastly believeth on his name.
Grace, Mercy, Truth
Grace: Unearned divine help that changes us. It is God's power acting upon a person who could not save, heal, or transform themselves.
Mercy: Deserved punishment withheld out of love. Mercy assumes guilt. Justice is real. The penalty is deserved. Mercy does not deny justice, it intercedes. It satisfieth the demands of justice.
Grace gives help. Mercy witholds harm.
Truth: Reality as God sees it. Things as they really were, are, and will be. It is what is real, regardless of how I feel.
Grace: God helps me do what I cannot do alone.
Mercy: God does not give me what I deserve.
Truth: God tells me what is real so I can change.
Truth reveals the wound. Mercy prevents destruction. Grace heals and transforms.
Grace, Mercy, Truth
Grace: Unearned divine help that changes us. It is God's power acting upon a person who could not save, heal, or transform themselves.
Mercy: Deserved punishment withheld out of love. Mercy assumes guilt. Justice is real. The penalty is deserved. Mercy does not deny justice, it intercedes. It satisfieth the demands of justice.
Grace gives help. Mercy witholds harm.
Truth: Reality as God sees it. Things as they really were, are, and will be. It is what is real, regardless of how I feel.
Grace: God helps me do what I cannot do alone.
Mercy: God does not give me what I deserve.
Truth: God tells me what is real so I can change.
Truth reveals the wound. Mercy prevents destruction. Grace heals and transforms.