📍  Hi friends! Welcome back to Primarily Scripture. I'm your host, Cindy Young, and I am so glad that you are here with us today. If you don't know what this is, this is a beginner's scripture study guide,

We study Come Follow Me. Let's dive in.  We're in Mosiah chapters 25 through 28 this week and I love these chapters.

They're all about repentance and forgiveness. Two of the most powerful and important principles in the entire gospel. Just bedrock, foundational principles. So one of my tips for you today is that when you study the scriptures,  especially when you're a beginner, it can be so helpful to 📍 start with a question.

Now, as you get more experienced with your scripture study, you'll be able to come up with these questions all on your own. But as you're just starting out, use the resources that you have, okay? You can go onto my website and get free worksheets that will help give you study ideas.  The Come Follow Me manual, however, should be the most important resource that you use besides the scriptures. Okay? Because that is what the prophet and apostles have authorized and have given to us. And so it's a great tool. If you go into Come Follow Me, into the manual, and look at each week, you will see that they don't expect you to read every single verse in every single chapter for the week.

They give you this whole chunk of chapters. And then they give you ideas to study and there are specific questions and it'll go with just a little block of verses. Sometimes it's a big block of verses, but you get my point, okay? Start with a question and then as you read, you'll know exactly what you're looking for.

And you'll find it so much faster, okay? So right now, the question I want us to start with is,

is  📍 what does the Lord say about repentance and forgiveness? Now Alma had this same question. Let's look at page one of the worksheets.  There's always a synopsis on page one of the worksheets so let's look at that real quick so we know what's going on.  It says, "some of the younger generation," the younger people, right, kids, "begin to sin and not repent. And many of them don't even join the church," or they even leave the church. "Alma," and he was the prophet and head of the church at the time, "Alma isn't sure what to do about people who don't repent. So he prays and the Lord answers him."  So in this chapter, we get the Lord's answer. And my other tip for you today  is to  📍 pay attention when the words of the Lord are written down. And we've got a whole block of verses that is specifically what the Lord said to Alma.

Now, the Book of Mormon was written for our time, for us.  So, when the Lord spoke to Alma, it was super important for Alma, but guess what? It's super important for us, too. So every time the Lord's words are written down in scripture, I want you to pay super close attention because of course the words of Jesus Christ are the most important words for you. Do you remember in 📍 2nd Nephi, "the words of Christ will tell you all things what you should do."

So let's dive in to   📍 Mosiah chapter 26. As I read in verses 29 and 30, remember to listen for what the Lord says about repentance and forgiveness.  "Therefore, I say unto you, go, and whosoever transgresseth against me, him shall ye judge according to the sins which he has committed." He's telling Alma, as the head of the church, you have to judge people, and if they're doing big sins or small sins, it's your responsibility to decide how serious they are.  And, continuing on, "and if he confess his sins before thee and me, and repenteth in the sincerity of his heart," if he really means it, and he repents,  "him shall ye forgive, and I will forgive him also. Yea, and as often as my people repent, will I forgive them their trespasses against me."

Did you hear it? What does the Lord say about repentance and forgiveness? I'm gonna get something and mark here.  If he  confesses his sins, and repenteth in the sincerity of his heart - If he says he's sorry and he means it -  forgive him and I will forgive him too, says the Lord. That is awesome!  Now we know what the Lord says about repentance and forgiveness.  If you repent, you are forgiven.  There are whole lessons about what repentance looks like, and you can talk to your parents and teachers and friends about that.

We're not going to get into it here, but it's important to know that every time you repent, The Lord will forgive you! Every single time! Every. Single. Time. Isn't that amazing? Think about that for a little while. Will you ponder how this doctrine makes you feel and then go write it in your journal? Oh, I love this verse! As a matter of fact, I'm going to get my yellow highlighter and highlight verse 30. Verse 30 is nice and short, and it's short enough memorize.  It is important doctrine,  that will help you for the rest of your life. So good. Okay, so moving on.

In   📍 chapter 27 is a story that I hope you know. If you grew up in the church, then you probably already know this story.  And if you don't know this story, oh, you are in for a treat! I love the story in Mosiah 27.

It starts out pretty sad though, because Alma has a son and his son is also named Alma. And Alma the Younger, the son, hangs out with the sons of Mosiah, the king,  and they're pretty much the worst guys ever. Isn't that sad? They're the bad guys. They go around trying to destroy the church.  But then, something amazing happens,  and an angel appears to them and tells them to knock it off.

And Alma especially is just so astonished and amazed that he can't even speak, and he loses all of his strength. He can't even stand up. And it takes him two days to recover. But when he finally wakes up and comes to, he tells everybody that he has been redeemed. That he now understands that the gospel is true.

That he has repented. And because of Jesus Christ, he has been forgiven and he turns into the most powerful missionary, and he ends up, later, spoiler alert, he ends up leading the church. So he goes from the worst kind of bad guy, all of the bad stuff he was trying to do, not just being bad,  but actively working against God  and he ends up having this miraculous experience and he repents and he changes and he is forgiven.

So what does this teach us?  📍 What can we learn about repentance and forgiveness  and what the Lord can do for us?  If even Alma the Younger could be forgiven for what he did, then each of us can be forgiven for the mistakes that we make too.

What a beautiful promise to us. As often as you need to repent, you will receive forgiveness. Oh, it's so beautiful!

Okay. And then there's one other thing that I want you guys to pay attention to and it's back in   📍 chapter 26. It's part   what the Lord says about repentance and forgiveness. Okay.

It is in verse 31.  "And ye shall also forgive one another. Your trespasses. For verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his neighbor's trespasses when he says that he repents," if somebody tells you that they're sorry and you don't forgive them,  "the same hath brought himself under condemnation."

 We are supposed to forgive each other, not just expect forgiveness from Heavenly Father.  So this week, as you ponder forgiveness and repentance, I want you to think about who you can forgive. And as you practice forgiveness in your own heart, you will become more like the Savior, Jesus Christ.

  📍 And isn't that what we're trying to do? We want to be more like him. He was our perfect example. He loves you so much and he is ready to help you every single day, every single moment, anytime you need him. Just reach out to him and he is there.   

You guys, the scriptures are amazing! Thank you so much for reading them with me today. But reading them with me isn't nearly as good as reading them by yourself. So find a guide, like my worksheets and the Come Follow Me manual, and look at those questions and prompts and dive into the scriptures yourself.

Pay attention to how you feel as you read, because the Lord wants to speak to you.  I'm Cindy Young. See you next time on Primarily Scripture. 

  📍  Thanks for tuning in to Primarily Scripture with Cindy Young. Don't forget you can subscribe to the newsletter and download free worksheets on the website PrimarilyScripture. com. And if you like the channel, be sure to subscribe, like, share, and leave a review. See you next time!