Welcome back, everybody. This is Primarily Scripture. I am Cindy Young, and I want to help you go from reading your scriptures to studying them. Because, of course, reading and studying are two different things, aren't they? Just because you've read something doesn't mean you have actually studied it.

 We follow the Come Follow Me curriculum, but every week we focus on just a couple of verses, and I show you super simple tips and tricks that will help your studying be more effective.

It really is so easy a kid can do it,  but it's also so effective that you'll keep doing these things for the rest of your life. At least I hope you will. This week's reading is from Mosiah chapter 29. That's the end of the book of Mosiah into Alma chapter 4. And what's going on is Mosiah's getting old, and none of his sons want to be king. And actually, Mosiah teaches the people that having kings  isn't actually the very best form of government, that there can be problems from that.

And we've already seen examples of that, haven't we, with like Wicked King Noah. So Mosiah teaches the people and they all decide that they're going to change the government from kings to having judges and voting and things like that. So that's super exciting in Mosiah. The sad thing that happens at the end of Mosiah is that King Mosiah does get old and dies, and so does Alma, he dies. But the good news is that Alma the Younger becomes the new head of the church. He is the high priest, and he also then is voted in to be the first chief judge in the land.  So as we move into the book of Alma, I want you guys to look for  📍 spiritual wins. Okay. That's what we're looking for this week. Spiritual wins.  What is a win? First of all, everybody knows what a win is, right? Especially in games or in sports. It's when you get more points than the other guy or you win the race, right?

You come in first. So what do we have to do in order to win?  The number one thing you have to do in order to win, no matter what you're doing, is you have to follow the rules, right? Can you imagine if someone was playing soccer and then someone else came in to play with them and they brought their golf clubs with them? 

Do you think that they would win? They'd probably be kicked out of the game, right? Because that's not what we're playing here. That's not the right thing. Or, if somebody is super great at dribbling a basketball, does that mean that when they come in to play soccer and they start using their hands that they're going to win? 

No, they didn't follow the right rules. So you have to follow the rules for whatever game you're playing or whatever activity you're in. Now, not everything is a competition, not everything is a sport. There are other ways to have wins, right?

 Anytime that you have a success of any kind, you can call that a win, particularly if there's been a struggle of some kind. For instance, maybe you would have a win by doing well on a math test, or maybe the gate was left open and the dog is about to run away, but you're able to quick close the gate and keep the dog in. And that's a win, right? There's like this problem, oh no, but you're able to overcome. Hooray! And then you can celebrate.

So that's a win. So what does it mean to have a spiritual win?  Any ideas?

 Just like with any other win, there's probably going to be some kind of struggle or opposition in order to have a spiritual win.  And you have to follow the rules, but whose rules are we following? God's rules, right? And what are God's rules called?

You know this one. Commandments. So, as we read, we're going to look for ways that people had spiritual wins. Okay? So turn with me to Alma chapter 1.  Chapter one starts out with the story of a man named Nehor. And it says at the end  of verse two,  he was "a man who was large, and was noted for his much strength."

So I'm just imagining like somebody so  strong, super big dude. Alright.   And he started teaching false doctrine. And if you look on the worksheets, there is an activity that helps you identify that false doctrine and think about it. But since we're looking for spiritual wins, we're going to go on.

I want you to go with me to verse seven. Okay.  It says this. "And it came to pass as he was going," this is Nehor, who's teaching all sorts of bad things,  "as he was going, to preach to those who believed on his words, he met a man who belonged to the church of God, yea, even one of their teachers; and he began to contend with him sharply."

What does contend mean? He's trying to argue with him, pick a fight  "that he might lead away the people of the church." He's trying to convince this teacher that the church is wrong.   "But the man," the man he was fighting with, the teacher, "withstood him, admonishing him with the words of God.

Now, the name of the man was Gideon."  Here comes this big guy and he starts telling Gideon, your church is wrong. Here's what I think you should do. And he's getting all up in his face, right? It says sharply. He was contending with him sharply.  But Gideon withstood him, how?  At the end of verse seven. Let's mark this. It's so important. "Admonishing him with the words of God." And if you don't know what admonishing means, go on to the worksheet and there is an explanation there. We've got a couple of big words this week and defining those big words will help you in your study. Let's keep going in verse nine.  "Now because Gideon withstood him with the words of God, he," Nehor the bad guy, "he was wroth with Gideon,"  he was angry,   "and drew his sword and began to smite him.

Now Gideon,    being stricken with many years," he was old, "therefore he was not able to withstand his blows, therefore he was slain by the sword."   So we've got little old Gideon, who knows the word of God. And then we've got big strong Nehor, who's trying to fight against it.  And Nehor decides he's just going to get out his sword and start hitting Gideon?  Of course Gideon is not going to live through that. Oh my goodness! So sad! 

 Now let's think about wins.  Who would the world say won the sword fight between Nehor and Gideon? Who won the sword fight?  Sadly, it was Nehor, wasn't it?

He even killed Gideon. So, of course, Nehor won.  But  what kind of spiritual win did Gideon have?  He knew the Word of God.  So, remember we talked about how when you're going to win, you have to play by the rules.  The world's rules for sword fights are is whoever stays alive wins, right?  But was Gideon there to do a sword fight?  That's not the game that Gideon was playing. Gideon was there to stand up for what was right. He was there to be a representative of Jesus Christ because he had made covenants and he had joined the church. He just wanted to choose the right. So Gideon had a win because he wasn't playing sword fights. He was being a disciple of Christ.  Do you see that spiritual win? I love it! Love it! And it's hard to mark in here, because what am I going to mark? And then Gideon died. 

That's a weird thing to mark. But what can we mark in our scriptures to help us remember?  Let's see. Gideon withstood him with the words of God. Gideon was able to win because he knew the words of God and was able to share them and his testimony was not shaken when Nehor came after him and was telling him all this bad stuff, Gideon didn't say, 'Oh no, maybe the church isn't true!' Hm-mm.



So now let's jump ahead and look at one more verse before we finish for the day. It's 

alma chapter 1 verse 25. My favorite line  it's right in the middle and it says, "nevertheless," 'cause there were some hard things going on, "nevertheless, they were steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of God."  As you have spiritual wins,

even if you don't win by the world's definition, that is you being steadfast and immovable. 

If you stand up and do the right thing and return money that you found that fell on the floor, somebody might look at you and say, You could have kept that money. Well, sure.  What game are you playing? Are you playing 'let's keep all the money that I find,' or are you playing 'let's do the right thing?'  You want the spiritual win more than you want the world to look at you and say, Oh, good job, you got an extra dollar. Right? What else could you do? In sports? With your friends? At work? At church? Anytime there's an opportunity for you to choose the right, you need to decide what game am I playing? Which side am I on? Do I care more about what the world says,  or do I care more about what Heavenly Father says? 

So, I encourage you this week to look for those spiritual wins in your own life.  Pray for help to know what to do, and then stand steadfast and immovable, which means be firm, choose the right, no matter what else. Heavenly Father will help you as you strive to make good choices. Okay?

You guys, thank you so much for being here with me today!

I love the scriptures. I love what they teach me. I love how they help me to strengthen my testimony of Jesus Christ and to become more like him.

 Go read your scriptures. Have that spiritual win today. I'll see you next time. Bye guys! 

  📍  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!