Hello friends and welcome back to Primarily Scripture. I'm Cindy Young, and I'm so glad you are here with me today. We follow along with Come Follow Me, and this week we are in Doctrine and Covenants sections 41 through 44, and my guest for today fell through, so you get just me, but that's okay. We're still gonna learn something today. Let's open up to Doctrine and Covenants, section 43. Now, what was going on at this time is that the Saints had moved to Ohio and there were people coming in and saying that they were receiving revelations for the church as well as Joseph Smith. That's a problem when people come in and say, I got revelation for the whole church. The members weren't sure what to do about it, and the Lord gave this instruction teaching the people how they could recognize who was authorized to receive revelation for the church. The tip I have for you this week is to identify who is being talked about. On the worksheet there is an activity called Identify the People, and if you identify who the Lord is talking to, who he's talking about - not only then, but also who it applies to now - that can be really helpful when you're studying. Okay, so let's do this. Let's turn to section 43 verse two.

"For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you that ye have received a commandment for a law unto my church through him whom I have appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations from my hand." Okay. Let's go one phrase at a time and see if we can figure out who the different people are in this."For behold, verily verily" - meaning really, really listen up - "I say unto you," who's the Lord talking to? Do you know? If you don't know, just go back one verse. Sometimes all you need to do is go back a verse or two. Verse one says, "hearken, ye elders of my church," so this was to the church leadership, teaching them."I say unto you," the church leadership, "you have received a commandment for a law unto" ...who? This commandment I'm giving you is for..." my church." So it's for everybody in the church. Even though the Lord was just speaking to the leadership at that time, it was so that they could then teach everybody. Which means, and I love this part, this is one of my favorite things to do, is write " ME!" exclamation point! And just writing it down helps me to internalize and remember and feel it more deeply that this is for me, the Lord is speaking to me. Okay, let's look at the next phrase. It came "through him whom I have appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations." So who did the Lord appoint or call to be the one person to receive commandments and revelations? I bet you know this. You definitely know this. Who was in charge of the church back then? It was Joseph Smith. He is the one who was called.

who has the Lord appointed to receive revelations for the church to today? Now the same way it didn't say Joseph Smith's name right there, and we had to kind of decode it and figure it out, it's not going to say the answer for who it is today. Why do you think that is? How many people have been called to be the prophet, like Joseph Smith? Do you know? Oh, that's a good one to look up. You might wanna sing the primary song that goes through all the prophets of the church. Joseph Smith, then Brigham Young, John Taylor was third we know, then Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, remember the F, Hebrew J Grant, then George Albert Smith, David O McKay was followed by Joseph Fielding Smith, then Harold B. Lee, Spencer W Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W Hunter, Gordon B Hinkley, Thomas S Monson, Russell M. Nelson President Nelson is the 17th prophet in this dispensation, there have been 17 people, so of course the Lord wasn't going to say a name right here because it has to apply to every prophet until the Lord comes back, until the second coming. So we received a law through him who was appointed, which back then it was Joseph Smith, and today it's Russell M. Nelson. Let's write that down. Russell M. Nelson. Now we've identified who is being spoken to, it's us, anybody in the church, and it's talking about Joseph Smith or the current prophet. Let's keep going in verse three."And this, you shall know assuredly that there is none other appointed unto you to receive commandments and revelations until he be taken, if he abided me." Okay, so that's doctrine right there. Nobody gets to receive revelations for the whole church except the prophet. Let's keep going, 'cause verse four is super important and goes right along with that."Verily, verily, I stand to you that none else shall be appointed unto this gift..." Nobody else gets to do this,"except," and this is important..."It be through him." Through him, him who? Do you remember who "him" is?"Him" is the prophet. So somebody else can receive revelation for the church if it is through him. Column two on the worksheet explains this a little bit. Let's read it in column two of the worksheet. It means really and truly, the Lord is telling us that no one else can have this gift unless they are called and ordained and set apart by. The prophet, because the prophet is the one who holds the keys. So there was this process of calling 12 apostles, a first presidency, and they work together to receive revelations and commandments for the entire church. Who else is called to help the prophet leading and guide the church through revelation? We can write that down. The apostles. The words that we hear in general conference from the first presidency and 12 apostles, those are commandments from the Lord as well. So do you know what the Lord has asked you to do recently? Do you know how to find it? If you don't know how, ask somebody to show you how to get onto the Gospel Library app and you can go to general conference, and you can go in and click on any of the apostles or prophets and you can find their words, and you can find what the Lord has asked us to do. Following the Lord by following the prophet is such an important thing to do. It has blessed my life and I know it will bless yours. So even though nobody's name was given in these verses, we decoded who the verses were about, not only back then, but today, for us as well. So now you can go and do the other activities and ponder the doctrine that is taught. Search for and ponder the why? Why did the Lord even give this doctrine? There's so many ways you can study the scriptures. Keep asking questions, keep digging deep. But more than anything else, you just have to get in there and read them, okay? If you try, the Lord will bless your efforts and he will help you to grow in the spirit of revelation so that you can understand the scriptures better. You can find these gems of doctrine, it can strengthen your testimony, and bring you closer to the Savior, and that's the whole point. Right? I love the scriptures. I love that we have a living prophet today. I testify that Russell M. Nelson is the prophet, and the first presidency and 12 apostles help him, and they are the only ones who can receive revelations for the entire church. I know that because I've read this section, and I've prayed about it and received a witness for myself, and you can do that too. So go study your scriptures, search, ponder, and pray about it, and I'll see you next week. Bye guys. Thanks for tuning into Primarily Scripture with Cindy Young. Don't forget you can subscribe to the newsletter and download free worksheets on the website, primarily scripture.com. And if you like the channel, be sure to subscribe, like, share, and leave a review. See you next time.