Come Follow Me with Sam

 Welcome The ministry of John the Baptist Couple points struck me. First, Christ always sends messengers before the message to prepare the way, and help the hearts of the people. Second, John had a pretty diverse audience attending. Look at the people he was talking to. Third, and this is going to come up many times, there was so much impact of this happening. Finally, when a movement happens, there is a dividing point and a time of choosing. More on this later. Epic Baptism in a funny coincidence, Audiomachine created a song, sol invuctus, or sun god, that is both near-perfectly choreographed with the Church of Jesus Christ's baptism clip, and also contains the same main musical phrase as the 'baptism' song in the children songbook. you can listen to the links here or play a fan-made version from the first link This is probably what the angels were listening to when it happened :P fan link Sol Invictus LDS New Testament videos baptism LDS Songbook children's song

 Welcome! John 1 is a masterpiece worthy to be part of the gospels. John is thought to be talking mainly with the believers of the new church. So imagine you have a bunch of people full of faith, across many backgrounds, that were doing every which weird rites yesterday and now they are looking to you to know what they should do today to worship God. You have got to teach something in depth enough that the spirit can plant it deep in their hearts, yet simple enough that they don't get confused and fall back on false traditions. Welcome to John 1 The Word The beginning of John is much discussed because of its mysterious nature. We could try to figure this out for a long time. Unfortunately I don't have any amazing resources to point you to on this one. Here are the basics to ponder  - the ancients wanted to breathe as the Gods, or to speak as the Gods - The unique characteristic was that what the Gods spoke was justified of itself (needed no other justification, also justified ...

Welcome! The Christmas story There are many stories of Christmas. There are many lessons to learn from the birth of the savior. Here is what I think is the most important part of the Christmas story in a couple verses. Think about this as you read these chapters 27  And because he said unto them that Christ was the  a God , the Father of all things, and said that he should take upon him the  b image  of man, and it should be the  c image  after which man was created in the beginning; or in other words, he said that man was created after the image of  d God , and that God should come down among the children of men, and take upon him flesh and blood, and go forth upon the face of the earth 1  And now Abinadi said unto them: I would that ye should understand that  a God  himself shall  b come  down among the children of men, and shall  c redeem  his people. 2  And because he   a dwelleth   in   b...

 Welcome! Beginnings Its hard to picture how humbly the New Testament really began I highly recommend seeing Savior of the World in Salt Lake City to explore these events They should have known I haven't done a lot of research into this but I was thinking this week about how badly prepared the Jewish nation and especially the Sanhedrin was for the Savior. Zacharias should have tipped them off; they should have known. In this situation you have 1. a priest that must have been administering the temple in jerusalem, with recognition in the religious order 2. have an experience at that very temple 3. In front of a massive crowd that knew that he was stuck in there forever 4. After which he came out completely unable to speak, and witnessed he had seen an angel. 5. after which, when Elizabeth bore a son which was a miraculous event of itself 6. He prophesied by the spirit and testified of Christ The jewish nation, all the priests, and all those familiar with the experience, should have...

 Welcome!  We get to study the New Testament this year! The New Testament is unique because it chronicles the life of the Savior during His Mortal Ministry as He walked His own creation. For the first time ever we have a perfect example teaching us, and showing a higher way. We also get to read about the effect this had on his disciples and we have a few of their teachings. We finally have the recorded event of the Atonement.  Sometimes people get the impression that simply reading about the physical act of the Atonement can get them greater understanding of what it means for them. But mostly what is recorded is the physical process, whereas the Atonement is primarily a spiritual process to change us to be like God, and secondarily a physical process to raise our flesh to a godlike attainment. I have found that to get the most out of the reading of the Atonement, I need to be living and wrestling with the atonement in my own life, and then the understanding comes when I r...

 Welcome! Its the last week of the old testament! We survived! If you have read my past posts on the old testament, you know there is still lots of great learning to gain, so feel free to post comments as they come, whether this year or in the future Malachi Malachi is very fitting to end the Old Testament with; he gives almost a summary of events past present and future Ch 1 and ch 2 he talks of the broken covenant of the house of Israel, the ministry going to the gentiles, and some of the consequences of this Ch 3 he talks of of the coming of Christ, the steps that will be required to regain the covenant, and the promise due those to successfully obtain it Ch 4 he talks of the final redeeming day of the millenium, the coming of elijah, and the final redeeming work of the dead before the redemption of the earth. So end the last words of the last prophet among the Jewish nation, sealing the work of the old testament as the Jewish people fall into a 400 year period of prophetic dark...

 Welcome! Temple time! Haggai and Zechariah are about temples. There are very few christian denominations that have temple-like spaces and rituals, and only 1 that I know of, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which also have formalized temple rituals as part of that temple. The argument that many christians have against a temple is something along the lines of 'since Christ came in the flesh, we have no more need of temples, which is a great theory and seems plausible at first but material evidence and divine revelation both contradict this notion. Here in these chapters, God describes a specific temple to be built in the last days, including rooms and dimensions. So obviously He cares about temples post-risen-Messiah. Adding to that, multiple scholars have identified the forty days of Christ's ministry on the earth as the teaching of the 'mysteries of the kingdom' which in greek refer to the passing of certain knowledge through symbols etc. There is also...

 Welcome! Nahum Nineveh being destroyed is a type of the last days Habakkuk Habakkuk's discussion is on why bad people are allowed to prosper against the enemies. The short of it is God says its a bad deal all around. The long of it is actually quite profound. Zephaniah Zephaniah is a mind preparation for the second coming

 Welcome! Jonah The normal story of jonah goes something like this - Jonah was commanded by God to do something, but he didn't so he got swallowed by a whale so he repented and did what God wanted, the end. If we are lucky, we get that bit at the end where Jonah is angry that God delivered the people and God basically showed him that he was under God's mercy just like the others. Jonah is a story with many layers. I like to start by looking at its chiasm form, the apex of which is reached at the end of Jonah 3 8  They that observe  a lying  vanities forsake their own mercy. 9  But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay  that  that I have  a vowed .  b Salvation   is  of the  Lord . Jonah is speaking for himself as much as he for the people. He mentions the temple multiple times. For the second portion, Jonah's experience with the gourd leaf and the worm, I like to flip it around. Not focus on Jona...

 Welcome! Amos and Obadiah, like many of the other old testament prophets, have significant parallels to the new testament epistles in the sense that they both knew that the party was going to come to an end and that apostasy was coming. many prophets before the fall, like Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah spelled out the captivity of Judea. Likewise, Paul and others warned that the primitive Christian church would suffer apostasy and fall. The redeeming message of both times was that in the last days, Christ's church would be restored, and God would work again His work to fulfill the promises given.

 Welcome! As we keep going through these prophets in exile, this is the conversation that keeps going through my head. Prophets: Look what happened to Ephraim. It could happen to you Judah: We don't care Prophets: You need to change your path if you don't want this to happen Judah: We don't care Prophets: No seriously, if you don't change this now, it is going to happen. Judah: We don't care Prophets: Well its imminent at this point, it is about to happen Judah: We don't care Babylonians: Hello there Judah: why did this happen? Prophets: Glad you are finally ready to listen Also Prophets: at this point, think less of deliverance now and more about deliverance in the meridian of time and in the last days. (Judah: we don't care??) Hosea Hosea prophesied before the fall of Judah, but we can see in his writings that he knew exactly what was going to happen and he walked them through it. The overall narrative of Hosea is walking through the covenant relationship,...

 Welcome! Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. Daniel is a prophet in a foreign land. He has a gift of prophesy that is more famous than perhaps any old testament prophet. the book is only 12 chapters but almost every chapter has a prophecy of some sort tied into it.  Daniel was also able to withstand great adversity in a foreign land. He created Zion in the midst of Babylon. There is a lesson here that in the midst of adversity, some of the most beautiful flowers arise. When Judah was its own sovereign country, would they have raised up a Daniel? If such a person had walked among them, would anyone have listened. If anyone had listened, would anyone have understood? Like in the parable of the vineyard in Jacob, when Israel was scattered, it could be planted on other trees, and there draw nourishment so that one day when it was gathered again, it could produce good fruit. Daniel is also many times overlooked as an apocalyptic writer, despite the renown of his 'stone cut without hands' visi...

 Welcome! I mentioned that Jeremiah was a transitory prophet; at the point of Ezekiel, the Israelites are in captivity. Ezekiel's message has parallels with Jeremiah's in the sense that there is fall and redemption. Jeremiah was the one warning this would happen. Now it happened and the Israelites are wrestling with what this cataclysmic event meant and why it happened and what it means for them. There are also many parallels to what Christ would say during his earthly ministry. imagery of seeking that which was lost, watching over a flock, and caring for those in need. Chapter 33 grabbed my attention the most. There are some specific and important understandings as to the obligations of those commissioned with a message, and those to whom the message should be delivered.

 Welcome! This week, we are finishing out Jeremiah and getting into lamentations. The stark feeling you get with the reading is that this is the end of the party. Jerusalem is doomed. The king is willfully blind. The people will not (cannot?) turn from their path. This is the end of Israel. In this sense, Jeremiah is a transitional prophet. He is transitioning from the kingdom of Israel to captive Israel. From now on, Israel will never experience true freedom from then all the way up until 1948 AD (or further for covenant Israel?). Jeremiah uses many types of language that we saw in Isaiah. It is like Jeremiah is saying that Isaiah's prophecies are being fulfilled in his time. Jeremiah also talks of Israel as doomed for the present, but that there will be redemption, and he points toward the last days as the time of that redemption. After the captivity, many prophets hinge their hopeful message in the same way; that Judah is captive now but will at last be redeemed with Israel.

 Welcome! Finally out of the Isaiah chapters! Jeremiah was a contemporary of Lehi, and in a sense, a capstone to Isaiah. Isaiah was around 100 years earlier and warned of all the things that would happen. Israel then had some ups and downs, mostly downs, to the point where we get to Jeremiah and Zedekiah. Jeremiah was basically the last Prophet before Jerusalem was destroyed and the kingdom came to an end. Here are a couple keys from Jeremiah. Jeremiah's humility at not being able to speak is reminiscent of Isaiah 6. Both prophets suffered the same challenge that they knew they had weaknesses that would come out into the open if they opened their mouths. Both times, albeit in different ways, God reminded them that it is the call that sanctifies the word, not the person. When God commissions you to speak, it is good to speak whatever the consequences. Like Isaiah, Jeremiah speaks directly to the terrible hypocrisy and neglect of the leaders to follow the gospel. There were ups and d...

 Welcome! Finishing out Isaiah below! This is actually from a couple weeks back when I thought Isaiah was over (HA!).  A tentative way to view the organization of Isaiah I also feel like I can put together a tentative shot at how I think about the organization of Isaiah. Keep in mind that there are lots of ways to organize Isaiah in your mind. Some are better, some are worse. This one is sure to have mistakes but it should highlight some important parts as well. Keep in mind that although I speak a lot  in terms of which dispensation, epoch, or time Isaiah is talking about, I believe Isaish looks at this more spiritually and that is why his words represent multiple times and places. He is describing spiritually what is happening in the hearts of men, and as men are falling into the same traps, and need the savior in the same way across time, hiis words apply across those places. Chapters 1 - 5 (6) chapters 1 through 5 are an introduction and summary to Isaiah's main messa...

 Welcome! I'll admit it. I made a mistake. I thought we were only doing isaiah for 3 weeks but we are in this for 5. so here is part 4 of the Isaiah readings for come follow me. Isaiah 50 Chapter 50 is my favorite Isaiah chapter. I broke this one down when I was going through 2 Nephi 7 and have nothing to add to that besides this really is Isaiah's 'Abinadai' moment - where he knows he is doing the right thing and knows he will speak the words of life whatever the consequences. Isaiah 51 Isaiah 51 is really fun chapter in a number of ways. Before diving in, read these verses, then read the first 4 verses of Isaiah 51, and let me know what you think. 1  In the land of the  a Chaldeans , at the residence of my fathers, I,  b Abraham , saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of  c residence ; 2  And, finding there was greater  a happiness  and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I ...