Mission Stories
Get insights on having a powerful and successful full-time LDS mission. This podcast shares inspiring stories and practical principles for embracing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, overcoming challenges, and building a strong foundation for lifelong discipleship. Faith-promoting stories and lessons from real full-time LDS mission experiences to inspire and teach. Based on The Mission Prep Series by Shawn Record.
Mission Stories
Temple More Imperative Than Your Mission - Mission Prep Series Class 7
Mission Prep Class 7: "Temple More Imperative Than Your Mission," delves into foundational doctrines crucial for missionaries and members alike, emphasizing the paramount importance of temple preparation over mission preparation.
Understanding the "great dilemma" that necessitates Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
Key concepts explored include:
•The Great Dilemma: Introduced as described by Stephen Robinson in his book Believing Christ, this dilemma highlights the reality faced by all individuals. It is defined by two core scriptures:
◦Moses 6:55-57: States that "no unclean thing can enter the presence of God". The discussion uses an analogy of paint on a shirt to illustrate that even a single speck of "uncleanliness" prevents entry into God's presence, regardless of how much "paint" others might have. This law is presented as a just, eternal law with affixed punishments and blessings.
◦Romans 3:23: Declares, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God". Combined, these scriptures mean that every individual, no matter how obedient, is inherently unworthy to enter God's presence on their own.
•The Law of Works vs. The Law of the Gospel: The episode draws a clear distinction between two types of "law" mentioned in scripture.
◦The "Law of Sin and Death" (or "Law of Works"): This refers to the idea that one could achieve worthiness to enter God's presence solely through perfect obedience to commandments. The sources describe this as a "cursed law" that leads to misery, condemnation, and spiritual death, because no one can keep all commandments perfectly. It's acknowledged that this burden of trying to be perfect can lead to mental health issues. Abraham, for instance, was considered righteous not because he was perfect, but because he believed and repented.
◦The "Law of the Spirit of Life in Jesus Christ" (or "Law of the Gospel"): This is the "good news" that overcomes the "bad news" of the law of works. It teaches that Christ takes the fixed punishment for broken laws. This law is founded on faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Through this, individuals are "justified by faith without the deeds of the law". The discussion also references the April 2023 General Conference talk "The Imperfect Harvest," which clarifies the difference between perfectionism and being perfected in Christ—the latter being a process guided by the Holy Ghost.
•Salvation vs. Exaltation: The podcast emphasizes a critical distinction between these two concepts, which many in the church may not fully understand.
◦Salvation: Defined as being saved from the "great dilemma" through the law of the gospel, overcoming spiritual (separation from God) and physical (separation of body and spirit) death, and being brought back into God's presence. Salvation is described as "free" because of Christ's Atonement. It means being saved into one of the kingdoms of glory (celestial, terrestrial, or telestial).
◦Exaltation: This is the "highest level of the celestial kingdom" and the ultimate purpose of the Church. It is uniquely linked to the concept of "eternal lives" (plural), as found in Doctrine and Covenants 132:23-24. Exaltation signifies eternal progression, a "chain of glory," and the power for "god-like creation". Crucially, it cannot be achieved by an individual alone; it requires entering the "new and everlasting covenant of marriage" in the temple, which is the capstone covenant.
The good news is Christ comes in and says, I realize that you're not going to keep all those commandments. So they have fixed punishment to each of those laws. I'll take it so that you don't have to. Okay. Okay. Welcome back to Mission Prep Series Podcast. We're today going to focus on principle number seven, and this is exciting. Now, Lauren. Hello, Lauren.
SPEAKER_01:Hello, everyone.
SPEAKER_00:Now, what just happened? Because as we were prepping for this, we were I just grabbed from the little candy tray here a little KitKat and I opened it up and I took a bite. And why did you...
SPEAKER_01:Dude, this guy's a psychopath.
SPEAKER_00:Why?
SPEAKER_01:Why? Okay, a KitKat is designed so it's breakable in the middle in a vertical fashion. You don't just bite into it.
SPEAKER_00:To both of them?
SPEAKER_01:No, you rip one apart and just eat it stick by stick.
SPEAKER_00:You sheep. Don't be a sheep. What is the first principle of the Mission Prep series? Choose your own path. Don't let others dictate how you're going to do things. I can eat my Kit Kat however I would like to eat
SPEAKER_01:the Kit Kat. Okay, but I'm actually not going to start this with you.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. There's a right way and a wrong way, huh?
SPEAKER_01:That's some freak behavior.
SPEAKER_00:Is this communist Russia? Where are we? We're in the U.S. Yeah, so I can eat my property the way I want. I have my freedom of
SPEAKER_01:speech to call you out, boy.
SPEAKER_00:I'm just kidding. All right, well, let's make friends and let's get back on topic. But that was interesting how surprised you were that I ate my KitKat that way. But we're here to do mission prep. We're here to do mission prep. And this topic is the last. This is the topic that we do in the last class. And I really enjoyed doing this one because really the message here, the principle here is the temple... that you're about to go through, those of you listening and preparing for your mission, is by far more important than your mission. And for some reason in our culture, we kind of go, oh my goodness, we're going to serve a mission and we get all excited about it as we should. But then at the end we go, oh, and by the way, you're going to go into the temple and receive some ordinances and enter into some covenants that will affect your eternal exaltation. But just do that on the side. And that's the wrong way to view things. And so this principle is if you really properly prepare for the temple, there's nothing better that will prepare you for your mission. So we're going to get into that and why and how and all that kind of stuff. But we're going to start with the big picture. So the concept here is really we want to teach you why the temple is so important and so much more important than the mission. The why is really what we're going to get into here. So to do that, we're going to set the backdrop, give some context. And I like to start off by talking about what Stephen Robinson, that author, is that right? Yeah. What he calls in the book, Believing Christ, what he calls the great dilemma, the dilemma. Now, he calls it that because each of you listeners listening, right? You're graduating high school. You're moving along in life. There's a point where you're going to sit down and the reality of the world is going to hit you and go, oh my goodness, like I'm on my own. Like I'm about to leave and be on my own in some weird place that I've never been before. And it's me, it's me alone. I'm not living at home. I don't have parents right over my shoulder. It's me. And in that reality, you're going to start to obviously look at the world in a bigger way. And this new perspective is really great. Like there's nothing better that we could do as we're growing up. One of these core ideas or concepts that changed my life was understanding what this great dilemma was. Because if we can understand what it is that we need to be saved from, then the whole gospel makes sense, right? We talk about, we grew up in the church and we talk about salvation or exaltation, but Really, very few of us at an early age can articulate, what are we being saved from? Well, our sins. Yeah, but what does that mean? It's hard to kind of get down. So we're going to start with that context so we can have an understanding. If you start right, you'll end right. So we are going to talk about this great dilemma. Now, Lauren, there's two scriptures. One is in Moses, one's in Romans. Now, these two scriptures perfectly express what great dilemma you listeners face. Like this is the big problem that you face. Do you have one of those, Lauren, that you can read?
SPEAKER_01:What's the one in Moses?
SPEAKER_00:Moses 6, 55 to 57.
SPEAKER_01:And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying, And as much as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter that they may know to prize the good. And it is given unto them to know good from evil. Wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and commandment. Wherefore, teach it unto your children, that all men ever must repent, or they can in no wise inherit the kingdom of God. For no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence. For in the language of Adam, man of holiness is his name, and the name of his only begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous judge who shall come in the meridian of time.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so lots of doctrine in there, but the one I want to focus on, really focus on, is the one that says, and this is the law, No unclean thing can enter the presence of God. He's holy. And if you're even slightly unholy, no unclean thing can enter the presence of God. Now, here's a good question, Lauren. Let's compare the two of our lives, okay? And it is well known that I've been on the earth a little longer than you, yet I have sinned way less than you. So let's just say... Let's say I do a decent job going through life, and I sin 10 times is all. Just 10. Okay? Now, at your young age, I've been counting, your parents have been counting, and you're at about 10,968. Awesome. Thank you. Well done, I guess. Thank you. So the question is this. Based on what we just read, this law that says no unclean thing can enter the presence of God, who's more worthy in that hypothetical scenario? The person that's sinned 10 times or the person that's sinned 11,000 times to enter the presence of God? What do you say?
SPEAKER_01:Neither. Let
SPEAKER_00:me ask you the question again because clearly you did not understand. One of us has only sinned 10 times. The other has sinned 11,000 times. Who's more worthy to be in the presence of God?
SPEAKER_01:If you spill paint on your shirt, but I spill a little bit more, are both of our shirts still dirty? Yes. Yeah. So it doesn't matter how many times I've sinned in comparison to how many times you have sinned. We are both unclean.
SPEAKER_00:Let's go with the paint and the shirt analogy. We knock on the door and go, Mom, we got paint on us. Please let us in so we can get cleaned up. And she opens the door and she looks at me who has... an inch circle on my shoulder and she looks at you and you're just drenched in it, hair dripping, paint all over the place. Who's more worthy to enter the house? Who's more worthy? Who's mom going to say, you're not coming in, come on in?
SPEAKER_01:It doesn't matter which one of us has less paint on us because the rule is that we don't come in if there's any paint on us whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00:There's an answer to this bad news. The bad news is this great dilemma. And the great dilemma is defined by two scriptures. The first one we just read, which is no unclean thing can enter the presence of God. So I had said to you, but okay, let's analyze this law. No unclean thing. Okay, that literally means that I could have one little splatter on my shirt and you could have the whole bucket poured over your head. And isn't it a little bit unfair that mom's going to be like, you're both out. But mom, it's only on my shoulder. Like, I'm not going to get over the house. No, you're out. Don't come in. Is that not a little unfair? I don't know. I
SPEAKER_01:mean, I guess in our eyes, it's a little unfair, but like, if you think about it in like legal terms on like a criminal record, if somebody robs a bank, but another person kills a couple of people, they both go on your record. Like you're both being held accountable for whatever you did that made you unworthy or unclean.
SPEAKER_00:Good. So fairness is defined by law, right? Just because objectively or subjectively, I'm like, well, that doesn't seem fair. It A law exists, whatever that law is. And if it's a just law, is it Alma or Nephi that describes that where there's a law, there's a punishment and there's a blessing, right? For every law, there's an affixed punishment and an affixed blessing. That is just eternal nature of things. And when we're dealing with the law, the only thing that's fair is what is the just response to that law. If I keep it, then there's a certain blessing tied to it. If I break it, there's a certain punishment tied to it. That's fair. Whether I think it's fair or not, it doesn't matter, right? So if the law literally says you cannot enter this home with paint on you, not even a speck of paint, if that's just the law and it's a just law, then yeah, neither of us can enter the house. It doesn't matter how much paint you have or how much paint I have. And that is the law that is defined in this scripture we just read in Moses. No unclean thing can enter the presence of God, not with one sin, and not with a thousand sins. In fact, Paul, the apostle Paul even said it like this. He says, if you're guilty of one, you're guilty of all because of this law. So I'm not going to pretend to understand the nature of this law. Like, sure, my subjective view of things is that doesn't seem very fair if I do a better job than you do throughout my life. But I think part of the reason for this law is it doesn't matter. God doesn't look at us and has a checklist for how much good you do. He doesn't. The point is, He is our father and his plan for us is for us to become like him. And in order to become like him, we have to be people of holiness. We have to be pure. So that's just the law. Okay. So the second part of the great dilemma, which makes this law even worse. Do you have that one by chance? This is Romans 3, 23. It's real short.
SPEAKER_01:For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00:How many have sinned?
SPEAKER_01:All.
SPEAKER_00:That's the dilemma. is that you listeners, it doesn't matter how well you're doing, right? It doesn't matter how obedient or faithful you are. In fact, this refers back to that beautiful talk in the last conference from Sister Arunia. God doesn't look at, it's not this checklist of how many good things you've done versus how many bad things you've done. This law, the great dilemma law of no unclean thing can enter the presence of God and every single one of you have sinned, equally makes all of us unworthy to be in God's presence. Now, question the law, don't like the law? Okay, but it exists. This is clean law. This is just law. And it is just, right? If a law has a fix to punishment and blessing and you don't keep the law, the law's there. So this is the great dilemma. This is bad news for all of us. So you listeners, as you face this religion, put the atonement aside, right? Put faith aside and repentance and covenants and Jesus Christ and the atonement. Put it all aside. and just take a fresh look at why this is a dilemma for you. It's a dilemma because throughout scripture, God commands you to obey him, keep the commandments, keep the law. And that commandment to do that, you're required to do. And if you break it just once, then you are out. Sin and death has grasped you and you are unworthy to enter God's presence. Again, putting the atonement aside, putting all that aside, you on your own, On your own, without any covenant or without any religious relationship, on your own, you are exposed to the law, and the law condemns you. So this is fascinating, Lauren. I did a study on the word the law throughout Scripture, and there's really two categories of when the Scriptures talk about the law. I'll give you an example. This is pretty fascinating. This is really, I love this. So in Romans 8, it says this, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Jesus Christ. So again, now let's bring back in Jesus Christ. He's saying, you're not condemned if you walk after the flesh, but after the spirit. Now here's the law. He says this, for the law of the spirit of the life in Jesus Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Okay, now this is weird, right? Because I always read in scriptures, there's one law. There's the law of God. But here it's talking about it as if there are two different laws. What do you think the difference is? It says, the law of the spirit of life in Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Okay, so if the atonement didn't exist, if we put faith in Christ aside, then that scripture would read differently. It would literally just say, the law of sin and death makes me not free, makes me captive, right? Right? So what do you think is the difference between, or what is the law of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ, or the law of the gospel? And what is, well, let's ask that first. What do you think the law of sin and death is? Why is God's law called sin and death? That is not a very positive spin. If I'm explaining to someone, hey, God has a law, I'm going to be like, it's a good law. It teaches us how to be happy. It teaches us how to become more like him. It's good, right? And then you look at me and go, well, this says it's sin and death. In fact, a couple more. It says... It is the, just go through all these tags I have in scriptures that talks about it. It's the law of suffering. It's the law of sin and death. It's the cursed law. It's called the law of works. So like 40 instances I find where it's really negatively scary talking about the law. Why do you think that is?
SPEAKER_01:Honestly, my take on that would be, I think it, puts into perspective what we would be subjected to if we didn't have Jesus Christ. Like that, the principle that people rarely change unless they see how it would benefit them type of thing, where it's like, if I don't know, or if I know my fate and I know it's something that falls in the category of the law of sin and death, I'm probably going to want to do all that I can to avoid that, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00:It makes sense. if you ever talk to Protestant or evangelical or Orthodox or Catholics, this is a fascinating subject. They say there's a big difference between, the big debate has been for thousands of years, are we saved by works or are we saved by grace or faith? And the fascinating thing here, so let's go to Galatians 3.11. Here's what this says. But know this, that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. No man is justified by the law. Okay, what does that mean, Lauren? What do you think that means? No man is justified by God, by the sight of God. No man is justified by the law.
SPEAKER_01:None of us can keep it, so we can't be justified by it.
SPEAKER_00:So back to the two principles, right? The two scriptures that define the great dilemma. All of you will sin. All of you listeners sin, no matter how hard you try. And because of that, you are not justified to be in the presence of God, right? Right. So when the scriptures talk about it as the law of works, what they're basically saying is this. Putting Christ aside, if you expect from yourself to keep the law perfectly or the law of works is what is going to make you worthy to be in God's presence, that is condemnation. That is sin and death. That is a cursed way to look at life. That is going to make you miserable. Lauren, do you... I don't know if your generation is a little more affected by this than past generations, but... I do feel like this burden that many of you kids your age feel on the mission to be obedient kind of crushes you. Not that you shouldn't. You should strive to be obedient. That's the message of scriptures. He commands us to be obedient. But I hear a lot of stories about kids going, I'm just not that great at keeping all the rules. And maybe I'm not worthy enough. And maybe I don't read enough or study enough. There's this burden I feel that comes from a lot of kids today. Do you see that?
SPEAKER_01:A
SPEAKER_00:lot of mental health issues are coming from this pressure that kids feel to be perfect.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_00:Now here's what I would say to that. The only reason that exists is because you are trying to live by the law of works. You look at this big checklist of all these commandments and you're just trying to keep them so rigorously and so faithfully, but you fail. And so this great dilemma presses down on you because you can't be clean and yet you think you're supposed to be clean on your own terms. accord by your own works. But this is why it's called the law of sin and death, the cursed law, the law of works. It's because when you rely on yourself, you will always be miserable. You will always fall short. Okay, but at the beginning we also read, in contrast to the law of sin and death or the law of works, there's something called the law of the light or life in Christ or the law of the gospel. It's the answer to the bad news, right? The gospel, the word means good news. And the bad news is, No unclean thing can enter the presence of God. And you've all sinned. And you're all trying to live this law of works. Prove, you know, get there yourself. That's the bad news. You fail. The good news is Christ comes in and says, I realize that you're not going to keep all those commandments. So they have fixed punishment to each of those laws. I'll take it so that you don't have to. What a guy. So what is the message of missionaries? Our one goal is to go out and teach people the law of the gospel, which is faith, In Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. We're trying to teach the world that you are crushed by the law of works. You're dead. You are forever pushed out of the presence of God. We're here to deliver to you the gospel, the law of the gospel, this plan of Jesus Christ, which is founded in faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. So it's a beautiful thing, right? So that's how we overcome this great dilemma. We go out as missionaries and we teach people to come unto Christ. starting with faith, and then your faith leads you to repentance. And in those conditions, Christ says, okay, let's enter into a covenant, and I will be the one that suffers for all those broken laws. So the law of works is fulfilled in Christ. And you don't have to be subject to the law of works, just to faith and repentance and these covenants.
SPEAKER_01:And something that I ran into a lot as a missionary, and I'm sure that you ran into this as well a couple times, Sean, is... Oftentimes, kind of how you were talking about earlier, missionaries put pressure on themselves for not being perfectly obedient. I think a lot of the people that I was able to teach felt that same way. Obviously, they weren't missionaries, but in the sense where they wanted to enter into this covenant with Christ, but they didn't fully understand this principle, this law of the gospel. And so maybe they didn't say their prayers one day, they weren't reading their scriptures, or they couldn't stop smoking for whatever X amount of time. And they get crushed. And something that I found really helpful for my friends as well as other missionaries, there's a talk given in the April 2023 conference called The Imperfect Harvest. And I read it a lot. And he talks about how God makes all of our efforts. He doesn't waste any of our efforts. And it talks about the difference between perfectionism and being perfected in Christ. Nice. And I just wanted to share a quote from it. It says, Remember that perfectionism is not the same as being perfected in Christ. Perfectionism requires an impossible, self-inflicted standard that compares us to others. This causes guilt and anxiety and can make us want to withdraw and isolate ourselves. But becoming perfected in Christ is another matter. It is the process lovingly guided by the Holy Ghost of becoming more like the Savior.
SPEAKER_00:Living that way without trying to perfect yourself, that is a cursed life. It's miserable. It's crushing. It's a law. It's a world of sin and death. And that's why the scriptures call it a cursed law or the law of sin and death. Now, Abraham understood this principle. Here's what it says about Abraham. For if Abraham were justified by the law of works, then he hath to glory in himself. and not of God. In other words, if you're trying to argue that someone can perfect themselves or live this law of works, like if Abraham lived his life and was justified by all of his works, then he should glory in himself and not of God. But then it says, for what sayeth the scripture? Abraham believed God. It didn't say he was perfect. It didn't say he kept all the commandments all the time. It said he believed and it was counted unto him for righteousness. So Abraham wasn't considered, everyone would say, Abraham the prophet was a righteous person. But this is trying to say he wasn't considered righteous because he was so obedient. He was considered righteous because he believed and repented. And then it says, now to him who is justified by the law of works is the reward reckoned of grace or of debt. In other words, if I could keep all the commandments all the time, then it would be... I would have earned it myself, but the fact that we can't requires this wonderful Savior. So the last verse here says,"...but to him that seeketh not to be justified by the law of works, but believeth on him who justifieth not the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." So faith, repentance, baptism, and moving of the Holy Ghost is counted to us for righteousness in Christ, not in ourselves. And that's a humbling thought, but that is a very important thought. So missionaries, you guys preparing, you're going out to lead souls to Christ and save them from this great dilemma.
SPEAKER_01:I think it's so beautiful that, you know, within this law, perfection is still our ultimate goal. But Christ basically tells us, okay, until you can get there, I'll let you use mine. And there's a scripture that I love that talks more about this. It's Doctrine and Covenants section 76. It's verse 69. And it's talking about the names of those who are written in heaven. And it says, These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood. So I think that perfectly encompasses everything that we've been talking about.
SPEAKER_00:Beautifully.
SPEAKER_01:You know, this law that we are... We feel like sometimes maybe we're... That
SPEAKER_00:was Spanish. That was a return missionary for you.
SPEAKER_01:That we're like fine to this, this law of sin and death. And then we have the opportunity to go out and preach this good news. And it's not just good news, like mortally, but it's eternal good news. Like guys, listen to this. Like you have the chance to be made whole through a man that, knows you perfectly and died for you so you can have this opportunity to become perfect.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, amazing. The last part, because I just love how Paul, the Apostle Paul, talks about this. This is in Romans 3. He says, he's basically saying, look, I'm so happy because I'm living the covenant. I'm so happy as a disciple of Jesus Christ. But then he says this, but where is boasting then? Like, can I boast in this? And he says, it is excluded. By what law? Should I boast the law of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. In other words, the joy that I receive, can I boast like I've done it? I'm awesome. I'm so happy. Can I boast because of the law of works because I've kept all the laws? And he's like, no, I boast because I'm happy because Christ fills me with joy because I believe in him. It's faith. He says, therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. It's not the... So listeners... You have to build your faith by feasting on the words of Christ and praying and serving others, and you will understand and realize you can't do this on your own. Without him, you are suffering. You are cursed. You are dead. You are out of the presence of the Father. Don't rely on yourselves. That's not the message. You're not here to learn how to become perfect yourself. It's impossible. You strive, but you strive to do it because you love Jesus Christ for what he did for you, not because... of your own pride and saying, I can do it myself. I have many friends, Lauren, who aren't humble enough to say, I need, I can't do it on my own. I need help. So many adults who are so miserable in life because of their pride that says, I don't want to have to rely on someone else. I'm good enough. I want to be the one that does this. Give me the glory. And they're miserable, Lauren. but those who are humble and turn to Christ. Okay. Beautiful, beautiful doctrine. So thanks listeners for bearing through that. I wanted to set the stage for what this principle is about. Okay. So we haven't even got into the principle. This is just the backdrop. So how does that apply to this principle? Temple is more important than your mission. Here's how it applies. Not only do you need to understand what the great dilemma is, which you do now. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But you also need to understand though, to overcome the great dilemma, you need salvation, right? but I want to teach you the difference between two words that so many in our church don't understand the difference about. And I took a long time to try and figure this out, still trying to figure it out. The difference between what is salvation or being saved and what is exaltation or being exalted, right? So when we understand the great dilemma, we know that Christ comes in and says, I will give you the law of the gospel. And if you obey through faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost, then you're justified. Like in other words, I save you. That is being saved from the great dilemma. So there you go. There's the definition for salvation, right? So spiritual death is by definition, a separation of you, your spirit from God's presence. Physical death is a separation of your body from your spirit, right? It's all about separation, separation, separation, separation. That's what spiritual and physical death are. Those are the two dilemmas that stand, or the two obstacles that stand in your way to becoming like your father in heaven. Christ comes in and says, I will overcome physical, the death of physical separation. I will resurrect you. And then he says, I will overcome the spiritual death separation on the condition that you have faith in me, repent, get baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Okay, that's defining salvation. Lauren, what's the difference between salvation and and exaltation. Because what I'm preaching here is this. The temple is not about salvation. The temple is about exaltation. And if we listen to what the prophets have said for the last 10 years, here's what they say. The purpose of the church is not salvation alone. The purpose of the church is exaltation, the highest level of the celestial kingdom. So I'm going to teach you. We're going to talk about what does the temple have to do with that. But what are your thoughts? What's the difference between salvation and And exaltation, it's so crazy. Like, it's so important, yet it's a hard concept.
SPEAKER_01:I think about the scriptures throughout the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and it says because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, salvation is made free. Like, salvation is free for all men. There's so many scriptures that talk about salvation being free. And it's true, right? There's not much that we do on our end in comparison. We don't earn it. Exactly. We don't have to work for it because it's something that's already given to us, right? But exaltation... is something that you work towards. It's something that you truly earn. Because I feel like it's a outward representation of our commitment to Jesus Christ and getting that perfection. But I think it's, for me, it's like, okay, I'm telling Jesus Christ, like, okay, I trust you and I know that you're going to get me there, so I'm willing to do what you need me to do. And those steps to get there are Actually, well, I was going to say it's how you get to exaltation, but that doesn't really answer your question. I
SPEAKER_00:love it. It's such a complicated issue that it's just so hard to like really explain, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I'll challenge a little bit of what you said because even exaltation we don't earn. We don't earn it on our own. I don't think there'll ever be a point where we can say we reached perfection. I keep all the commandments all the time. We will always have to rely on the savior for that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And the, and, and the, the, well, okay, let's talk about the difference between salvation and exaltation. There's a beautiful, beautiful scripture in DNC 132. Can you turn there? So DNC 132, this talks about all the kingdoms and what the differences are and why they exist. And, and, There's, in verses 23 through 24, do you have that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, read that real quick, and this will give us a beginning understanding of what exaltation is and how it differs from salvation.
SPEAKER_01:But if ye receive me in the world, then shall ye know me, and shall receive your exaltation, that where I am ye shall be also.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, that's talking about receiving me is the law of the gospel, right? Converting to Christ, basically, okay?
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And he's saying, you'll be with me because where I'll be, you'll be. That's overcoming sin and death. That's overcoming the separation. That's being brought back into the presence of God. This
SPEAKER_01:is eternal lives to know the only wise and true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. I am he.
SPEAKER_00:You read that wrong. You said this is eternal lives. There's not a term eternal lives, Lauren. It's just eternal life, right? Listeners, you would all argue this with me, right? You've never once heard in any church service or through any scripture someone say, okay, the goal of the gospel is to get eternal lives. It doesn't say that, Lauren. You read that wrong. It's eternal life.
SPEAKER_01:Unless someone printed this Doctrine and Covenants wrong, I am not incorrect.
SPEAKER_00:Wait, it actually says eternal lives, doesn't it? This is eternal lives. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Again, I just want to emphasize. If I had all you listeners in a room and I said, hey, The scriptures talk about eternal life. Oh, no, wait. They talk about eternal lives. And I said to you, which one does our church preach? I think all of you would say eternal life, right? This is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. That's probably the most well-known scripture in our church. It's eternal life, Lauren. It's not eternal lives. That doesn't make any sense. Okay, read it again.
SPEAKER_01:This is eternal lives, right? To know the only wise and true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye therefore my law.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So this is beginning to teach us about what exaltation is. There is an eternal law that has to do with living in God's presence and in the presence of Jesus Christ. And it has something to do with eternal lives, plural lives that are eternal. Huh? Okay, this is interesting. This is so interesting. So I guess my question would be this to you, Lauren. In salvation, where are the potential places that you'll go if you're saved? After the judgment, as we know through the revelations for our prophets, it's not just heaven and hell.
SPEAKER_01:The celestial kingdom? Yes. The terrestrial kingdom? Yes. The celestial kingdom.
SPEAKER_00:Uh-huh. So... If I get to the lower kingdom, the telestial kingdom, is that considered salvation?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It is. That's a saved state, right? If I get to the terrestrial, same thing. And if I get to the celestial, that's the same thing. So I like when the prophets get up in conference and say, Christ saves us all in one of those kingdoms. But then they talk a lot about salvation. But there is a kingdom, the celestial kingdom, and there are three levels that Paul talks about. And the highest level is the level where we achieve eternal lives. Okay, what does that mean to you? What do you think?
SPEAKER_01:Salvation is something personal, right? When you have faith, you repent, you're baptized, you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, that's between you and Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, right? Exaltation, I mean, think about it. one of the most important things that you can do in the temple is to get sealed to your family. And so in that moment, you're not only receiving exaltation for yourself, but also for your family.
SPEAKER_00:Why is that important? Do you think your opinion, just your opinion? Well, like, why wouldn't you be happy? Just I'm saved. I'm, I'm, I'm going to live forever in the presence of one of the Godhead. I'm good.
SPEAKER_01:Cause I love my family.
UNKNOWN:Oh,
SPEAKER_00:I also love your family. Okay, so you're interpreting eternal lives as a plurality of your eternal progression, in other words.
SPEAKER_01:Like eternal posterity. Oh,
SPEAKER_00:okay.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh. But also, this just came to my mind. If you are a missionary and you're out preaching the law of the gospel and you're helping other people Be baptized. You're helping other people receive salvation and progress towards exaltation. You're also helping those eternal lives too. Oh my
SPEAKER_00:God. And does not the scripture say that the greatest thing you can do on this planet is to go preach repentance to the people. If you work your entire lives and bring and save it, be one soul to Christ, how great shall be your joy through eternities with those souls.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So Abraham three 26, can you get that?
SPEAKER_01:Oh yes.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So Abraham three 26 says this and they who keep their first estate shall be added upon. And they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate. And they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever. This is weird language, right? The first estate simply means in the pre-immortal existence, we had a choice to follow Satan's plan or Christ's plan. Those of us who are here, we chose Christ's plans. We kept our first estate. We came here. The second estate, if we keep the second estate, that means we choose the law of the gospel. We come to Christ and we enter into God's presence. And if we keep that, it says this, you will have glory added upon your head forever and ever. What the heck is glory? Any idea? You want to take a shot at glory? That's weird. It's a weird concept, but what's glory? It's related to eternal lives. Okay, you don't have to. I see you're angry in your face. Watch this. Okay, watch this. Watch this. Our Father in Heaven explained it through Scripture like this. Jesus Christ came to the earth. He lived a perfect life. He died on his own accord, both spiritually and physically. And then the Father gave him power to rise up again and overcome physical death and spiritual death. Now, when Jesus Christ proclaimed or achieved his victory over sin and death, what he did is he took that glorified kingdom of his and he presented it to his Father. This is the way Joseph Smith describes it. And when Jesus presents that to his Father, his Father, who is all glory, gets glorified even more. And Jesus takes his place in a, in like a hierarchical, like, like if you look at the, uh, if God is above all and Jesus Christ succeeds him and becomes like him, Jesus Christ takes his place. And what does it do to the father?
SPEAKER_01:Exalts
SPEAKER_00:him. It exalts him even higher and gives him even more glory. Now take Jesus Christ who looks at his beloved daughter, Lauren, and says, Lauren, please come unto me. Have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then receive the five covenants, and then sixth, in the temple, and your exaltation will be complete. And what you will do is, I'm assuming, you will present your kingdom to the Savior, and he will then present it to the Father. And not only do you get exalted, but the Savior gets exalted, and then the Father gets exalted.
SPEAKER_01:What a great chain reaction.
SPEAKER_00:No, but this concept of exaltation, if you just look at the word, what does exalt mean? To lift up. To become higher, right? To exalt is to keep growing. So if eternal exaltation or eternal lives, that means this chain of glory and exaltation up and up and more and more and growing. This is eternal progress that can only be done in the plural. It can't be done if I am single and alone. It can't. You cannot be exalted if you're single. That's what the scripture says. You think I'm condemning you right now. I'm not, Laura. I'm not speaking to you. Because here's what the scripture says. It says, in D&C 132, it talks about how those of us who will be in the celestial kingdom but don't enter into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage, we will be angels living single forever, for all eternity. Go read it. It's in there. So the new and everlasting covenants that we enter into in the temple... are all designed to lead us to that ultimate covenant, which is called the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. So when me and my wife are sealed together after we've received all those other covenants that build up to that in the temple, we are now in the covenant of exaltation. Not just salvation, but exaltation. And why is it called eternal lives? It's because my spouse and I will have the power, the God-like creation power, to continue to create life. throughout all eternity. It's awesome. It's amazing. It really is. This is blasphemy to Orthodox churches. They don't like this. They don't like this at all. But it is true. It is absolutely true, and it is beautiful. So you preparing missionaries, when you enter the temple, and why you should focus on that over your mission, this is why. Because when you come unto Christ and live the law of the gospel of faith, repentance, baptism, and gift of the Holy Ghost, you achieve salvation. But in order to receive that which God has prepared for you, which is exaltation, you have to receive five more covenants. And those five covenants you receive through the endowment. And those are the covenants of exaltation. And those ultimately are required in order for you to eventually meet your spouse and enter into that new and everlasting covenant of marriage. And that is the capstone for you entering exaltation. That is by far more important than the year and a half or two years you're going to spend Helping others come. You need to come yourself to exaltation. You do. And then you're more worthy or more prepared or more excited to go out and lead others to salvation and ultimately exaltation. I'm thrilled that you guys talk so much. We didn't talk about temples as much to our investigators, but you guys are all about it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Why? Tell me more about that. Like you guys are, that's like the, it seems like the capstone isn't baptism. You guys are all, my son and you, you get all stoked when they, they went to the temple. I'm like, what do you mean? They got there and they're like, no, they just did baptisms. And I'm like, oh, that doesn't seem as cool as they are. But you guys are so stoked about it. Why?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. In almost every ward slash branch that I served in, the ward mission leader, whoever is helping with missionary work had a plan, a missionary plan for the ward, a work, Ward mission plan is what it's called. And the goal was always to get them to the temple within 30 days of their baptism. Why do you think that is? I
SPEAKER_00:mean, I think I know why. You tell me why.
SPEAKER_01:No, I'm asking
SPEAKER_00:you. Oh, why? Okay. Well, I think it's because there's a difference between salvation and exaltation. And the temple is the only way to get exaltation. And these people understand, your ward and your leaders understand that your investigator is great that they're saved. But that's not the purpose of the church is to exalt them. Right? And so if they can get to the, oh, you're asking why in 30 days?
SPEAKER_01:No, I was just asking, like, well, yeah, no, I was just asking,
SPEAKER_00:like, why? I think the answer is this whole lesson. The whole lesson. Why a leader who understands this concept of exaltation is going to go, oh, it's so wonderful you're baptized. We've got to get you to exaltation. Was that what you were looking for?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. No, no, no, yeah. That truly is the reason. The 30-day thing, I don't know who came up with that, but it's a good way for, our friends to avoid hitting a plateau, to plateauing, right? Because typically friends are excited and they're taking lessons and they're doing all these things so that they can achieve baptism. But if they have a checkpoint past baptism, which is working to go to the temple, doing family history work, things like that, when they understand that it's more than just baptism, you want to push them to get there so they don't stop and get
SPEAKER_00:So it's a pragmatic way for you to continue to work with them and have them keep commitments that build their faith and have something to look forward to. But also, what happens when they actually step foot in that temple? What happens to their soul? What happens to their spirit? What happens to their minds and their hearts? It's such a beautiful, magical, spiritual place that it changes them. And then eventually, a year later, when they can actually get their own endowments out, hopefully these wards are teaching them about exaltation. Then everything changes. Like that, the saints in the early days of the restoration, before they were kicked out of every place and were going to like migrate, the Lord said, you're not going anywhere until you build that temple. So put all your resources into building that temple because I need to endow you with the power to endure what's about to come at you. And that endowment is what each of us get in the temple. You listeners, you need these ordinances, these covenants of exaltation. You need them. in order to come to Christ and to truly overcome sin and death and be with the Father forever. It endows you with power to be a better missionary. Prepare for the temple. Don't just prepare for your mission. The temple is by far more important for your exaltation. That's the whole point. So take the time to study it. Plan on going tons a lot so i'll just quick story in the wind when i got my call i was super excited i was so blessed that my we had a neighbor who's this older guy named ed jesperson this guy was amazing he's from new york he's the first take president brooklyn he's a convert he just was full of enthusiasm and power he's this older dude and he shook when he talked and he had this deep new york accent and he came to me and he's like shawny if you will go with me i will go with you every day to the temple for the next three months i'm like whoa what fits a lot, man. I got a job. I don't know. I, he negotiated with me and we basically decided every other day. So three days or four days a week for, for months at a time, we, before my mission, we went to the temple and it changed my life. We would go. And at first I'd watch him and he'd just pay attention. Then we'd get into the celestial room and he'd sit down and go, Shawnee, here's what I learned today. And this was amazing. And this spirit touched me this way. And did you notice that in the thing? And, and after a while, I'm like, Holy cow, this guy's really learning in here. And I started learning in there. And we started having these spiritual discussions in the celestial room in the temple. And it was so powerful. And man, by the time I got into the MTC, I was so faithful and so repentant and so understanding of my covenants and the goal of salvation and exaltation that I was on fire. This really assisted me, Lauren, in serving with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. So I really, we really do urge you guys out there preparing for your missions. Get to the temple as soon as you can and go as often as you can. It is power that you are being endowed with to go be a good missionary and lead souls to Christ. Thanks for coming. Thanks for joining. See you next week.
