SPEAKER_12 0:00

A couple of weeks ago when I uh I taught, I was uh I beelined it out of here to go to a family reunion and I had to go to the airport, and a couple people asked me if I made it. It was actually kind of funny because what had happened is um I met up with my family who was coming from Atlanta, and I get to the airport and I was a little bit smug about it. I was like, I can't believe I pulled this off. This is awesome. And I I'm calling my wife because she's going through security. It's random. They swap flights in order to go to a to where we were going. And so I was gonna meet her at security. I said, Where are you at? She goes, I'm at security. I'm like, I don't see you here. There's like nobody here. She goes, You are in terminal three, right? I'm like, oh shoot. I completely parked in terminal four and had to take the tram so late, and so all of a sudden the anxiety went up. I barely made it right as they were closing the door. But I for a moment there I thought I was like on my game and I was bragging to myself. I'm like, that was smooth. It was like a 007 move. I'm out of there, and yeah, I was an idiot. So um, yeah, my wife wasn't impressed. Okay, we're gonna start with a video. Uh, hopefully the audio makes it. Um, for those in the back, the crows, just give me a thumbs up if you can hear this. I was trying to derive a theme from these chapters. It's 2 Kings 17 through about 25. Okay, and there's a lot of history. There's about 125 years going on here, give or take. Uh, a lot is happening, but it actually sets the table for a lot that you experience in the Book of Mormon and for the ministry of the Savior. Uh, the table gets set for a lot of different things, but there's a little thread that I've noticed, and so I just want to share this video. Maybe you've seen it before. Hopefully the audio works.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

They took participants out into a very dense.

SPEAKER_12 1:58

A little higher.

SPEAKER_04 2:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_13 2:06

They put a GPS tracker on everyone. They were given simple instructions. You guys hear it?

SPEAKER_16 2:13

Straight. Straight, straight as you can.

SPEAKER_07 2:20

There's an oft-repeated theory that people who are lost walk in circles. Not long ago, scientists tested that theory.

SPEAKER_15 2:44

How do you feel like you did?

SPEAKER_08 2:45

I feel like it did well. Pretty good. Pretty sure I went straight the whole time.

SPEAKER_06 2:48

But a GPS told a different story. These are your results.

SPEAKER_08 2:52

Wait, what? No way. So you took the scene route.

SPEAKER_06 2:56

I don't even know that I was making a circle.

SPEAKER_15 2:59

They really thought they were doing good. They had no idea because they were in a forest with no landmarks around.

SPEAKER_07 3:06

Without reliable landmarks, we drift off course. This, of course, applies to us physically. It also applies to us spiritually.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

It can be so easy to get off track because we don't realize when we are drifting. We don't realize when we are taking small steps away.

SPEAKER_05 3:27

At the time, I didn't think there was anything wrong because I was living my life.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

For me, church became something that wasn't of importance, and we just started to not go.

SPEAKER_10 3:38

At 14, I was kicked out of my mom's home. I was drinking, I was smoking weed with my friends. I didn't feel like anyone cared.

SPEAKER_11 3:47

And it can be really easy to ignore because you don't want to think really deeply about what is happening in your spiritual life.

SPEAKER_09 3:59

I don't think this experiment was to say that when you go in circles, you're never going to come back. People can come back and they can change.

SPEAKER_14 4:08

Just as small little things can lead us off the path, small little things can also lead us back on the path.

SPEAKER_07 4:16

When darkness creeps into our lives, our daily restoration opens our hearts to heavenly light, which illuminates our souls, chasing away shadows, fears, and doubts.

SPEAKER_08 4:35

Change the shape of your day.

SPEAKER_05 4:36

Through daily prayer and daily scripture study, I really found that the Savior comes to me in those moments and really ask, Heavenly Father, what is it that you would have me to know and do this day?

SPEAKER_06 4:48

Daily restoration means daily repentance, trying to be better, trying to move to the right direction. And he will hold your hands to take you to where you need to be.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

In the scriptures, I try to find references that speak more to me personally that can kind of help me and guide me through my individual trials.

SPEAKER_11 5:09

I love pondering and meditating about Christ's plan for me.

SPEAKER_08 5:13

I want to be led by the Spirit daily, hourly, because I know that that's when I'm my most happy.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

It's up to us each day to make these small, simple decisions to slowly realign ourselves with what the Lord wants.

SPEAKER_11 5:26

Those small acts bring me so much peace and so much more joy in my life than on days where I might forget.

SPEAKER_10 5:34

It just felt like a weight was taken off my shoulders.

SPEAKER_05 5:38

My relationship with my family to relationship with colleagues in work, my days seemed to just go much smoother.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

But I remember the peace and the ultimate joy that I felt thinking that I finally found something that can bring me the happiness that I thought so badly that I needed.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

No matter how old we are, no matter how much experience we have, like no one is exempt from uh needing guidance from a higher power, someone who can see the whole forest.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

What I love about Jesus Christ is it doesn't matter how many times you've sinned, it doesn't matter how many times you've made the same sin. If you continually look for him and look for him to take the burden and you repent of that, if you try to just get rid of it, he'll take it every single time. He'll never not take it.

SPEAKER_07 6:24

We all drift from time to time. We need an ongoing, daily infusion of heavenly light. We need times of refreshing, times of personal restoration. I bear my personal witness that God is among us, that he will surely draw near to all who draw near to him.

SPEAKER_12 7:01

I don't know if that played out fine. Um I want you to kind of think about some of the comments in there. There's a few there. Obviously, the imagery of going in a circle when you think you're right down the line, right? And so we uh this is a commentary about discipleship and how do you know? Um the other thing that I picked up on, again, I'm gonna have a conversation with you about this here in a bit, is the guy said that there are things that he would do that he thought would bring himself happiness, but it wasn't, and it got him off the path. And then when he aligned himself with the foundation of the gospel, work was easier, life was easier, he was happier. I love that. There's a scripture I'm gonna share in a bit that just speaks to that very well. Um, kind of let's hold on that. We're gonna come back to this topic. This is the thread, this is the topic today. Um, but let's talk about what's going on. We're talking, timeline is around 722 BC to about 685, 690, sorry, 585, 590. A lot happens, okay? Uh you've got just as a reminder, you have the kingdom of Israel in the north. They split up from their family from the kingdom of Judah in the south. Ten tribes are in the north, two tribes are in the south, Jerusalem is the center political point for the south. Samaria is the center political point for the north. That's the capital. Okay. A contemporary around the 720 to 700-ish timeframe is Isaiah. And the kings of the north and the kings of the south are the biggest pain in the rear ends that you can imagine. They're doing away with the right worship, they're going through the temples and putting pagan god relics in there, and they are leading their people astray, and it's not going well. Um, but 120 years later, you've got the same nonsense happening in Jerusalem. And Lehi is commanded to flee Jerusalem because there's a pattern that keeps emerging with them doing poorly, being wicked, and people being commanded to flee. And so Lehi and his family, they flee Jerusalem. Because if you remember, in the first chapter of the Book of Mormon, there's installed a king named Zedekiah, and we're going to get to the context of him. And during the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, Lehi goes out and starts prophesying with other prophets that Jerusalem is about to be destroyed. And he has an experience where the Son of God comes down and gives him a book and he reads it, and he realizes it validates everything, all of his impressions. Yes, Jerusalem is about to be destroyed. And so he is preaching and prophesying, trying to help people understand that anyone who comes unto God will be saved and you'll be fine. And just to end this commentary, what I love about Lehi is that he's not looking at the people saying, You big idiots, you get what's coming to you. His heart is torn to pieces, and he's concerned. And he's trying to do everything with every ounce of his energy to bring them back to God because it's almost inevitable. So, Laman and Lemul, as they're building a ship, there's a dialogue between the two. Nephi wants them to build the ship. Laman and Lemuel are fed up, and they make a comment which I find interesting. Can someone read this? Yes. Okay, what is Laman and Lemuel saying? They made a judgment about the people of Jerusalem, and they also made a judgment about their dad. What did they observe? Just the opposite. They seemed to have every right. Based on what Laman and Lemuel could see, that was how they could discern righteousness. They were fulfilling the law of Moses. And the law of Moses was pretty encompassing. You're talking about feasts, and you're talking about various commandments and going to the temple and a variety of different things. They're like, Dad, what is your problem? These people are doing their best. Are you kidding me? But Laman, but Lehi and Nephi didn't see it that way. Now, the contemporary during this time is Isaiah. This is, let's rewind 125 years ago and let's look for a pattern. Isaiah is watching carefully the kingdom of Judah, and he's noticing some things that are playing out there too. This is actually going to sound a lot like Laman and Lemuel, at least what he's dissecting. Can I have someone read verse 11 through 13? By the way, this is Isaiah chapter 1. He's consulting the king of Judah, by the way. And stuff is about to hit the fan. So he's got to give him a heads up. 11 through 13, anybody have that? Or willing to read that? Yes. Okay, I'm gonna pause. He is not referring to pagan worship, by the way. He's referring to true worship. If you were to flip this a little bit, because Isaiah is being a little bit rough on these guys, I don't really want any of your worship right now, is essentially what the Lord is saying through Isaiah. I don't want any of it. I don't care about, I don't care about your sacrifices anymore. I don't care about your festivals, I don't care about your obedience, I don't care about any of it. It's nonsense to me, is essentially what he's saying. But taught, think of it on the flip side like Laman and Lemuel. We are talking about a people who are sacrificing, who are going to the temple. Let's continue with this thought. Uh, did we go to thirteen? Let's go to fourteen through sixteen. Anybody? Think about this, Brother Conkell. Okay. There's some temple symbolism. When you spread forth your hands, I'm gonna hide my eyes from you. This is really hard stuff. It's important to know that what the Lord is not saying is that these are not important things. They're actually very important. It's also important to know that what Laman Lemuel observed, it's not suggesting the Lord wanted them to stop living and obeying the law of Moses. That is not what this is about. What's the issue, do you think? Why would such good things become so bad? What what were the people missing?

SPEAKER_04 14:47

Yeah, excellent. Thank you. Anybody else?

SPEAKER_12 16:11

We need to yield and submit to the ordinances of the gospel and be obedient to them. If you choose to do that and everything weighs heavily on the spirit of it, you'll lose the spirit, ironically. It needs to be a balance of both the physical and the spiritual, the inward. This almost feels a little bit ramy umtum-like, right? John, did you have a comment? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_16 17:11

You're not reflecting in your everyday life part of what you're doing on the outside.

SPEAKER_12 17:18

Excellent. And if one were to conclude, well, what we're learning today is that the ordinances and the laws and commandments are corruptible and they don't make any sense. That is not the case. That's the opposite of what's going on. In fact, even the Savior, he didn't need baptism, but he submitted to the will of the Father. Uh, these two paths need to go hand in hand with each other. So, whatever is happening here, that inability to discern, notwithstanding the physical discipleship, the outward discipleship, something is being corrupted. Laman and Lemuel couldn't detect it either. And Isaiah is getting to the core of it. Okay? So here is what's starting to play out. In 722, a uh, I say this sarcastically, a friendly group of people called the Assyrians come to the scene. Okay. And uh, does anybody know anything about how the Assyrians do business? What are they like? Does anybody know? What kind of what kind of kingdom is this? Are they a little bit soft and mushy in the center? Or what are they like? Anybody have any idea? And that's okay. So these guys were rough. They used psychological warfare. They wanted to intimidate and they wanted to strike fear at the core. And they were so egotistical about it and documented their stuff so well that we have their stuff documented to today in history. In fact, a lot of what you're seeing in the Bible is going to be actually verified through historical documentation. Unfortunately, the what the what they would do is they would go into a country or a kingdom, and first they would try to put them under bondage and get some sort of payment. I want you to play by our rules, and you pay us money, and you act apart. You go outside of that, we will annihilate you completely and totally. In fact, we won't just annihilate you. When we come to you, we will chop off your heads and make pyramids out of them. We will take a bunch of your people and put spears through them and just let you hang there in the sun. We will take a bunch of other people and we will fillet their skins live and let them, skinless, die and suffer in torture for onlookers to observe. So when we say that we're going to get the job done, we mean it. And that's essentially what played out. The Assyrians came and completely conquered in 722 the northern kingdom of Israel. Even though the prophets testified that these things would happen, they did not repent. Prior to that time, a lot of these people are fleeing southward. We know that because even Lehi is from Manasseh, and Manasseh is in lower northern kingdom. And so what plays out is the Assyrians, they beat these guys up. It's a mass deportation, but not entirely. Most of them are spread throughout the Assyrian kingdom, and what we call as quote, the lost ten tribes ends up playing out here. This is where that happens. And so, in the just as context, is this it? This is our article of faith. This is where it starts playing out. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel in the restoration of the ten tribes. Why? Because the Assyrians got rid of them. We know where some of them are, but for a large part, they're gone. And we don't know where they went in history. So we're trying to find them. Why are we trying to find them? It's because God made a commitment with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because that he would watch his family. And so they're somewhere around there. That Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem, will be built upon the American continent, that Christ will reign personally on the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and receive his paradise glory. That first section is where it plays out now, in 722 BC. Okay? How do we find the lost ten tribes today? What's our method for doing that? Missionary work. So that's one side of the coin. We gather them with missionary work and we search in the rocks, and we're we're fishers, and then how do we confirm their lineage? Patriarchal blessings. So that two-fold experience is what is gathering Israel and the last ten tribes and identifying their family history. Okay? So here's some history. They have it documented of the Assyrians completely torturing people and putting them on stakes. This was their MO. And Isaiah, can someone go to Isaiah chapter 8, verse 7 through 8? Even Nephi picked up on this and he would write these words in the Book of Mormon. Isaiah eight, seven through eight.

SPEAKER_04 22:05

Anybody have that? Brian?

SPEAKER_12 22:34

Okay. Uh, Brian, who is this flood that's coming? The Assyrians. So essentially, the Assyrians are crossing over the banks. They've destroyed Israel. This revelation is coming out of Jerusalem, by the way. He's essentially saying, look, I know you've seen what's happened in the northern kingdom about 20 years ago. As a heads up, it's coming your direction next. The Assyrians, like water, are gonna go over the banks, they're gonna surround you by the neck, which is at Jerusalem, and it'll come there and it'll stop. And Isaiah says, heads up, it's coming for you now. So that's kind of what's happening next. Okay. So summarize. Assyrians, not great people, not the friendliest. They use psychological warfare. Isaiah tells the people in Judah, here they come, they're gonna be knocking on your door shortly. Okay? So let's go through this story and talk through it. Uh we're gonna be in 2 Kings 18. Let's start there and let's go 3 through 4, and we're just gonna read a few things here. What plays out is is really interesting.

SPEAKER_04 23:49

Anyone have 2 Kings 18, 3 through 4?

SPEAKER_12 23:52

Sister Welch?

SPEAKER_03 23:54

I think you're definitely described as the sight of the Lord, according to all the David is trying to.

SPEAKER_12 23:59

Sorry, can I pause you? He is Hezekiah, by the way. This is different than Zedekiah. Don't get him confused. This is a hundred years before Lehi. Zedekiah is in Jerusalem. He's a good guy. He's been surrounded by bad guys. And this guy actually gets it. Sorry, Sister Walch. Do you guys remember this? This is a side note, but it's kind of a fun one. Do you guys know the brazen serpent situation? Where does that hearken to? You guys remember that guy? Brazen serpent, somewhere in the history of Israel. Where was there a brazen serpent? Do you remember? Moses. Perfect. What did Moses do with the brazen serpent?

unknown 24:50

He said, um, oh my gosh. I know it was something.

SPEAKER_17 24:53

He said, if you don't look at a whole something, you'll get killed. And let's see, something like that.

SPEAKER_12 25:02

Perfect. Good. So that's the same brazen serpent that Moses raised up in the wilderness as the type of Christ. They put it in the temple, and what did the people do? They started worshiping it and they burn incense. And Hezekiah's like, dude, what are you guys doing? What I love about the imagery here, think about this. Within the holy place, you've got an Eden scene with cherubims right in the holy place and a menorah that looks like a tree of life. And now you've got a brass serpent in there. It's kind of an intriguing little imagery. Just a note. The second time the brass serpent gets kicked out. Okay, so 2 Kings 18, 26 and 28. Let's go there. 2 Kings 18, 26, and 28. Let's continue the story. Hezekiah is clearing house. He's trying to institute good worship.

SPEAKER_04 25:55

Does anybody have this? Brother Jrisco?

SPEAKER_12 26:29

Okay, I didn't give great context. The Assyrian army has officially come to the neck, as Isaiah prophesied. They surround Jerusalem. Hezekiah, after instilling good worship, sees this massive army. They know what they're capable of. They send a little uh their their talking heads from the Assyrian army. They come in, and the Jews are like, hey, can you do us a favor? Can you not have this conversation that you're about to have with us in front of other people? In fact, we know the Syrian tongue. Can you also use that? And they just laughed and like, no, we know your Jewish tongue. We're gonna tell everybody on the wall essentially what's happening. Okay? And so here's the psychological warfare about to happen. Um, I don't, it's gonna, all right, let's go to 19, 9 through 13 because it's reiterated. I think I abbreviated out of time. Second Kings 19, 9 through 13. Here's the psychological warfare.

unknown 27:32

He is kind of out of writing.

SPEAKER_03 27:39

Yeah, if you would.

SPEAKER_12 28:22

Sorry, there was a lot of random names in there, and I totally put you through that gauntlet. I'm sorry about that. Okay. I don't know. If if you could catch what he's doing here, that was hard to track onto because of the names and all that stuff. Did you hear what he was trying to say to the Jews? Did you catch that by chance? How what kind of psychological warfare is this?

SPEAKER_04 28:44

Do you guys know? Brian? Yeah.

unknown 28:53

But have God as well.

SPEAKER_04 28:54

Yeah.

unknown 28:57

God will be the same.

SPEAKER_12 28:58

That's perfect, Brian. And that's really tough. Not only, like, I we mowed down your kings, so don't trust Hezekiah, is what they would tell the Jews. Uh so whatever Hezekiah is telling you, don't trust him, don't trust other nations, and don't trust your God, because we've seen this story before. We've come to other nations, they call upon their God, and we mowed them down so perfectly. In fact, and here's where it gets really hard. This is what I want to talk about. They mowed these guys down. Who is their God? Or who was their God? It was the God of Israel-ish, right? It was corrupted. Um, Samaria became kind of the center spot and a joke during the time of Christ because it was a mixture of the leftovers of Israel that intermarried the Assyrians at that point. So they didn't like each other. But now they've got a story with the psychological warfare that I keep alluding to of hey, we can wipe you pretty clean from off the face of the earth, and it'll be ugly. But not only that, don't trust your king and don't trust your God, because it didn't work. It didn't work for the north, and it didn't work for any other God. So here's my question: this is a hard question. How do they know, like Laman and Lemuel, that their story is not just like those in the north? We're doing everything we can to obey the law of Moses, but is my discipleship such that I am finding the protection of God? How do I know the difference? Because now for these guys it's life and death. So I'm gonna ask you that same question. How do you know if your life and your discipleship is similar in fashion to what Laman and Lemuel describe versus what Lehi and Nephi are experiencing? And can you put trust in the God of Israel to deliver you in your times of need? That's it can be rhetorical. And then let me ask you this what are you doing to discern? How do you know? How do you know that it's not like lemon and lemon in your life? How do you detect that? Can you help each other out? And what do you do to keep straight? So that, like that initial metaphor of going in circles in the wilderness and you had no idea it was happening, you're actually straight and you know it, and you don't have to have someone else tell you you know exactly where you're heading.

SPEAKER_04 31:37

I want to talk about that. How do you know, and what do you do?

SPEAKER_12 31:46

Or are you not sure? Whereas Ehi and Ephi are constructed by the Uh oh, okay. All right, you you're finding one differentiator. Uh Laman and Lemula was all about themselves, Nephi and Lehi were about everybody else. Okay, that's that's a good sign. John?

SPEAKER_16 32:12

I think Layman and Lemuel also their trust and paper lord was very transactional. So as long as they got the blessing that they were safe for their obedience, then they were good. But the minute that they thought that they were good, they just repeated. There wasn't a whole lot of power. Like Nelson has to have like a coming out here that uh they weren't thinking celestial, in other words, they're very short term and very transactional. And when things didn't go the way that they thought, the outcomes weren't there. They just I love that, John.

SPEAKER_12 33:00

Yeah, and I it what made me think, or what thought came to my mind as you were saying that is Nephi even identified that they knew not the God in whom they worshiped. There's something about that God that it's stuff isn't always gonna go what seems in our eyes well, but there's some other thing going on, and trust God, trust that he loves you, that he knows you. I love that. How do you know for yourself in your own life that your discipleship isn't just an outward display, but you're receiving signs suggesting that you're you've got a connection and you're following him and you know his voice? How do you know that? Have you been in situations where you've been freaked out like this and you have a Syrian army around you? Yeah. So he said that the Holy Ghost comes to me and bears witness that I'm doing okay, and you rely on faith. I love that. Any other comments?

SPEAKER_16 34:19

I love uh behavior. Blessed are the characteristics the the attributes, I guess. A lot of times we don't focus on that term blessed, but it actually we strive for all of these things that term blessed means that it's an inward amount of joy. No outward circumstances. But that blessedness endures through all of those. And the way that we know that is we can feel that when we turn when we turn back inward after we've received whatever from the world, and I come together with my wife, or we come together as a family, talk about things. We know that it doesn't matter that those things there's more to it. God will prevail, we won't be my eye through our lives, but we can do it. And that comes through the Holy Ghost. It comes to aligning with God. All of those little metrics all along the way that power life will respect whatever, whether it's the Assyrians, whether it's death, whether it's financial insolvency, whatever it might be. It doesn't matter. Um, because of that blessedness that comes from a dear following the prophet and living gospel-centered life.

SPEAKER_12 36:13

Can I throw a scripture into there? I I was thinking of Ether 12, 4. Whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place on the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God. Doesn't matter what the circumstances are, if you have a hope in a view of what's to come and you're connected to your covenants, then it's going to act as an anchor, Alex. Um one of the things that uh was coming to my mind is that um as as you are going about your discipleship, like John was saying, you can err on the side of the Pharisee or those in the time of Christ that did everything they could to run a hundred miles an hour in order to save themselves and to do all the and this is gonna sound crazy. Going to the temple is going to help save you. And then there are instances where just going through the motions aren't going to do anything for you. Um, and so at what point do you see yourself saving yourself through these actions versus acknowledging that you need God, you need the savior, and you need that remission of your sins? And I'm just gonna make one nugget. I think one identifier that you can know if you are on the path of your duty is have you received the Holy Ghost? Have you received a remission of your sins and the fruits that come with it? Are you hearing the voice of the Lord? Are you responding to it regardless of what you want out of life? Is that what you want out of life more than anything else? What will happen is the Holy Ghost comes, you receive a remission of your sins, the gifts of the Spirit come, and like the words of King Benjamin, how knoweth the man, the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger to him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart, you will know his intents, because you're constantly in the attitude of serving him.

SPEAKER_03 39:54

It's simple to me, I'm a simple guy, but anyhow, the repentance is the key to that.

unknown 40:00

And they couldn't repent because they were so kind. Yeah.

SPEAKER_12 40:04

And we get like that, don't we?

unknown 40:05

In our generation, it is in theirs. That's what I that's the way I looked at it, and I thought, no, this is pretty simple. Why do you why are we talking about that?

SPEAKER_12 40:14

Yeah, I I may end and bear my testimony of that because I I'm really good at that. Um, and I'll share that. Uh I love this. Let's close with 2 Kings 19. I love the imagery here because he gets this letter from Sennacherib, I think is how you pronounce it, the king of Assyria. It's got the psychological warfare. He doesn't know what's about to happen. Hezekiah offers a prayer, uh, 1915 and through 19. Can we read that? Anyone have that?

SPEAKER_04 40:46

Brother Conkl.

unknown 40:48

Hezekiah prayed before the word and said, O Lord God of Israel, follow us to meet the prayer. Thou art to God, even thou alone. Of all the kingdoms made in heaven. That all the kingdoms of the curtain be know that thou art the Lord God.

SPEAKER_12 41:50

Um, there's a verse that right before it, what he does is he takes this letter, and I I literally have thought of this imagery at various points in my life when things feel like the Assyrians are surrounding me, and I've got stuff up to my neck. Uh, he takes this letter and he puts it down in front of the Lord in the temple, and he just lays himself out and says, I just got this letter. I honestly don't know what to do. I have no idea what to do with my life right now. And I've had that prayer and I've had this imagery in my mind. And I've asked the Lord for help in desperation, not knowing where else to turn. Um, brothers and sisters, I hope you, I don't hope you have those moments, but I hope you turn like that in those moments. What ends up happening, just to tie the bow on this, is Isaiah comes to Hezekiah and says, by the way, the Lord heard your prayer. And just so you know, Sennacherib, he's not gonna he's not gonna shoot as much of an arrow inside Jerusalem. They're going to go back the way they came and they won't bother you, don't worry. And what ends up happening is a plague hits the people, and 185,000 Assyrians die that night, and they turn and leave. And what's interesting is this relic was found, and in it, the Bible talks about this whole thing. And this relic says, Yeah, we captured 46 fortified cities of Jerusalem. We deported over 200,000 people, and then it says, confirming the Bible, and we shut up, literally calling out Hezekiah, the name. We shut up Hezekiah and trapped him like a bird in a cage, and they just ended the story. Said, that's it, that's all we want to talk about. But then a Greek historian named Herodotus wrote centuries later that Seneca's army suffered a mysterious disaster during a campaign in the region. His explanation involves mice destroying equipment causing a plague, thus preserving the tradition that Senekib's expedition ended unexpectedly rather than in total victory. That's just history stuff. Um something happened. Anyway, here's the point. Um, so many times in my life, I thought through the motions of discipleship, I was going right straight through the woods, only to realize I wasn't happy, I wasn't fulfilled, I wasn't being the dad that I should be, and it was subtlety. I turned my heart to God and reprioritized myself. I started looking at what do I want in my life? What is my ultimate goal? Is it him or is it this career thing or this ego thing or this other thing? And then once I reshuffled, turned my heart to him, and pled like Hezekiah in the temple, the Spirit comes, I hear his voice, I become happy, and life is simpler. Life is sweet. I testify it is as simple as that. It's something that a child can understand. And egotistical people like me forget and I start going in circles. I invite you to analyze your discipleship, ask yourself if the Holy Ghost is a constant companion, and do the things to reprioritize your life. And I share that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. We didn't get back to Layman and Lemuel, we ran out of time, and I'm sorry, but Jerusalem got destroyed just to spill the beans there. Um through the same methods. Uh anyone willing to give a closing prayer? Brian, thank you.