Day 64: 3 Nephi 12-15

Welcome to Day 64...
         
What a sweet experience it must have been for faithful Nephi to be called forward by name and noted for his righteousness! Imagine the overwhelming emotion he must have felt as he "bowed himself down and did kiss his feet." (3 Nephi 11:19)

Jesus portrayed his "beautiful attitudes" in the BE-attitudes in his "Sermon on the Mount/Temple." 

Harold B. Lee stated, the teachings from the Sermon on the Mount "...give us the constitution for a perfect life." 
                  
Why did the Savior deliver the same message to the Nephites as the Jews? Recall the words of the Savior in 2 Nephi 29:8-9: "Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever."

And now, let's dive in to today's reading and "lay up for [ourselves] treasures in heaven." (3 Nephi 13:20)

• Opening Song: "More Holiness Give Me" 

(3 Nephi 12:48)

                  

• Begin study session with prayer

• Scripture Study: 3 Nephi 12-15 (listen)

• Study Guide: (here)

• Video: Discussions on the Book of Mormon--3 Nephi 12

• Video: Discussions on the Book of Mormon--3 Nephi 13-14

                   

Video: "The Beatitudes"

• Video: More Beatitudes:
• Video: "God Forgive Us as We Forgive Others" 

                         

"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." 3 Nephi 13:24
                       
"Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them for this is the law and the prophets." 3 Nephi 14:12

Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles provided insight that helps us understand the Savior’s command to “judge not” in 3 Nephi 14:1. 

“There are two kinds of judging: final judgments, which we are forbidden to make, and intermediate judgments, which we are directed to make, but upon righteous principles.The final judgment is that future occasion in which all of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged according to our works. I believe that the scriptural command to ‘judge not’ refers most clearly to this final judgment.Why did the Savior command that we not judge final judgments? I believe this commandment was given because we presume to make final judgments whenever we proclaim that any particular person is going to hell (or to heaven) for a particular act or as of a particular time. When we do this—and there is great temptation to do so—we hurt ourselves and the person we pretend to judge. A righteous judgment must, by definition, be intermediate. It will refrain from declaring that a person has been assured of exaltation or from dismissing a person as being irrevocably bound for hell fire. It will refrain from declaring that a person has forfeited all opportunity for exaltation or even all opportunity for a useful role in the work of the Lord. The gospel is a gospel of hope, and none of us is authorized to deny the power of the Atonement to bring about a cleansing of individual sins, forgiveness and a reformation of life on appropriate conditions” (“‘Judge Not’ and Judging,” Ensign, Aug. 1999, 7, 9).

“Each one of us can make a difference in someone's life, even his or her eternal life, but we must act; we must do; we must labor diligently. Perhaps you have received an impression to invite someone to return to church or to hear the message of the restored gospel for the first time. Go ahead, follow that impression... With faith and a willing heart (even desire), we must trust that the Spirit will give us; in the very hour, ye, in the very moment, what [we] shall say' (D&C100:6).” – Paul K Sybrowdky, “If Christ Had My Opportunities...” Ensign, Nov. 2005, 37.

• Record impressions and favorite verses in your scriptures.

• Close study session with prayer.