Bryce on Guard Your Heart

welcome to talking scripture I'm Bryce and today I'd like to spend one more video on helan as a pattern of our day I contend that the first coming of Christ to America is very much a pattern of his second coming to the world therefore the days before his coming the days of Helman the book of Helman are a pattern of the days before the second coming we have a tremendous commentary on our day in the book of Helman today I want to focus on one word as you've read Helman for come follow me I'm wondering if you've noticed the same word that I've noticed there is one word repeatedly repeated an unusual number of times and that word is heart so many times in the book of Helman we read the word heart positive and negative now again I would step back a little bit and suggest that what Mormon is saying by repeating that word so many times he is saying your success in the latter days will depend on what you let into your heart and what you do with your heart guarding our hearts seems to be a major message of success in the latter days now we've already seen that remember early on in the book of Helman we saw that war got to the Heartland the heart city and I contend that in the latter days the wars that we are fighting the anger the fighting around us are issues of the heart in the Heartland it's not Nation fighting against Nation over there it's right here in our homes our neighbor neighborhoods our communities and we're fighting over issues that are dear to our hearts but let's take a look at the rest of the book of Helen and find that word heart as I was reading Helman chapter 6 I noticed a repeated phrase it says in verse 26 that Satan put into the heart of gadianton and then notice the repetition verse 28 it is that same being who put it into the hearts of the people to build a tower same phrase twice now look at verse 29 it is that same being who put it into the heart so three times we're reading that Lucifer is trying desperately to put something into my heart now the beauty of the Book of Mormon is if you look for that same phrase done on the side of evil you'll almost always find that same phrase done on the side of good so let's look for that phrase put into the heart but let's watch the Lord do it you'll find it here in Helman chapter 13 where the Lord speaks to Samuel notice the same phrase he says to Samuel but behold the voice of the Lord came unto him that he should return again and prophesy unto the people whatsoever things should come into his heart so when Samuel starts to preach and cry unto them he prophesied unto the people whatsoever things the Lord put into his heart now how many times did we see it in chapter 6 that Satan's doing it how many times are we going to see it here in chapter 12 that the Lord is doing it verse 5 behold I Samuel A lonite do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart and behold he hath put it into my heart to say and there's the same phrase used by the Lord as Mormon used it for Lucifer and isn't that our starting point that in our lives into your heart two entities are trying to put something Lucifer is trying to put something into your heart and the Lord is trying to put something into your heart so let's turn to the next word what do we then do with two people trying to put into my heart what do I do well back in chapter 3 I have to yield my heart and I would suggest that goes both ways do you choose to yield to what Satan puts in your heart or do you choose to yield to what God puts in your heart both are trying to put something into your heart do you yield to this one or to that one to whom do you yield so let's start with the Positive past let's start with the the path of Christ let's talk about yielding our hearts to God I love this verse 35 in chapter 3 they did Fast and pray off and did waack stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in the Faith of Christ unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation yay even to the purifying and sanctification of their hearts which sanctification comes because of their yielding their hearts unto God there's a a lot to that verse if I yield to what God puts into my heart in the end I am going to sanctify my heart I'm going to purify my heart and my heart is going to be filled with joy and consolation and that is because earlier in chapter 3: 27 the Lord is merciful unto all who will in the sincerity of their hearts call up on His holy name so if I yield my heart to what the Lord puts in my heart with sincerity of heart the Lord will respond now what specifically will he do now we're going to see an example of that back in the prison do you remember the 300 that came into the prison and were overshadowed with Darkness but then they repented and there's a clear moment where they yield their hearts remember they came in to do evil but in that darkness when they yield their heart to God with sincerity listen to what happened they were filled with that Joy which is unspeakable and full of glory and behold the holy spirit of God did come down from heaven and did enter into their hearts and they were filled as if with fire and they could speak forth marvelous things yielding your heart to God sincerely allows him to fill it with the Holy Ghost now one of the great examples of that in the book of helan is what happened to the lamanites the lamanites who had been hard-hearted but yielded their heart to God and the Lord changed their heart notice what happened to the lame ites Hearts Samuel the lonite standing on the wall pleading with the the wicked city of zarahemla to do like the lamanites had done said to them ye do know of yourselves for ye have witnessed it that as many of them as are brought to the knowledge of the truth to know of the wicked and abominable traditions of their fathers and are led to believe the holy scriptures yeay the Prophecies of the Holy prophets which are written which leadth them to faith on the Lord and unto repentance which faith and repentance bringeth a change of heart so if you have let Satan into your heart yielding your heart to God sincerely yielding your heart to God seeking him will change that heart and changed Hearts get filled with the the Holy Ghost so after the after the lamanites changed their hearts watch this process back in chapter six as we describe the conversion of the lamanites it says and thus we see that the Nephites did begin to dwindle in unbelief and grow in wickedness and Abominations now we'll get to that in a minute while the lamanites began to grow exceedingly in the knowledge of their God yay they did begin to keep his statutes and Commandments and to walk in truth and uprightness before him so yielding your heart to God brings knowledge verse 36 we continue and thus we see that the Lord began to pour out his Spirit upon the lamanites because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words there is what where in sincerity I yield my heart I think that's a beautiful description of what it means to yield your heart to God you be easy and willing to believe his words the result of that is an outpouring of the Holy Ghost and knowledge of your God is poured out upon you but now let's go back and see the other side what's happening to the Nephi as they grow Wicked what do they do with what Satan puts in their heart well what he puts into their heart stirs them up this is Helman 6:21 Satan did stir up the hearts now quite often we've seen in the book of Elma during the war chapters that he stirs up our heart to anger that he can he can control Us by making us angry but another thing he stir us up is to set our hearts Upon Our riches notice in verse 17 of chapter 6 they began to set their hearts upon their riches and then from Nephi's rebuke in chapter 7 ye have set your hearts upon the riches and the vain things of this world now when you do that continuing in Nephi sermon and he says that woe shall come unto you because of that Pride which ye have suffered to enter your heart and jumping forward to chapter 12 when Mormon gives his great lament he says oh how foolish and how Vain and how evil and devilish and how quick to do iniquity and slow to do good are the children of men ye how quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one see there it is he put it in their heart and they hearkened and then they set their hearts upon the vain things of the world so Satan puts it into our heart stirs up our heart to set our hearts upon the things of the world which allows Pride to enter our heart now any heart filled with pride filled with the glory of the things of the world will very quickly Harden chapter 6:35 and thus we see that the spirit of the Lord began to withdraw from the Nephites because of the wickedness and the hardness of their hearts Nephi from his garden verse 16 how could you have given way to the enticing of him who is seeking to hurl away your souls down to Everlasting misery and endless woe see you yielded how could you yield to someone who wants to destroy you he says oh repent ye repent ye why will ye die turn you unto the Lord your God why has he forsaken you is it because you have hardened your hearts yay ye will not hearken under the voice of the Good Shepherd jumping forward to chapter 12 Mormon's great lament that when the Lord blesses us then is the time that they do Harden their hearts and do forget the Lord their God and do trample under their feet the Holy One and this because of their ease and their great Prosperity so we see Satan put it into our hearts which stir us up which causes us to set our hearts on the things of the world Pride enters to our heart and once pride is in our heart it hardens our heart now once we have a hardened heart Satan has great control over us notice the next set of words and behold it is He Who is the author of all sin and behold he doth carry on his works of darkness and secret murder and doth hand down their plots and their Oaths and their covenants and their plans of awful wickedness from generation to generation according as he can get hold upon their hearts and now behold he had got great hold upon the hearts of the Nephites so as soon as you have a hard heart that is a heart that Satan can have great hold upon Nephi rebukes them on his from his garden Tower ye ought to Marvel because you are given away that the devil has got so great hold upon your hearts now here's the tragedy we've learned something about Satan do you remember we learned in Elma that he will not support his children at the last day but does speedily drag them down to Hell this is the great irony as as soon as I set my heart upon the things of the world I want the things of the world and I let Pride enter my heart that hardens my heart so that Satan can great get great hold now what does he do in the book of Helman when he has hold of their hearts it was their desire for the things of the world that caused them to harden their hearts and allowed him to get great great hold of their hearts what happens to their possessions when Satan has great hold upon their hearts they become slippery they lose them isn't that a typical isn't that typical of Lucifer it's the love of the things that causes us to harden our hearts which gives him control over our hearts a hold of our hearts and one Satan has a hold of my heart he causes those very things those those possessions to become slippery Samuel the lonite up on that wall says woe be unto all the cities that are in the land roundabout which are possessed by the Nephites because of the wickedness and Abominations which are in them Behold a curse shall come upon the land sayith the Lord of hosts because of the people's sake who are upon the land yay because of their wickedness and their Abominations it shall come to pass sayeth the Lord God of hosts yeay are great and true God that who so shall hide up Treasures in the Earth shall find them again no more because of the great curse of the land and behold the time cometh that he curseth your riches that they become slippery that ye cannot hold them in the days of your poverty you cannot retain them do you see the Vicious Cycle Satan puts it into your heart he stirs up your heart to set your hearts upon riches Or Glory or Pride or whatever form the pride takes you set your hearts upon riches you let Pride enter your heart that Pride hardens Your Heart A hardened heart is one that Satan can easily get hold of and then when he gets hold of it you lose those very riches they become slippery do you see the irony of following Lucifer and all of that is because of what you yielded to in your heart you see how all those words weave together a beautiful little pattern do you yield your heart to God and let him begin to sanctify it change you so that it's filled with the Holy Ghost and filled with joy or do you let do you listen to what Satan puts into your heart set your hearts upon riches let Pride enter your heart Harden your heart let Satan get hold of your heart and then those very riches that you sought after become slippery anyway I just think when you put all those together the message of the book of healing becomes very very powerful I believe Mormon is waving his arms and saying this is a very real process going on in our day guard what is placed into your heart guard what you yield to because what you yield to will send you either on a vicious cycle where you love the things of the world and then lose them because they get slippery or yielding your heart to God sends me on a path that it is filled filled with joy filled with spirit I testify what you do with your heart in the latter days will determine your happiness and I say that in the name of Jesus Christ amen for