Day 228 Don't Come Down from the Mount

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me. I know that I'm cheering for your every success.

My friends don't come down from off the mount. That's the message we're going to get to today. Welcome to day 228 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together.

But first, let's celebrate. Let's celebrate for just a few minutes here. I got to talk about a few things and I got to talk about a few things.

I gotta say thank you to you. My heart is full of gratitude for you listening. Those of you that have joined in, whether you've done it through all, bless you, 228 episodes, or those of you that have tuned in for one or two, or maybe this is your first episode, welcome.

But my friends, today, from day one to day 228, today we hit 10,000 podcast episode downloads. Thank you for watching. Things truly do bring great things to pass and I appreciate that and I just wanted to shout this out to the group to let you all know that those of you that are listening, you're not alone.

Here's what I want to show you. There's various cities in the United States, but just since we've started "Savory Salt," people from Canada, France, Belgium, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Kenya, India, Germany, Italy, Malawi, Hong Kong, Turks and Caicos Islands and Papua New Guinea have tuned in. This is literally reaching across the globe and I love it because I don't know who you are necessarily.

I know some of you, but I don't know who you are. I'm just excited that you like to dive in and read the scriptures a little bit every day and that this is somewhere that you can come for a resource. So celebrate with me.

Give a high five to your friends and family that are around you. I'm giving you an Air high five right here. And I wanted to do that on the front end because today is quite a difficult read.

Our reading today is Alma chapter 47, verses 1 through 27. And it is, it's a downer. It would be something that would be like on primetime television nowadays.

There is some, some wickedness. There's definitely some backstabbing. I mean, almost quite literally in this story.

And it is a tough thing to watch Amalickiah with Lehontai, and I hope I'm saying that correctly, but in Alma chapter 47, verse 11, it says: "And it came to pass that when Lehontai received the message he durst not go down to the foot of the mount. And it came to pass that Amalickiah sent again the second time, desiring him to come down. And it came to pass that Lehontai would not, and he sent again the third time." Now, as this continues on, Amalickiah is not going to give up.

Eventually, the fourth time, as we learned in the story, Lehontai comes down off from the mount. Now, I don't know if we've talked about it necessarily in "Savory Salt," but it is very well known that symbolically, mountains in the Scriptures are temples or holy places. I think that there's two things happening here, one symbolic and one very literal.

Lehontai is being tempted by Amalickiah. Take a step off. Take a step away from the temple.

Get off of your place of spiritual protection, and Lehontai won't do it, and he won't do it, and he won't do it. But guess what? Amalickiah won't stop.

My friends, Satan won't stop tempting you. Whatever it is. We all have our different temptations we experience in our different challenges.

He won't stop. And I want to use Lehontai in a sad way as an example. And yes, it is a drastic example.

I totally understand it, but it's so worth us capturing. Lehontai comes down. He negotiates with Amalickiah, and it leads to his death.

And then it ultimately leads to the death of the king of the Lamanites as well as Amalickiah ascends to the throne. The ultimate leader there, and then drives these Lamanites to endless destruction and battle with the Nephites due to his anger. My friends, in all of our celebration on the front end of the episode today, the "Savory Salt" moment is don't come down off the mount.

And if you do, if you give into that temptation, repent rapidly. Let the Atonement of Jesus Christ take root in you. Let it change you and then stand and don't come down off the mount.

Thank you again. I love this. I enjoy this.

I hope you love it and enjoy it as well. Those of you that keep listening, obviously there's something great about it. I love it and I appreciate you joining in.

Thanks for the journey. Thanks for joining me. That's all for today, my friends.

Remember that By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Keep it small. Keep it simple and always seek to be "Savory Salt." I'll be here tomorrow and I hope you are too.