Day 317 Christ's Gospel: The Only Sure Foundation

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 and know that I'm cheering for your every success. What is a guaranteed foundation that we can build upon?

Welcome to day 317 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. And I may say, welcome to 85% complete through your Welcome to the reading of the Book of Mormon. Doesn't that feel amazing?

I've tried to make sure that every 5% of the Book of Mormon we take a second and acknowledge what we're doing and acknowledge how far we've come. And here, if you flip the coin around, we only have 15% of the Book of Mormon left. And it is still amazing to go through.

So well done on reaching 85% of the Book of Mormon. Today you're going to be reading 3 Nephi chapter 27, verses 9 through 27. And this really seems to be kind of Christ's concluding statements to the Nephites.

He's going to do a few other things before he leaves, but we're really kind of wrapping things up with his teachings here. He has explained how to name his church, right? Which is yesterday, a little bit of the tail end of yesterday and the front end of today.

And then he's also going to dive into his gospel today. And that's where our verse comes from. And I really liked this verse, and I'm really excited.

The timing of this came right as President Holland put something out in the world that just got me fired up, and I want to share that with you today. So our verse for today is 3 Nephi 27:11: "But if it be not built upon my gospel, and is built upon the works of men, or upon the works of the devil, verily I say unto you, they have joy in their works for a season. And by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire, from whence there is no return." Now that's a pretty dismal ending there, but the piece I actually wanted to point out today is this joy in their works for a season.

The works of men and the works of the devil may in a temporary sense look successful. They may look like they're working. And I think in a lot of cases, people that tend to choose those paths in their lives over gospel paths find temporary success in their lives.

Maybe they leave and I heard it said, you know, people that leave the church tend to say, "Oh, I'm making an extra 10% money because I'm not living the law of tithing anymore." And they completely miss the benefits of the law of tithing in their lives and see it only as simply a transactional cost. And so it's interesting to see this as the Lord says, if you're not built on my gospel, the Lord's gospel. And so we have this foundational gospel piece here that comes from Jesus Christ.

And then we have a warning from him that you may see those following the works of men or the works of the devil that actually look like they have joy in their works for a season until the end cometh. Now this takes me to, as I mentioned, something that I just saw very recently. I think it was even this morning that I saw this from President Jeffrey R.

Holland. And he was giving a talk, and he posted it on his own social media site. So you can go, and if you don't follow the Apostles and Prophets on social media, they post out regularly.

And he said this piece from his social media site. It's a recording of him talking to some leaders in the church. The Church, and this component, he said, "I love this." He said, "Whatever you think the Church is going to be, it's going to be a lot more than that.

It is the one thing that I know for sure is going to succeed. I'm not sure about economies. I'm not sure about politics.

I'm not sure about businesses. Not sure about universities or hospitals. I don't know what's going to work and what's going to fail.

But I know one thing that's going to work. And I know one thing that is never, ever, ever going to fail. And it is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ." My friends, does that not get you so excited to be part of this work?

I can feel it. It is an amazing thing to be a part of. I'm excited that you're a part of it.

Thank you for joining me on my journey through it, and I hope that together our path on Savory Salt here leads us to a future centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ, and I hope that as we continue to strive to be more like him in our lives. 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.