2.311 Glad Tidings of Great Joy

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello my friends, it's great to have you with me.

Today let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Hey, if you're having a bad day, spend some time in Doctrine and Covenants section 128. That's what we're going to take a look at.

After all, we are reading Doctrine and Covenants sections 125 through 128 this week, as well as 3 Nephi chapters 24 through 28. We'll get back to the Book of Mormon here. Tomorrow, first we've got to spend some time in Doctrine and Covenants 128 and I wanted to pick several verses inside of here, but I wanted to make sure that we headed back to the Book of Mormon as well, especially with those being some of the last chapters of Jesus teaching the Nephites.

So that then drove me into our verse for today, which is just one of the verses out of Doctrine and Covenants section 128. Before I get there, I just wanted to make a note, kind of share some gratitude to you, the listener, and let you know that you're seen in Savory Salt here. I haven't talked about this for a long time on the podcast, but I just kind of generally watch where this podcast is kind of spreading through the world and where it's getting downloads.

And it has been quite some time since I shared, because we've been across all the continents now, at least the populated continents. We don't have any downloads from Antarctica yet, but we've been through North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, down into the islands and Australia, as well as Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. We've been all over the place there.

But recently I just needed to mention and say, "I see you guys." Recently we had some new countries pop up that I wanted to share because these were totally off the grid for me. So those of you, if you're listening or you catch this episode in Uzbekistan or Bangladesh or Morocco or Colombia, these are places that have recently popped up as downloads. We've had some in Argentina and Brazil and Mexico and India and Singapore.

I love seeing the different places. And so just wanted to say that I see you. I hope one day I get to high five you or give you a hug or that we get to join together and say, "Hey, well done for lifting each other through savory salt." I thought that was super exciting.

And I keep forgetting to share that. So I wanted to share that in this episode, partially because the verse, it kind of feeds into the verse today. I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, if you're having a hard time, spend some time in Doctrine and Covenants 128.

And that's because in this letter here that Joseph Smith writes to the early Saints, he is talking about how amazing it is this concept of baptism for the dead. It is something that is very unique to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, although it is not unique to the Lord's ancient church in his day. There are a few scriptures that Joseph references inside of his letter here in 128 where you can reference some of those through Old Testament and New Testament times.

And then after kind of talking about the amazing nature of baptism for the dead, which in and of itself is some of the most lenient versions of salvation in any religious aspect, but we won't go down that road. Let's get to our verse here because Joseph gets to a point at the end of the letter where he just starts to talk about how cool the gospel is. And I got to agree with him.

So our verse for today is Doctrine and Covenants section 128, verse 19. It says, "Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received?" That's such a great question. What do you hear in the gospel that you've received?

We'll get that in just a second. He continues: "A voice of gladness, a voice of mercy from heaven, and a voice of truth out of the earth; glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy! How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that bring glad tidings of good things, and that say unto Zion: Behold, thy God reigneth!

As the dews of Carmel, so shall the knowledge of God descend upon them." My friends, can you feel the energy from Joseph Smith here? The gospel is a voice of gladness. It is a voice of mercy for the living and the dead.

It is glad tidings of great joy. I know that there are those in the gospel that if you were to ask them what they hear, they would hear control. They would hear conflict.

They would hear compulsion. That's what they choose to hear inside the gospel. But my friends, let us take a little sample out of verse 19 here and focus on what we actually hear the Lord saying through his living prophets.

When I turn to the gospel, I hear a voice of gladness, of mercy, of truth, glad tidings of great joy. And I want to share it. I want to share it with you.

I want to share it with others. I want to share Savory Salt. I want to share the podcast.

I want to share the gospel. I want others to know that I believe that Jesus Christ lives and it truly is glad tidings of great joy. That's all for today, my friends.

Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave unto the covenants you have made and together we will be Savory Salt. For more information, visit us at www.fema.org.