3.179 Bring Them Again

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose you this day whom you will serve.

I've got a great activity for you today. It's a fun one and can bring the Spirit into your life. And also a thought around the idea of forgiveness.

Do you have those things in your past that you just wish you wouldn't have said? Or the things that you just wish you wouldn't have done? Perhaps the people you wish you wouldn't have said that thing to?

I know I do. And today's message is directly for me and for any of you that are saying yes to those questions. We get into a wonderful part, perhaps one of my favorite parts so far inside of our readings with all the ups and downs of the leaders and kings and challenges that they face.

As we get into 1 Kings chapter 8, this week snuck up on me. I ran out of episode room to be able to get through our readings all the way. And I'm going to read a few of the verses that I wanted to snag along the way that hopefully you'll be able to finish your reading.

In 1 Kings 8, we get Solomon dedicating the temple to the Lord. And dedicatory prayers are a common thing for us now, but not so common in the traditional Christian world as you kind of have these ancient dedicatory prayers here of the temples that were built and then don't really have them as part of Christian tradition now. I love that we are able to have these, and so that'll have the activity associated with it in just a second.

In 1 Kings 8, the dedicatory prayer starts right around verse 22. We're going to dive into a part of that dedicatory prayer for our verse for today. As we look at 1 Kings 8, really the first half of the sentence is verse 33.

We're going to read verse 34, but talk about verse 33 as well. So in 33, just kind of the premise around it, Solomon prays to the Lord and says, 'Look, when these people are beat down because they sinned, okay, when they turn back to thee after they've made mistakes'—that's kind of the 'when these things happen' in 33—'then this happens' in verse 34, our verse for today. Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.

Here's a plea that Solomon puts into the dedicatory prayer of the temple: that the people of Israel, even though they will make mistakes, even though they will sin and experience difficulties in their lives, the Bible says they turn to the Lord as they remember Him, pray to Him, ask for forgiveness, that they may be forgiven of those sins and be brought back into the land. I love that blessing and desire that Solomon gives for each one of us. Forgiveness is part of the Plan.

It's fixed in, it's baked into the Plan for each one of us. I'm so grateful for it because I've certainly had my moments and times in my past where I just haven't been the best version of myself. And I've sinned, and I've asked for the Lord's forgiveness that He may be able to bring me back and turn me back into the land.

Now, in terms of an activity that may kind of help in a roundabout way, but it's an activity I wanted to give to you here. It's one that we have not had on Savory Salt. So this one's a new one.

I put a link in the podcast episode today to take you to just the general temples list for the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And I came across this this week as I was studying, and I thought, 'This is so cool!' I had no idea this was here. But if you go into any temple that has had a dedication, and so for wherever you're listening, you could go and look at the temple that's nearest you, right?

But you're able to go into the temple and as you scroll down to near the bottom of the page of every temple, you'll find milestones. And one of the cool things about those milestones is you will see the dedicatory prayer is linked inside of that temple. My friends, have you ever read the dedicatory prayers of the temples around you?

I also started to look at prayers where Apostles had gone and opened certain countries for their preaching of the Gospel, as is now kind of custom when you open up an area to have a Quorum member, a member of the Twelve, an Apostle basically, to dedicate that land to the preaching of the Gospel. My friends, those prayers are powerful. They are every bit as open as the prayer of Solomon here to the dedication of his temple.

May we all find it in our hearts to seek forgiveness, to turn back to the Lord, to be brought back into His fold and back into His land, and find the feeling of that forgiveness inside of our temple attendance is my hope for today. That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this.

Step forward in faith, and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope.