Mark L. Pace · Sunday School General President
1Dear brothers and sisters, we are so grateful for your efforts in reading the scriptures with Come, Follow Me. Thank you for all you are doing. Your daily connection with God and His word has profound consequences. “Ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.”
2Reading the Savior’s teachings in the scriptures helps us transform our homes into sanctuaries of faith and centers of gospel learning. It invites the Spirit into our homes. The Holy Ghost fills our souls with joy and converts us into lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.
3Over these last several years, while reading the books of holy scripture, we have observed the panorama of God’s teachings to His children in all the major gospel dispensations.
4In every dispensation, we have seen a familiar pattern. God restores or reveals the gospel of Jesus Christ through His prophets. The people follow the prophets and are greatly blessed. However, over time, some people stop heeding the words of the prophets and distance themselves from the Lord and His gospel. This is what we call apostasy. The gospel was first revealed to Adam, but some of the children of Adam and Eve turned away from the Lord in apostasy. We see a pattern of restoration and apostasy repeated in the dispensations of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and others.
5Now, today, we live in the dispensation of the fulness of times. This is the only dispensation that will not end in an apostasy. It is this dispensation that will usher in the Second Coming of the Savior Jesus Christ and His millennial reign.
6So, what’s different about this dispensation? What has the Lord provided us today, especially for our time, that will help us draw near to the Savior and never leave Him?
7One answer that comes to my mind is the scriptures—and particularly the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ.
8While God has promised there will never be another general apostasy, we need to be mindful and careful to avoid a personal apostasy—remembering, as President Russell M. Nelson has taught, “We are each responsible for our individual spiritual growth.” Studying the Book of Mormon, as we are doing this year, always brings us closer to the Savior—and helps us stay close to Him.
9We call it “study,” and that’s good because it implies effort. But we don’t always need to learn some new fact. Sometimes reading the Book of Mormon is just about feeling connected to God today—nourishing the soul, being strengthened spiritually before heading out to face the world, or finding healing after a rough day out in the world.
10We study the scriptures so the Holy Ghost, the great teacher, can deepen our conversion to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and help us become more like Them.
11With these thoughts in mind, we could consider, “What has the Holy Ghost taught us this week during our study of the Book of Mormon?” and “How does this bring us closer to the Savior?”
12These are good questions for our scripture study at home. They are also excellent questions to start a Sunday class at church. We improve our teaching at church on Sunday by improving our learning at home during the week. Thus, in our Sunday classes, “he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together.”
13Here are a few verses the Spirit has impressed upon my mind from this week’s Book of Mormon study:
14Nephi instructed Jacob to “preserve these plates and hand them down … from generation to generation. And if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation … , or prophesying,” Jacob should “engraven … them upon these plates … for the sake of [their] people.”
15Jacob later testified, “We search the [scriptures], … and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken.”
16Now, these verses caused me to remember what Nephi had said previously about the brass plates:
17“We had obtained the records … and searched them and found that they were … of great worth unto us, insomuch that we could preserve the commandments of the Lord unto our children.
18“Wherefore, it was wisdom in the Lord that we should carry them with us, as we journeyed in the wilderness towards the land of promise.”
19Now, if it was wisdom for Lehi and his family to have the scriptures, it is just as wise for us today. The great worth and spiritual power of the scriptures continue undimmed in our lives today.
20There has never been a people in history with the access to the Book of Mormon and other scriptures that we enjoy today. Yes, Lehi and his family were blessed to carry the brass plates with them, but they didn’t have a copy for every tent! The most important copy of the Book of Mormon is our personal copy. It is the copy that we read.
21In Lehi’s vision of the tree of life, Lehi taught us the importance of personal experience with the love of God. After he partook of the fruit, Lehi saw his wife, Sariah, and his sons Nephi and Sam a little way off.
22“They stood as if they knew not whither they should go.
23“… I beckoned unto them,” Lehi said, “and I also did say unto them with a loud voice that they should come unto me, and partake of the fruit, which was desirable above all other fruit.
24“And … they did come unto me and partake of the fruit.”
25I love Lehi’s example of intentional parenting. Sariah, Nephi, and Sam were living good, righteous lives. But the Lord had something better, something sweeter for them. They didn’t know where to find it, but Lehi did. So he called to them “with a loud voice” to come to the tree of life and partake of the fruit for themselves. His direction was clear. There could be no misunderstanding.
26I am the product of a similar kind of intentional parenting. When I was a young boy, maybe 11 or 12 years old, my mother asked me, “Mark, do you know for yourself, by the Holy Ghost, that the gospel is true?”
27Her question surprised me. I had always tried to be a “good boy,” and I thought that was enough. But my mother, like Lehi, knew that something more was needed. I needed to act and know for myself.
28I replied that I had not yet had that experience. And she didn’t seem surprised at all by my answer.
29She then said something I have never forgotten. I remember her words to this day: “Heavenly Father wants you to know for yourself. But you must put in the effort. You need to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know by the Holy Ghost. Heavenly Father will answer your prayers.”
30Well, I had never read the Book of Mormon before. I didn’t think I was old enough to do that. But my mother knew better.
31Her question ignited in me a desire to know for myself.
32So, each night, in the bedroom I shared with two of my brothers, I turned on the light above my bed and read a chapter in the Book of Mormon. Then, turning off the light, I slipped out of my bed onto my knees and prayed. I prayed more sincerely and with greater desire than I ever had before. I asked Heavenly Father to please let me know of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.
33From the time I started reading the Book of Mormon, I felt that Heavenly Father was aware of my efforts. And I felt that I mattered to Him. As I read and prayed, comfortable, peaceful feelings rested upon me. Chapter by chapter, the light of faith was growing brighter inside my soul. In time, I realized that these feelings were confirmations of truth from the Holy Ghost. I came to know for myself that the Book of Mormon is true and that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. How grateful I am for my mother’s inspired invitation.
34This experience reading the Book of Mormon as a boy started a pattern of scripture study that continues to bless me to this day. I still read the Book of Mormon and kneel in prayer. And the Holy Ghost confirms its truths over and over again.
35Nephi said it right. It was wisdom in the Lord that we should carry the scriptures with us throughout our lives. The Book of Mormon is the “keystone” that makes this dispensation different from all previous dispensations. As we study the Book of Mormon and follow the living prophet, there will be no personal apostasy in our lives.
36The invitation to come to the tree of life by holding fast to the word of God is not just an invitation from Lehi to his family, and it is not just an invitation from my mother for me to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. It is also an invitation from our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, to each one of us.
37“I promise,” he said, “that as you prayerfully study the Book of Mormon every day, you will make better decisions—every day. I promise that as you ponder what you study, the windows of heaven will open, and you will receive answers to your own questions and direction for your own life.”
38It is my prayer that reading the Book of Mormon this year will be a joy and a blessing for each of us and will draw us ever nearer to the Savior.
39Heavenly Father lives. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. The Book of Mormon contains His words and conveys His love. President Russell M. Nelson is the Lord’s living prophet on the earth today. I know these things to be true because of the confirming witness of the Holy Ghost, which witness I first received while reading the Book of Mormon as a boy. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.