#25 March 23,2022 Our discussions on godliness brought us knowledge of all we need in our life to effectively labor with God in His purpose. We have a list and that is all fine and good, but brethren; we need more. We need a map. We need to understand how it is that we leave behind the ways of the natural man and grow to become people acceptable to God as citizens of His Kingdom. He has given us this map. DC 28:8d yea, all things both spiritual and temporal: firstly spiritual, secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, firstly temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work; Is that confusing enough? Brethren I will confess to you that I waded through the muck of this verse for a long time before I came to see the genius of all that God had given me. I seek to share with you the path of understanding that God gave me when I turned away from seeking to walk my own path of understanding and turned to walk with Him in the fullness of His understanding. I came to realize that if I am to experience the covenant I made with God in its fullness, it must become more than just a child seeking to please His Father. Only by accepting God's work as my work too will I ever realize a true and abiding communion with God. Accepting this was my first step out of the darkness into the light of understanding that is the Gospel of the Kingdom. DC 22:23b and there is no end to my works, neither to my words; for this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality, and eternal life of man. Easy, Peasy.............right? Well, easy or not it was my first great epiphany on the true nature of covenant. For years and years I have heard from a multitude of people (including myself) that understanding all of this would be easy is I just knew why God wanted me to do this. People, this is the "why" we have been seeking. When I finally accepted God's labor as my own, understanding God's diligence began to make sense. His labor is documented in scripture that I might be more able to understand what it is I am supposed to be doing. I mean if we want oneness with God, this is the first step in understanding just what that oneness entails. Simply put, we have covenanted to labor with God in His purpose, by His direction through His Holy Spirit. If we are to be one, how can the goals we seek be any different than His? Accepting this attitude allowed me to step out of the muck and on to a path where God and I could begin to walk together. At his side I began to gain traction. DC 28:8d yea, all things both spiritual and temporal: firstly spiritual, secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, firstly temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work; Let's take a look at God's labor of creation. We are all familiar with "In the beginning" from Genesis. So I took the liberty of moving ahead to the seventh day. Those familiar with the Inspired Version of the Bible will recognize this passage as one of the "plain and precious truths" that time and man's translations of Scripture have robbed from us. If this passage seems false or even dangerous, please take the time to read blog #1"Why The Book Of Mormon And The Inspired Version Of The Bible" in the blogs section of the website. It brings clarity to my choice of sources for my essays. Genesis 2:3-5 2:3 And I, God, blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it I had rested from all my work, which I, God, had created and made. 2:4 And now, behold, I say unto you, that these are the generations of the heaven, and of the earth, when they were created in the day that I the Lord God made the heaven and the earth, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; 2:5 For I, the Lord God, created all things of which I have spoken spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth; for I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. Working construction for many years helped me understand how much we actually share with God. The construction process done properly doesn't begin with earth graders, hammers, and nails. It begins with an idea, papers, and pencils. What are blueprints if not a spiritual creation? God used my day job to convince me of the importance of this approach to creating by constructing. There was a time I was involved with a shot-lived (thank you Lord) method of construction called Design-Build. In essence this was a construction method that eliminated the time consuming and expensive work of the architect, and relied on trial and error. It was a mess and such a dynamic failure that in the construction industry today the words "Design-Build" are no more than the setup for a joke. Consider your own projects around the house. I have learned to paint a room a hundred times in my head before I ever lay down a drop cloth. It saves me time, money, and several very choice cuss-words. That all might be of the same understanding, what is a cake recipe or a spreadsheet laying out sales projections if not spiritual creation? Does a tailor design a new clothing line by cutting up fabric or drawing on paper? Does a truck driver put their truck in gear before looking at a map and planning their delivery route? I think we all understand spiritual creation and I think we can also grasp the very reason why it is so important that we allow this concept to lead us forward in our labor for the Kingdom. It also allows us to realize that even in our labor, all things begin in God. DC 28:9a-9c 28:9a Wherefore, verily I say unto you, that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal, neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam your father, whom I created; 28:9b behold, I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him; 28:9c for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural, nor temporal, neither carnal nor sensual. Our God-given freewill makes it our labor to bring God's spiritual instructions to the temporal realm. In that we truly allow our freewill to makes us agents of God. Brethren, this is the truth of agency. It is humanity allowing God's spiritual direction to become deeds of righteousness in the world of man. It is our testimony before the world of God working in the life of man. DC 28:8d yea, all things both spiritual and temporal: firstly spiritual, secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, firstly temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work; Let's now examine the end of God's work. We have the ability to track that in its fullness using the City of Enoch, God's first Zion. Genesis 7:24-25 7:24 And Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness unto the people of God. 7:25 And it came to pass in his days, that he built a city that was called the city of Holiness, even Zion. By the writings we can see that the beginning of Enoch's city was first the spiritual work of God in the life of Enoch, and Enoch's temporal work bringing the Gospel of the Kingdom to the world. The temporal work continued as the people were gathered to become a city. Temporally they were faced with the challenges of a wicked world and temporally God protected them. Genesis 7:15 And so great was the faith of Enoch, that he led the people of God, and their enemies came to battle against them, and he spake the word of the Lord, and the earth trembled, and the mountains fled, even according to his command. Temporally they became a testimony to the world of God at work in the life of man. The last of God's work came when He extracted Zion out of the temporal realm and brought them to live spiritually with Him. Genesis 7:27-28 7:27 And it came to pass, that the Lord showed unto Enoch all the inhabitants of the earth, and he beheld, and lo! Zion in process of time was taken up into heaven. 7:28 And the Lord said unto Enoch, Behold mine abode forever. DC 28:8d yea, all things both spiritual and temporal: firstly spiritual, secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, firstly temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work; Pondering this completed labor, I came to understand that this one work had many parts, each adhering to God's method. God's Spirit inspired Enoch to bring the Gospel of the Kingdom to the world. Enoch's temporal effort began the work in each individual. The individual responded by accepting temporal baptisms, a temporal covenant, and temporal change in their lives. By those temporal acts they spiritually received God's Holy Spirit and the individual work was complete. This labor was repeated many times through the many individual lives touched by the Spirit of God and the ministry of Enoch. We can now recognize this same method as being the ministry of salvation used by Christ and all who followed Him in His labor. In essence, Christ's ministry simplified is spiritual calling, temporal ministry, temporal acceptance and change, spiritual fulfillment. DC 22:23b and there is no end to my works, neither to my words; for this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality, and eternal life of man. The same pattern can be viewed collectively with the effort to gather the people. The need for unity of like minds (spiritual effort) begat a labor to gather together and create common understanding (temporal effort). The discussions that brought about oneness (temporal effort) ended in the creation of God's Church (spiritual effort). This completed the collective work, which is Zion. DC 28:8d yea, all things both spiritual and temporal: firstly spiritual, secondly temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, firstly temporal, and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work; Each effort and each goal achieved in laboring for God's purpose is a joint effort between the spiritual (God) and the temporal (humanity) with God initiating the beginning and mankind accepting and endorsing the ending. All begins and ends in God but cannot be achieved without mankind using their freewill/agency performing temporal deeds of righteousness that support God and His purpose. Such is the way of the Kingdom. Once we come to understand the unity of effort that is God's Kingdom we must allow that unity of understanding to become a part of all we do. God has given us a pattern by which He opens our minds to the temporal lust that corrupts our hearts and causes us to live in bondage to the ways of the world. He offers us instead, a system filled with the virtue of godly options. It is our labor to recognize the wisdom He offers and choose to allow His righteousness to guide our lives. Our temporal choice allows God through His Holy Spirit to work in our life temporally. In humility to God's Spirit, we grow to desire the peace that the righteousness God creates within our heart. In that peace we gain the spiritual strength to move forward and continue to grow. Ephesians 3:17-19 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 3:18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. The growth we seek now has map of God's designed path that causes us to travel away from the world and towards Him. It gives us a usable efficient method for promoting not only our growth but also the growth of others around us. It justifies my acceptance of God's labor as my own and allows me to attempt that growth in a method of His design. It causes me to again realize that the redemption of mankind truly is a great and marvelous work. 1 Nephi 3:214-216 3:214 For the time cometh, saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men; 3:215 A work which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other; 3:216 Either to the convincing of them unto peace and life eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds, unto their being brought down into captivity and also unto destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil, of which I have spoken. Share this with another. FRED
Create With me Our Testimony of God at Work in the World of Man.