How have you seen that the Lord values our willingness to give more than the results we produce?
"53 Three years previous to the death of Adam, he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah, who were all high priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing.
54 And the Lord appeared unto them, and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the prince, the archangel.
55 And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him: I have set thee to be at the head; a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever.
56 And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation; and, notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy Ghost, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation." (Doctrine and Covenants 107: 53-56)
"Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, near Wight’s Ferry, at a place called Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri, May 19, 1838.
1 Spring Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said he, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet." (Doctrine and Covenants 116: 1)
"13 Therefore, let him contend earnestly for the redemption of the First Presidency of my Church, saith the Lord; and when he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord." (Doctrine and Covenants 117: 13)
"Hyrum and Joseph immediately began preparing to return to Kirtland. Before departing, Joseph met privately with Thomas and Oliver. They talked about Oliver’s objections to Joseph’s marriage to Fanny Alger, but their differences remained unresolved. Finally, Joseph extended his hand to Oliver and said he wanted to drop any disagreement that had come between them. Oliver shook his hand, and they parted ways.
Joseph, Sidney, and Hyrum arrived back in Kirtland a few weeks later. In the homes of relatives, Hyrum found his five children still mourning the sudden loss of their mother, who lay buried in a cemetery beside the temple. With his new responsibilities in the First Presidency, Hyrum had no idea how he would care for them on his own.
Joseph encouraged his brother to marry again and recommended Mary Fielding. She was kind, well educated, and committed to the church. She would be an excellent companion for Hyrum and a caring mother for his children.
Hyrum proposed to Mary a short time later. At thirty-six, she had received more than one marriage proposal in her life, but she had always declined them. Once, her mother had warned her never to marry a widower with children. If she agreed to marry Hyrum, she would instantly become a mother of six.
Mary considered the proposal and accepted. She already admired the Smith family, thought of Joseph as a brother, and respected Hyrum for his humility. They were married the day before Christmas.
Many Saints were relieved to have Joseph back in Kirtland, but any hope that he could restore harmony to the church soon evaporated. Warren Parrish, Luke Johnson, and John Boynton were meeting weekly with Grandison Newell and other enemies of the church to denounce the First Presidency. Former stalwarts like Martin Harris soon joined them, and by the end of the year, the leading dissenters had organized a church of their own.
A short time later, Vilate Kimball wrote her husband in England about the state of the church in Ohio. Knowing Heber’s love for Luke Johnson and John Boynton, who had been his fellow quorum members, Vilate hesitated to tell him the terrible news.
“I have no doubt but it will pain your heart,” she wrote Heber. “They profess to believe the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants but in works deny them.”
At the end of the letter, Marinda Hyde added a note to her husband, Orson. Marinda’s older brother was Luke Johnson, and the apostasy was just as heartbreaking for her. “Such times in Kirtland you never witnessed as we now have,” she wrote, “for it seems that all confidence in each other is gone.” She had to watch and pray to know for herself the right course to take through the perilous times.
“If ever I wanted to see you in my life,” she told Orson, “it is now.”
Nothing seemed to temper the dissenters’ feelings. They claimed that Joseph and Sidney had mismanaged the Kirtland Safety Society and cheated the Saints. Warren believed that a prophet should be more godly than other people, and he used the Safety Society’s demise to show how Joseph fell short of this standard.
After months of trying to reconcile with the leading dissenters, the Kirtland high council excommunicated them. The dissenters then seized the temple for their own church meetings and threatened to drive anyone who was still loyal to Joseph out of Kirtland.
Vilate believed the dissenters were wrong to turn away from the Saints, yet she felt sorrow for them rather than anger. “After all that I have said about this dissenting party,” she wrote Heber, “there are some of them that I love, and I have great feeling and pity for them.” She knew the collapse of the Safety Society had tried them spiritually and temporally. She too thought that Joseph had made mistakes while managing the institution, but she had not lost faith in the prophet.
“I have every reason to believe that Joseph has humbled himself before the Lord and repented,” she told Heber. And she trusted that the church would weather the storm.
“The Lord says, he that cannot endure chastisement but denies me cannot be sanctified,” she wrote. That might mean facing hostility in Kirtland alone while she and the children waited for Heber to return from his mission. Or if things got worse, it could mean abandoning their home and moving to Missouri.
“If we shall have to flee,” she told Heber, “I shall.”
The Kirtland dissenters grew more bitter and aggressive as the new year dawned. Threats of mob violence hung over the church, and debt and false legal charges hounded the prophet. Soon a local sheriff, armed with an arrest warrant, began searching for him. If caught, Joseph could face a costly trial and possibly imprisonment.
On January 12, 1838, the prophet sought the Lord’s help and received a revelation. “Let the presidency of my church take their families,” the Lord instructed, “and move on to the west as fast as the way is made plain.”
The Lord urged Joseph’s friends and their families to gather to Missouri as well. “Be at peace among yourselves, O ye inhabitants of Zion,” He declared, “or there shall be no safety for you.”
The Smiths and Rigdons planned their escape immediately. The two men would slip out of Kirtland that night, and their families would follow a short time later in wagons.
That night, well after darkness had fallen over Kirtland, Joseph and Sidney climbed onto their horses and rode out of town. They traveled south until morning, covering nearly sixty miles. When their horses were spent, the men stopped to wait for their wives and children.
Neither Joseph nor Sidney expected to see Kirtland again. When their families arrived, the men joined them in their wagons and set out for Far West." (25 Move on the the West, Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, Volume 1, The Standard of Truth, 1815–1846)
And here's the introductory commentary for this week's reading assignment: "October 13–19: “His Sacrifice Shall Be More Sacred unto Me Than His Increase” Doctrine and Covenants 115–120" :
"There was reason for the Saints to be optimistic about their newest gathering place, Far West, Missouri. The city was growing rapidly, the land seemed abundant, and nearby was Adam-ondi-Ahman, a place of great spiritual significance in the past and in the future (see Doctrine and Covenants 107:53–56; 116). Still, it must have been hard for the Saints not to think about what they had lost. Besides being driven from Independence, the center place of Zion, the Saints also had to flee Kirtland, leaving their beloved temple after only two years. And this time it wasn’t just enemies outside the Church causing trouble—many prominent members had turned against Joseph Smith, including four members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Instead of focusing on what they lost, the faithful just kept building Zion, this time in Far West. They made plans for a new temple. Four new Apostles were called. They understood that doing God’s work doesn’t mean you never fall; it means you “rise again.” And though you’ll have to make sacrifices, those sacrifices are sacred to God, even “more sacred … than [your] increase” (Doctrine and Covenants 117:13).
See Saints, 1:296–99."
Sharing here my answer to Brother Sleicher (in the video)'s question that he gave to the viewers in his YouTube channel, and my own answer:
"What sacrifice in YOUR life has become sacred to you?"
This is really eye-opening for me. When I served my mission, the number of baptisms resulting from my work was not a lot. The conversion that occurred because of my service was mostly personal. And now this lesson you shared here just made me realize how the Lord values my willingness to give 18 months of my life in doing His work more than the results I produced. My sacrifice I did was more sacred than the number of people who were converted because of my missionary service.
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