I have been taught that if I want to take care of others, I must first take care of myself. I am saddened that you need to shorten the lessons because I get so much out of them that helps me with insights that I would probably never get myself. God bless you for all you have done for so many of us that can't get to a class or afford them. You have made it possible for us to receive this blessing. I have not missed, not one of your lessons. Thank you with all my heart!
I love that Jared is trying to make it shorter, But failing a bit. In about a month we are Where he started 4 yes ago, hopefully he’ll have learned to shorten by then, and we have the long version from 4 rys ago and a new short new version. That way we all gain something. ❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️🕊❤️
I look forward to every lesson you put out and love my time in the scriptures with you. But your sanity comes first. Any amount of your time you can spend here is so appreciated
I fully support your need to do shorter lessons. I’m grateful for any length you give us. Thank you for your sacrifice. My understanding and love of the scriptures has increased through your lessons - long or short.
Thank you for pushing through amid great stress . I pray the LORD will increase what you can accomplish in a day . We so badly need your insight into these scriptures. It blesses our lives and that of our children . ❤Thank you
You do such a great job. Enjoyed all four years. Here's a modern day interpretation of Isaiah 50 Footsteps The wind took my breath away, the waves were crashing at my feet. I stood pondering the path before, and the miles of sand or sea I’ve yet to meet. Where I stand and where I’ve been, footsteps pave the way. One set for joy, two sets for sorrow, in rain or bow each day. Why Lord did I feel Thy love, with one set of footsteps on the shore? It appears to be a lonely walk, but I felt Thee evermore. His spirit whispered, “step by step you followed Me, you hearkened to My voice. When I spoke you always answered, in following Me you did rejoice.” Why Lord did I feel alone, with two sets of footsteps to the sea? It seems my joy would be most full, When Thou did walk next to me. He said, “My arms were always stretched out still, as I walked by your side. I longed for your embrace, I hoped to be your guide. But, when I called, there was no answer. When I came, you walked away. Through My quiet whispers I sought to meet you, though you chose another way. Your way was lit by wrong desire; Sparks that fade and can’t fulfill. You sold yourself to fleeting fire; crashed by sorrow, your fire now still. Before the waves of sorrow crash around you, and the winds of regret cause delay. Find your way by following Me, step by step, day by day.” Though the tides of time have erased my path, steps in sand now washed away. The whispering wind still blows to remind me, of footsteps yet to choose today. By Rodney Farnsworth
If you need to shorten for your family and your time and that little voice (who usually needs a megaphone) leading you that way...well, what can we all say. What we have received in the past will always be treasured. May it be on the internet forever for us to use and inspire.
Thank You for Your Love of the Gospel and Scriptures. Thank you for sharing Your testimony and Knowledge. I've been here from day one. I look forward to each week, no matter the length of Your lesson.
I loved the long lessons! I have add and learning disabilities. And now I can listen to the lessons more than once. And I understand better. Thank you for your lessons and I understand that you need to make more time for your family. God Bless you and your family.
Brother Halverson, thank you, again, for another wonderful lesson. Thank you for showing us how they apply to our day. Thank you, especially, for the reminder to be patient for what we wait for. I needed to hear that today. God bless you, you awesome soul!!!!
Wow!!! Isaiah is amazing! I'm elderly and have never learned so much so fast and from Isaiah! Thank you a billion times over for these lessons, your gift of teaching, preparations, explanations, so on and so forth. My mind is racing with new understanding and answers to so many prayers. Never knew I would learn so much from Isaiah. I pray the Lord blesses you and yours for your inspired dedication and valued time you freely give to strangers.
I love the story you told of your children waiting for you and almost brought me to tears remembering that my dad loved that song. Thank you for explaining Isaiah and the reference of D&C 113:8 &10. You are so profound when you end the lesson. Thank you.
I have moved from listening to three podcasts a week (I'm retired:) ) to just yours Brother Halverson because the value proposition is remarkable. Thank you for your sacrifice on our behalf. If you can't reconcile the contraries, I will understand but I trust you will as you have taught us.
brother thank you very much for helping us to enjoy the love of God...i always feel happy all your messages i enjoy and happy 😊😊😊😊😊😊the miracle of the gospel...
I am grateful for whatever you can give. I feel that your channel lessons will be here for our learning and review. Almost full circle to where you began 4 years ago so we can still use those along with what you are giving in the shortened version. So grateful for these lessons.
Thank so much for your time and your knowledge and the willingness to share, teach, help us to navigate and understand the scriptures.. my prayers for you and your family and thanks to them for supporting you in this endeavor.
I agree… I love the long detailed lessons… insights I’m not spiritually or knowledgeable to know!!!!! We need you… but, in all fairness to you and your family, we understand 😢😢😢. Guess, we’ll just have to re do 4 years ago! Loved it all then, too!
Yes Bro. Halverson, between the confirmation of The Holy Ghost through reading scripture and studying with you and all of the extra explanation that you can add because of your labors and study my hunger to understand is being nourished. I pray that God will bless you and your family will be carried and blessed as you bless us with these labors
Take care of yourself! We also have responsibility for our scriptural knowledge and spirituality. Thanks for all you share. The shorter lessons are the Goldilock Zone!
I never thought of Jesus Christ's persecution and crucifixion as a "scattering" before. I know that Jesus Christ is an example for the things we can expect to experience as we follow him, but I never thought of the pattern being a "scattering." Thank you for this great insight, and many others.
Brother Halverson, thank you for being so concerned about what you are teaching and about those who you are teaching! No need to apologize for seeking perfection in this, as those who follow you on Unshaken and undoubtedly in your ward, stake and school are being blessed by your diligence. May you and your family be blessed with everything you’re in need of and extra, because of how you serve. Thanks so very much!
Brother Halverson, I just want to speak up for those of us who appreciate you, and are grateful for the shorter lessons. My daughter had given up on your lessons in the Old and New Testament because she simply didn’t have the time. I had begun picking and choosing not because I didn’t have the time but because I had a hard time staying focused; whereas the first time through the Book of Mormon, I often listened to your lessons two or three times. As a former teacher, I know the challenge of trying to meet the needs of a variety of students, so please do what works best for you and your family.
I just want to thank you for this wonderful lesson. It was amazing. And I felt the spirit through the whole lesson. I am one of them watched from the beginning to the end. I couldn’t stop. You are amazing and I thank you for your time and for your testimony, it reaches so many people including me.
Although it is very long..no other podcast I listen to in preparation to teach has the same depth and breadth of knowledge that I get from your long very enlightening lessons. Thank you. Don't change too much please
Personally, I watch this channel precisely because you have been going verse by verse, no matter the length of the recordings. I was hoping that you would at least finish the verse by verse up until your first recording that went verse by verse. That way you leave a complete verse by verse set for your posterity. The only problem that I see is the number of stories that you include that don't actually pertain to the material being discussed. That seems to be where you deviate from the verse by verse format. I love your detail and explanations that I can't seem to find anywhere else. This is my favorite CFM channel because of the detail. I loved finding it and I am so grateful that you have made the effort in time and preparation. Please continue. I'm sending you prayers and blessings and energy to keep it up. (Also to your family) I really love, Love, LOVE this channel.
Thank-you so much for sharing with all of us, not just your time, but your incredible insights these past few years. I just hope that prehaps you might be able to give a few more of these longer more detailed lessons, until we come to the point in The Book of Mormon where you first started giving these wonderful lessons. Perhaps then you could have us relisten to the podcasts from four years ago, and at conclusion of each week's podcast include any new additions that you would like to share with us. I absolutely love every thing I am learning. I have learned more in the past four years listening to your insights on these scriptures than I did in my four years of Seminary, and five years of Institute combined. Thank You. 🙏♥️🤗👍
I agree with what others have said that I would 100% choose the longer more in-depth lessons if it was just a choice between water skiing over the information and doing a deep dive, and had nothing to do with taking more of your time or adding stress to your busy schedule. Just know that we definitely appreciate everything and anything you share with us ❤
CORRECTION. ISAIAH 53 is in Mosiah 14. Abinadi quotes Isa 53 When we were studying OT, I learned that the Jews DO NOT TEACH Isa 53 because it speaks Messianically. Thank you for teaching us about Hebrew poetry, and about SYMBOLISM. ❤
How about the compromise, when you get to Jacob, where you started 4 years ago then you can just link to those so we have them in addition to your insights for this year.
Yeah, but nothing wrong with listening to the lessons of 4 years ago. After all, we have the 4 year rotation of studying all 4 standard works. Repitition is good. Example, we hear the same topics spoken of at General Conference. Bottom line: so grateful to what we learn her and Bro Hal!
In the “Giving God a Pep Talk” section - that was an interesting take. I’d never thought of Isaiah as telling God to remember the great things He had done in the past. It works. But I had thought that when he said “Awake, awake! Oh arm of the Lord; awake as in ancient days…” that Isaiah was addressing the body of the church. WE are His hands on earth; when we are so united that we can be referred to in the singular as “the arm of the Lord” and are awake as to what our faith can do - that’s where I see us being a Zion people ready to greet the Lord. That’s where we can defend ourselves with miracles through our faith in the God of Abraham. That’s where we will be like the City of Enoch. Look at verse 3 - we’re talking about the literal gathering of Israel here! Zion, the New Jerusalem on the American continent. I feel like this chapter, though perpetually relevant, is particularly preparing the saints in the final days to recognize and use their power as a Zion people.
Of course more insights and time and long lessons are great, but once I became a single mom and had very little time, I had to give up your podcast because I simply couldn’t get through it along with everything else. It was really hard to give up, but was too much for me. I’m excited to be back and grateful I can have time to listen again. I missed your insights and what I learned.
2 Nephi 6:11, if we are to look for Christ in the scriptures, He was afflicted in the flesh and not suffered to perish. Was it because of the prayers of the faithful? Was I, along with the hosts of heaven, fervently praying for Him during His atoning sacrifice? Were we aware of the greatest event to ever take place that was transpiring on earth and our eternity depended on it? Did our prayers strengthen him? I would like to think so.
rathe r than "waterskiing" the new lesson could add more depth to previous lessons and we could watch both the old and the new. ples s e let us know when we can start the old lessons as well. i love your indepth lessons.
I have enjoyed your insights from chapter 6, about how if we feel distant from the Lord, it is us that have left Him, not that He has left us, because He never will. That having been said from the mouth of the prophet Jacob, it also proves another point, that the book of Job is just a nice story with a few good ideas, and NOT a complete book of scripture, similar to those of actual prophets that can be proven to exit through the evidence of historical records, and gospel points that are consistent to all other messages. Since the Lord would not leave us, as He did with Job, and since the Lord would not entertain a proposition from the adversary just to prove a point, nor would the adversary be able to come into the presence of God, due to his filthiness, one can surmise that the book of Job is just a story, not scripture! Some points in the story of Job may be accurate, like the ones quoted by Jesus which explain a moral value, but it doesn't mean that every point mentioned in the book of Job is actual gospel, like what we read in the book of Isaiah, or the books of the New Testament.
Brother Halverson, what if you continued to do these longer podcasts until you got back to where you started them in 2020. That is in Jacob, around the Allegory of the Olive Tree. Granted, you have improved you podcasting technique since you started, but you gave us so much back then. Therefore, perhaps it will be easier for you to shorten your podcasts to share only the new revelation/inspiration for these scriptures instead of your life's study/experience. Just a thought. That means you are extending yourself through mid April-so maybe that is not feasible. But in case that idea hadn't been tabled, I thought I'd put it out there.
What is the title of the book your mother-in-law wrote? I have a son who’s left the church, and he struggles desperately with depression and suicidal tendencies. His wife has left the church as well and they’re two teenage sons never had the opportunity to get baptized. When he’s in a dark place, he never responds to phone calls or texts. I feel like all I can do as his mother is pray for him and keep their names on the prayer roll.
One of the greatest threats to the sons and daughters of God in these last days is 'prescription drugs' especially those considered as 'anti depressants''. The doctors wrongly medicate brain without understanding Mind. You cannot medicate Mind and to medicate the brain without the proper understanding of Mind creates greater problems than originally addressed. Sadly even LDS leaders are poor administrators of spiritual psychology, especially when they replace 'spiritual psychology' with medicine, believing they can medicate the eternal entity of the soul, MIND, by prescribing poisons that satan can act as conduit to tear down and destroy (suicide) depression
Ok Wow Thank you for those insights... Jacob was a bit of a bit too me.... Always wondering why those parts are important... I like Isaiah 11a whole lot better. I am seeing that one fulfilled in my life! Yet, i have had my time off wondering how the Lord's words and promises to me will be fulfilled in my old age, just as Sarah did, only very differently than hers. Life is getting better and better. It is cool to live when the Lord is able to fulfill promises that have slept for millenniums.
It is also frustrating to see many who call themselves Christian, or even Latter-day Saints, peddling hatred and reveling in destruction like Jonah and the Sons of Thunder, rather than hoping for their enemies to repent like Christ would have them hope.
I hope this helps (maybe someone else has already said it?), but it isn't your responsibility to make sure we understand it all. It is the Spirit's job to make sure we understand what we need. 😉
I love the detailed verse by verse lessons, but I also enjoy the shorter lessons knowing it's helping you stay sane. Once we get back to where you started four years ago, maybe it will be easier because you'll have already said a lot of the verse by verse studies. Maybe you'll be able to, when life isn't so crazy, combine the lessons from the different years to have longer in-depth videos for those who want verse by verse.
Love your great work! Bless you!! It appears the Book of Mormon prophets were limited in their understanding of the plan of salvation. For example, they were not aware of proxy ordinances for the deceased or multiple kingdoms of glory and taught: (1) the "righteous" (those who heard and obeyed the gospel) go to heaven; (2) the "wicked" (those who heard and rejected or disobeyed the gospel) go to hell; (3) "little children" go to heaven via Christ's atonement; and (4) the "ignorant" -- those who never heard the gospel -- go to heaven via Christ's atonement. Jacob teaches about the fourth category in 2 Nephi 9:25-26. Other scriptures show these categories as well: Mosiah 2:38-41, 3:11-21, 15:10-26, 16:10-12; Alma 11:40-44, 12:12-18 and 31-36, 34:35, 40:25-26, 41:3-7, and Moroni 8:20-22. Any thoughts on their teachings and their possible limited understanding of the post-mortal plan of salvation? Thanks. Brian.
I admit i have sometimes felt like a bull in a net. But i have a hard time imagining people listening well enough for their nets to bind me to end up being nets to gather them unto God. I need to have more faith in the Lord.
Love the content and insights. Perhpas shorter or less elaboration and expounding? Shorter or fewer examples? Always look forward to watching and will continue to do so.
Long-time listener here - even the 7-hour podcasts. Thank you, but you skipped the most intriguing verses of the study: 2 Ne 8:14-16. These verses mean the 10 lost tribes will be restored to the back to the earth. A thorough study teaches they are not on the earth now but will return as the Lord's army before the second coming (Jer 51:20-24).
I too miss the lengthed version but I understand that you are teaching at BYU, and have family and church obligations, and financial obligations. I have a solution that some listeners may shoot me for but, how about a lengthened version with a $ 1-a-week subscription for a lengthened version? This may make it worth your extra time. The math works and it shouldn't be a burden on listeners. (Also, you might consider paying someone to CC in Spanish to extend to the Spanish-speaking part of the world.). PS You had my boy Matt Muir in Alpine seminary about 20 years ago.
Creating podcasts that are too long limits your insights to those who have 5 hours a week (give or take) to listen. The regular listener who is swamped with demanding careers, ministering, church callings, etc. misses out altogether. It IS possible to be insightful, cut out some material and offer a shorter message. I’m an educator, who has observed dozens of brief, concise lessons. Please keep trying. I find your messages so valuable but I have to turn elsewhere when you can’t be more concise.
