Transcription
It doesn't matter how faithful you once were if you don't get to the end. While it is not an easy path, it is the only path worth pursuing. And everyone is capable of traveling and finish the course with the help of the Lord. Jesus tenderly turns to the Twelve and asks, "Will you also go away?" Will you?
Hello, my name is Larry Corbridge and this is the Stand Forever series which is about believing and following Christ to the end, engaged in His work and helping others do the same. This first episode is an introduction and overview of the series.
I served for several years as a General Authority Seventy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Following a 30-year career in business and commercial law, when I was given Emeritus Status as a General Authority, I wrote a book titled Stand Forever that may or may not ever be published. The book is a broader umbrella to a narrower message I gave at Brigham Young University in 2019, also with the title Stand Forever. through a convergence of events including a recommendation to present the book content in smaller segments through a digital channel and also the offer of Scripture Central and others to help with that.
I stand before you now in this first episode of the Stand Forever series. Again, designed to inspire, instruct, and encourage anyone and everyone to believe and follow Christ to the end, engaged in his work and help others do the same. This is not something I would have done on my own. I fear it may be mispersceived as self-promotional, as though somehow I didn't get enough attention as a general authority and need to continue to be in the public eye. Now, heaven knows I would have preferred to simply publish my book and go fishing. There is no income motive associated with this. In fact, it it will cost a lot of money to produce. But that's okay.
Whatever people may think, my only objective is to persuade people to believe and follow Christ as active contributing members of His Church and help others do the same. If it helps someone, to that end, it will be reward enough.
This work overlays and amplifies stand forever the BYU devotional message. The primary assertions of that talk about how to navigate the sea of disbelief and doubt are critical pieces to a larger puzzle. My intent with this series is to piece together the larger puzzle. The big picture. The big picture is a big deal. Few things provide greater comfort, confidence, and clarity than looking beyond present cares to see and remember the big picture. Except for maybe the Holy Spirit, there may be nothing more helpful to brave life's perils than seeing and remembering the big picture, the whole map. We may live life in the weeds, but if we don't see beyond them, we will think life is only weeds.
When we stand back, the big picture looks like this. The essential problem in life is separation from God our father. Without God, chaos, darkness, and death prevails. That's the first principle or premise. The second is Jesus Christ bridges the gap if we will believe and follow him to the end and help others do the same. He is the way offsetting chaos. He is the truth offsetting darkness and the life offsetting death. Therefore, the conclusion cross the bridge and close the gap. believe and follow Christ to the end and again help others do the same. That is the big picture and the primary framework for this series.
But before we go there, we need to believe. And so believe is the focus of the next two episodes and then we will explore the big picture in greater depth. The heart of all of this is Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life.
General Authorities are commissioned to be especial witnesses of Jesus Christ. That does not mean it does not mean I am better or know more than anyone else. Not hardly. It does mean, however, I have been given a charge to especially talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, prophesy of Christ, and write according to those prophecies that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. As Nephi said, that charge to be a special witness of Jesus Christ did not expire with ameritus status. The Stand Forever series is my special witness of Jesus Christ.
The content of this series is grounded in truth. Truth is the standard. The springs from which the BYU devotional and now this series flow are the scriptures, the words of living prophets and my life experience and two assignments as a general authority. I'll explain those two assignments.
The first was what is called the restoration and cancellations committee. It is comprised of a group of general authority. A small group who make recommendations to the First Presidency about requests from church members for a restoration of temple and priesthood blessings previously withdrawn or when circumstances require special permission to be sealed to a spouse. The first presidency makes those inspired decisions. But taking into account and considering recommendations of the committee, reading those requests almost every day for several years revealed a broad panorama of human drama, heartache, conflict, redemption, truth, and triumph out of which clear realities and patterns emerged which are not theory. or someone's ideas, rather the actual lived experiences of thousands of people, revealing what works and what does not. Some of those patterns and lessons inform the content of this series. In some instances, I have used their own words to describe their experiences, but to preserve their privacy and anonymity, I have no record of their names, doicile, or any other identifying information.
The second assignment which influences this series was a committee called the strengthening church members committee. It is comprised of a few people primarily general authorities who consider ways the church may further help and strengthen members. A part of that charge was to be aware of material antagonistic to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its members, leaders, history, and teachings. There may not be anything of that nature to which I've not been exposed. Since that assignment changed, however, I have not returned to wallow in that meer again. As I said before in the BYU devotional, reading that material always left me with a feeling of gloom. And one day that sense of darkness inspired me to write a partial response to all such antagonistic claims. Those reflections ultimately became the framework for Stand Forever and now influence this series as well. As I said in that devotional address, although what I wrote was for my own benefit, I hope it will help you as well.
People say life is a journey. Enjoy the journey, which is great. But life is also about getting to the end. getting to the destination to receive God's greatest gifts, his son, his spirit, and his life, and help others do the same. The destination is the fruit which is desirable to make one happy even more than the journey. The course is the gospel of Jesus Christ. But it doesn't matter how far you go, how faithful you once were, or how much you enjoy the journey if you don't get to the end. Paul said, "I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." But fighting the good fight is not enough if you don't finish the course and keep the faith. The Stand Forever series is about finishing the course and keeping the faith. Finishing what you started when you agreed to come here in the first place.
Smelling the roses along the way is wonderful. But some are so intent on living the dream and smelling roses, they don't go anywhere. They have no idea or they forget where they are going. The journey, however fragrant, is merely meandering if you don't know where you are going. Yes, there can and should be joy along the way. But the journey is also fraught with opposition, deception, disillusion, mists of darkness, peril, suffering, loss, betrayal, discouragement, air, abuse, temptation, pride, and sorrow. It is not the yellow brick road we merely skip along while on our way to Oz. It is a straight and narrow path on which we press forward through through the midst of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron as our life depends on it and make our way to the tree of life. While it is not an easy path, it is the only path worth pursuing. And everyone, every last one is capable of traveling and finish the course with the help of the Lord. We are all weak and incapable of finishing alone. But we're not alone or need not be. The Lord provides the strength to finish if we will but lean on him.
God's work will not fail. His kingdom will prevail and stand forever. As Moroni said, "For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on until all his promises shall be fulfilled." In our day as well, the Lord revealed, saying, The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth. And from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hand shall roll forth until it has filled the whole earth. The prophet Daniel said the God of heaven would set up his kingdom at the in the last days which would fill the whole earth and never be destroyed. And continuing on, he said, "And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." The kingdom of God on earth is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It will stand forever, but will you and I?
The day following the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, Jesus said to the same people who were fed the day before, "I am the bread of life." He said, "He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." when they hear this along with even the more difficult statement saying whoever eateth my flesh and drinkkeeth my blood hath eternal life. Many then say, hearing that, this is an hard saying, who can hear it? And from this time forward, many of his disciples go back and walk with him no more. heartbroken. I think Jesus tenderly turns to the 12 and asks, will you also go away? That is one of the central questions of life. It echoes down through the ages to our day. Will you also go away? Will you?
Peter immediately gives the perfect answer. Impetuous Peter, the Peter who more than once hes in his disciplehip answers instinctively and with stunning clarity, cutting through the fog like a sharp knife and says,"Lord, to whom shall we go?' Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God." It was simple and clearcut for Peter. Although he may not have fully understood the bread of life sermon either, although he was troubled and confused from time to time, he knew the primary truth. And knowing that he was not disaffected by lesser things that was the difference between Peter and the many of the Lord's disciples who went back and walked no more with him. That was the difference. The fact that those other disciples once walked with the Lord is of little consequence now because they didn't finish. They quit. They turned away. And turning away, they went back. You can't simply step aside from Christ without going back. Peter stayed the course. Peter finished not because he knew everything but because he knew the most important things.
The question is will you and I stand? Will you stand forever or will you go away? And if you go where will you go? Will you waver like a wave of the sea, as Paul said, driven with the wind, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine and the slight of men and cunning craft craftiness, whereby they lie and wait to deceive? Or will you rather discern between truth and air, see through deception, and muster the will to live the truth, come what may? Will you be lukewarm or will you have the Lord's word in your heart as Jeremiah said as a burning fire shut up in your bones? Will you know and remember where you're headed and muster the will to go there without quitting, without backing off, away or out, not giving up in or out, not pulling back or out, not retreating or surrendering, not wimping out. Will you stand firm and unbroken against the winds of opposition? Will you stand now, tomorrow and forever, above the clouds of doubt and disbelief?
Finally, while you may pick and choose among the various episodes of this series, I encourage you to take them in their order, it's up to you. But this is not a random collection of religious musings, rather a carefully orchestrated series that leads to a particular conclusion. And if you take the pick and choose approach, you will miss the overarching message because the whole is greater than the random sum of its parts. I invite you to join me on this journey and stand forever.