Cindy Young shares part three of her tips for understanding scripture. She explains that the manual skips some chapters and verses, encouraging beginners to focus on more relevant, doctrine-rich passages and return to harder sections later. She teaches viewers to look for lessons in the stories, using Joseph’s refusal of Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39 to identify adultery and the need for sexual purity, then to apply the lesson personally. Her final tip emphasizes inviting the Holy Ghost—through prayer, pondering, worthiness, or music—since “interpretations belong to God,” and the Lord being with Joseph models how spiritual help leads to understanding.
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Don't forget the parable of the snowball: listening to someone else talk about the gospel is like having snowballs thrown at you. Reading the scriptures is like making your own snowball. Taking the time to search, ponder, and pray about what you've read is like rolling the snowball around and around so that it grows and grows. So don't just listen to me - please go read for yourself so your knowledge and testimony can grow and grow!!
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(00:00):
Welcome to part three of my tips tobetter understand the scriptures.
I'm Cindy Young, and thisis Primarily Scripture.
Here on Primarily Scripture, wefollow the Come Follow Me schedule,
which means this week we are studyingGenesis chapters 37 through 41.
(00:21):
My first tip for you this week is onethat the Come Follow Me manual follows.
And they don't come right out and tellyou that they're doing this, but if you're
paying attention, you'll figure it out.
So let me show you what I mean.
Let's start by looking atthe manual and checking the
chapters that we read last week.
Last week we were in Genesischapters 24 through 33.
(00:41):
Okay, now let's look at this week andthis week we are in chapters 37 to 41.
Did you see what happened there?
We skip chapters 34, 35 and 36 entirely.
They're not part of the reading at all.
So what's my tip?
The first tip for today is toskip the less important chapters.
Now, am I telling you thatthere are parts of the Bible
(01:03):
that are entirely unimportant?
Absolutely not!I do not have the authority
to make that call.
That is way above my pay grade!But I can tell you that there are
some parts that teach more importantdoctrines or that will be more
relevant to you and your life.
Which just means that youshould try to focus on those!
(01:23):
This is especially true if you are workinghard to understand what you're reading.
If you feel like you're a beginnerin any way, then absolutely
skip those less important parts.
And then once you're at a point where youdon't feel overwhelmed or confused by the
language of the scriptures, absolutelygo back and read those chapters and those
verses and get what you can out of them.
(01:44):
But unless your goal is to read everyword of the Old Testament, you 100%
do not need to read every word of theOld Testament, and the Come Follow
Me manual is proof that this is true.
There are much smarter people thanI who have put this manual together,
and that includes apostles, and eventhe prophet has approved this manual.
(02:06):
Now, if the prophet wasn't okay withyou skipping parts of the Bible, he
would not have approved this manual.
Even in the weekly readings, you'llfind that some verses get skipped.
If you follow the manual, you'll see thatit's grouped into different study topics.
And each one has its own verses to study.
This week, if you read every singleverse for each of those study topics,
you would end up missing the endof chapter 37 and even all of 38.
(02:30):
Even though it's technicallylisted in the reading, it's not
part of the specific study guides.
So choose which verses you read wiselyand be sure you're following the
manual, because it will automaticallyhelp you to find the very most
valuable verses for you to study.
And then you can skip the other ones.
In fact, I feel pretty confident that,your life this week is not gonna change
(02:51):
one bit whether or not you read all thenames of Esau's great-grandchildren and
great-great-grandchildren and great,great, great grandchildren and great,
great, great, great, great grandchildren.
You just don't need that-it's not relevant to you.
The only thing that you might beinterested to know in these skipped
chapters this week is that in chapter35, Jacob's true love, Rachel, dies
(03:13):
in childbirth, and Benjamin is born.
And that brings the numberof Jacob's sons up to 12.
Other than that, there's nothingsuper relevant, so don't be
afraid to skip something.
All right, let's talkabout tip number two.
This is something that people getpretty good at doing, and often
they forget that this is partof understanding the scriptures.
(03:33):
It is to look for a lesson inthe story that you're reading.
So let's use this week's worksheetto do the study activity.
If you look in columnthree, you can follow along.
Now, sometimes there is a truthin the scriptures that is stated
very, very clearly, like when aprophet is teaching the people.
But then other gospel truths can be foundas you think about the lessons of a story.
(03:55):
Let's look at a verse andI'll show you what I mean.
Turn with me to Genesis chapter 39,Now the backstory here is that Joseph
was hated by his brothers, so sad!And they sold him to be a slave
in Egypt, but then he became thehead slave in Potiphar's house.
Then Potiphar's wife tried toget Joseph to sleep with her.
(04:18):
Not a good look for Potiphar's wife.
So let's open up to verse nine andwe'll read part of Joseph's response.
He says to her, "there is none greaterin this house than I; neither hath he
kept back anything from me but thee,because thou are his wife. How then
can I do this great wickedness, andsin against God?" Joseph tells her,
(04:41):
look, your husband trusts me, butyou are his wife, and this is wrong.
So the worksheet asks us to identifythe sin that he is talking about,
and that is the sin to sleep withsomebody that you're not married to.
This sin is called, there's an officialword for it, and it's called adultery.
It's a big word, and it justmeans cheating on your spouse-
(05:03):
your husband, or your wife.
This kind of sin also includesthings like pornography, and
unclean thoughts and actions.
Now, the opposite of adultery is tobe sexually pure or virtuous, and
have clean thoughts and actions.
So on the worksheet, wecan write in ADULTERY.
And right there, we have found one ofGod's commandments hidden in this story.
(05:24):
In fact, the 10 Commandmentshadn't even come out yet.
This story is that old!There are a few other questions
here for you to identifydifferent parts of the story.
But now if you look down at the nextstudy activity on the worksheet.
It asks you to apply this teaching byasking yourself if adultery and unclean
thoughts are bad, then what can I doto keep my thoughts and actions pure?
(05:47):
And I want to remind you thatthere is no wrong answer here.
Think about your own life, your owntemptations, and about ways that
you personally could avoid those.
One good way to do that is tointentionally put good thoughts in
your head, in place of the bad things.
Just trying to push it outoften doesn't work- you need to
replace it with something good.
So think about that and writedown a few of your thoughts.
(06:08):
Now, you are not going to understandevery part of every verse that you read,
but if you zone in on the parts that youdo understand and then you really look
for a lesson and ponder ways to applyit to your own life, then you can count
your scripture study as successful.
No matter how much or how little youread, and how much or how little you
understand, if you understand partof it and find a lesson and apply it,
(06:31):
that's what the scriptures are for!And my very last tip today comes
from the title of this week'sCome Follow me lesson, which
is "The Lord was with Joseph."So the master's wife was very mad at
Joseph when he refused to sin with her.
So she lied about Joseph andhad him thrown in jail for
something that he didn't even do.
Poor guy.
While he was in prison, he interpretedthe dreams of some other prisoners.
(06:55):
And then a few years go by andhe was called out of prison to
interpret the dream of Pharaoh.
Now, both times that heinterpreted dreams, the people
who had dreamed the dreams wereconfused about what they had seen.
They were like, there's amessage in here somewhere.
I just don't know what it is!Now Joseph's response is very important.
Are you paying attention?
(07:16):
He said, "interpretations belongto God," and he also said, "God
shall give [you] an answer."So we know that the answers to
these dreams came from the Lord,but do you remember what it
said the Lord was with Joseph?
That phrase is actually repeatedseveral times in these chapters.
And so because the Lord was withJoseph, those answers to their
(07:37):
dreams came through Joseph and hewas able to tell them what it meant.
So let's use the skill that we just talkedabout and find a lesson in this story.
The most important thing for youto remember when you're trying to
figure out what something means inthe scriptures, is that you need
to invite the Lord to help you.
The Holy Ghost can teach us thetruth of all things, and that
(07:59):
includes the scriptures, thingsthat you don't understand.
So if you're not trying to feelthe spirit when you're studying the
scriptures, then you probably won'tunderstand much or learn very much.
Keep in mind that there aremany ways to invite the Holy
Ghost into your study session.
You can pray for his help.
You can stop to ponder often.
You can stay worthy all through the dayof the Holy Ghost so he's not pushed away.
(08:21):
Because if you're pushing him away allday and then you sit down to read and say,
okay, Holy Ghost, now I'm ready for you...
mmm... It's not gonna work out that way.
You can use primary songs or hymnsto invite the spirit before you read.
Really anything that helps you to thinkabout Jesus Christ can help you to
invite the Holy Ghost to be with you.
And just as there are dozens of waysto invite the spirit, there are even
(08:42):
more ways to hear and to feel him.
You might have a feelingof peace or warmth.
You might have great ideas come to you.
In fact, this is somethingthat is sometimes overlooked.
When you understand what you readand you have an aha moment, you feel
like, "ah, I get it now!" that is oneway that the spirit is teaching you.
You also might find it easier to comeup with questions when the Holy Ghost
(09:04):
is helping you, because the questionsthat you ask will help you to find
certain answers, and the Holy Ghostloves walking you through things
so that you can find the answers.
So even more than skipping the hardparts or looking for lessons in the
stories, please be sure that you areinviting the Holy Ghost to be with you.
And then just as Joseph was able tounderstand the dreams, you will learn
(09:27):
to better understand the scriptures.
I'm Cindy Young.
Come back next week and I'll give youeven more tips to help in your journey
to understanding the scriptures better!Thanks for tuning into primarily
Scripture with Cindy Young.
Don't forget you can subscribe to thenewsletter and download free worksheets
on the website, primarily scripture.com.
(09:48):
And if you like the channel,be sure to subscribe, like,
share, and leave a review.
See you next time.
Welcome to part three of my tips tobetter understand the scriptures.
I'm Cindy Young, and thisis Primarily Scripture.
Here on Primarily Scripture, wefollow the Come Follow Me schedule,
which means this week we are studyingGenesis chapters 37 through 41.
(00:21):
My first tip for you this week is onethat the Come Follow Me manual follows.
And they don't come right out and tellyou that they're doing this, but if you're
paying attention, you'll figure it out.
So let me show you what I mean.
Let's start by looking atthe manual and checking the
chapters that we read last week.
Last week we were in Genesischapters 24 through 33.
(00:41):
Okay, now let's look at this week andthis week we are in chapters 37 to 41.
Did you see what happened there?
We skip chapters 34, 35 and 36 entirely.
They're not part of the reading at all.
So what's my tip?
The first tip for today is toskip the less important chapters.
Now, am I telling you thatthere are parts of the Bible
(01:03):
that are entirely unimportant?
Absolutely not!I do not have the authority
to make that call.
That is way above my pay grade!But I can tell you that there are
some parts that teach more importantdoctrines or that will be more
relevant to you and your life.
Which just means that youshould try to focus on those!
(01:23):
This is especially true if you are workinghard to understand what you're reading.
If you feel like you're a beginnerin any way, then absolutely
skip those less important parts.
And then once you're at a point where youdon't feel overwhelmed or confused by the
language of the scriptures, absolutelygo back and read those chapters and those
verses and get what you can out of them.
(01:44):
But unless your goal is to read everyword of the Old Testament, you 100%
do not need to read every word of theOld Testament, and the Come Follow
Me manual is proof that this is true.
There are much smarter people thanI who have put this manual together,
and that includes apostles, and eventhe prophet has approved this manual.
(02:06):
Now, if the prophet wasn't okay withyou skipping parts of the Bible, he
would not have approved this manual.
Even in the weekly readings, you'llfind that some verses get skipped.
If you follow the manual, you'll see thatit's grouped into different study topics.
And each one has its own verses to study.
This week, if you read every singleverse for each of those study topics,
you would end up missing the endof chapter 37 and even all of 38.
(02:30):
Even though it's technicallylisted in the reading, it's not
part of the specific study guides.
So choose which verses you read wiselyand be sure you're following the
manual, because it will automaticallyhelp you to find the very most
valuable verses for you to study.
And then you can skip the other ones.
In fact, I feel pretty confident that,your life this week is not gonna change
(02:51):
one bit whether or not you read all thenames of Esau's great-grandchildren and
great-great-grandchildren and great,great, great grandchildren and great,
great, great, great, great grandchildren.
You just don't need that-it's not relevant to you.
The only thing that you might beinterested to know in these skipped
chapters this week is that in chapter35, Jacob's true love, Rachel, dies
(03:13):
in childbirth, and Benjamin is born.
And that brings the numberof Jacob's sons up to 12.
Other than that, there's nothingsuper relevant, so don't be
afraid to skip something.
All right, let's talkabout tip number two.
This is something that people getpretty good at doing, and often
they forget that this is partof understanding the scriptures.
(03:33):
It is to look for a lesson inthe story that you're reading.
So let's use this week's worksheetto do the study activity.
If you look in columnthree, you can follow along.
Now, sometimes there is a truthin the scriptures that is stated
very, very clearly, like when aprophet is teaching the people.
But then other gospel truths can be foundas you think about the lessons of a story.
(03:55):
Let's look at a verse andI'll show you what I mean.
Turn with me to Genesis chapter 39,Now the backstory here is that Joseph
was hated by his brothers, so sad!And they sold him to be a slave
in Egypt, but then he became thehead slave in Potiphar's house.
Then Potiphar's wife tried toget Joseph to sleep with her.
(04:18):
Not a good look for Potiphar's wife.
So let's open up to verse nine andwe'll read part of Joseph's response.
He says to her, "there is none greaterin this house than I; neither hath he
kept back anything from me but thee,because thou are his wife. How then
can I do this great wickedness, andsin against God?" Joseph tells her,
(04:41):
look, your husband trusts me, butyou are his wife, and this is wrong.
So the worksheet asks us to identifythe sin that he is talking about,
and that is the sin to sleep withsomebody that you're not married to.
This sin is called, there's an officialword for it, and it's called adultery.
It's a big word, and it justmeans cheating on your spouse-
(05:03):
your husband, or your wife.
This kind of sin also includesthings like pornography, and
unclean thoughts and actions.
Now, the opposite of adultery is tobe sexually pure or virtuous, and
have clean thoughts and actions.
So on the worksheet, wecan write in ADULTERY.
And right there, we have found one ofGod's commandments hidden in this story.
(05:24):
In fact, the 10 Commandmentshadn't even come out yet.
This story is that old!There are a few other questions
here for you to identifydifferent parts of the story.
But now if you look down at the nextstudy activity on the worksheet.
It asks you to apply this teaching byasking yourself if adultery and unclean
thoughts are bad, then what can I doto keep my thoughts and actions pure?
(05:47):
And I want to remind you thatthere is no wrong answer here.
Think about your own life, your owntemptations, and about ways that
you personally could avoid those.
One good way to do that is tointentionally put good thoughts in
your head, in place of the bad things.
Just trying to push it outoften doesn't work- you need to
replace it with something good.
So think about that and writedown a few of your thoughts.
(06:08):
Now, you are not going to understandevery part of every verse that you read,
but if you zone in on the parts that youdo understand and then you really look
for a lesson and ponder ways to applyit to your own life, then you can count
your scripture study as successful.
No matter how much or how little youread, and how much or how little you
understand, if you understand partof it and find a lesson and apply it,
(06:31):
that's what the scriptures are for!And my very last tip today comes
from the title of this week'sCome Follow me lesson, which
is "The Lord was with Joseph."So the master's wife was very mad at
Joseph when he refused to sin with her.
So she lied about Joseph andhad him thrown in jail for
something that he didn't even do.
Poor guy.
While he was in prison, he interpretedthe dreams of some other prisoners.
(06:55):
And then a few years go by andhe was called out of prison to
interpret the dream of Pharaoh.
Now, both times that heinterpreted dreams, the people
who had dreamed the dreams wereconfused about what they had seen.
They were like, there's amessage in here somewhere.
I just don't know what it is!Now Joseph's response is very important.
Are you paying attention?
(07:16):
He said, "interpretations belongto God," and he also said, "God
shall give [you] an answer."So we know that the answers to
these dreams came from the Lord,but do you remember what it
said the Lord was with Joseph?
That phrase is actually repeatedseveral times in these chapters.
And so because the Lord was withJoseph, those answers to their
(07:37):
dreams came through Joseph and hewas able to tell them what it meant.
So let's use the skill that we just talkedabout and find a lesson in this story.
The most important thing for youto remember when you're trying to
figure out what something means inthe scriptures, is that you need
to invite the Lord to help you.
The Holy Ghost can teach us thetruth of all things, and that
(07:59):
includes the scriptures, thingsthat you don't understand.
So if you're not trying to feelthe spirit when you're studying the
scriptures, then you probably won'tunderstand much or learn very much.
Keep in mind that there aremany ways to invite the Holy
Ghost into your study session.
You can pray for his help.
You can stop to ponder often.
You can stay worthy all through the dayof the Holy Ghost so he's not pushed away.
(08:21):
Because if you're pushing him away allday and then you sit down to read and say,
okay, Holy Ghost, now I'm ready for you...
mmm... It's not gonna work out that way.
You can use primary songs or hymnsto invite the spirit before you read.
Really anything that helps you to thinkabout Jesus Christ can help you to
invite the Holy Ghost to be with you.
And just as there are dozens of waysto invite the spirit, there are even
(08:42):
more ways to hear and to feel him.
You might have a feelingof peace or warmth.
You might have great ideas come to you.
In fact, this is somethingthat is sometimes overlooked.
When you understand what you readand you have an aha moment, you feel
like, "ah, I get it now!" that is oneway that the spirit is teaching you.
You also might find it easier to comeup with questions when the Holy Ghost
(09:04):
is helping you, because the questionsthat you ask will help you to find
certain answers, and the Holy Ghostloves walking you through things
so that you can find the answers.
So even more than skipping the hardparts or looking for lessons in the
stories, please be sure that you areinviting the Holy Ghost to be with you.
And then just as Joseph was able tounderstand the dreams, you will learn
(09:27):
to better understand the scriptures.
I'm Cindy Young.
Come back next week and I'll give youeven more tips to help in your journey
to understanding the scriptures better!Thanks for tuning into primarily
Scripture with Cindy Young.
Don't forget you can subscribe to thenewsletter and download free worksheets
on the website, primarily scripture.com.
(09:48):
And if you like the channel,be sure to subscribe, like,
share, and leave a review.
See you next time.
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