D&C 115-120 - Sacred Sacrifices

Unshaken Saints

Jared Halverson

Religion & Spirituality, Education

5 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2025

⏱️ 91 minutes

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Summary

When a people face "fightings without" and "fears within", what keeps them standing? Is it possible to serve God without constantly worrying about your property, or even your family? D&C 115–120 answers these questions, providing counsel for a Church struggling to survive. Summary: In this episode, we explore revelations given as the Saints faced intense persecution in Missouri and internal apostasy in Kirtland. D&C 115 renames the Church, emphasizing that "thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". The Lord calls Far West to be a "holy and consecrated land" , providing a "refuge from the storm". D&C 116 identifies "Spring Hill" as the sacred place of Adam-ondi-Ahman , where Adam shall come to visit his people. D&C 117 focuses on material priorities. The Lord asks, "what is property unto me?" , commanding the Saints to "let them go" and focus on the "more weighty matters". We highlight the incredible faith of Oliver Granger, whose sacrifice was deemed "more sacred...than his increase". The Lord also warns against a "littleness of soul" and the deeds of the Nicolaitane band. D&C 118 issues a stunning challenge to the Twelve Apostles: to depart for their mission on April 26th from the cornerstone of the Far West temple, a site surrounded by enemies. The Lord promises to "provide for their families" as they go forth. D&C 119-120 reveals the Law of Tithing: first, all "surplus property" , and subsequently, "one-tenth of all their interest annually". This law is declared a "standing law...forever" because sacrifice sanctifies , helping to "sanctify the land of Zion". D&C 120 reveals that the disbursement of these funds must be managed by a presiding council. Call-to-Action: What "stuff" or "property" do you need to "let go" of to focus on the "more weighty matters"? Share your thoughts in the comments below! If this discussion helped strengthen your faith, please like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay "Unshaken" in your faith. Chapter Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction 5:37 What's In a Name? 18:24 Holy People Make Holy Ground 26:28 It's Just Stuff 39:19 Walk the Walk 48:02 Win or Lose 56:56 Mission Impossible 1:12:03 Tithing 1:29:03 One-Liners

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everybody, welcome back to Unshaken and welcome to a really rough period of church history.
0:05.7	In some ways, we are in the valley between two mountain peaks, and it's going to be a rough week for our study in the Doctrine Convenants.
0:13.8	Two weeks ago, we got to spend our time at the heights of glory in Kirtland.
0:19.5	We saw the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, the dedicatory
0:21.9	prayer in 109, and then these heavenly manifestations in 110. Last week we covered all kinds
0:28.1	of different things and we'll do the same thing this week because we have section 115 all
0:32.8	the way through 120. Next week will be another mountain peak as far as the beauty of the revelations that are given,
0:40.3	though the recipient of those revelations is still in the depths himself. Joseph Smith is in
0:44.5	Liberty Jail. That's the time period we're heading toward, and next week we'll get those three
0:49.0	magnificent Liberty Jail revelations. This week, though, it's interesting how much time has passed and yet not many
0:57.4	pages have turned in the book. I think only one revelation is canonized that was received in 1837.
1:04.6	And that was Section 112 as the quorum of the 12 is being sent off on missions or called to them.
1:15.6	But what we're seeing during this time period, it is brutal what the Saints are going through. In fact, I'm feeling this even more keenly than usual because just, well, less than 24 hours ago,
1:22.6	I was standing in Adam And Diamon and Amin and at Hans Mill.
1:32.2	And so to recognize, I was at an academic conference, and that was Friday, Saturday,
1:36.4	and then Sunday we took some time before jumping on the plane to go out to those places of church history and talk about best of times, worst of times, worst of times being Hans Mill.
1:42.6	And then a hope for best of times, though not quite
1:46.5	attained in Adam and Iaman. The saints have long since been driven out of Jackson County,
1:53.3	but then they went to Caldwell County and was supposed to be a county just for the Latter-day
1:57.0	Saints to have some religious freedom. That did not last long. They're up in Davies County now with Adam and Daimondiaman and far west,
2:03.6	and they're still being brutalized.
2:06.6	The kinds of things that the Saints endured during that period,
	...

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