Interesting guidance for the church

In Alma 1, the chapter talking about the Anti-Christ Nehor who taught that pastors/priests should be chosen by the people and be paid for their work, we get some insight into the emphasis of the church after this.

1) important for the hearers and the preachers to be equal (I think largely true in the church today, but there are moments when preachers may be venerated too much or not enough.)

 26 And when the priests left their ^alabor to impart the word of God unto the people, the people also left their labors to hear the word of God. And when the priest had imparted unto them the word of God they all returned again diligently unto their labors; and the priest, not esteeming himself above his hearers, for the preacher was no better than the hearer, neither was the teacher any better than the learner; and thus they were all equal, and they did all labor, every man ^baccording to his strength.

2) When the church and its members are steady, good things happen. After consistent, hard work, and good relationships, prosperity often comes:

 29 And now, because of the steadiness of the church they began to be exceedingly ^arich, having abundance of all things whatsoever they stood in need—an abundance of flocks and herds, and fatlings of every kind, and also abundance of grain, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious things, and abundance of ^bsilk and fine-twined linen, and all manner of good homely ^ccloth.

3) Church and its members give to all people, rich or poor. This is a distinguishing characteristic along with being hard workers.

 30 And thus, in their ^aprosperous circumstances, they did not send away any who were ^bnaked, or that were hungry, or that were athirst, or that were sick, or that had not been nourished; and they did not set their hearts upon ^criches; therefore they were^dliberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no^erespect to persons as to those who stood in need.

4) Those who were not in the church were characterized by other traits:

 32 For those who did not belong to their church did indulge themselves in ^asorceries, and in ^bidolatry or ^cidleness, and in^dbabblings, and in ^eenvyings and ^fstrife; wearing costly apparel; being ^glifted up in the pride of their own eyes; persecuting, lying, thieving, robbing, committing whoredoms, and murdering, and all manner of wickedness; nevertheless, the law was put in force upon all those who did transgress it, inasmuch as it was possible.

Critical for church members to notice what these church members didn't do. They worked hard (weren't idle), did not babble (talk about useless things / gossip), didn't fight/argue or envy others, wore "normal" clothes, weren't prideful, didn't commit sexual sin, or any other wickedness. Notice that things such as working hard are in the same sentence as not murdering. It's important to be good to people and bless the world as much as it is to not sin (using sin in the traditional sense of 'doing bad').

Also notice that the law was enforced on all who broke it to deter them. Here's the influence of that:

33 And it came to pass that by thus exercising the law upon them, every man suffering according to that which he had done, they became more still

I really like verse 32. I want to be a better worker, waste less time, not envy or fight with people, and never commit sexual sin.

Have a good day. I think these are great verses for our day.