Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Doctrine & Covenants 12-17, JSH 1:66; Part 1 • Dr. Wendy Ulrich • February 17 - 23 • Come, Follow Me

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

What does priesthood power look like in our lives? Dr. Wendy Ulrich discusses Joseph and Hyrum’s baptism and explores what the difference between priesthood keys and priesthood service look like for every man, woman, and child in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsSHOW NOTES/TRANSCRIPTSEnglish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC208ENFrench: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC208FRGerman: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC208DEPortuguese: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC208PTSpanish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC208ESYOUTUBE https://youtu.be/w0GJdepHbr0ALL EPISODES/SHOW NOTESfollowHIM website: https://www.followHIMpodcast.comFREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookWEEKLY NEWSLETTERhttps://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletterSOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsAmelia Kabwika : Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Coming up in this episode on Follow Him. I think it's also really important to understand that when we're talking about power in the priesthood, we are not talking about position. We are not talking about what office you hold or what calling you have. In fact, we're not talking about anything that looks like worldly power at all. We don't command and demand. We don't control by reward and punishment. We inspire and motivate by love. That's the power that we're looking for. Hello, everyone.

Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name's Hank Smith. I'm your host. I'm here with my fellow servant co-host, John. By the way, John, it is good to be a fellow servant with you in this work. Sure is. We are aboard the fellowship. The fellowship, yes.

Yes. Sailing to Zion. Yes. John, we also have Dr. Wendy Ulrich with us. Dr. Ulrich, thank you for being here. Thank you for your time. I am so glad to be here with two of my favorite pupils. Thanks for having me. We're going to have a great day today. The lesson, both of you, is entitled,

Upon You, My Fellow Servants. We're looking at huge, huge monumental events in the restoration in Doctrine and Covenants 12 through 17 and Joseph Smith history. John, let's start with you. As you think of upon you, my fellow servants, John the Baptist and the restoration of the priesthood, what comes to mind? It's just right there.

What? John the Baptist showed up? Okay, this young man went to say, which church should I join? Could have been a one-sentence answer, but instead here it comes. And one of the early things that happens, here comes John the Baptist. I hope we don't get used to that idea. This is like, wait, wait, wait, what? He came? Yep. It is a bold claim and we love it. Yeah. We embrace it wholeheartedly. Dr. Ulrich, what are we looking forward to today as you've been preparing? Well, you know, we have six pretty fascinating sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, but I'm guessing a lot of us don't really know what's in them,

except for maybe section 13, which is where John the Baptist shows up. But we can see a couple of big themes going on throughout the Doctrine and Covenants, really, but especially in these sections. I'm excited to talk about one of those themes being that God knows us individually. He does everything He does so that one person at a time can develop a relationship, a covenant with Him that will allow us to do what we personally came here on the earth to do. We've got that individuality and these sections that are talking to one person and giving a revelation through Joseph Smith to that one individual. Those are several of the sections that are included in this. There's this personalizing of God's message to every individual. But then there's this other theme,

that God is building this groundwork. He's starting to create an organization, to create a framer that will outlast all of those individual people who are no longer around in the church today. Maybe their great grandkids are, but in the entire Doctrine and Covenants, he's doing that work, that organizational institutionalizing of doctrine and of experiences and of practices and of ordinances and rituals that will carry this huge thing forward to the next generation and the next and the next, because that's also so important to our understanding of who God is. That He is not just somebody who sort of pops into our lives in retreats or He's not somebody who's out there in the universe somewhere, mildly aware of us, but he's somebody who wants to make

us like him. He wants to keep this thing going. I hope we can look at those two things as we're looking throughout the Doctrine and Covenants, but today especially. That's incredible and can you think as a teacher trying to do both of those? I'm gonna work one-on-one with each individual and I'm going to set up a massive structure to bless future generations Well into the eternities and he's gonna do it through this young farmer Yeah, and that's the irony the story that they've just read. They've just been doing third Nephi I'm at this point in the history. That's how early or late, you know, at some ways we still are in this story. They've just been reading

about the Savior coming to the earth. And when the Savior established His church among the Nephites, He comes down in a pillar of light to a couple thousand people who are tried and trued and tested. He does all these very personal things, come up one by one and feel the prints of the nails in my hands. But he also is setting up the institution that's going to keep it going. And from the very first night after he comes, he's given them permission to baptize and to give the sacrament and to go get people and to bring them in, to teach them everything he's done. He's got this huge group of people all ready to get that organization going, and it's going to last for a couple hundred years.

He's doing it very differently with Joseph Smith. He's got one 14-year-old kid that he starts this whole thing with. And then he brings in a couple more and a couple more. And okay, an angel here and an angel there. This is the first time really that somebody else has joined the game when he and Oliver Cowdery go and pray about what are we supposed to do about what we've just read? They got baptized, that seems to be important, we don't know what we're doing here. Oh, well okay, I'll send John the Baptist to you. But it's very personal to them, as well as creating this structure and this beginning to institutionalize this thing that has to outlast them. I think that's kind of interesting. It's exciting. This is our story. This is what you and I live every day. You know, the

church we attend on Sunday, the callings that we have, this is our beginnings. This is our beginnings. And it took 200 years for us to get here, basically putting back in place the church that Christ put in place in a matter of days in the New World. It took him a little longer in the Old World. I love what you've just done right there, because it's not just answering these individuals' questions. It was, you're going to be part of an organization that's going to be here when he returns again. I heard a really wonderful talk years ago. I can't remember that it was called He Knows You. Who was that?

Oh, yeah, it was Hank Smith. I mean that talk has affected a lot of people, but the idea of God having the universe in mind and at the same time having individuals in mind is incredible. I gotta go find that talk. Yeah, it's really good. That's his name, John the Baptist, but when you read about him, I almost want to say John the Prophet Baptist or something because every one of the Gospels starts out with, before I tell you about Jesus, I got to tell you about John the Baptist. He seemed to hit the ground running. When you see the other apostles, they had to learn here and there, and John the Baptist, he just got it from the start. He just knew exactly what was going on.

For him to come, it tells you, if you ask the Lord a question, be prepared, because He'll give you a lot more than you bargained for. I mean, let's be honest, John the Baptist got this priesthood when he was eight days old. Eight days old. Yeah. Yeah. It's fair that he'd spent a lifetime learning about what he was now passing on to Joseph

Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Fantastic. I'm going to read from the Come Follow Me manual. We like to use the manual here at Follow Him. This is how the manual begins this week. Most people around the world have probably never heard of Harmony, Pennsylvania. The Lord often chooses humble places for the most significant events in His Kingdom. In a wooded area near Harmony on May 15, 1829, John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. He placed his hands on their heads and conferred the Aaronic Priesthood upon them, calling

them, My fellow-servants. John the Baptist was the trusted servant of God who baptized the Savior and prepared the way for His coming. To these two young men in their twenties, it must have been humbling, can you imagine? Perhaps even overwhelming to be called John's fellow servants. At the time, Joseph and Oliver were relatively unknown, much as Harmony was. But service in God's work has always been about how we serve, not about who notices. However small or unseen your contribution may seem at times, you too are a fellow servant in the Lord's great and marvelous work."

Wow. Wendy, with that great introduction, do you want to walk through these sections? These sections are fascinating because they are all except 13. Basically, we're talking about individual revelations to individual people. And we see in those sections both the universal themes and doctrines that are applicable to all of us and the very personal things that were just to them. I'd like to really focus on section 13 because it's so pivotal. This is probably the most important thing that's happened in the history of the church thus far, other than the First Division itself and the coming

of Moroni and Joseph Smith starting to work on the plates. There's no church, in fact, at this point. It's a year before the church is even organized. This is the restoration of the priesthood authority to act in the name of God that hasn't been on the earth in this form for maybe a couple of hundred years after Jesus Christ himself was running the show, you know. I'd love to back up and talk about priesthood a little bit and what do we mean by that? Back to your point, what did Jesus Christ have to say about John the Baptist? He said, among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.

And that's who he's sent into these guys. Them that are born of women, I think that's everyone. I think so, yeah. There's none greater than John the Baptist. John, you got a good name here for many reasons. Since Jesus called him a prophet, that's why I like to think of him as, I don't want the phrase John the Baptist to sound like that's all he was. Do you know what I mean?

I like to call him John the Prophet Baptist because Jesus called him a prophet. He was amazing based on what you just said. He's the forerunner. I'm waxing New Testament. I'm just remembering how fun it was to read about how important he was then. Here he is coming back. Danielle Pletka What is it he's coming back with? What is the priesthood exactly? And that's kind of a relevant question right now in our lives. Pete Slauson I hear a lot of discussion about that, a lot of angst about that. As a matter

of fact, it's really interesting. I do a lot of public speaking and I don't tend to get too nervous anymore, but I was nervous coming in here this morning. I got here a little early, which is also unusual for me. I was parked outside and I was looking through some emails as I was sitting there and I got an email from a woman who said, Sister Ulrich, I just want you to know about an experience I had with your book. The book is called Live Up to Our Privileges and it's about women, power and priesthood. She said, I have been trying to think of ways to talk to my children, my grandchildren, my nieces and nephews about the priesthood.

And I'd gotten a few things and I'd read a few things and I just felt like something was missing in my understanding because I'd gotten their questions about it. And this was the little girl she was talking about was nine years old, specifically. She said, I got your book, I started reading it and I realized there were things here that were key to what I wanted her to understand about priesthood. And I just wanted to thank you for that. I just sat there and cried because I'm sitting there thinking, I want to go and talk about priesthood. Is this really the right thing to do? You know, is this really... And I thought, oh boy. And not just for older

women, but for nine-year-olds, we're trying to help them make sense out of this. The common definition of priesthood is the office of being a priest or a group of priests who are authorized to perform sacred rituals, to preach and interpret sacred texts, who intercede with the divine on behalf of others, who pronounce forgiveness, who visit the sick and provide counsel,, minister and lead in congregations and so forth. And when we look at those definitions, we could go down that list I just read and say, do men perform those things in our church? Absolutely. Do women? Do we perform sacred rituals? Check. Do we preach and interpret sacred texts in public ways? Check.

Do we intercede with the divine on behalf of others? That's called prayer. Yes, I do that. Unministering. Yes, check. Do we pronounce forgiveness? Actually, we do. In the temple.

Do we visit the sick and provide counsel? Yes. Do we minister to and lead members? Yes. I've been a Relief Society president, a Young Women's… Yes, check, check. We can check those boxes. But that's not all that priesthood even means. This from President Nelson, the priesthood conferred upon us is the very same power and authority through which God created this and numberless worlds, governs the heavens and the earth, and exalts His obedient children. That's our understanding and definition of what priesthood is. The power of God to create, to govern, and to exalt that He

shares with us. And why does He share it with us? Because He wants us to practice it in our own little teeny tiny sphere and learn about it so that we can be prepared to choose that as our desire and our goal and our role in other people's lives for eternity, trying to bless and to help and to serve and to cherish and to create and to govern in the humble, humble way that God governs us. I remember years ago I was in a training of the newly minting psychologist and there's an association of Latter-day Saint counselors and psychologists that's been meeting for decades. And I went to one of their meetings, came back from Michigan where I was doing my doctorate to

meet with this group because I was so thrilled to learn there were people who were studying both psychology and spirituality at the same time. And this one speaker talked about his belief, his experience actually, that God is humble. And I never really thought about that before. You know, all the characteristics of God, humility is not one that I would really ascribe to the person who can run the world and create the universe. But his evidence was he'd been praying to know which house to buy. He's a young guy, you know, he'd been

praying to know which of two houses to buy and he found one that he really liked, but it was more money than he could really spend and he had another one it wasn't as crazy about and you praying about it and what should I do? And the spirit sort of whispered to him, I don't really know. I'm not ambitious. And he was like, ambitious? Am I? Oh, oh, maybe I am ambitious. And he said, I learned from that, that God is humble. And I have never forgotten that phrase, that he's humble enough to let us do what we want. And he'll give us guidance if we ask for it, but he's not going to force it down our throats. He's not going to control us. He's trying to give us the laws of the universe that he understands will make us happy. But he's humble enough to let us choose

them if we want them or not. We have a little more in mind here than just authority when we're talking about priesthood. And I want to make clear, there are reasons that a lot of us are kind of wondering, okay, well then why don't women hold offices in the priesthood? And I want to talk about those offices and what they have to do with women a little later here, but I just think that it's really important that we get some sort of ground work in that we're not talking about priesthood the same way other people talk about it.

And women hold authority and power in the priesthood in this church, not necessarily in the ways that might be obvious to even us, or certainly to the world, not in the same ways that men hold it, and I don't completely claim to understand why, but if we start with what the Lord has given us to work with, I think we've got plenty, and we can wait on some of the understanding that maybe we don't have right now. At least I can. I love that. I was thinking about what you were saying there and trying to think if there's an earthly example. I thought, do we let 16 year olds drive cars?

Here's the Lord that lets very imperfect beings use this power and make mistakes. And that just helps me to think I need to extend grace to everybody because we are all doing the best we can trying to do the work the Lord has given us. And if He's going to let us do that, He knows we're going to make mistakes. It just helps me to be able to look around and say, look, all of us in our different little responsibilities and callings are doing the best we can and we're going to learn, sometimes the hard way, by making mistakes. But Heavenly Father lets us do that. Well, and He let Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and Emma Smith and Lucy Mack Smith and all

of these people make mistakes. Their mistakes are more obvious or at least more, we call them mistakes more readily because we have the perspective of 200 years and history has changed and cultures have changed and the world has changed. I get a little frustrated with us when we start holding them to the same standards we have about how things are supposed to be. What's amazing to me is in the sections we're reading today, Joseph Smith is 23 years old. Oliver Cowdery is 22. Emma is 24. I worked with some wonderful assistants and zone leaders and missionaries of all kinds who were 20 and 21. But hey, this is pretty big stuff. Did they make mistakes? Of course they did. Did they get it all right? No, of course not. It's taking us 200 years to figure out some of the stuff that they were working on

and I'm guessing it's gonna take us 200 more to get it even closer, you know? What it's supposed to be. We've got some powerful things to build on, starting with this occurrence. Let me go back to the priesthood here for a minute. This is a quote from Dallin Oaks that I think is helpful. Whoever functions in an office or calling received from one who holds priesthood keys, exercises priesthood authority in performing her or his assigned duties." That was a new idea for a lot of us in 2014, 10 years ago when he made that comment.

This is a little different use of the word keys than John the Baptist is going to use. It's interesting to me that relatively few men hold these keys for authorizing the work of the Lord to go forward in all of these places. And when they do hold them, only a few, which would be the apostles, hold them for their whole life, for all the world, in every place they go. Everybody else who has keys has them for a specific function in a specific place at a specific time. Wendy, in a ward, there's only four people who hold priesthood keys and two of them are kind of in training. Yeah, two of them are 12 and 14. Yeah. The question becomes then, why would we give keys to a 12 year old

and not to the decades old Relief Society president who basically has the same responsibility in the ward that the elders current president has? Why would we do that? This is kind of stymieing for a lot of us, especially if I'm the Relief Society president. The only answer I've been able to come up with is one of the primary purposes of those keys is not just to make decisions because we don't make decisions just because we have keys. I can make a lot of decisions as a Relief Society president from my organization. I may run them by the bishop if it's a calling that needs to be given or something specific. Generally speaking, I can run them by the bishop if it's a calling that needs to be given or something specific.

Generally speaking, I can run my own organization, but I don't have the responsibility in that organization to provide the covenants and ordinances of the gospel. And all of these people who hold keys do have that responsibility, including the deacons quorum president. He is helping to make sure that the ordinances of the gospel are done correctly. The governance of the church happens through councils. That's our primary governance mechanism, and all the people in that council have authority to be there and to participate in that council and are expected to do so. But the keys

are really crucial for making sure that the ordinances and covenants of the gospel are done accurately so that they count both on earth and in heaven. They communicate to us what the Lord wants us to understand from those ordinances and the symbols behind them. Really like that. So Wendy, tie priesthood keys to ordinances in your head. Does that make sense? Is that what you're telling me to? Yeah, I think so. Because you've got temple presidents, right? Tied to ordinances, obviously the prophets and the apostles. Mission presidents. Mission presidents, yeah. Vatizing the world and a bishop, making sure that children are blessed and that the sacrament is

performed. Those are the central things that we're doing when we come together. Somebody needs to be responsible to make sure that those very specific things are done well. That's fantastic. And the authority that you're talking about within the ward, that's also priesthood authority. Absolutely. That's back to that statement from Elder Oaks, whoever functions in an office or calling received from one who holds keys. So that calling of Relief Society president, of a teacher, of a class president for the young women working in the primary, whatever it is, those are callings that we have authority to do because someone else has passed that delegated that authority to us.

When Elder Oaks gave that talk, I love this one sentence when he said, when a sister is set apart to do her calling, she's given priest love this one sentence when he said, when a sister is set apart to do her calling, she's given priest authority. And then he said, what other authority would it be? And I thought, of course, if you're assisting in doing the work of God, what other authority could it possibly be? Speaking of these young men trying to, I love the way you put this, Wendy, the ordinances and covenants that have keys. I remember one time looking over as they were just getting ready to administer and pass the sacrament and there weren't enough passers.

And my wife elbowing me and she has given me permission to tell the story and saying, you should go help pass. And I pointed at the teacher's quorum president and I said, see that kid right there? He's in charge of that. He and the bishop right now are communicating with their eyes and maybe their text messages about who to get. I don't just pop up and walk over there. That kid with the keys right there is going to

make that decision with the bishop and their eye contact and their texting. Wendy, I feel bad saying this. I had never tied priesthood keys to ordinances, but as I'm going through it in my head now that you've said it, going, oh yeah, each person who has keys, I can see that they are in charge of some sort of ordinance to make sure it's done Correctly, I think it's worth considering. Yeah, it's helpful to me at least as a way of thinking about this John I actually have that quote you just gave right in front of me Here's the quote the keys and authority of the priesthood. This is April of 2014 Here's the quote, the keys and authority of the priesthood, this is April of 2014, President Oaks, he says, we are not accustomed to speaking of women having the authority

of the priesthood in their church callings. But what other authority can it be? When a woman, young or old, is set apart to preach the gospel as a full-time missionary, she is given priesthood authority to perform a priesthood function. The same is true when a woman is set apart to function as an officer or teacher in a church organization under the direction of one who holds the keys of the priesthood. Whoever functions in an office or calling received from one, this is the quote from earlier Wendy, from one who holds priesthood keys exercises priesthood authority in performing her or

his assigned duties." The clarity is coming over the years, isn't it? Yeah, the clarity is coming over the years. And this clarity began with this section of the Doctrine and Covenants that we're talking about today. When these two men have read about baptism, they go out into the woods, they pray, and this angel appears. These are the words he says in their entirety in one of the three shortest sections of the Doctrine and Covenants. It's one verse,

but I don't know if there's a more important single one verse. He says to them, and let's just look at this for a minute, upon you, my fellow servants. You've mentioned that earlier. What does that communicate to you, John? Just that phrase, you, my fellow servants. How would you feel if John the Baptist calls you a fellow servant? Yeah, exactly. This is the humility again. I love the next line, in the name of Messiah. Does that sound right coming from John the Baptist? From John the Baptist, it sure does.

It would be the Messiah, wouldn't it? He'd want to make clear, because He was clear, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, that he was the Anointed One. It's in his name that he's not coming in his own name. I'm not doing this in the name of John the Baptist. I'm doing this in the name of the man I recognized in my life as the Messiah and still recognized 2,000 years later as I have been sent to restore this priesthood, which I was really the last person of the Old Testament period to hold in that way. He says, okay, I confer the priesthood of Aaron. It reminds us of in Joseph Smith's history that he is acting under the direction of Peter, James, and John, the ancient apostles who held the

keys of the higher priesthood, which was called the priesthood of Melchizedek. And the promise was given to Joseph and Oliver that in due time they would receive that priesthood as well, which probably happened within maybe even just a month after this, no more than a year and a half at the outside, but maybe pretty quickly after this. And we'll talk about that, I hope, in a few minutes. He's giving them the priesthood of Aaron, then he explains which holds the keys, and this is a little different kind of the word keys. These are the keys of accessing certain blessings or responsibilities or teaching certain doctrines or performing certain ordinances. Let's listen to what those keys are about. The keys of the ministering of angels, opening the door institutionally now for the ministering of angels. Here I am as an angel,

obviously somebody else let me be here, but I'm conferring on you, the priesthood of Aaron that holds the keys to open this door for this whole institution that you're now going to be creating that you're now going to be creating in a year. We've got the keys of a blessing of angels, the keys of the doctrine of the gospel of repentance, and the keys of the ordinances and covenants of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. And then he says, this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness." Now that's kind of an interesting idea because in the Old Testament the sons of Levi were the ones who brought the sacrifices and the offerings to the temple. They did the grunt work basically

of the temple. The priests did the nice stuff and the Levites were the grunt workers. I think it's interesting to look up the word offering and see what's included in that. In the Doctrine and Covenants, we talk about the offering of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. We talk about bringing an offering to the Lord in righteousness in the temple of the names of our departed dead. Is that the offering that the sons of Levi, whom we sort of become, are making in the temple when we go and take the names of our departed dead and do for them baptisms for the dead? As a matter of fact, we might ask ourselves, so what kind of priesthood offering or authority or calling do people hold in the temple that allows them to do this stuff?

And I think it makes clear to me that one of the ways we get authority is somebody holding keys gives me a temple recommend to go to the temple and not just receive ordinances but perform them. Even when I'm 11 years old, I can go to the temple having authority from someone holding keys, and perform the ordinances of the Aaronic priesthood for the dead. Because it's not just the guy holding up his hand who's performing an ordinance in the temple. It's the people whose bodies need to be there to participate in that ordinance so that others can receive it vicariously. That's a priesthood function. Those 11-year-old girls, as well as those 16-year-old young men, are performing in the temple and they do it with the authority of that temple recommend they hold because someone else

has authorized them to go and be in the Lord's house. Whatever calling, whatever authorization we have, whatever assignment we're given as a minister, we don't have to be set apart in an office or a calling. I can just be a ministering sister or give a talk in church. I do it with authority if it's been delegated to me from someone who holds those keys in my ward or my stake or my district or my branch. That's awesome. I'm looking at my section 13 with notes from four years ago, follow him, I've got underlined, offer again an offering unto the Lord and I've got an arrow to the margin that says perhaps the offering is work for the dead. And then going down to the footnote circling section 128 verse 24.

Can I read this Hank? This is the last part. This is, let us therefore as a church and a people and as Latter-day Saints offer unto the Lord purifies the sons of Levi to give this offer. He said, Dr. Baron is here. He talked about 3rd Nephi 24 verse 3 that the Lord purifies the sons of Levi to give this offering. He took us to Isaiah 66 and said what you both are saying, which is the offering is gathered Israel. Right? We have gathered Israel on both sides of the veil and we're giving it back to who it is. Wow, that's beautiful. Yeah, one day my wife and I are in sacrament meeting and somebody who's in charge of temple names and I know the elder Bednar said, let's get our youth doing this years ago. Let's get them. They're good at computers. They got up and announced that somebody had done name extraction of 17,000 names.

that somebody had done name extraction of 17,000 names. They said that was Timothy, by the way. He's on a mission now in Uruguay, but I went home and I didn't have any idea. I was like, Timothy, you did 17,000 names and what came over you? Why did you do that? I was expecting a very beautiful answer from here or maybe from Malachi and Timothy said, I was trying to beat grandma. So that was the beautiful answer. There you go. Yep, there you go. What a wonderful thing to have grandma and Timothy just doing this offering and getting

those names. That's awesome. What a wonderful way to think of it. What do you guys think? Do you think temples have been emphasized lately in general conference? Just a little tiny, tiny bit, yeah. If you read the Bible dictionary, if you read under the heading John the Baptist, Robert Matthews. Robert J. Matthews. Robert J. Matthews. I'm so glad you said that. When I think about that, I thought this is the guy who loves John the Baptist and has written about him. Yeah. So you think he probably had some influence here. So I'll just read a couple of things. John the Baptist was the outstanding bearer of the Aaronic priesthood in all history

was the outstanding bearer of the Aaronic priesthood in all history and was entrusted with its most noble mission. If you go to the bottom, it goes through his life and then at the very bottom he says, his ministry has operated in three dispensations. He was the last of the prophets under the law of Moses. John, you said that. He was the first New Testament prophet, and he brought the Aaronic priesthood to the dispensation of the fullness of times. There's some significant roles here played by someone that really did when he said, what did he say, John? He must increase, I must decrease.

He really did decrease. We don't talk about him often as this pivotal figure. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that because that really does help us understand how important humility is because of the humility he shows as he calls these men his fellow servants and does this under someone else's authority and all of those things that we've mentioned. So at this point John tells them in this vision that this experience that they have to baptize each other and then to ordain each other to the Aaronic priesthood. I assume he gives them some language to do that. I've got some people in the medical field in my

family and the training model in the medical field is you see one, you do one, and then you teach one. If you're learning surgery, you watch somebody else do it, then you do it, then you teach somebody else to do it. And that's kind of the pattern that I think we see here as well. You've heard about baptizing, now you baptize each other, you've seen me ordain you, now you ordain each other, now you go baptize and ordain other people. Just get going and that's exactly what they do. They don't even have the church organized yet, but they do start baptizing and ordaining people. Joseph Smith, we've talked a little bit about the difference between how he and Oliver recount this story. Joseph says,

Immediately on our coming up out of the water, after we had been baptized, we experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner had I baptized Oliver Cowdery than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and prophesied many things which should shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I had been baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy. When standing up, I prophesied concerning the rise of this church and many other things. And we were filled with the Holy Ghost and rejoiced in the God of our salvation." That's kind of the tone.

I'm making fun of this a little bit, but you kind of subdued, you know, kind of matter of fact. Then we get Oliver's version. And again, 23, 22, Oliver doesn't write this down for another five years, but it's like he still can't even catch his breath. He's so excited. It's so good. So I'm going to read through what he says says because I love this and I think we miss it a lot and just let you guys notice, you know, words that stand out to you. I'll stop here and there, but this is Oliver, the Lord who is rich in mercy and ever willing to answer the consistent

prayer of the humble. Isn't that interesting? After we had called upon him in a fervent manner, condescended to manifest to us his will, on a suddenness from the midst of eternity, the voice of the Redeemer spake peace to us. While the veil parted and the angel of God came down, clothed with glory and delivered the anxiously looked for message and the keys of the gospel of repentance What joy exclamation point what wonder exclamation point what? amazement exclamation point This skipping a little then his voice though mild

Then skipping a little, then his voice, though mild, pierced to the center, and his words, I am thy fellow servant, dispelled every fear. Isn't it interesting? He was scared when this started. We listened, we gazed, we admired, towards the voice of an angel from glory, a message from the Most High. And as we heard, we rejoiced, while His love enkindled upon our souls. And we were wrapped in the vision of the Almighty. Where was room for doubt? in the vision of the Almighty. Where was room for doubt? Nowhere. Uncertainty had fled. Doubt had sunk. No more to rise. Fiction and deception had fled forever." Wow. What stands out to you? I'm recalling Joseph Fielding McConkie who said that Joseph Smith always undertold

a story and that here's Oliver. He's given it all he's got. And the very beginning, just that first sentence is really good. These were days never to be forgotten. I love that sentence. I just hope everybody out there reads the whole thing because it's in really tiny print at the end of Joseph Smith history if you've got a triple be sure you read this account of Oliver because Sometimes the claims we make are it's amazing to say John the Baptist came You think how come it doesn't sound more amazing there? Well, read the way Oliver describes it. On the digital version, John, it's right there at the bottom. If you go to Joseph Smith history, you keep on scrolling all the way to the bottom, it's there and it's not even in small font now. It's a bigger font, thank

you. It's bigger font. Yeah, it's included as part of the Pearl of Great Price, basically, in the Joseph Smith history. Oliver goes on, he's writing to his brother and he says, dear brother, think, but okay, let's put dear brother and sister, let's put all of us in here. Dear brother, dear sisters, further think for a moment what joy filled our hearts and with what surprise we bowed when we received under his hand the holy priesthood as He said, and He reads these words again. He says the words a little differently, which is helpful to me.

He and Joseph remember them a little differently. Okay, is that a big deal? If you're telling the story and your wife's telling the story, did the words ever come out a little different? Do you remember it a little differently? Yeah, you do. And so I'm correcting my husband. No, this is what they really, no, this is what they really, you know, they're not terribly different, but a little different. And then he says, I won't attempt to paint to you the feelings of this heart, nor the majestic beauty and glory which surrounded us on this occasion, nor has the earth power

to give the joy, bestow the peace, or comprehend the wisdom delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit." And he goes back to this theme, man may deceive his fellow men, deception may follow deception, the children of the wicked one may have power to seduce the foolish and untaught, but one touch with the finger of his love." This is John the Baptist's love for them that he keeps coming back to. One ray of glory from the upper world, one word from the mouth of the Savior strikes it all into insignificance. The assurance that we were in the presence of an angel, the certainty that we heard the

voice of Jesus, and the truth, unsullied as it flowed from a pure personage dictated by the will of God, is to me past description. And I shall ever look upon this expression of the Savior's goodness with wonder and thanksgiving while I am permitted to Terry again this personal personal thing in the midst of this institutional foundation being laid that we are still participating in and benefiting from today. Wendy I noticed the words that Oliver says dispelled every fear we talked about this earlier I am thy fellow servant we're on the same team you and I imagine an angel saying Yeah, it's one thing when the prophet today says those kinds of things to us, you know,

we're on the same team and I'm just one of you guys and we all go, yeah. This is an angel, John the Baptist, who's coming to this. He sees these two young kids as fellow servants. Yeah, and they feel, I love that Oliver says this twice, his love. We have that in one of the descriptions of Joseph Smith when he comes out of the First Vision when he's 14. It's not in our official record of it, but in one of the other ways that we're describing it, he says, I was filled with love for days after this happened.

And that is the God I know, brothers and sisters. That is the God I know. Is this God of love and his messengers convey that love in this very personal way to Oliver and to Joseph Smith. Now, maybe Joseph Smith's a little more restrained here because in his history, the next thing he says is, we were forced to keep secret the circumstances of having received at the priesthood and are having been baptized, owing to a spirit of persecution which had already manifested itself in the neighborhood. It's important to remember what circumstances

they were living under and just how young they were. What do you remember about being baptized? Hank, you've been baptized. Do you remember much about that when you were baptized? It was back in the 1900s, but I can remember my father standing there next to me with his hand around me. I can remember the feel of the water, right? Okay.

Wow, this is different. And I remember friends and family being around, yeah. And if you had the opportunity to baptize anybody? Oh yes, many times, yes. Okay, do you remember that? Oh, absolutely. Especially my own children. Yeah, my own children going to the temple.

Yeah, really powerful for you. But let me ask you personally, which is more important to your eternal salvation, being baptized that you hardly remember or baptizing others that you remember quite well? Being baptized. Being baptized. Being baptized. Hold that thought for a minute, okay? Because this is really important to our understanding of the priesthood. The power we receive in the priesthood is in receiving the Holy Ghost, not telling someone

else to receive the Holy Ghost. The power in the sacrament is not in passing the train around. The power in the sacrament is taking the sacrament. I pass the sacrament every week, by the way, just so we are clear. This is not some magical thing. I pass the sacrament down along with all the other women in the congregation every single week. We participate in this process too, passing the sacrament already. But the power in the ordinance is not in passing the sacrament or performing the baptism or laying your hands on someone else's head. The power in those ordinances is in receiving them.

Let's look at the life of Jesus Christ in this regard for a minute. How did the priesthood work in his life? Was baptizing people crucial for Jesus Christ to do while he was on the earth? Doesn't seem so. Doesn't seem so. We don't know much about that. We don't have any pictures of that. We don't have any stories about that. It's not even clear from the New Testament as it stands that he ever did that, although Joseph Smith's translation says that he did, but he had, he wanted his apostles to do it more. But was being baptized crucial for Jesus? Every one of the gospels. Salutes.

Yeah. Every one of them. Every single one of them. So it's receiving these ordinances, not performing them that was central to Christ's mission. Wendy, that's such an insight. Receiving the ordinances, being baptized, going through a temple endowment, being endowed, being sealed, much more important than performing those of passing the sacrament, being the person to baptize, being the person to seal. The power is found in receiving the ordinances, not in performing them. I had such a simple thought, but it's an

eye-opening insight for me. Helpful, isn't it? It is to me as well. That doesn't mean, however, as we've already pointed out, that women don't perform ordinances as well. Let's talk about that. In the Holy Temple, this is from President Nelson in that Spiritual Treasures of October 2019. He's talking to the general women's session of the Church. In the Holy Temple, you—and he's talking to the sisters—you are authorized to perform and officiate in priesthood ordinances every time you attend. Your temple endowment prepares you to do so. So, there's a way priesthood operates in the temple, still under the authority of the keys that the church holds and the

president of the temple holds to make sure that they're done correctly. But there's an authorization given. You are authorized to the women to perform and officiate in priesthood ordinances every time you attend. And then every time you go back, every time I return, I am not just sitting there. I am engaged in officiating in a priesthood ordinance for every person I go to the temple for. I'm authorized to perform that ordinance with my body they need for that ordinance to be real. I say the words for them. I do the actions for them that are part of that ceremony and that endowment of power. I basically engage in the promised blessings of the Aaronic priesthood and Melchizedek priesthood as I act in the role of an angel coming into the

presence of God, which are the blessings that are associated with those priesthood powers. Let's go back to those offices now for a minute. With all that background, what we don't have as women are offices, but I want to take a look at those for a minute. There are no offices in the Aaronic Priesthood at this point in section 13. There's just, they've been ordained. But pretty quickly after that, we begin to see some offices in the priesthood as well. By section 20 even, we've got the organization of the church that happens about a year later. We begin to see some of these offices. So, if we were going to make a list of the offices associated with the Aaronic priesthood, we'd

have deacons. Well, first of all, in 20, 107, 124, in the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants specifically talk about priesthood and offices and some of those things. We learned that all the offices of the priesthood are to preach, teach, exhort, expound, warn, invite, all of those general kinds of things are part of those offices. First of all, do women do all those things in the church today with authority?

Yes, they do. Teach, preach, exhort, expound, warn, invite. You bet we do. Let's look at the others. Deacons, teachers, priests, and bishop are the offices in the Aaronic Priesthood, although bishop kind of floats. It's listed in both Melchizedek and Aaronic. What are the deacons supposed to do? They're supposed to assist those in other priesthood offices. That's all it says. There's nothing in the scriptures that says they pass the sacrament, for example. It's just there to assist in the other priesthood offices. That's all it says. There's nothing in the scriptures that says they pass the sacrament, for example. It's just there to assist in the other priesthood offices

in carrying out the work of those offices. What do the other people do? The teachers. They're to watch over the church and strengthen the members. That's their primary responsibility. What does that sound like? Why do we have 14-year-olds going out and ministering, with ministering? Because that's primarily what the teachers are supposed to do. All of them are supposed to teach. The teachers are really more community builders in this description. They're to watch over the church and strengthen the members.

They're acting more like ministers. Do women and men both do that? Yes, we do. Then there's priests who officiate in the ordinances of the sacrament and baptism. Then we've got the bishop who watches over the church, youth, the poor, forgives sins and oversees the world. So, I want to look at these offices in a little different light. There's a statement from Donnie Widso, who was an early apostle, that I love about the temple and the symbolism of the temple. And I want to apply this and paraphrase it just a little bit to talk about these offices as well.

He says, we live in a world of symbols. No man or woman, and he uses those two words, no man or woman, can come out of the temple endowed as they should be unless they have seen beyond the symbol the mighty realities for which the symbols stand." I'd like to look at just a few of these offices, not just as offices, they are that, but also as symbols of some mighty realities for how the work of the church is done. Well, let's start with the word deacon. Where do we get that word? It's interesting that that word goes back to the word diakonos in Greek, which shows up all over the scriptures.

The first real place where we see it as sort of an office is in the church after Christ is born, and they've got Greeks and Gentiles now part of the church. And these Greek women who are widows, they used to get together and have the sacrament together and have food together and all that kind of thing, both of those things, and they're complaining that they're not getting their fair share of the distribution of food among all the members of shuttle living the united order and having things in common at this point in the early history of the formative church, the church after Christ. They're kind of upset. They want the food to be distributed better. And Peter says, it doesn't make sense for us to leave the ministry of the of the kingdom to wait tables. We're going to choose

seven good men who happen to all have Greek names, which is kind of interesting. He doesn't put the Jewish men over this responsibility. It's the Greek women who are complaining, and he puts Greek men over taking care of this problem and puts them in charge of making sure everybody gets their fair share of the food. They are the seven diakonos. That's the word that is used. And that word means waiters, like the guy who brings you your food in the restaurant. It means servants, usually house servants who brought the food to the rich people and make sure that everybody got served. So who are the first people, gentlemen, who fed you? That would be your mother.

Who serves the food in God's world in Christ's church from the Garden of Eden to the resurrected Savior? God supplies the food. He is our deacon. He makes sure we're fed. Whether it's the trees in the Garden of Eden or feeding the 5,000 or the resurrected Savior of the world coming back as a resurrected being to the shore of Galilee, building a fire, kneading the bread, cleaning the fish to feed breakfast to his apostles. Christ is the deacon who serves, who says to his apostles when they're arguing

about, can I be on your right hand and your left? Can I be the great? No. In my kingdom, those who are the greatest will be the servants, the deacons for all. That was his example. What are the mighty realities we see of the work of deacons? Well, who are the first people who feed us? Our mothers. This is the mighty reality spiritually and physically feeding one another on which that office symbol stands. It's not just a step on a ladder we move up to and we're 14 and then 16 and 18 to bigger and more important things. It's foundational. Everything builds on have people been fed. This is in so many ways building on the work of women who are our first deacons from the time we are ours old. And I think it's important to understand all of these offices include the important work

of women. We don't hold the office per se. We do the mighty realities for which those symbols stand. We teach. We perform as priests in the temple. We could go on to the Melchizedek priesthood offices of governance, of patriarchs who prophesy about the future of our children. Elder Irene gave a beautiful talk about coming home from dates when he was a kid, and his mother would be waiting up for him and would talk to him. And he says with tears, of course that's easy for him. He says most things with tears, but he says with tears, some of the things I remember my mother saying to me in those casual conversations have as much import as my life as my patriarchal blessing.

It's interesting in the Old Testament system, the high priest in that temple, which was basically an Aaronic priesthood temple, unlike ours today, the high priest on one day, on the day of atonement, which was Yom Kippur, by lot was chosen, the witch high priest was allowed to go do something very special. He took off his very fancy clothes, which the high priest wore that were blue and red and all kinds of colors, and he took off the breastplate, all this fancy stuff, and he puts on plain white linen clothing, a hat, linen breeches, a robe, a sash. He goes in this plain white clothing and he is allowed one time a year the only person who is allowed

to enter the Holy of Holies, which represented the presence of God, where the Ark of the Covenant was held and the cherubim sat on either side and this was where God could come and sit. And that one priest once a year was allowed to go into that place. I hope we never forget. We dress in that clothing. We approach that veil. And symbolically, the mighty reality we are given the opportunity to experience is held by the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, to be in the presence of God. People ask me a lot, you know, what's the difference between authority and power? And I think that's it. We can be authorized to do a lot of things, but it takes the Holy Ghost and preparation on our part and keeping our covenants and developing that personal relationship with

God to actually have the power that comes with this priesthood that we're participating in as a church. Somebody asked me, all right, so what is the power in the priesthood? And so let me ask you, when have you felt like you were exercising power in that priesthood? What comes to mind for you? The first thing that comes to mind is, was mostly giving Father's blessings to my kids. Okay, there you go. Priesthood power. Mm-hmm. I remember once, I served as an elders quorum president,

and really just loved the members of that quorum, and wanted to help them and bless them. And then I was released, and one of my good friends there, he didn't want to really go to the new elders quorum president because we had been chatting for so long. So he came over and wanted to chat and I had nothing. I really had nothing to offer. I wanted to, I wanted to offer something and I thought I must have had some sort of priesthood power that I no longer have. Okay, so it's not hard with those kinds of descriptions and those are the kinds of things

that I hear from people when I ask this question to understand why as women we might feel like I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't give blessings. I'm not an elders quorum president. What does power look like in my life? Power in the priesthood. And I think it's a really valid question and one that's worth considering for all of us, men and women.

A friend of mine, actually a member of the General Relief Society Council a few years ago, she tells the story of her son seeing a FedEx truck one day when they were out driving around. He said, Mom, Mom, Mom, look at the FedEx truck. She said, Oh yeah, there's FedEx. Look at the white arrow on the FedEx truck. White arrow? There's no white arrow on the FedEx truck. No, no, right there, Mom, can't you see the white arrow? That's so cool. She's like, on the FedEx truck. No, no, right there mom, can't you see the white arrow? That's so cool. It's just like, I don't see any white arrow on the FedEx truck. I don't know what you're talking about. Hank, you're nodding your head. Do you have an idea where you're just going? Where's the white

arrow on the FedEx truck? Yeah, it's fascinating. You won't see it until someone points it out to you that it's right in the E and the X. It's right between the E and the X. It's this white arrow. You don't see it. Yeah. And once you see it, do you ever not see the white arrow again? You can't unsee it. It's hidden in plain sight. And I wonder sometimes if the power of the priesthood is also sort of hidden in plain

sight. hidden in plain sight that isn't as dramatic, isn't as amazing perhaps, but it's real. Where's the power in the priesthood? Is it in the more obvious things that we might think of? Yes. But is it also in the conversation Elder Eyring's mother has with him when he comes home from a date, that he equates with his patriarchal blessing. Is it the prayer that you say for someone as a man or a woman? I think it's also really important to understand that when we're talking about power in the priesthood, we are not talking about position. We are not talking about what office you hold or what calling you have. In fact, we're not talking about what office you hold or what calling you have. In fact, we're not talking about anything that looks like worldly power at all.

In the world, power means you can amass all kinds of resources to yourself. The really powerful people are those who got the most zeros behind their bank account amount, or the most people who have to do what they say, or who can command and control others, and they do it by reward and punishment a lot of times. That's not the kind of power that we're talking about. Power in the Lord, power in the priesthood, we distribute the resources to everyone fairly and equitably. We don't gather them all to ourselves. We help others choose what they want. We don't tell them that they have to do what we want. We invite and persuade in all those adjectives from section 121 about how priesthood is to be used. We don't command and demand. We don't

control by reward and punishment. We inspire and motivate by love. That's the power that we're looking for. President Nelson says to us, every woman and every man who makes covenants with God and keeps those covenants and who participates worthily in priesthood ordinances has direct access to the power of God. Those who are endowed in the house of the Lord receive a gift of God's priesthood power by virtue of their covenant." Then he says, now you might be saying to yourself, and again, he's speaking to the women, this sounds wonderful, but how? How do I draw the Savior's power into my life? He says, the Holy Ghost will be your personal tutor as you seek to understand what the Lord would have you know and do. Well, that puts a lot of responsibility on us, doesn't it, brothers and sisters?

The Lord's going to be our personal tutor to teach us what this looks like. I found it helpful to go back and think about, okay, what did power look like in the life of Jesus Christ? What did he have power to do? And I can see three things. He had personal power to grow from grace to grace, that the youth and children are learning about how he grew in power with God and man. He grew from grace to grace in wisdom and in stature with people and with God. And he was able to accomplish his personal mission through that power by seeking revelation about his Father's will and submitting to

mortal weakness and to its limitations. And curiously, isn't it interesting that we grow in power by coming here and being weak, that God gives us weakness so we can get strong. I have to write that down. We grow in power by coming here. And being weak. That's really good. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble, because my grace will be sufficient for them if they're humble and have faith in me that I can make weak things become strong. So we come here to this place where we're little teeny babies and we don't know nothing, to learn about God's power, to practice it, and to let others practice it on us, you know, in sometimes really awful

ways. So, he had the personal power to grow from grace to grace. He had relational power or influence. That came to my mind first actually from Section 121 when it says, no power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness and by love unfeigned, by kindness and gentleness, those by pure knowledge, by wisdom, by love, so the people won't esteem us to be their enemies when we're finished interacting with them, even if we have to correct them in some way. So he has this relational power and influence. All of those qualities are the qualities of the Savior, persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, love and feign as he feeds and teaches and heals and ministers to people.

And then as we've talked about today, he has this organizational synergy power. He sends his apostles out with that power to establish his church after his resurrection so that his teachings and his atonement would be brought through all generations and all the world. teachings and His atonement would be brought through all generations and all the world. And we still see that happening in every country, basically. Through 2,000 years, Christ's teachings have continued to be taught. His atonement and His resurrection have continued to be testified of. Because of that organizational power in all its weaknesses and all the ways that it got sort of lost. It was that organizational power that he put in place that has taken his teachings forward. So what about us? What does power look like in our lives? And I think it's the same three things.

The personal power to come to Christ, to repent, to receive revelation, to develop in character, to practice the skills of spiritual loving, to fulfill our personal mission on the earth. That's power that the Lord wants to tutor us in through the Holy Ghost. The relational power or influence to be able to help others come to Christ and repent and receive revelation and develop character and skills and fulfill their missions. Our children, our students, our neighbors, our friends, the people we minister to, whoever we interact with, he teaches us the way that we can have power or influence with them as we are peace builders in a troubled, contentious world as President Nelson and President Oaks have reminded us and asked us, begged us,

learn the skills of building peace in this world so that we can have influence with others. And then we've got this organizational thing we've been talking about that we participate in this church with all of its structures and programs and policies and come follow me and councils and all of these things that we get to participate in as teachers and as counselors and as presidents and ministers participate in that organization, in our families, the organization that supports this power that we can have in the priesthood if we will access it. Privileges. Joseph Smith tells the Relief Society sisters, if you live up to your privileges. Angels cannot be restrained from being your associates. You can come into the presence of God. And as President Ballard said, all who have made

sacred covenants with the Lord and who honor those covenants are eligible to receive personal revelation, to be blessed by the ministering of angels, to commune with God, and ultimately to become heirs along Jesus Christ of all our Father has. Coming up in part two of this episode. That when his companion came in and told him this, he was sitting there reading, trying to read the Book of Mormon. You know, he was a good guy. And he put the book down, got down on his knees by the side of his bed and started to

pray. He didn't say a word. And his companion was like, let's go out here.