Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Doctrine & Covenants 121-123 followHIM Favorites with Dr. Alex Baugh

Episode Date: October 19, 2021

Hank, John, and Dr. Baugh share their favorite lesson from this week's podcast.​Shownotes: https://followhim.co/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannel"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-pianoPlease rate and review the podcast.​

Hello everyone, welcome to Follow Him Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I'm here with my friend John by the way We are the host of a podcast called Follow Him and Every week we do a little snippet called Follow Him Favorites where we get to choose one thing out of this week's lesson To focus on we're here with the incredible Dr. Alex Baugh this week. Welcome Alex Thank you very much. Yeah, so let's take a look at the lesson, its sections, 121-122-123. John, you get to go first, what's your follow him favorite.

Well, again, it's always hard to pick something, but I love at the very close of 123, this little metaphor, which I think Joseph Smith uses. There's maybe got it from the book of James, the footnotes there, but he said, you know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm. Now, you know, Hank, I'd love to talk about my dad. He was on an aircraft carrier in World War II, and that is a very large ship, but it has a rudder. We are living in a time of storms and winds and waves,

and listen to how this verse finishes. A large ship has benefited very much by very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept to work ways with the wind and the waves. And when you have a helm, you have a rudder. It implies you've got a course, a destination, a purpose. You know where you're going. And it's funny when I have a canoe in my garage,

and that's usually what it does. It just hangs in my garage. But the safest thing to do, if you encounter a big wave in a canoe, the safest thing to do, you probably know this, is to go right at it. If you try to go sideways, it'll tip you over. But if you have a course, a destination, a purpose, you are kept workways with the wind and the waves. Without that, you're nothing but driftwood. And if you want to fund homework assignment, go find a

talk of President Thomas S. Monson. He gave about the German battleship, the Bismarck, and how they finally sunk the Bismarck and guess what they hit the rudder. And as soon as they hit the rudder, it couldn't, it couldn't steer. And they were able to pound it until they sunk it. But I love this idea. We're in a time of storm and wind and waves, but we have a purpose, a course, a destination which the gospel of Jesus Christ gives us, and we can be kept workways with the wind and the waves. So that's my favorite thought, right? That's great, John.

The adversary's gonna go after the rudder, the purpose, right, and try to attack that. The purpose, the destiny, yeah. My follow in favor, it is kind of the entire thing. So I'm gonna look at the very first Word. Read all of it for us. We'll just start at the beginning. The very first verse to the very last verse. If you look at section 121 verse 1, it starts out with Joseph pleading with God, where are you? Where is the pavilion that cover thy hiding place? Meaning, where are you going to step in? Are you going to

help us?" And it finishes, this entire lesson finishes with section 123, verse 17, same Joseph Smith, who sounds really different. He says in verse 17, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power. And I know a lot of us feel like we're in section 121 verse 1, God where are you? And we want to feel like section 1 23 verse 17, let's cheerfully do everything that we can, that we have control over. So I think the homework, John, we're given a lot of homework this week, but the homework here would be what's in between those two verses? Study everything that's between section 121, verse 1, and section 123, verse 17, and see if you don't make that same

change, that same have that same go from that feeling of God you're not helping where are you to I can do this. I know I can do this. In fact, I can do it cheerfully. All right, Dr. Ba, what would be your follow him favorite? Well, you've picked one 21 and one 23 you too, so I'll go one 22. And that's the first two verses. And you know, to kind of think that a president of the church is in jail is not a good think that a president of the church is in jail is not a good thought. I can't imagine President Nelson being put in jail for his beliefs and for what he has done. And Joseph Smith, the course, is even worried about that. He, one time, and one of his letters from Liberty Jail, he wrote his wife and said, I hope you'll still accept me. I'm basically what he's saying is I'm a convict.

And I'm in convicts don't have very good reputations. But I think what's so significant is that the Lord knows who Joseph Smith is and that he's a good man and that he's a prophet. And he reminds us of that in section 122, where he reminded Joseph that you're still a prophet, no matter the accusations made against you when he said, the ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools shall have the indirision and hell shall rage against thee, while the peer in heart and the wise and the noble and the virtuous shall seek counsel and authority and blessings constantly from under thy hand.

The righteous know Joseph Smith was a righteous and good prophet. The wicked will despise him and basically say he's not a true prophet and he's not a good man. And the Lord acknowledges Joseph is his prophet and is the Lord is anointed. And always will be that rest of the section talks about how God would remain with him and that he would hold his priesthood and his influence for the eternities. So I'm grateful that even though Joseph Smith

might be labeled a convict, I think he's a pretty good prophet. In fact, the prophet of prophets of this dispensation and the Lord acknowledges that in section 122. That's awesome, Dr. Baha'i. You can either be in category of verse 1. You can be a fool that holds him in derision or you can be pure and heart and wise and noble and virtuous and seek blessings under his hand. We still do it today, don't we? We still seek for Joseph today. Well, we hope you'll listen to the full podcast. It's called Follow Him. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts, but if not, please join us next week for another Follow Him favorites.