Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - JS-Matt 1: Matt 24-25; Mark 12-13; Luke 21 Part 2 • Dr. Avram Shannon • May 22 - May 28

Episode Date: May 17, 2023

Dr. Avram Shannon continues to examine the Gathering of Israel, the building of Zion and preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.00:00 Part II– Dr. Avram Shannon00:12 Literal and figurative Gathering of Israel01:45 Everyone will know when Jesus returns03:30 Road to Emmaus and expectations of the Messiah05:31 First and Second Coming of Jesus07:49 Like the days of Noah09:15 “No man knoweth.”10:46 Elder Ballard addresses when Jesus will return12:19 How we are to wait for Jesus’s return13:46 Ten virgins and ancient marriage feast 17:22 Elder Oaks teaches how to prepare for the Second Coming19:12 Prepare every day for Jesus’s return24:57 The Parable of the Talents31:29 President Ballard teaches about judgment34:55 Jesus Christ’s inexhaustible grace37:11 The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats39:28 How do we take care of one another?41:45 We must build Zion44:40 Hank and Dr. Shannon discuss having twins49:27  Dr. Shannon shares personal stories of accepting service53:53 President Monson exhorts us to be kind, loving, and charitable57:36  Jesus is coming back and we should create the world for Him1:02:52 End of Part II–Dr. Avram ShannonPlease rate and review the podcast.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.coFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: 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 Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Welcome to part two, Dr. Avram Shennan, Joseph Smith, Matthew chapter one, Matthew 24 and 25, Mark 12 and 13, and Luke 21. I've said before I'll say again this idea that the gathering of Israel and the Kaza Zion are basically the same thing, where we all come together to be God's covenant people. Should we read it literally? Yeah, probably. Figured to be? Yeah, probably. Okay. I mean, part of it, do we need to look for a specific, Jesus Christ will only come after a lunar and solar eclipse?

I'd be careful about that. Yeah. Part of it is lunar and solar eclipse, where? Right. Right. In Jerusalem, in Missouri, in Salt Lake, in Bolivia. But I would say if Jesus' point is, this is part of the disrupt we talked about earlier. Things are going to be in the sky.

Things are going to be disrupted. And by the way, he's actually alluding to Joel here. Joel prophesies also about the sun being darkened and the moon being turns to blood. And of course, make a big deal about that too, but what does a lunar eclipse look like? Yeah, it looks like a red moon. The moon being turned to blood is just a lunar eclipse there in Joel as well. And like with here in Matthew, I think, I could be wrong. Any of these things where I'm given here, I was there there had to be totally wrong.

And if Jesus Christ comes immediately after a solar eclipse, lunar eclipse will be like, I was right. I guess it was more than I thought I was. You know, exactly. But reserve it. 100% there had to be wrong about that. But as I read it, the point is, is that there's going to be disruption in the sky. Okay.

Changes. Changes. Changes, and that's how I read us. And then it'll be the sign of the sound of man in heaven, just myth of course taught that that was actually Jesus appearing and nobody recognizing him. Like most of Joseph Smith, whenever Joseph Smith undertook to answer a question, he usually made it more complex.

And the question was actually answering the first time. Just to answer the question, you're like, can you explain that now? Because this is no. But part of his point with this, again, this is the whole thing about back in 24 and 25, when he's six, right, this idea of, you know, he's in secret chambers in the desert.

Don't believe it. He's like, look guys, when it happens, you're gonna know. Because when it happens, everybody's going to know. Okay. All the tribes of the earth shall mourn. They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. When it happens, this is it. There's not going to be any, oh, what happened here? Have these, he's like, it's going to come clouds of glory. It's going to be it. Sending angels with the sound of a trumpet

and the gathering again happens verse 31. Gathering together the elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. So that's really a key thing. He says, when you know you're gonna know. And then in many ways, the balance of this, the end of Math 24, in Math 25, is Jesus' discussion on how you wait.

Because one of the really interesting things, we looked at this a little bit earlier, one of the interesting things about this passage is how early Jesus prophesied about the second coming. Like, he's not even dead yet. We haven't even finished the first coming and we're already talking about the second coming. Another couple of key reasons for this, I think. One is in terms of Messianic expectations,

Jesus is not a particularly successful Messiah. It's not like their dumb readers of Scripture. Scripture says the Messiah is gonna come, I mean, Messiah is a word that just means king. The scripture says, the king is going to come and he's going to rescue us. As part of Luke 24, which is not part of this sum discourse, it's between the crucifixion of the resurrection. The disciples on the road to Emmaus, and I find it very, very compelling. So the disciples meet him, Jesus says,

what do you guys so sad about? Luke 24, 18, and they say, where are you from? You never heard these things? And he's like, what are you guys talking about? Yeah, he acts totally clueless. What things, yeah. What, what things?

And this is key. He says, and they say, the turn of Jesus of Nazareth, this is verse 19, which is a prophet mighty indeed in the Word before the God and all the people. Now, the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, crucified him this verse 21. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And besides all this is the third day since these things are done and talks about the empty

tomb. Disciples here think the crucifix was a failure. Yeah, that he's not the Messiah. We presumed that he was gonna be the Messiah. He was gonna save us, and now he's dead. And of course Jesus then says, why are you guys so dumb? And explains that the Messiah had to die.

But the point is, is that even to Jesus' immediate disciples, it was not immediately and obviously clear what he meant by Messiah. You know, we talk about this, you know, why are Jewish friends don't, to this day, don't think Jesus was the Messiah. It's because he didn't do everything Scripture says he's going to do. The Messiah is supposed to do. And of course, our response that is, well,

he's gone. Some of those Old Testament passages we would say are concerning his second coming. That's right. So because of that, the second coming is necessary to our understanding of Jesus Christ to the Messiah. It is a necessary part of what it means to be a Christian and to accept Jesus as the Messiah because that's how he fulfills all the prophecies, because he did not fulfill them all in mortality. In his first coming, in his first coming, but he's going to in his second coming. So in some ways, part of what Jesus is doing is he is preparing his disciples, and in some levels us, by saying, look, I know it's going to be hard. Again, this is days before the crucifixion

here. We know from Luke that it's really hard for the disciples. It's not like, oh, he's crucified. This is what we're all waiting for. They're like, what happened? And Jesus, and some ways is probably the prompt to be able to say, look, I told you what is already. It's pretty clear. I'm going to come back. Because a lot of we see actually all throughout the latter half of the Gospels, is Jesus preparing them and saying, look, things are going to get harder before they get easier. I often describe the whole thing, especially in Luke and other Gospels, it's all a push toward consecration.

Towards, if you're not dedicated to this, you're not gonna be able to keep with me. And I think it's sort of compelling to think about how this plays out. You read the feedin' the 5,000, Jesus feeds 5,000 people, not including women and children, and then you turn to Acts, and there are about 300 people meeting

after the crucifixion and the resurrection. And in some ways, that number in Acts gets to a real sense of who stuck with Jesus after. It's not 5,000 people, it's 300 people. Good point. As we read it, it seems that some of the women understood what was coming. She did it for my burial.

They kind of knew it. And some didn't. That's always interesting to me that some had it figured out. Or certainly had to figure it out more. Part of it, even the disciples, even the apostles, is pretty clear. Thomas is there and he's like, wait, what?

Jesus came back to life. As we read our passages here, in terms of this, this isn't many ways Jesus saying, you've got to be ready for it. And so here's some tools for helping you to wait. Because the other part of this is, he's not gonna tell us when it's gonna be. Yeah, he talks about a couple other things

at the end of Matthew 24, is he says, it's like the days of Noah. People were eating and drinking and they had no thought for a flood that's coming. Noah was getting prepared, but nobody else was. And it's a key thing because what it means is that life will go on right up to the second coming. Again, sometimes we kind of view it as this almost apocalypse and then Jesus comes and whatever. And he says, look, life's just going to keep going.

Yeah, it's going to be every day. They're eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and then the day happened that Noah entered the arc. And part of it with that is this idea for you and I, one, to not just be caught in the thick of them things, to be just be eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage. But also to recognize this is why it's part of this point, it why it's so key for us to be watching that there's not going to be some kind of immediate event, we can just, oh yes, now we know, now it's time to get ready.

I'm kind of hoping for a Samuel the laymanite in five years comes to some, right? Like get out your calendar and put that in your Google calendar. Yeah, okay, five years. I go to use tongue and he's like, there's not gonna be. There's not gonna be a sound of the laminar. You're not gonna get the total disruption of society. And part of it is humans aren't credible resilient. Wars, rumors of wars, all these terrible things in there.

The world ended for Jews in the first century. In some way, I mean, you know, the earthquake in Turkey, and Syria, the world ended. It's keep going Some of these are preparation events for when it's gonna end Matthew 2436 is really really important But of that day and that and our no with no man no not the angels of heaven, but my father only and Mark is even more explicit And this is mark 1332 And Mark is even more explicit. And this is Mark 1332,

but of that day and that hour know if no man, no, not the angels in it, which are in heaven, neither the son, but the father. Jesus tells the disciples, he's like, even I don't know when I'm coming back. And now I presume now that he has all the father half, he knows everything the father knows. I presume he knows now, but what he's saying,

he's like, here in mortality. The father hasn't told me when I'm coming back. I have a friend that brother Marshu teaches, I think personal finance at BYU and he strange question in finance class, but he quizzes his students. If you could ask the savior anything you wanted to, what would you ask him? Most of them asked, When is the second coming? And these verses that would be a real waste of a question. You already know this verse. I don't know. The father knows. Joseph Smith says, when are you coming? Jesus says, if you live be 85, you'll see, then I'll come. You'll see. Joseph is like, so did he mean I'm going to die.

So Emmer Russell Ballard, President Ballard gave this great beer devotional back in 1996 about the second coming. And he has, I think, a really compelling points to make about who knows, and the knowledge of the second coming. And this devotional, he says, so can we use various scientific data he's been talking about to extract the second coming he's likely to occur

during the next few years, the next decade, the next century, not really. I am called as one of the apostles to be a special witness of Jesus Christ in these exciting, trying times. And I do not know when he is going to come again. As far as I know, none of my brother in the council of 12, or even the first presidency know. And I would tell him to suggest to you

that if we do not know, then nobody knows. No matter how compelling their arguments or how reasonable their calculations, and then he quotes Matthew 24, 30, who just started talking about, and he says, I believe when the Lord says no man knows, it really means no man knows. You should be extremely wary of anyone who claims to be an exception to that divine decree. I like to tell my students as we talk about this that don't worry about the wrong things.

Don't worry about when Christ will come. Just come to Christ right now. Just be on the covenant path, where the eagles are gathered, be there. And then when he comes, it'll be okay because you'll be in the right place. He even says that, blessed is the servant, verse 46,

whom when his Lord comes, finds him so doing. And really the whole balance of Math 24 and 25 is precisely that. It's precisely about, here's how we wait. Back to this question of why prophesied it so soon, so early in human history, because as I see it, one of the distinctive things about being a Christian is that we wait for Jesus.

Jesus wants us on the edge of our seats. Nice people. That's interesting. Jesus wants us on the edge of our seats all the time, every day. Every point of it. He talks about the servants, he talks about the thief. The thief. Yeah, that's an interesting point. If you know your house gonna be robbed at four o'clock in the morning, what do you do at four o'clock in the morning, what do you do at four o'clock in the morning? You're gonna have police there, you're gonna have, oh, whatever for it. Do you're gonna be

already for it? Yeah, but the point is you don't know. You don't know. So what you do, you sit by that window. You stand in holy places and be not moved. You know you're being robbed. You don't know why he's coming, but you know it's coming. So you're gonna sit there and you're gonna robbed. You don't know when he's coming, but you know it's coming. So you're going to sit there and you're going to wait. And you're going to have your alarm system put in, you're going to do a bunch to prepare because you know it's everything you can because you know what's coming, everything you can to have that expectation. And the same thing, the servant, he's like, you don't know when the, but when your boss is coming back. And because you know when your boss is coming back, you just work hard in the meantime. And when he comes, he'll find your working heart. I want to make very clear, 25 is a single piece of 24.

obliterate the chapter division, but in your heads, totally build that chapter division. He's just still talking about the second coming. So all of these parables are ticking this notion of, how do I wait? What does it look like? I want to talk through those. So you've got the first one there, and this is what 25, one through 13, you've got the 10 virgins.

I'm gonna, of course, this is the marriage, and people tell you this is all about ancient marriage fees, and things like that. What they never tell you is actually about 70% of our information about that comes in this parable. So we need to be careful a little bit in terms of this what all ancient marriages were like because this is a huge portion of our evidence for it. So you know, you've got the wise virgins and one thing that President Oaks points out

is that this is all about members of the church. They've all been out of the wedding piece. This isn't about non-members versus whatever. And the point of it as I read it is not that we should be hoarders. It's not that we should file the toilet paper and not share it with anybody. It's about those things that can't be shared. There are some things in our preparation that can't be shared. There's plenty of permission that we can be shared, right? Remember, a corned African in covenants, in a second, before Jesus Christ can come back, we've got a billed Zion, which means that we've got to have everything shared already anyway.

The love consecration. Love consecration, exactly. This is not about I have more toilet paper than you, ha ha ha, because you didn't prepare. I felt keenly a little bit of that during some of the pandemic issues where we had those sort of toilet paper. I did come in from the pandemic saying, huh, I should have more food storage than I

have. Again, that wasn't, that's not in that sense. That was just pragmatic. But the point of this parable is as I read it, there are things like testimony, there are things like preparation, spiritual preparation, there are things that you can't rely on somebody else to have. When the day comes and it's a problem, I can't rely on Hank Smith's testimony. As great as it is. I've got to have your own.

I can't. I've got to have my own. And so it's not that the wise versions are mean, the purpose of the parable is, is like, we can't share it. You've got to have this for yourself. You've got to have this for yourself. You've got to do this for yourself.

And be ready for the wedding. Exactly. You can't, when it comes, say, oh, I'll get it then. Because again, remember, the bridegroom delays his coming. He's late in the expectum. You can't say, again, there's this idea of God, do you want to do a little bit on the edge of our seats? You can never say, and this is the idea of God, do you want to do a little bit on the edge of our seats, you can never say, I'll do it later.

Part of the point of this is there is no later. Yeah, do it now, act to now. Do it now, it's immediate. Partially because, and this is kind of what God told us to Smith there in the octane governance, like, look, you live, you die, you're gonna see me at some point anyway. And that's true for each of us.

So in many ways, our lives should be a constant preparation for Jesus Christ's second coming. Because he's going to come for the whole world and fix everything. It's going to be beautiful. But in the meantime, he can come in our lives. He can come and he can visit us. We can be with him.

We can build it and do it right now. You might meet the Lord. That's one of Elder Oaks' point. And his talk is you might meet him tomorrow because something might happen. And you've always got to be ready. And so that's part of the point too, is ready as much and early as possible. Elder Dalin H Oaks in his talk, is it preparation for the second coming? I think it's called in April 2004, General Conference?

He asks this question. He says, what if the day of his coming were tomorrow? If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow through his unexpected coming or through our premature death, what would we do today? What confessions would we make? What what would we do today? What confessions would we make?

What practices would we discontinue? What accounts would we settle? What forgiveness would we extend? What testimonies would we bear? If we knew the Lord was coming tomorrow, we would be acting totally different today. He said, and then this piercing question, I love it. If we would do those things then, why not now?

And I really think part of the purpose of this all of that discourse is Jesus Christ is saying, now I'm coming tomorrow. Again, I always ask my students, well, when is Jesus coming back? They've already like Dr. Shatton, he've already said we can't do them. I'm like, would you be comfortable saying,

Jesus Christ is coming back soon? Like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I said, how long has Jesus been coming back soon? For 2,000 years, it's been soon. And it's still soon. That's the way he wants it. Right? That's the way exactly.

He wants us to be, as I said, on the edge of our seats. He wants us to be constantly prepared and thinking about other things besides the Manage of the Creature. That's why I love that verse, behold, it is called today Tell the coming of the Son of Man. You'll live your life that way like Yeah, exactly. It's really soon Every single day exactly because as other works points to us It could be he comes in the flesh. It could just be that we die One thing I found in my life

is we're basically a hands-breath me life and death at almost all times, right? I mean, you never know what's gonna happen. Yeah. I remember President Montsen always saying something like, when the day of decision arrives, the time for preparation has passed. Exactly.

This parable is about, you've gotta be ready, and you've gotta be ready yourself. You can't rely on somebody else being ready spiritually for when these things come. There's a couple of verses, like there's some great phrases in this. Oh, Jesus Christ is incredibly quotable. Yeah, give us a few of your oil,

for our lamps are gone out. And we can talk about testimony. My testimony is running out on me. What can I do to make sure that it's not running out? And then the wise answer, go get for yourself. That reminds me of Joseph Smith saying, I have learned for myself. The point.

From day one, the great privilege of the church you just Christ of the day say, and is you can learn for yourself. You don't need my testimony. For one thing, let's be honest here, I do my best to do what I can, but I'm not always a great person. If my children rely on me, I'm going to fail them. They have to know for themselves.

I cannot give them what they need eternally. So that's why it's so key for us to think through this. But also this idea, the testimony idea of, and this is just sort of a homily on this point here, but I think it's a good one. Don't wait until your oil's running out to try and rebuild your testimony. Don't wait till you're, to your very end to say, now, now it's time for me to go try and build back up this fire. It's much easier.

Well, it's still burning than to try and do it again. Some sobering verses in the book of Mormon about you procrastinated the day of your repentance until it's ever lasting too late. There actually is going to come a time when it's too late when a door shut and Jesus says, I don't know who you are. And action, of course, there's a JST there that you don't know me. You know, he's like, I don't know you but really you didn't know me. Many are called and fewer chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because they forgets. In just simple terms, if you love someone, you show up at their wedding. And you're ready for it, right? You know, like I ran out of gas. I was busy running errands. Exactly.

And it's going to be a party. You're missing out on the cool stuff at this point. Right. Didn't President Nelson say that? Missing out on Susto Kingdom is the ultimate phomo. Yeah. It really is. And Jesus uses in the Gospels all the time this party imagery, the wedding feast. It's going to be a party, guys. If you're able to afford the feast of fat things, and Dockin' and Coants, it's gonna be awesome. And we're not gonna wanna miss out on it, just because we forgot a couple of, you know, IE, I think it's really cool that desire

to wanna come to the wedding. And we've received multiple invitations. Yes. So many. He's like, like, like, like, I keep asking, I knocked on your door and hand-delivered it to you. Oh. Elder Bednar said, many. I keep asking, I knocked on your door and hand delivered it to you. Elder Bednar said the central recurring theme of the book of Mormon is the invitation to come on the Christ. We didn't just get one invitation in the mail

that got put under the other mail. And we've been invited over and over and over. I like what you said, hang up, put that in my scripture. Love somebody has show up at their wedding. That's good. that ain't got put that in my scripture. If love somebody has show up at their wedding, that's good. Yeah, that's great. I mean, if your best friend called you the next day and said, oh, I meant to, couldn't make it, sorry. That's one of the parable, right?

That's parable the wedding feast. Where they actually, I bought a new ox, I, you know, I'm too busy with that and you gotta be ready for it. Okay, so each of these parables teaches something a little bit different. The parable of the thief in the night, you've gotta be be waiting. You've got to be on the edge of your seats. You know what's coming? You know when you've got to be waiting for it. The parable of the 10 virgins is, look, you've got to be ready beforehand. You can't decide after the fact it's time to get

ready. And there are some things there that you have to do yourself. You can't do it for others. To add to the parable of the Ten Virgins, you have Dr. Cummins 45 versus 56 and 57 that have a little addendum to the parable, which is just wonderful. At that day, when I shall come, in my glory shall the parable be fulfilled, which I spate concerning the Ten Virgins, for they that are wise and have received the truth and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide and have not been deceived Going back to what we talked about earlier about being deceived the Savior's warning. Don't be deceived

Don't be deceived. Very last interview. They shall not be hoondown and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day Hey, guys the day. Hank, I've been marking all of the section 45 references in my foot notes because that's very much kind of a second coming revelation and a doctrine of covenants. It would not be a mistake to call documents 45 a modern day, a regulatory sequel. He works through the parable of the fig tree. It's very much in this dispensation talking about the generation of the Jews. He talks about men in verse 21, the desolation, verse 19, talks with the thief in the night. Documents 45 is revelatory commentary of this dispensation on the Olivet Discourse. So you should be reading them together.

God intends us to read them together. Absolutely. I love the aether wise have received the truth. I don't think that means just that you heard about it But you received it you speaking of weddings you receive guests at a wedding it's a wedding reception I received the truth like you receive seed into good ground They received the truth and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide Just what we were talking about because there's a lot of other guides out there who would like to guide you

But the one that we need as you mentioned before album is we need to take the Holy Ghost for our guide. As always that's going to be our short answer, Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit be your guide. All right, so let's continue on. There's another parable right after this one. And so you remember it's this guy, he's going to travel to a far country it says. When he calls his servants, live them his goods, He's going to travel to a far country it says. When he calls his servants, live them his goods. And talents, by the way, talents are sums of money. It's a weight.

It's actually astronomical sums of money. He's giving them huge amounts of money to work with. One talent is enough for lifetime. Exactly. And by the way, our modern use of talents as being about gifts that God gave us comes from this parable. In the parable, he's talking about sums of money,

but because it applies so nicely to God's gifts to us, it came into English as a word for God's gifts to us. How cool. It's really fun the way the New Testament, the Bible and general informs our speech and ways we sometimes don't think about. Yeah. My talented co-host, I was right, John.

You were right. So he's got these servants. He gave them a coordinate of several abilities. He's like, I know that you're pretty good. So I can give you five talents. So you're clearly the best at this. He's like, I know that you're not as good as he is, but you're pretty good.

I can give you two talents. You, we'll do what we can with it. We're gonna give you one talent. You, we'll do what we can with it. We're gonna give you one talents. And then he leaves. And these various servants, verse 16, he that received the five talents went and traded the same and made them other five talents. Received two gained other two.

And the one he digged in the earth and buried it. He was afraid of losing it. And he comes back. After a long time noticed that, after a long time, the Lord of Assurance coming. And the one of five talents says, look, I did it. I worked. I doubled in your talents.

Ten talents. Again, his enormous sum. The only two, same thing, right? I doubled it for talents. And the guy with one said, well, I was scared of you, because you're kind of scary. All right. You know, I knew you required a lot. Exactly. I knew you were an austere man reaping what, you know, you're a hard man. And I was afraid. So I just buried it. And of course, that makes him even more angry. You could have at least put it in the bank.

I'd get interest. All right. At least you would have done that. And then of course, he says, in some ways, everyone that has should be given him that half-not should be taken away. And of course, we read this often times in terms of reception. If you receive, you get more, if you don't, and even what you've got is going to eventually go away. There are two things I think are the key about this. One is actually feeding this idea of how reading it is sort of eventually go away. There are two things I think are the key about this. One is actually feeding this idea

that I'm reading it as sort of gifts from God. One thing I love, I love comparing verse 20, one and verse 23. So these are the rewards that God gives to... Ten talent guy in the four. Yeah, and the four talent guy. Okay, 21. His Lord said to him, well done,

thou good and faithful servants. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I'll make the rule over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. And the other guy, his Lord and them well done. Good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I'll make the rule over many things.

Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. The reward is identical, which suggests to me that it's not so much what you're given, and it is what you do with it. And I think this is really useful sometimes as we look out in this world, applying this in terms of this idea of talents in terms of gifts from God. I tell my kids this all the time, they're like, dad, and I'm like, life's not fair. You have other babies in a crying. I'm like, you're right, kid, life's not fair.

And then you die. I actually can sing credibly. Actually, a nobling truth, this idea that life's not fair and then you die, but part of you have to get this perspective here, but I think that's the key. Part of this is to get this perspective here, but I think that's the key part of this is a nothing perspective. There are people in this world who are better looking than me. No. There are people in this world who are smarter than me. There are people in this world who are certainly more athletic than I am. There are people in this world who are wealthier than I am.

Lord, love them. There are people in this world who are all four. The reward is identical. The point is what you do with what you're given. Even though the second servant ends up with less talents than the first one started with. The guy even started with. He gets the same reward. I imagine them standing outside the Lord's office and the

guy holding 10 is looking at the guy holding four and saying, you're in serious trouble. And the guy holding four and he looks at the guy with 10 and thinking, I'm in so much trouble, yet they get on the other side and they both get the same reward. And the guy with 10 is probably thinking, how do you get here? And the guy with four is probably thinking, I don't know. But then they start talking and they say, how many did you start with? Oh, we had different starting places. That's an important concept.

It's a huge important concept because it's really easy for us in celebrity culture and our own lives, just around, right? You know, you look around and you're like, man, I just feel so insecure because they're doing this thing so much better than I am. And part of the message is God's like, stop looking around. Just do your thing. Stop comparing yourself to somebody else. The great message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is actually that it's not fair. It's not nearly so bad as all that. It reminds me of the lows and fishes. Bring what you have in

all multiple. The labors are right in the field. We get there and like, oh, I've been working all day long. Look what I'm going to get. And God's like, just let me give you what I'm going to give you. Okay. Yeah. And I'll judge you based on your starting life. Yeah, exactly. Let me be merciful. And I think in terms of how this frames the the second coming is this idea of how you use your time is what's going to matter here. Favorite versus in Dock and Cup? Dock and six, where Joseph and Oliver, you know, they're brand new with this whole translation

thing. And the Lord says, he's like, don't be afraid to do good. Sometimes I know I do this. I get so set on what's the right thing to do. How can I do the most good, though? How can I help the most people? how can I help the most people? What should I do for my job? What should I write?

In my particular job of writing and teaching, right? What kind of writings are the most good to the church? Parenting, right? What's the best way to parent? It can be really easy to get really paralyzed by that and not do anything. Analysis paralysis, we call it, right?

As soon as I figure it out, then I'll do it, but I can't figure it out. So we it, but I can't figure it out. So we do nothing. I can't figure it out. And we bury the talent. And God says, I don't care in some ways, which just do something good. Don't be afraid to do good. If it's good, go ahead and do it.

Have a great thought from President Ballard. We've been quoting him a lot today. This is one that I love to share. He says, I feel that judgment for sin is not always as cut and dried as some of us seem to think. He says, I feel that the Lord recognizes differences in intent and circumstances. When he does judge us, I feel he will take all things into consideration, our genetic and chemical makeup, our mental state, our intellectual capacity, the teachings we have received, the traditions of our fathers are health and so forth.

There's only one person who can know all that. Your genetic and chemical makeup, your mental state, your teachings you've received. Take all that into consideration. I love that you pointed out that the guy with four doesn't even get to where the guy, other guy started with five and yet they get the exact same reward. You're reminding me of think way back a couple years ago when we were doing doctrine of covenants and there's a phrase in section 46 I think verse 15 where it says that the Lord suiting his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men.

Conditions in 2023, different than conditions in 1975, whatever. And we can trust Him. And I'm so glad. And every person and every parable in the labors in the vineyard, they all were different, came from different places. So don't look at the reward they got. Just be grateful what you've been given and do something with it. I love the Elder Holland's thing about that parable, so so good.

The other thing that I could take from this parable is that I can't compare myself to others to make me look good. I might be saying, well, at least I'm not as bad as filling the blank, the rest of the, sometimes we do that with the world. Well, I'm not so great, but at least I'm not as bad as the rest of the world. And the Lord might say, of course you're not. They started at one and you started at 40. So takes away that crutch. You've gotten down and they've got the fact

that you're close together is a problem. That's the Pharisee in the public. And you know, I'm glad I'm not like this public in here. Sure. Yeah. So it takes away that crutch from from me just saying, well, I'm doing better than most people. I might say, of course you are. You started in a much higher place. We held accountable for what you've done with what you've been given. He's like, but but I understand who you are, what you're doing, I understand where you're coming from and he's so much better at that than we are. Sometimes you know, we struggle with we say, oh, well, they did this bad thing or whatever. And they did do something terrible. But the beauty of this and the beauty of the whole thing is

one that I don't have to decide. I love that so much that I have no, I'm under no obligation to decide and say, oh, you did this, you did that. It's the Lord's decision for it. But also this idea that, again, I like what Hank was saying about this idea of comparison, not comparing, we wanted to be fair. Oh, that's not fair. No, no, it's not. That's the whole point.

It's not fair. Whatever else the gospel Jesus Christ is, it's not fair. It's just, it's good, it's wonderful, but I am not getting what I deserve. What I deserve is to go to hell. Thankfully, all of us are not getting what we deserve. Exactly, because of Jesus Christ's inexhaustible grace, well done, that good and faithful servant. But with what I gave you, you did amazing. Well done. From where you started and where you finished, you just really improved so much. Let's talk about this guy with the one talent.

It seems that he doesn't do anything and he blames God. Well, he blames the Lord in the story. He's like, you get mad so often. So I did nothing. It would be like one of our students saying, I knew you were a hard grader, so I didn't do any work and I didn't come to class. Well, the Lord says, that's not the problem. You are slothful. That's the problem. It kind of calls him out on it. Yes, he does. Not just for his wrath, but sometimes we try and blame God for any number of things, right? And say, oh, well, I didn't do this because you're this way. And part of me is like, one, did I tell you on that way? Did I say that? But in this case, he's like, you're right. You knew I was angry. You knew that I worked that expected a lot out of you. I have high expectations. You knew that. And somehow now your concept

for me was not wrong, but you didn't even try. At no point does he say, this is how much money I expected you to make. That he says, you could have at least just earned interest on it. Put it in the bank, that would have been something. So that's something you didn't even try. And I really appreciate that because I do think

with President Ballard, God's gonna be as merciful as he possibly can. All in the beginning circumstances, every day, every excuse we have possibly make, I was like, yeah, yeah, I know. But the key idea, and I got to go, how this way is I can coming, is you've got to be doing. You've got to try. You can't just wait and say, this is the problem with the Thessalonian saints. That's a fun word to say there. The Thessalonians say, end up doing,

they just quit, they just stop. Like Jesus is coming back, we're just gonna stop. Would you know, wait? Waiting does not mean just holding on as fast as you know, you've gotta be actively doing to wait. It's a perfect parable for the second coming. Here I've given you gifts, I'll come back and I want to hear what you do with them one day.

So, be ready for when I come back. Yeah. And that segues beautifully in the final parable, the sheep and the goats. This one actually sounds even more like the second coming because it's about the king and sheep and goats and although as a minor joke. So my wife and I were both left handed and one time she was in Sunday school and somebody asked her the teacher, the teacher asked her, he said,

so, for a, can you tell us about why God puts the sheep on the right hand and not on the left hand? And the Lord said, no, no, I cannot. I have no idea why. And it's bothered me all my life. Why the wicked are the left handed sinister. Of course, there's all kinds of things in the sinister and all that stuff with it. And they, they know there's imagery behind it and whatever. But it divides them up, right? Sheep, you know, like a sheep, like a shepherd sheep and goats, the sheep on the right hand. Those are the good guys, the goats on the left hand. This isn't something common in first shepherd to do to let them graze together and then separate them.

Put them out and let them do their thing. And again, the implication, this is why it's in the second coming thing, this is kind of a final separation. Very quickly changes from being about sheep and goats to being about people. This is almost not a parable in that sense. It's still parabolic in the sense it's a story that may or may not have these actually play out, but it's kind of a parable about the second coming, almost as anything, as it is about the second coming. The narrative is almost the second coming in this parable.

It's the beginning three verses are about sheep and goats, and then never again. It's... Right. So King says says he says, come, you blessed up my father and hair at the kingdom repaired for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me.

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a foreigner and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you came and visited me. I was in prison who came to me. And then the righteous shall answer, I love this, Lord. What are you talking about, we never, we would have loved that.

We never did any of those things. We never saw you, we never fed you, we never gave you any drink, what are you talking about? And then the King shall answer and say into them, very likely I say unto you, in a much done to the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. Now this is so key because we're talking in this whole thing. This is still about the second coming and it's still about how you wait for the second

coming. And we've talked about things that can't be shared. We've talked about the need for preparation and we've talked all about the need for preparation. And we've talked all about the need for be actively doing, preparing, take where you're going, and building on what you have. And then he says, the thing that marks the sheet from the goats is how we've taken care of each other. And so in terms of waiting for the second time, what that looks like, he says,

is did you tell each other? And not just broadly, did you feed the hungry? How did you have, did you take in strangers? Did you help each other? And we say, well, no, you do, you do help me. Well, like, no, we didn't. Like, yes, you did. If you help anybody, you've helped me.

I like that you're saying that because it's easy to think of a, oh, I get it. Yeah, the sheep, the goats, the righteous, the wicked. No, it's more specific than that. It's those who served others and those who didn't. It's a different kind of more precise wickedness and righteousness about service. On the other side, he has the same question.

He's like, you never fed me. You never gave me drink. You never helped. And they ask the same thing, like, what are you talking about? We never saw you. If you'd been there, we would have helped you. Yeah, right. If I'd seen you hungry, I would have, yeah,

I would have come to the rescue. I would have only come to the food. And he said, anybody you didn't feed, you didn't feed me. This is where Mother Teresa is gonna look really good, isn't it? Yes. This is something that, I mean, the Doffron Covenant is very clear on,

but so are the Gospels. This is part of our Christian obligation. We are obligated to help people. And I think it's very compelling that Jesus describes this obligation as part of this discourse, as part of the second coming. He's still answering their question, but so he's like, what is it going to be? How are you going to wait for me? He's like, you've got to go out and do and help each other. That's how

you're going to be ready for me. Great insight. While you're waiting, you're not just waiting. You're doing it and you're serving and you're waiting in the very best way. Coordinate doctrine and covenants, one of the things that has to happen before the second coming is we've got to build Zion. We've got to be the kinds of people who do this. And we've got to build a society where we do this. Again, this is one of the last thing he teaches before he dies, but it's the whole things of peace with the entire rest of his motormanage. One thing I find very compelling as I read the New Testament, especially read the Gospels.

There's not a lot in the Gospels from Jesus, but what we call duck trinal topics. In the sense of, you know, he doesn't talk a whole lot about the Greza glory. You don't get really presorganization. You don't get any of these things, you know, talk about doctrine. But most of Jesus' teachings and mortality are about how we treat each other. And I find that incredibly compelling. That when he comes to earth, he's got one chance at this. He's going to teach us the rest of the time all over the place. He's got one place where he's gonna teach

on the people directly and he says, how do you take care of each other? What do you do? It's not that those are not important. I care deeply about church organization. It's one thing that I love to write about, but it's not gonna get me into heaven. It's not gonna put me on the right hand of God.

If I can write a lovely treatise about church organization in the first century. Good for me. But if I do that and neglect to help somebody else, I'm going to be found on the left hand. I see in verse 40 there, in as much as you've done, and that's one of the least of these, you've done it to me. I see footnote, 40 A, King Benjamin's. I don't want to call it a punchline, but King Benjamin's point is, when you're in the service of your fellow beings

That's how you serve me and I think for centuries people have wondered how do I serve? It's the best way to serve God and there's an answer here answering King Benjamin speech to Just to take care of each other Elder Uchtorf Talks about he's like the two great commandments love God love your. He says, actually, they're two sides of the same coin. You cannot love God without also loving your neighbor. And he said, he said, sometimes we focus on the spiritual at the expense of the physical.

He says, we're missing the point. Actually, one of my favorite scriptures in Dr. N. Covenant, 2934. This is God talking to Joseph again. Where, for barely, I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual. And not any time have they given unto a law which was temporal. Neither any man nor the children of men, neither Adam or father whom I created.

Part of what he's saying here is this idea of helping people, giving of your substance, sharing, dressing, visiting, helping the sick, these very, like in the dirt, physical things. He's like, these are not temporal commandments. These are spiritual commandments. Actually, what God says is, I think they're the same thing. I've never given you a temporal command. I don't even know what those are.

This parable, the sheep and the goats, This could be a great week for teachers and parents to share stories of when they've seen people come to the rescue for others, maybe themselves, maybe when they did. I remember when our twins were born, we had three children and we had twins born, and it was a lot. People have said, oh, you have twins, I've always wanted twins and I thought, oh, goodness. Did I have a tailhank that we're pregnant

with twins right now? You are. You did not know that hey, that we're pregnant with twins right now? You are. You didn't know that? No, we're pregnant with twins. The eight and nine? Well, eight and nine. Oh my goodness. Oh, from.

Well, I hate to tell you this, but this is my description of twins. It was three in the morning. I'm holding a baby. My wife is holding a baby and all four of us are crying. Yes, basically. I'm expecting it. Yeah, wife is holding a baby, and all four of us are crying. Yes, basically, I'm expecting it. Yeah, there's just so much work.

And a lot of people came to our rescue, just came to help us, the Barlow family, Heather and Jake Barlow came to our rescue and fed us weekly for months. Even over a year, they were feeding us weekly. Jenny Thompson came to our rescue and brought food. We were hungry. My art gets were hungry and we were exhausted

and people came to our rescue. I've always loved, and this is a hard one, this story from Melder Holland. He talks about, it's in a talk called, Emissaries to the Church. And it was about home teaching at the time, which is now ministering. I'll read this.

He says, on May 30th of last year, my friend Troy Russell pulled his pickup truck slowly out of his garage on his way to donate goods to the local DI. He felt his back tire roll over a bump, thinking some of the item had fallen out of his truck. He got out to find his precious nine year old-old son Austin lying face down on the pavement. Their screams, priesthood blessings, paramedic crew, the hospital staff were all to

no avail. Austin was gone. Unable to sleep, unable to find peace, Troy was inconsolable. He said it was more than he could bear and he simply could not go on. But into that agonizing breach came three redeeming forces. First was the love and reassuring spirit of our Father in Heaven, the Holy Ghost that comforted Troy, Tadeem loved him and whispered that God knows everything about losing a beautiful and perfect son. Second was his wife, D.Dra, who held Troy in her arms and loved him and reminded him that she too had lost that son and was determined not to lose a husband also.

Third in this story is John Manning, home teacher extraordinaire. Elder Holland says, I frankly don't know on what scheduled John and his junior companion made visits to the Russell home or what message was given when they got there or how they reported the experience. What I do know is that last spring, brother manning reached down and picked Troy Russell up off the tragedy of that driveway

just as if he were picking up little Austin himself. Like the Watchman, brother in the gospel, he was supposed to be John simply took over the priesthood care and keeping of Troy Russell. He started by saying, Troy Austin wants you back on your feet, including on the basketball court. So I will be here every morning at 515 AM..m. Be ready because I don't want to have to come in and get you up. And I know Deidre doesn't want me to do that either. I didn't want to go. Troy told me later because I had to always take an Austin with me on those mornings. And I knew the memories would be too painful. But John insisted. So I went from From that first day back, we talked, or rather I talked, and John listened.

I talked the entire drive to the church and the entire drive home. Sometimes I talked as we parked in the driveway and watched the sun rising over Las Vegas. At first, it was difficult, but over time I realized I had found strength in the form of a very slow six to church ball player with an absolutely pathetic jump shot and who loved me and listened to me until the sun finally rose again in my life. Elder Holland says, we are asking you to be God's emissaries to his children, to love and care and pray for the people who you are assigned. I'm sure he would add those who are not assigned as we love and care and pray for you. May you be vigilant in tending the flock of God. I just thought it fit perfectly with this with this parable. I think a key idea there,

Hank, is this notion that sometimes we talk about ministering or helping each other or things like that. When we say correctly, we're like, oh, well, it's more than just giving a meal. And that's right. But I think Matthew 25 reminds us it's not less than giving a meal. That we almost diminish somehow, you know, you talking about your twins when my little boy died. I didn't want to cook. I don't do anything. And somebody fed me. What I needed then was food. Even little things like, you know, again, from you Hank, you know, when my son got hit by a car, he lived. This one, but, you know, actually my, Hank brought over a malego set and a Batman shirt. The kid still wears. And actually his now five year old brother was like,

he's like, so if I get hit by a car, do I get a Lego set too? And I said, I said, Garrett, let's not do that, okay? Yeah. Sometimes we're like, this is about so much you need to do. It's just visiting, just being there. I remember our bishop came over and talked to us

after Torval, that was my son who was still born. He's like, I don't have much opportunity to do pastoral care. We have a lot of young families in our ward, but it was enough that he'd came and he visited. Even here in Matthew 25, there's all this stuff about, there's the feeding and there's a clothing. He's like, but you also, you came and you just visited me and you listened and you sat, I still remember. I remember every note I got after Torvald, every single one.

And because that I try real hard to send notes out too, because it, in some way, and this is, it costs you nothing. Not even time in that case. Another thing on this, it's somewhat less whatever, I said, we're pregnant with twins right now, which we're very excited about, twin girls.

We're very, very excited about, my wife was describing, this is not our first rodeo, but I'm not sure I've competed in the sport before. It's kind of, feel about it. I was like, I had a bad first trimester, and then a second trimester that felt like a third trimester, and now I'm in a worst third trimester if that's possible for it. And we're doing we can. And a sister in our ward came this Saturday and cleaned my kitchen. I'm sure she'd say, an MCR Campbell, like I'm barrister on this, I'm sure she'd say it was

nothing. My kitchen's clean now. And it wasn't before. I think as we think through what it means to be God's sheep, it means in some ways taking care of God's sheep. And it means it also means letting people come and help you too. Sometimes we get so proud. We say, well, no, no, I don't need anything. Allow people to serve you. I mean, life's hard, we can't do this by ourselves and we shouldn't even try. For a long time, I remember President Kimball talking about the threefold mission of the church for claiming the gospel, perfect the saints, redeem the dead. President Monson added to that care for the poor and need. And that just seems very present,

Monson, doesn't it? And today, the work of salvation has been defined. I really like how they've done it in the newest handbook. It's, live, care, invite, unite. Live the gospel of Jesus Christ. Care for those in need. And sometimes it's not just the poor who are in need, as we've just talked about.

Live the gospel of Jesus Christ. Care for those in need, invite all to come into Christ and unite families for eternity. And that can be on both sides of the veil. Those are action words. So what to do while we're waiting for the Savior to come back, live, care, invite you night. And of course, the beautiful thing about President Monson's thing is that he added it. He didn't, you know, he was just articulated

and it was already there. It was always our mission. He just reminded the suffice. From his April 2017 General Conference talk, President Monson said, let us examine our lives and determine to follow the Savior's example by being kind, loving and charitable.

And as we do so, we will be in a better position to call down the powers of heaven for ourselves, for our families, and for our fellow travelers in this difficult journey back to our heavenly home. John, you and I can't read this story and think of the Swrensen family who have given and given and given so this podcast could be available to so many people. How can I express how this is blessed me and my family? And people all over will come up to me and say, I love that podcast. I love that podcast. I'll be in the grocery store and someone will stop by and say, I love your podcast. The other day I was walking in the parking lot and someone rolled down their windows, they

drove by, love the podcast. All of that love needs to go to Shannon, Sornson, and her late husband, Steve, for giving us this chance. If we sat here, how many people could we come up with who have helped the three of us, just the three of us? We don't have time. Yeah, we'd be here all day. And then the good that people do in this church

and outside the church, it's a beautiful use of agency. There's some things I hate about agency, about pain, people can inflict on other people. But there's a flip side to it that I love about agency is like you said, Mother Teresa, John, it's the same agency that took her into the slums of Calcutta to help people. I remember reading about Mother Teresa and a reporter was watching her work and she was helping a man who had a terrible skin disease.

And I mean, just really difficult kind of, I don't know how to say it, not the word disgusting, but that's what you're thinking. Yeah, it was just really, the journalist said, he said, I would not do that for a million dollars. And Mother Teresa heard him and said, Oh, neither would I. Because that's not why I'm doing it. As I said before, I find it very, very compelling that this is how Jesus wants us to wait for him. That this is what it means to be the followers this is how Jesus wants us to wait for him.

That this is what it means to be the followers and the waiters for Jesus' wait for the second coming is again, my presence now is not all the time. We're preparing the world for Jesus Christ's second coming, right? That the purpose of the church, the purpose of the gathering, the purpose of everything we're doing right now, these prophetic priorities is to repair the world

for the second coming. And you look here on Matthew, I'm 25, and what that looks like is making the kind of world that he wants it to be. That's what means to repair the world. It means to go out there and help people and find it and not for money, but for God and His glory to make the world the kind of place that he wants to come back to. That's what agencies for your right-hank.

That's our mission, that's our goal, that's our job, is to transform this world through Jesus Christ into Jesus Christ's world. So often we think, that's the Lord's job, or that's the church's job. When we really should say, that's my job. A little bit silly thing. So Brandon Sanderson, of course, is a fantasy author. He's also a latter-day saint. And there's a bit in one of his books where there's a character who's a he's kind of a god figure in the book. And this character is basically praying. And he's like, he's like, aren't you going to do anything to help?

like he's like, aren't you going to do anything to help? And the God figure says, I did. I sent you. It's not anything to answer that thing. He's like, aren't you going to help God? And God's like, I did. I sent you. I love that. Abraham, this has been fantastic today. Studying Matthew 24 and 25 and seeing how Luke and Mark change things a little bit. Of course, looking out Joseph Smith changed Matthew 24. This has just been fascinating and fun. What do you hope our listeners walk away with? So someone listening today, what do you see on someone listening saying, I need to fill in the blank. What's my next step? Yeah, hang, thanks. So the therefore what of this is Jesus Christ is coming back. I mean, in some ways, this is the central

part of the Christian message. Jesus Christ has come back and we, we get the privilege as his followers to make the world a place he wants to be. We get the privilege as his followers to make the world a place he wants to be. We get the privilege to wait for him. We get the privilege to learn and to grow, to spread and to teach and to build his gospel and build his kingdom. So I think that if we take away from this, sometimes we talk with the end of the world, we get this almost zombie apocalypse, mad max kind of idea behind what it is.

And I think that Matthew 24, Matthew 25, just in the Matthew, all these things we've read today, Mark 13, as we've read through these, recognizing that that's not how the Lord wants to see the end of the world. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be amazing. It's wedding feast, revelation, another book where we get caught up in the locusts and the pit and all this. It's fun stuff. But if we're not careful, we can miss that central message. There at the end there where he says, he's going to come and John says, he's going to wipe away every tear. He's going to come and he's going to make everything better.

And that's the takeaway, brothers and sisters. That's the takeaway for everybody. Jesus Christ is going to make everything better. And we have the privilege now to do our best to make things better as we wait for him to come. And this is why there's lots of things in this church I love, lots of things I believe, lots of things I would ever, but one of the bedrocks of my testimony is that Jesus Christ is coming back and it's going to be wonderful.

Thank you for being with us today. We've loved having you back. I was happy to be back. Thanks. Really fun. We have a good assignment here, can we? Yeah, I feel like we better hit stop so that I can go serve somebody. Yeah, that's exactly right.

I got to find someone to help. I better today. I's about how to help. I got to find someone to help. I better today. I better find someone to help. Not wait till tomorrow. I better do something with what I've been given and get ready for the wedding, right? All of that. You've shown us that preparation for the second coming, you should be pretty busy. That's what Jesus seems to suggest.

Yes, absolutely. There's a lot to do to prepare you, to prepare the world. So get out there and let him find you working when he comes again. Thank you. We want to thank Dr. Avram Shannon for being with us today, taking his time to be with us. We of course want to thank our executive producer, Shannon Swanson, our sponsors, David and Verles Swanson, and we always remember our founder, Steve Swanson. And we hope all of you will join us next week, because we come back with another episode

of Follow Him. Today's transcripts, show notes, and additional references are available on our website, followhim.co, followhim.co, and you can watch the podcast on YouTube with additional videos on Facebook and Instagram. All of this is absolutely free, so be sure to share with your family and friends. To reach those who are searching for help with their Come Follow Me study, please subscribe, rate, review, or comment

on the podcast, which makes the podcast easier and fine. Thank you. We want to thank our incredible production crew, David Perry, Lisa Spice, Jamie Nielsen, Will Stoten, Crystal Roberts, and Aurel Quadra. We also love hearing from you our listeners. Hello, Hank John and the fellow him friends. I just wanted to make this little video to thank you for putting this podcast together.

I really could spend a joy to listen to you and your guests. I would enjoy to listen to you when your guests speak about the life of the Savior. And I just wanted to basically say thank you for having a format where out of the mouth of three witnesses, we can fill the testimonies and that strength that you have that share with us that I know that it helps me and strength is my testimony every week that I listen. So thanks. you