Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Talk Show Truth • followHIM Favorites • December 9 - 15 • Come Follow Me

Episode Date: December 5, 2024

SHOW NOTES/TRANSCRIPTSEnglish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM50ENFrench: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM50FRGerman: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM506DEPortuguese: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM50PTSpanish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastBM50ESYOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/itqEyPiLEVIALL 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 Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Hello everyone, welcome to Follow Him Favorites. This is where John and I share a single story to go with each week's lesson. John, we're in Moroni 7, 8, and 9. I have a story for you. It's from Moroni 7, verse 48. Moroni says, if you live with faith, hope, and charity, eventually you'll become like Jesus, and when He shall shall appear we shall be like him. It's not about I've done a lot of charitable things, it's I've just become charity. Here's the story and it's about someone you know, I believe you taught him, John Heater. Do you remember John? I made a roll on a spreadsheet, an attendance roll where students could just check the box.

Jonathan did not check the box. He doodled dragons up and down, going throughout the length of the spreadsheet. Just a little at each time? Just a little dragon each time. And I saved that roll because I thought it was so interesting. I did not know that Jonathan Heater would become who, Hank? He has taken on many roles, but probably his most iconic is a Napoleon dynamite. Incredible. Johnny probably learned it all from you.

I gave him that character right? No, no, he brilliantly created that character. It was amazing. Brilliantly, brilliantly. This story is about him and this is after he gained some fame. John, I'm not a big TV watcher. I'll watch TV with my wife and kids in the evening. But a long time ago, I came home from teaching seminary one afternoon. And John, I got to tell you, not that this is super significant to this story, but it is for me. I just did not at that time of day ever turn on the television. You know, you get home from work and there's plenty to do.

I got home and Sarah wasn't there. For some crazy reason, I decided to turn on the television and on came this talk show. The talk show host said, we'd like to welcome to the show Jonathan Heater. I knew automatically. I'm like, oh, I know that this actor is a member of the church. Wow. How cool is this? This must happen all the time that members of the church get invited on national, national popular talk shows. I just happened to run into it on this one day that I turned on the television. Jonathan comes on, he's sitting with this talk show host,

and she really wants to talk about his religion. He's there, I think, to talk about a movie. She is more interested in him being a member of the church, of Mormon at that time. He sits down and they start talking. The talk show host said, you're Mormon, aren't you? And he said, yeah, yeah, I am. And she said, so you don't drink?

Nope, you don't smoke? Nope, you don't swear? And he's like, well, I try not to. And she said, how do you do that being in Hollywood? How do you do that? The parties around Hollywood. And he said something funny. He said, well, usually I don't get invited.

That probably should have been it, but John, she did not want to let this go. She kept pushing and pushing him. I don't know if he got uncomfortable with it. He seemed to think in my mind, I could see him saying, I'd like to move on from this topic and talk about why I came here. And she said, Well, how do you do that? How do you not drink? How do you not smoke? How do you not break the loft Chastity? How do you not do all these things? And he would kept saying funny answers. Then there was this moment, he wasn't upset, he wasn't angry. He just ended the conversation when he said, well, look, it's who I am. It's not that hard. I loved that. Aren't you tempted by smoking and drinking and doing drugs and all of these immoral things?

Aren't you tempted? He simply said, I'm actually not super tempted because it's who I am. Isn't that interesting with Moroni 7, John? We will become something. When he comes again, we will know him. We shall see him as he is because we are like him. And that's what President Oakes reminded us of in that talk, the challenge to become. It's not just to know what to do, but when you know what to do and you do what you know, you begin to become something different. And for Jonathan, it was like, it's who I am. It's who I am. It's who I am. I've lived my life in a way that it becomes very natural.

At first things are tempting, I think when we're young, John, but as we get older, it becomes who we are. Our temptations change. You want to become more patient and more gentle. And maybe that's the idea the Lord has is, yeah, as you change, these temptations will not be as attractive. I love what you said, Hank. He wasn't, you should be this way or he wasn't, everybody should be this way. I just know it's, that's who I am. It's not as difficult as you make it sound. As you might think. If anybody knows Jonathan out there, if Jonathan, in case you're listening,

I have no idea. Thank you for your goodness. Yeah, for being who you are. Yeah, thank you for being who you are. We'd love to have you join us on our full podcast. It's called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. We're on Moroni 789, like I said, and we're with Dr. Mark Ogletree, who opens up these chapters in wonderful ways. I thought to myself, I am going to be a better father from what we heard from him. We hope you'll all come join us over there and then come back next week. We'll do another Follow Him favorites.