followHIM - Doctrine & Covenants 41-44 : follow HIM Favorites

Episode Date: April 21, 2021

Five-minute clip of Hank and John's favorite part of this week's Come, Follow Me lesson.Great to share with your family and friends!Join us on social media!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcast

Hi, my name is Hank Smith. I'm here with the incredible John, by the way. We are hosts of a podcast called Follow Him, and we do a little segment now called Follow Him Favorites. John, the lesson for this week's Come Follow Me are sections 41, 42, 43, and 44 of the Doctrine and Covenants, and you get to choose a Follow Him Favorite. What's your follow him favorite? It's so hard to choose because as we've just completed our regular podcast, so many awesome things. But one phrase that I just thought was so interesting was in verse 18 of section 43. And it talks about the future missionaries of the church say to the sleeping nations. And I think sleeping nations and how that, I don't think that means you go at night, but so often in the scriptures, when it says awake, it's talking to people who are already awake. You'll hear Lehi say it to his sons, awake my son. Well, they're awake,

but they're just kind of asleep spiritually. And so often we think, you know, someday I'm really going to get my act together. And we reach over and we hit the spiritual snooze button and we stay asleep. But one day we get to say to the sleeping nations, arise and live. And then it says, ye sinners, stay and sleep until I shall call again. So time to wake up. I was telling my kids just the other day that if you're still, you know, I don't understand this, I'm trying to, that's okay. Because I felt like a part of me kind of woke up when I went on my mission and I suddenly got more excited about the scriptures than I had ever been before. But keep trying to be awake and hear this stuff.

And then one day you'll be able to go to the sleeping nations and say, arise, and then part of them will wake up too. That reminds me of my wonderful daughter who I say, why are you not awake yet? And she says, I'm trying. I'm trying to wake up. It's really hard to wake up and it's okay. It's okay. You are trying. And that is the most important thing. My follow him favorite comes from section 42. It's verse 27, where the Lord is talking to the church and section 42 is what he calls his law or laws. We need to live in order to be part of this church and do it the way the Lord wants us to. And he says in verse 27, thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor, nor do him or her any harm.

To me, this is just so important for our day that we be careful with the names and the reputations of the people around us in our community and in our ward and how we can speak kindly of one another. In young women's, we can speak kindly of all the young women in our ward, right? We don't need to say about one, oh, look at the way she dresses or she dresses differently at school, right? Or in the young men's, right? We don't need to single out someone who might be a little bit different or odd and make them the, you know, kind of the butt of the joke. None of that should happen in the Lord's church. Thou shalt not speak evil or do evil or hurt thy neighbor. So I would love to see all of us, including me, kind of rededicate ourselves to this idea of I'm going to try to create unity in my class, my quorum.

And I'm going to be one who is kind to everyone in that class or quorum and put aside my cliques, put aside the cliques of high school or middle school and really try to be someone who makes everybody feel included. To me, I think you'll feel the Lord's gratitude when you do that, right? No one wants to feel... I mean, that's, yeah, that's a Zion thing to do. And you know, I was looking on my phone for a verse that you reminded me of, and it's not until we get to section 108, but this is saying what not to do, do not speak evil or do any harm. Section 108 verse 7, strengthen your brethren in all your conversations, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, in all your doings. And that's the other side of it, which you're talking to that kind of person. I've seen you

in action and you're always lifting people up. And so you live 108 verse seven very well. Thanks, John. And so do you. And I have never heard John gossip or say anything mean or, you know, just, hey, Hank, did you hear about so and so? It's just not it's not who you are. And my hope is that anyone listening will say, I don't want that to be who I am either. Right. And say, I want to, I want to have that kind of character. We hope you'll join us on our podcast. It's called follow him. Find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts and join us for our next episode.