followHIM - How do I make my weekly sacrament experience more meaningful? : follow HIM Favorites

Episode Date: March 30, 2022

Hank Smith and John Bytheway answer a question from Exodus 7-13.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/episodesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producers/SponsorsDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: MarketingLisa Spice: Client Relations, Show Notes/TranscriptsJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Rough Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Transcripts/Language Team/French TranscriptsAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"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 the host of a podcast called Follow Him. I'm here with my incredible co-host, John, by the way. Welcome, John. Hi, Hank. Follow Him Favorites this year. We take a question from this week's lesson. We're in Exodus chapters 7 through 13 this week, John. We're going to focus in on chapter 12 for our question. The question is this. Let me frame it.

The Lord institutes what's called the Passover, right? This very first Passover. Now, fast forward a couple of thousand years later, Jesus has what we would call the last supper or the last Passover in which he makes a change. The Passover is no longer about the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. It's now about him and his blood and body. So we're going to make a connection here, John, with our question. How can I make our weekly Passover, our sacrament, the experience God means for it to be, because maybe the sacrament comes and goes and I didn't feel anything or didn't think anything. It wasn't powerful or reflective at all. So how would you

say, how do I make my weekly Passover experience, which we call the sacrament, something that has more impact? This is one of my favorite topics because I'm just kind of intrigued with things that the Lord has us repeat. And it's not a Christmas and Easter thing. And after the pandemic, when so many of us missed our weekly worship, but the sacrament, to me, it is the most merciful thing to think that the Lord would say, come back every single week and take the sacrament. So for me, the thing I look forward to is as I understand the doctrine, when we're partaking of the sacrament worthily, it's like we are being baptized again, renewing our covenants, and the Lord is passing over us. What an opportunity every week to go back and get a new start as if you're being baptized again. So for me, it's very easy to look forward to going and partaking of the sacrament again and And hearing a priest say, you can always have his spirit to be with you.

That's a great way to start a week. It's a personal connection here to the Old Testament, Exodus chapter 12. You wouldn't think, oh, I experience an Exodus type experience in my life. But here we are every week where the Lord says to these Israelites in Egypt, you can trust in the blood of the lamb, right? You can trust it. Put it on your door, put the blood of the lamb on your door and you will be safe. And every week in my sacrament experience, I can kind of repeat that in my head that I can trust the blood of the lamb. He didn't say, go out there and fight the destroying angel yourself.

Just trust in this blood, that it will take care of you. This blood will keep you safe. So for me, I can connect to this Exodus 12 moment of the blood of the lamb. I trust it. It will keep me safe. In this Exodus 12, the Lord says, get all the leaven out of your house, all the yeast. We would tie that to sin. Let's get the sin out of our lives. Let's repent as much as we can and then trust, even in that whole experience, even as we're getting rid of the leaven of our lives, we can still absolutely trust in the blood of the lamb.

I think if you're having trouble with that, just listen to the priests pray, listen to what they say. Willing to take upon them the name of thy son. Boy, what's he's willing to do for us, and we can be willing to call ourselves followers of Christ. Willing to take upon the name of thy son. Always remember him, keep his commandments which he has given them, and then that promise, they can always have my spirit to be with them. Can you think of anything greater you could possibly imagine than to always have the spirit of the Lord to be with you? Because I can't.

That's the greatest thing ever. And every week we can do that. So it's easy for me to be excited about going to sacrament meeting. Think of this as maybe the Lord's reassurance. You're in my family. You're coming with me. You and I are both fathers, and we've had our children take upon themselves our name, right? They were born into our family and you're one of us and we don't leave you behind.

Sometimes we think, oh, I don't know if I'm going to be good enough. I don't know if I'm going to make it. And you and I as fathers are saying, of course you are. I would never leave you behind. In John 17, the Lord asks the father, I want these people whom you've given me to be with me where I am. So apparently it wouldn't be heaven without you. So you can trust him that he wants you there with him. He wants you. He's not going to give up on you. Jacob chapter five, I'm reminded that the tree is saved, not because the tree does anything right. It's because the gardener refuses to

give up on the tree. And that's the same thing with you. You're going to make it, not because you're so amazing, but because you have an amazing gardener who refuses to give up on you. Yeah, exactly. Because it's what he's done, not what we've done, but what he's done. And we're going to repent. We're going to come to the sacrament table hungry. We're going to be there. And, oh, just being there to partake of that, that's super motivating to me. You know, when I was a bishop, I thought, we're not supposed to have visual aids during

sacrament meeting talks. You know, we don't use PowerPoint and stuff, but I think there is a visual aid in the chapel. That sacrament table is bolted to the floor. It's going to be there every week. And the Lord's saying, come back? And he said, I can't go in there. Whose body is underneath that white cloth up there? You got a body up there? I don't want to go in there. And the guy said, that's not a body. It's just the bread and water. And then he realizes, how would I be acting if that really was the Savior's body laying up there underneath that cloth? And that can have impact on the way you feel. I know I have students who say that they keep the hymn book open and read through the lyrics of the hymn.

It helps them have more of a powerful, reflective moment. Any other tips you would give for having a powerful, reflective moment during the most important 15 minutes of the week? Yeah, I think that what you just said is really nice there because when I was a little kid, mom would say, think about Jesus. And all I could think of was like the picture, a picture of Jesus in my mind. And then your grandpa dies and your grandma dies and other people in your life that are important to you.

And when it says in remembrance of the body of thy son, my favorite thing to think of is that his body was not there when they went in resurrection morning. And that means all those other people will be resurrected too. My grandma, my grandpa, and that all of them will see them again. And that he was the first fruits of the resurrection. And all those events, the Gethsemane and the crucifixion on the cross and the resurrection are all kind of together in the sacrament to remember his sacrifice for us. So I'm glad you said that because that's what I like to think about. He's not here. He is risen, as he said.

And don't feel too guilty for your past sacrament experiences. If you've been like, oh, I haven't been taking it as seriously as I have. That's why the Lord gives us so many chances. I promise wherever you are, you have seven days in which you're going to get to try again. You're going to get to try again. So go ahead and try again this Sunday to have a powerful, reflective, reverent moment. And what's interesting to me, John, is just 15 minutes of your week can make a difference for every other minute of your week. I don't know how many minutes there are in a week, but there's a bunch. And this is just 15 of them.

But man, they'll probably make a big difference for every other one. That's the focal point of all of it is to go take the sacrament. And just one more thing that I think is so interesting is that when the Apostle Paul describes the armor of God in Ephesians 6, everything except for the very last item is defensive. It's a breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation. Everything is defensive armor. And the last thing Paul says, and take the sword of the Spirit. But another way to think of the sacrament is I'm going to rearm. Elder Holland said once, are we just on the

defensive? Are we just going to get beat up? He said, no, we're given a weapon. You are given it. I am given it. And he said, the thing that actually allows us to do battle with the world is the sword of the spirit. And the last thing the priest will say is that they may always have his spirit to be with them. So, I think about rearming as I go back into school, into work, into the world. I've got the spirit to be with me. I'm armed and I'm going to be okay. Beautiful. John, by the way, that's why we love you so much. We hope you'll join us on our full podcast. It's called Follow Him. Look us up wherever you get your podcasts. But if not, join us next week right here for another Follow Him Favorites.