followHIM - The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Part 2 • Dr. Tyler Griffin • December 30 - January 5 • Come Follow Me

Episode Date: December 25, 2024

Dr. Griffin continues to explore the Restoration Proclamation and discusses the excitement inherent in anticipating ongoing revelation and restoration through prophets from Jesus Christ.NOW AVAILABLE IN:French: https://tinyurl.com/followHIMfrancaisSpanish: https://tinyurl.com/followHIMespanolPortuguese: https://tinyurl.com/followHIMportugueseSHOW NOTES/TRANSCRIPTSEnglish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC201ENFrench: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC201FRGerman: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC201DEPortuguese: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC201PTSpanish: https://tinyurl.com/podcastDC201ESYOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/UhfsfFpqMOkALL 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/followhimpodcastTIMECODE00:00 Part 2 - Dr. Tyler Griffin02:43 How God feels about His prophets05:35 Witness, affirm, and Christ-like attributes08:31 How did we get here?12:33 Translating is a gift17:54 Why was 7 afraid of 9?20:17 “Griff, are you finding joy?”27:07 Sacrifice is making something holy30:17 Making 2025 a year of ongoing revelation and miracles35:16 Reverence and gratitude38:50 Joseph had questions40:17 Hank searches for answers online43.52 Dr. Griffin shares his testimony of the Restoration and Jesus51:38 End of Part 2 - Dr. Tyler GriffinThanks 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 TranscriptsAmelia Kabwika : Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Stay tuned for part two with Dr. Tyler Griffin, the restoration of the gospel. I love that gentle, kind, soft, persuasion approach, rather than the heavy-handed, pound the pulpit, wave the finger kind of an approach, that they know these special witnesses of christ they know things and yet they're still using the principles from section 121 of unrighteous dominion they're not coming down heavy-handed on us in humility they're sharing these truths as a gentle invitation to activate our agency, to draw us in, to choose, as you said earlier, to do the right thing, not just to do the right thing. Back to the beautiful talk quoted earlier. You can almost hear in this verse, Tyler, that these apostles and prophets are saying, we know there are good, God-fearing people on this earth. It's in humility. This isn't a you're wrong,

we're right scenario. This is in humility. We want to tell you what we know, not judging you, not telling you that you've been in the wrong, being in this religion that you're in your entire life. No, no, that's not it. But we do need to declare what we know. Yeah, it's President Hinckley's invitation. We invite you to bring all the good that you have and see if we can add to it because we believe that you're a child of God. We believe that God has been speaking to you. We believe that you've received multiple outpourings of his love, of his mercy, of his grace throughout your life. And we're not discounting any of that.

We're celebrating that with you and saying, now come and see if we can add to it. And President Hinckley said, we're confident that we can. It's such a beautiful, gentle invitation, which I might say here, it's interesting how often prophets get thrown under the bus in our society, in our culture. How easy it is to make fun of or tear down or pick apart what they've done or what they've said or how they've said it or how they've administered certain things. One time, just this year, I did an extensive study on the word prophet and prophets throughout all of our scripture canon, just to see what do the scriptures say about the prophets? How does God feel about the prophets?

What does Jesus Christ say about his prophets? Jesus does not emphasize the fallibility of prophets. Now, I get it. We don't teach infallibility for our prophets. Jesus doesn't emphasize that. He emphasizes how much they're beloved, how much they're chosen, how much they're authorized by him,

and how much he upholds them. And it's fascinating. Even with the Nephites, 3 Nephi 11, he comes down and the very first thing out of his mouth is, behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified. He's upholding them. And then his new beatitudes in 3 Nephi 12, blessed are ye if you basically trust these apostles whom I have chosen. And to me, it's a beautiful thing to stop looking for where prophets might have said or done something wrong. And to recognize that God has chosen them. Trust that things are going to work out.

If I follow the prophets, things are going to work out. This whole restoration proclamation to me is one of the many, many, many fruits of this incredible relationship that Jesus Christ has with his prophets. To be able to give us his gospel in such beautiful and inviting ways. I like that in humility. It's not, he came to us. Obviously, he would come to us. No, it's like, we don't know how else to say this. So in humility, we're just going to say it. He came.

This is the greatest thing ever. God has come again. He loves us. Thank you for pointing out those two words there. Joseph Smith himself says that later. I was persecuted for saying so. Why persecute me for telling the truth? I had seen a vision. Do you want me to deny what God has shown me? I had seen a vision. I knew it. I knew that God knew it and I could not deny it. Neither dared I do it.

That's part of this proclamation. Inhumility means we have to tell the truth. We would not dare to deny what God has given to us. He said, at least I knew that if I would, I would offend God and come under condemnation. Don't you feel that in this proclamation? Inhumility, we need to tell you this. We don't want to offend God. Yes, we don't want to offend you, but we also don't want to offend God in what he has given to us. This is actually really, really good news. So on that same line, I love analyzing text. I mean, we're in the business of teaching and we are constantly swimming around in the doctrinal pool of text

and trying to find meaning. As you analyze this document from a textual perspective, I love looking at the opening to most of these paragraphs. So we emphasized in humility, we declare. In verse 3 there, look back at verse 1. We solemnly proclaim. It's this solemn proclamation, this duty that they feel as called prophets, seers, and revelators to make this declaration. So we solemnly proclaim. Verse 4, we affirm. Verse 5, we further witness.

Verse 6, we declare. Verse 8, we gladly declare. And verse 9, with reverence and gratitude. We as his apostles invite all to know. Meaning to watch the flow of this document and them using all of these different words to describe the message they're trying to get across. I love the Christ-like attributes that are being revealed right through these black words on a white page in front of us. We're seeing a blueprint for Christlike living, for Christlike loving, Christlike leading, Christlike motivating. These are the things the Savior did in his life and continues to do today. And it shouldn't shock us that his prophets followed the same pattern.

So consequently, invitation is, I should probably follow this pattern better in my teaching and parenting and leading as well. I like this verse five, the earth will never again be the same. It's like, yeah. Well said. I'm sitting here in a place called Utah that they wanted to call Deseret. I'm sitting here in between Bountiful and Nephi and Ephraim and Lehi and the world will never be the same. It is interesting to think about.

A kid goes to say a prayer and look what happens. It's like asking for a spoon. He gives you the whole house. Wouldn't you love to talk to Joseph Smith? How many times he thought, how did I get into this? How did this happen? I was planning on farming in New York for the rest of the exact event in that moment. And then afterwards, in hindsight, looked back at this unfolding restoration and realized, wow, it really is the Lord Jesus Christ who's doing this work. I'm just an instrument.

It's that last line of verse 3, Joseph would be instrumental in its return. He wouldn't be the architect or the artist or the creator. He's just the instrument in the hands of the Lord. And so it is with us. How many times God does things to us where we ask for that spoon and he says, I have so much more to give you. I'm going to pour this out. And you don't know all the reasons why now, but someday you'll look back and be able to

stand as a witness of me. I'm doing my work through you. It's a privilege to be part of it. It's also very scary. I know for just this show, John and Tyler, you with Scripture Central, you think, what am I doing here? Why am I up here teaching? Why am I here? These people who are trusting me, and I know both of you, your hearts are so pure and so good. Of the teachers that I know, you're on my list, both of you, as people who would not generally want to be in front of thousands. Yeah. So now you come to verse four all of these visions and angels and keys and authority being given it takes incredible trust for somebody to hear this story and say wait what you expect me to believe all that and the answer is yeah we do if you believe in the resurrection of jesus christ

that's the greatest miracle of all time then all of these things are pretty minuscule in comparison to him overcoming death and hell for us but at the end of the day all of this takes faith you have to believe and move forward with faith. We talked before, Jesus could have done all this work so much better himself, but instead he authorizes, he gives keys to imperfect people to now move that work forward. And it's amazing to watch as those keys are given to Joseph and those around him moving forward to set the stage for all of these ordinances and covenantal connecting opportunities that are given to us to actually be valid, to be authorized by God. This reminds me of a story that Elder Glenn Pace told. I think

it was in his book, Spiritual Plateaus, and I guess he was a missionary back east. And he talked about teaching a student, a college student, maybe from Harvard or something. And we get kind of used to the idea of the restoration and the first vision. And he said, this guy at the end of the lesson starts summarizing, okay, so wait a minute. You're saying that God himself appeared to this young boy? Yeah, that's what we're saying. Okay, wait. And then Jesus was there?

Yeah, that's what we're saying. Okay, wait. And then you're saying that an angel came and told him about a book? Yeah, that's essentially, okay, wait. And then John the Baptist came and like the Peter, James, and John, and Elder Pace said, getting more animated by the minute, he finally said, that is the most incredible story I've ever heard. If I really believed that, I wouldn't be able to sleep.

I'd be running up and down the streets, shouting it to everybody. How come you guys aren't more excited about it? And Elder Pace said, that was a penetrating question. That is. How are you not telling everyone about this every second of every day? That's amazing. Which, by the way, is a beautiful segue into verse 5 about the Book of Mormon, which all by itself, if you take all these other things apart, just the book itself, the fact that we have this thing, it's a marvel and it's a wonder. He says, we further witness that Joseph Smith was given the gift and power of God to translate an ancient record,

the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. I love the fact that we use the word translate there, but technically speaking, a translation means that an individual knows two languages, the source language and the target language. It becomes pretty evident early on that Joseph doesn't know the source language of the plates. He's not aware of what those characters even mean early on and needs some of that external encouragement from some experts to be able to say, hmm, so I think this is an actual translation that I'm getting on the Urim and Thummim here. The beauty of this is he was given the gift and power of God. It wasn't the power of intellect.

It wasn't the power of the world. God is the one who governed that process of translating the Book of Mormon. Then the rest of that paragraph describes the beauties and the additions that the Book of Mormon makes to our scripture canon, which I love. It's hard to have the words, isn't it, Tyler, to grasp what the Book of Mormon does to our understanding of Christ. I wanted to read one thing from Elder Holland. Most everybody knows this talk, Safety for the Soul, October 2009. However, there are some youth in the church who maybe never heard this talk, obviously weren't around when it was given. So it might be something to revisit.

This is Elder Holland. He says, for 179 years. Now that was 15 years ago. So now we're looking at for 194 years. This book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history, perhaps like no other book in any religious history, and still it stands. You both, I'm sure, will remember this moment when he said, I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and all that it implies, given today under my oath and office, be recorded by men on earth and angels in heaven. I want it absolutely clear,

when I stand before the judgment bar of God, that I declared to the world in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true. That it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days. Do both of you remember that moment? That was powerful. That whole talk and holding up the book that Joseph and Hiram had in Carthage jail, that was powerful. Sometimes you have a moment and you think, okay, this is going to stick with me for a really long time. And it has. Yeah. Don't you love the fact that we don't ever hear the prophets and apostles pitting the Book of Mormon against the Bible, telling you you have to make those kinds of decisions?

I love the wording here, as a companion scripture to the Bible. The Book of Mormon testifies, and then it goes on to reiterate that we're all sons and daughters of a loving Father in heaven. But the beautiful conclusion to paragraph five is that his son Jesus Christ speaks today as well as in days of old. That's what the book does is it complements the Bible to say, look, God is still speaking to us today as he did in ancient times, which is a beautiful doctrine within this unfolding restoration. When you think of all the content that the internet has, when you search something on Google, it says it found how many billions of things you could read in half a second.

Wouldn't you think that the Lord of the universe has unlimited content to give? Knowledge. As if it could be stored up in a single book. He is still speaking. Of course he is. And he'll continue to speak. It's beautiful. And Mormon lamented the fact that I'm only giving you less than a hundred parts of what I'm able to read here.

I'm trying my best to distill this down on what would be the most important for you. And Moroni says, we've seen your day. We know you're doing. So we have a pretty good idea of what to share with you here. But it's so limited. Doesn't John say the same thing? The last verse of John. Yeah.

The world itself could not contain the books which should be written so why would anyone think that a single book could hold everything that the lord wanted to tell us that idea of a companion scripture guys why was six afraid of seven because seven eight nine because seven eight nine, so here's the verse to remember, Mormon 789. Now, we all know that the Book of Mormon has some really clear stated purposes on the title page, that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that Jesus is the Christ, the eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations, and that you may become spotless. But there are some purposes throughout, one of them that you may learn to be more wise than we have been it's like hi we're extinct don't do what we did but mormon 7 8 9 listen to this for

behold this is written for the intent that you may believe that and that's the gospel that's sent before you that'll come unto the gentiles from the jews so that's the bible in verse 8 for behold this is written for the intent that you may believe that, the Bible. And if you believe that, the Bible, you will believe this, the Book of Mormon also. And if you believe this, you will know concerning your fathers, here's audiences that Mormon's talking to, and the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God among them. I love that verse to say, look, this book is written. One of the intents is so that you'll believe the Bible.

It's not a rival. It's not a contest. It is a companion so that you will believe the Bible. Powerful. If you step back here for just a second and take a 30,000 foot look at this restoration proclamation. I love the sequencing. We've done this with the opening lines of many of the paragraphs, but look at each paragraph. The first one is all about Jesus Christ, that he came. The second one is all about that first vision. The third one is this restoration of Christ's New Testament church that was lost from the earth and how a prophet was going to be called to be instrumental. So we're going to do

our work through prophets. And the fourth one is we're going to have to authorize that prophet with keys and priesthood authority. And the fifth one is scripture. So it's not enough to give them authority, but no instruction manual or no doctrine, no direction. You've got to show them, look, this is what God expects of you. It's fascinating how often we get caught up in debates with people about whether or not God exists. That's important to understand that God exists, but to just know that God is there is absolutely necessary, but it's not sufficient. I've got to know what God is like. I've got to know what God wants from me. Now, you get the church established in paragraph six, coming forth of the church of jesus christ

if you look two-thirds of the way down in paragraph six it says he invites all of us to come unto him and his church to receive the holy ghost the ordinances of salvation, and to gain enduring joy. I love this invitation that they are inviting all of us to gain enduring joy. I'm reminded a couple months ago, our friend that we've already mentioned earlier, Anthony Sweat came into my office and he asked me a question that caught me off guard. He said, Griff, are you finding joy in your administration assignment right now in religious ed? Are you finding joy? And I had to pause and think for a moment and realize, you know what? Far too often, I'm not. I'm being reactionary.

I'm sitting there and responding to emails and people who come through my door and requests that come, but I'm not finding real joy. And that one question from a good friend actually caused me to stop and translate it into other parts of my life. Am I finding real joy in my marriage right now? Am I finding it in my fathering? Am I finding it in my church calling? Am I finding it in my relationship with my friends and colleagues? It was a wake-up call for me to realize, wait a minute. I am not a victim of my circumstances.

I'm not stuck. I can change how I go to the temple. I can change my mindset and my focus of my heart when I go to church, when I open my scriptures, when I pray, when I interact with my wife and my children and my students. And as an administrator in ecclesiastical or professional positions, I can find more enduring joy, but it doesn't come because I generate it. It comes because it's a refocusing effort on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the pivot point. My personal invitation to anybody who's listening or watching would be, as you embark on a new year, 2025, not just in your study of the Come Follow Me curriculum, but in all aspects of your life, to ask the question that Tony asked of me. Are you experiencing, are you finding real joy in, and now fill in the blank

with all the different roles and aspects of your life and analyze where perhaps you could experience more enduring joy and then take that to the Lord. Don't be a victim of that circumstance. Take it to him in earnest prayer and say, Heavenly Father, I want to find more joy in this part of my life. I know there's fruit to be gained here that I'm not taking full advantage of yet. And I have some ideas, but I'm not exactly sure the best way to access that joy. So help me. Please help me. And then we move forward, acting on those promptings that might come. Tyler, John, I'm sure you'll both remember this quote from Think Celestial. President Nelson, here is the great news of God's plan. The very things that will make your mortal life the best it can be are the exact same things that will make your life throughout all eternity the best it can be.

Mortality is a masterclass in learning to choose the things of greatest eternal import. So think celestial. Amen. And how hard it is sometimes to think celestial when you're in a work setting or when you're in a frustrating family setting or a relationship. But literally, if you take the prophet's words to heart and apply them, it will give us access to the Savior's love, his mercy, his grace, his infinite atonement. We will be empowered to produce more fruit, good fruit, in that part of our life. I love that. It's part of why I walk around with a smile on my face most of the time is because life, it is so good. It is so full. It is so rich thanks to the Savior Jesus Christ. There's so much to be discovered and so much to look forward to.

Such a good question. Are you finding joy? I loved your answer because all of us have had callings where we've thought, am I supposed to be more joyful here? This is hard. This is not any fun. Elder Kieron called it the church of joy. Am I in the wrong door? Where did I walk in? I remember years ago, in the first few months of my calling as a bishop, struggling with that very thing. Maybe I shouldn't even say this, but I got on a 767. So we're talking two seats in an aisle and three seats in an aisle and two seats. This is a big

jet. And tender mercies of all tender mercies. I look to my left and sitting next to me is Dr. Robert L. Millett. That just doesn't happen. I know. I wrote him a note and said, can you help me not have that pit in my stomach on Saturday night when I'm going to my calling the next day? He wrote me the most beautiful note about finding joy. And I just thought, okay, there's not an accident that Dr. Robert L. Millett is sitting across the aisle from me in this jet right now. And that alone was part of the answer. You got this and I got you, as Brad Wilcox said, you're going to be fine. And it's a process of, how did you put it, Tyler? Asking and help me find joy and help me focus on the joyful things involved in this. It's a process.

Yeah. Do you remember the episode where Dr. Dan Belknap came in and he said, in the ancient world, sacrifice wasn't giving something up. It was making something holy. That really changed my perspective on, am I going to take this time to go to the temple? Am I going to sacrifice this time to go to the temple? Am I going to sacrifice this time for this? And he said, no, the real question is, do I want to make this time holy? Do I want to make this money holy?

Really, it's just a small shift in perspective. Okay. As we jump into the seventh verse or paragraph, whichever way you prefer to refer to them. It says, 200 years have now elapsed since the restoration was initiated by God the Father and his beloved son, Jesus Christ. I love that, by the way. The restoration wasn't initiated by men or women or any group. It was initiated by God the Father and Jesus Christ, and they know how to manage cosmic clocks. Millions throughout the world have embraced

a knowledge of these prophesied events. I love that because it's this idea of as marvelous and wondrous as this work may be, millions have found a way to embrace a knowledge of all of these prophesied events. It's kind of this invitation to the rest of the world to say, I know it's hard, but it's been done millions of times. And the most important time for it to be done is inside of your heart and inside of your mind as you make that connection yourself with Christ. Which then brings us to the eighth verse. We gladly declare. I love that. You can see them all smiling as these words come off the page. We gladly declare that the promised restoration goes forward through continuing revelation. How many times have we heard Elder Uchtdorf, President Nelson, President Holland, President Oaks, others talk about this ongoing, continuing revelation that it's going to continue to grow.

The earth will never again be the same, as you mentioned earlier, John, as God will gather together in one all things in Christ. I love that, that it's in one. Christ is a gatherer. Satan is a scatterer. He's a divider. Christ is a unifier. We live in a culture, in a society, in a world that always wants to separate, that always wants to divide and contend and fight, and who's better and who's worse and who's more important. None of those questions matter in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, because he brings all good into one, and the one is in Christ, Christ Jesus, that center rallying core of everything else we ever talk about or read about or study about in the gospel or the church.

Obviously, Satan has his own spin machine, but how often, not just the birth of Christ, but the gospel itself is glad tidings of great joy. How often do we take that message and we listen too much to Satan in the world and we think it's the gospel of guilt or inadequacy? It's never characterized that way. It's glad tidings. It's great joy. There's a chance to repent.

What did S. Michael Wilcox tell us? He went through a long list that whenever anyone in the Book of Mormon asked for forgiveness, they got it immediately. And then he went through this long, long list. He's like, what are we supposed to notice there? Yeah. And that's a pretty joyful message. You ask for forgiveness, you get it.

It reminds me of when a group of us from BYU Provo went up to BYU Idaho to watch some religion faculty up there and to build some relationships and connections. And we love our good colleagues up there in Rexburg. One of the teachers in one of the classes that I was observing, he said something. It may have even-sin the Lord's power to overcome sin. You can't out-sin Jesus's ability to cover up and repair and forgive sin. It's impossible, Elder Holland said, to sink lower than the light of Christ can shine. Sink lower into that darkness. Tyler, when you brought up, we gladly declare that the promised restoration goes forward through continuing revelation. Something that I have been more and more impressed by

as I've studied the gospel, that is the articles of faith. When I was younger, had to memorize them. Think of that job. Someone said, hey, you need to summarize everything you believe, a page and a half. That would be impossible. All of a sudden, I'm, wow, these are clear, beautiful statements. The one that I think has had significant impact on me lately, thinking of this continuing revelation, is Article of Faith 9. We believe in all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal. And here's the continuing revelation. We believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

As far as I know, you both could tell me, I don't think that's been rescinded. I don't think I've ever had a prophet say, well, all the great and important things are out. We're just going to work on good and trivial. No, I mean, there are many great and important things still coming. To me, there's a level of excitement about that. Which, as you say that, Hank, isn't that beautiful for the collective church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints. That is absolutely

true collectively for all of us combined. No question that's going to happen. But I think the deep power of the gospel is unleashed and unlocked in our life when we find the ability to liken all of these truths to us at the individual, therefore what level. To say article of faith number nine isn't just a collective truth. It's an individual truth. God has revealed multiple things to me in the past. He's revealing things right now and he will yet reveal many great and important things to me. What an amazing thing, if you take that same excitement that you had, and if people translate that into their own discipleship and into their families for 2025 to say, let's make this the greatest year of

ongoing and continuing revelation of any year that we've experienced. And we seek and expect those miracles. We expect that God will give revelation, not just for the church, revelation for our lives, to use President Nelson's title from his inaugural address as the prophet. To me, that's just exciting to say, I'm not just going to coast through 2025. I'm going to seek for a continuing ongoing restoration of gospel truth in my life, not just in the organization that I'm a part of. That's exciting. I believe that he has yet more things to give to me. Isn't it Moses who says, I have more things to inquire of him.

Yeah, I will not cease to inquire of the Lord. I have other things I want to ask him. That's exciting, Tyler. I love that you said that. It's almost like a patriarchal blessing. There's more. There's more for you. Come back to me.

Come back. I have more to offer, more to show you. Brother of Jared, right? I have more to show you. Go after it. Seek it. Don't wait for it to hit you. Go get it with faith. That's beautiful. That's an exciting idea. Well, now we jump into the last verse or paragraph of this proclamation. Again, we pointed this out, the opening with reverence and gratitude. That's two amazing words to use here. This reverential respect and awe for God and his work that he's given to us and that he's sharing with us and that he's letting us be a part of. It's reverential. And gratitude,

this attitude of gratitude that President Monson used to always talk about. I love that. We, as his apostles, invite all to know, as we do, that the heavens are open. We affirm that God is making known his will for his beloved sons and daughters. You're keeping track. That's at least the third time by my count that he's referred to us as beloved sons and daughters of God. We testify that those who prayerfully study the message of the restoration and act in faith will be blessed to gain their own witness of its divinity and of its purpose to prepare That is a loaded sentence that ends this whole proclamation. This strong testifying that if we study it and act, it's not enough to know. Korahor knew. He says,

now I know. I'm convinced. But he didn't change his actions. He didn't act on what he knew. The New Testament repeats the idea, even the devil's fear and tremble they they know but they're not acting on it the powerful invitation here to close that i would say again bringing back to 2025 this opportunity to dive into the doctrine and covenants and studying church history is make this the year more than ever before that we not just study in faith but we act in faith and move forward with the Savior. Revelation will come as we prepare the world for the promised second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And President Nelson has referred to the second coming, I think, more than any other prophet in the history, unless I'm miscounting, he's emphasizing the need to prepare because the Lord Jesus Christ will come again.

Tyler, this is beautiful. Prayerfully study and act in faith. As a family, when we do our Come Follow Me studies, like last year in the Book of Mormon, it was not anywhere close to perfect. But we can do this. We can prayerfully study and then act in faith. It doesn't mean it's going to be like a perfect study or perfect actions. But whatever you study this year, it's persistence. Right, Tyler? Keep coming back. Keep coming back. Prayerfully study. Act. Then do it again. Prayerfully study. Again and again and again. You're growing fruit.

You're growing a tree. It takes time. And it's not going to be perfect. There are going to be some bugs in some of the fruit. Some of it's going to be small. Some of it's not going to be sweet. But you're growing. And the Lord of the vineyard is working with's going to be small. Some of it's not going to be sweet, but you're growing and the Lord of the vineyard is working with you. It's powerful.

One way you can keep going is there's this part in the manual I just really love. It's a very small heading. Joseph Smith had questions. That to me is part of this prayerfully study is have questions. Take your questions to the scriptures. Take your questions to the Lord. John frequently reminds me, if any of you lack information, let him ask of Google. But what Joseph Smith wanted and what we all want is wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, ask God. The restoration started, opened with some questions. That same thing can happen to you. Those questions can push you towards experiences, and you'll find out the heavens are really open.

I'd like to tell my students, don't expect Google speed answers to golden questions. You can ask Google Sirii alexa in a couple of seconds and they'll tell you something and there's a slim chance it might even be true but they'll always tell you something but a golden question sometimes the lord might answer you in an experience not in words and it might take a while we are not asked to check our questions at the door. No way. You bring them all. You own them and you wrestle with them. You wrestle, you'll get stronger. I love the idea of having questions. We're all here because this young man had a question. Can I tell you both just a quick experience that I had, which makes me feel really foolish,

but hopefully, hopefully someone out there can use this in their own life. My shoulder was hurting, you know, it's getting older. It's had a few birthdays. So I went online to see what do you do for a hurt shoulder? And I found a guy on YouTube who quoted a lot of studies and seemed pretty fit. So I took him on, you know, okay, this guy knows what he's talking about. And I started to do the things that he was showing to do for your hurt shoulder. And my shoulder was not getting better. And so I finally went to an expert. I have one just down the street. He's my friend, Blake Gillette. He came in and he says, okay, what's the problem? And I told him the problem. And I said, well, here's what I've been doing for it. And I didn't tell him where I got this.

I just said, here's what, and he just laughed. He said, who told you to do that? That is the exact worst thing you could do for your shoulder. That is, he just laughed at me. And I said, well, you know, I, I don't, I don't know. And nothing against the guy online. I'm sure he's trying to do some good. But John, what you said, I was looking for healing on Google. When there's someone down the street who's ready to give me wisdom, if I'll just take the time to make an appointment and go see him. So Dr. Gillette, I'm sorry. I didn't tell you if you're listening.

I didn't tell you where I got that. But you should have seen his face when I said, well, here's what I've been doing. Why? Why would you do that? That's he said that if you wanted to hurt your shoulder, that's the way to do it. That's good. We all saw that this wasn't going to end well when you started the story.

And we do that so often in many parts of our lives. I'll tell you one more embarrassing story. My doctor said, hey, why don't we try this medication here for a couple of months? And me being smart, decided I was going to be my own doctor and went online to learn about this medication. Of course, I learned online that this medication had ruined people's lives. So I went back and I said, well, I'm a little bit nervous about this. Well, why? I went online and you should have seen his face when he, okay, he went online and what'd you

learn? And I told him what I learned. And then Dr. Bowd, he said, you know how good the gospel is, right? And I said, absolutely, I do. He said, why don't you go online? See what people have to say about the gospel. Good point. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He said, I've been doing this for 40 years.

I think you can trust me. How long have we known each other? So again, two embarrassing stories, but it goes right with what you said, John. Sometimes we seek for wisdom in all the wrong places. Go to the source. Tyler, I know I'm speaking for John and all of our listeners when we just want to thank you for spending your time with us today. This happens consistently over and over and over when we record and we get these minds like Tyler, these people have studied this for their entire lives, that you feel so edified and uplifted and motivated. I'm excited that maybe

all of us will open up that proclamation again and go through it again, that came during the time of the pandemic and go through that again and see everything that you showed us. That'll be a great fruit that we can all enjoy. We just scratched the surface. It was a privilege to be with you two, two great friends. Tyler, I think our listeners would be interested. I'm going to ask you to do something impossible, but you've done it before. And that is, we would all love to hear how you feel about the restoration of the gospel and the Savior, Jesus Christ. And I know that's impossible. If you had to, if I forced you to here on Follow Him, what would you say? Yeah, that's interesting. Often when you're asked those deep, core questions like that, you find that your tongue can't tell what your heart knows and feels. But you can try.

And that's the beauty of music and art, because they provide ways to express things that words alone can't always do. For me, it would probably be summarized in the word everything. What does the gospel mean to me? What does Jesus Christ mean to me? Everything. Without him, I'm nothing. I have nothing to look forward to. I have no hope. But with him, I have everything. I literally have the promised blessings of those covenants with him, with my family, with loved ones. The same sociality that exists among us here will exist among us there. It's so beautiful, and it's so hope-filled, and it motivates me to want to try a little harder to be a little bit better, a little more like the Savior, as President Hinckley and Ardeth Capp used to say. That phrase, try a little harder to be a little better, it's powerful. That's the simplest way I can express the inexpressible. Wonderful.

Tyler, what do you want to leave us with? That's a great question. focus on Hank and John and Tyler, but that we become sounding boards or lenses through whom you can better and more clearly see the Savior Jesus Christ as the perfect example and a desire to connect with God in ways that maybe we haven't in the past, deeper and more often and more meaningful ways. The way that I would sign off, I think, for everything that we've talked about here actually is best embodied in the words of that hymn that we referenced earlier, written by Stephen Schenck,

hymn 1004. I'll just read the first two verses and then the chorus. This is the essence of what I hope, what I feel, and what I desire for myself and hope that you desire for yourself and for your families and your loved ones and those around you moving forward into 2025. Jesus walked in wisdom. Jesus grew in truth. He showed love to God and man while in his youth. Jesus wants to guide me. Jesus shows the way, calling me to come and walk with him each day. I can grow like Jesus. I will try each day, promising to walk his path and there to stay, standing by my Savior, safe within his care. Step by step, I'll follow and his love I'll share. As I walk with Jesus to my home above, He will bless me with His Spirit and fill me with His love, change my heart forever, and help me clearly see.

I will walk with Jesus, and he will walk with me. Tyler, we want to thank you again for your life and your goodness and your testimony. I've known you for a long time now, and you consistently point me to the Lord, consistently. Go to him, go to him. He will speak to you. John, by the way, do you remember four years ago when we started and we said, episode one is in the books? It feels very familiar, doesn't it? Episode one of our next four-year study is in the books. How are you feeling?

I'm pretty excited to go through this again, to go through the Doctrine and Covenants. That if we had it in red ink, it would mostly, except for a couple of sections, it would just be all the words of the Lord. And as Tyler's taught us today, he'll walk with me. I will walk with him. We hope that everyone will take this opportunity to walk through the doctrine and Covenants this year, whether you do it with us or a different show or on your own, however you do it, walk with the Lord. Tyler, it was just inspired and beautiful. Thank you. With that, we want to thank Dr. Tyler Griffin, a great, great soul for being with us today. We want to thank our executive producer, Shannon Sorenson, our sponsors, David and Verla

Sorenson, and every episode, we will always remember our founder, Steve Sorenson. John, he'd be excited that we were starting back up. Join us next week as we jump into the text of the Doctrine and Covenants on Follow Him. Before you skip to the next episode, I have some important information. This episode's transcript and show notes are available on our website, followhim.co. That's followhim.co. On our website, you'll also find our two free books, Finding Jesus Christ in the Old Testament

and Finding Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Both books are full of short and powerful quotes and insights from all our episodes from the Old and New Testaments. The digital copies of these books are absolutely free. You can watch the podcast on YouTube. Also, our Facebook and Instagram accounts have videos and extras you won't find anywhere else. If you'd like to know how you can help us, if you could subscribe to, rate, review, and comment on the podcast. That will make us easier to find. Of course, none of this could happen without our incredible production crew. David Perry,

Lisa Spice, Jamie Nielsen, Will Stoughton, Crystal Roberts, Ariel Cuadra, Amelia Kabwika, and Annabelle Sorensen. Whatever questions or problems you have. The answer is always found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Turn to Him. Follow Him.