followHIM - What can we learn from the man born blind? • follow HIM Favorites • Apr. 24 - Apr. 30

Episode Date: April 20, 2023

Hank Smith and John Bytheway discuss the story of the man born blind in John 7-10, emphasizing the importance of personal testimony and the idea that it's okay not to know everything, but to focus on what we do know and have experienced.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

Hello, my friends. Welcome to another Follow Him Favorites. My name is Hank Smith, and I'm here with the incredible John, by the way. Hello, John, by the way. Hi, Hank. Yeah, it's always good to be together. Absolutely. John, Follow Him Favorites. We'll take a single question from this week's lesson. And this week, we're in John 7, 8, 9, and 10. And the question comes from John chapter 9. What can we learn from the man born blind? This day in his life changed everything for him. Here he was born blind and probably thinking today's going to be just like any other day, but he meets Jesus and everything changes. What do you learn, John, from the man

born blind? Well, I think one of the best things happens right at the beginning with kind of an untrue conclusion. Some false doctrine. Yeah. This is in verse two, right at the beginning. Who did sin? This man or his parents that he was born blind. It's like, okay, somebody did something wrong or this wouldn't happen. This is clearly a punishment and it's just a false conclusion to draw. So I love how Jesus answered it too. Neither did this man sin or his parents. Neither one of them. This is part of the plan of God. Yeah. This is a fallen world that we live in and things like this happen all the time, but wonderfully it has a beautiful ending to this story too, because of what Jesus does. But he has to teach

him, doesn't he? Yeah. I love the man born blind because when his day changes dramatically, he's all of a sudden at the end of his day, taking on the elite of his society. The rest of the chapter. Yeah. Yeah. He was blind this morning and now he's standing. I bet he didn't think, oh, by tonight I'll be seeing and I'll be having a debate with the hierarchy. But here he is in front of the Pharisees and who his own parents are scared of. You can tell when they bring his parents in, they're scared of, and they're saying, what happened? And he said, I already told you what happened. Would you want me to tell you again? Would you be his disciples? This man is of God. He's just telling them. And they say in verse 24, this is my favorite part. This is my highlight. They say, give God the praise. We know that this

man, Jesus is a sinner. And the man answers whether he is a sinner or not, I know not. Here is what I know. I was blind. Now I see. To me, John, that is the essence of a testimony. There are some things I don't know, but there are things I do know because I have experienced them for myself. To me, if the qualification for having a testimony was you have to know everything, you have to have an answer to every single question, no one would have a testimony. Neither one of us would be here, right?

It's okay to say there's some things I don't know. There's some things I don't understand. But there are things I do, and I'm not going to back down from those. I have right next to verse 25, 1 Nephi 11, 17, where the angel says to Nephi, Knows thou the condescension of God? And his answer sounds like this. I know he loves his children, but I do not know the meaning of all things.

And boy, what a good place to start. I know he loves his children. I don't know everything, but I know enough. And that's kind of like his answer. I was blind and now I see. That's what I know. That's what I know. And you could say that anybody could say,

I don't have all the answers about the church, but I do know the Book of Mormon changed my life. What's someone going to say? Nuh-uh. You've experienced the gospel. It's working. It gives you peace and joy and a reason for living and it works. It's awesome. It works. That's exactly right. So we hope that you'll learn also from the man born blind this week. Take advantage of this story and come join us on our full podcast. We have Dr. Janet Erickson with us, and you're going to love the way she goes through these scriptures. And then join us next week for another Follow Him Favorites. Thank you.