followHIM - What does the Abrahamic covenant have to do with me? : followHIM Favorites

Episode Date: February 9, 2022

Hank Smith and John Bytheway answer a question from Genesis 12-17, Abraham 1-2.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 EditorAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsKrystal Roberts: French 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, my friends. Welcome to Follow Him Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I'm the co-host of a podcast called Follow Him with my friend John, by the way, who's with me today. On Follow Him Favorites this year, we're just kind of taking on a question for each lesson. And this week we're in the book of Genesis and the book of Abraham. I think it's Genesis 12 through 17, Abraham 1 and 2. And John, I get this question sometimes, or if I ask it to my class, they kind of nod. And the question usually goes something like this. President Nelson and other church leaders, they talk about the Abrahamic covenant. I kind of know who Abraham is.

He's the guy who God asked to sacrifice his son Isaac and then didn't make him do it. But I'm not sure what the Abrahamic covenant has anything to do with me in my life. So I kind of, you know, sometimes in church, we just kind of nod and we don't want to say, I don't know what you're talking about. Well, I just will nod here. And if you nod, sometimes people call on you, Will you explain it? And you're like, I wasn't nodding like I knew how to explain it. I was nodding to vote for you. So hold your head still if you don't want to get called on. It's like in a bidding.

If you're bidding for something, you actually sneeze. They're like, sold to that guy for $5 million. You nodded. $5,000. So here's what I would say. First, you have to, the idea with Abraham is that the Bible writers are taking us up from Adam and Eve through the Tower of Babel. And it's a really quick story, Genesis 1 through 11. And the Tower of Babel is where kind of human beings aren't doing what God was thinking they would do, right?

They're not keeping the commandments. They're not choosing him. And so he decides he chooses a family. And this family starts with Abram and Sarai. And then God says, we're going to make a covenant, you two. And I'm going to change your names, Abraham and Sarah, meaning you're starting over. This is a brand new time, right? That's why you get a new name.

And this family is going to bless all other families of the earth. Because God says, look, the whole earth is mine, not just certain people. But I'm going to choose a certain family, and they're going to bless the whole earth. So I would say the Abrahamic covenant comes with three things for Abraham and Sarah. One is commandments. If they keep those commandments, all those commandments are tied to incredible blessings. And with those incredible blessings come responsibilities. So the commandments are the gospel as we know it.

The blessings are all the blessings we get from the gospel, our knowledge of God, our relationship with God, our, you know, the gift of the Holy Ghost, having priesthood in our lives, all of these incredible blessings, and then the responsibilities to bless the entire earth. So then, story goes on that eventually Abraham's family becomes what's called the House of Israel after his grandson Jacob. And Israel decides they don't want God anymore. At a certain point, they say, no, we'd rather have a king. And so God says, in order to save them, I'm going to scatter them.

But I promise, one day I'll gather them back in. That's part of my covenant with Abraham. One day I will gather them back in. That's part of my covenant with Abraham. One day I will gather them back in. And prophets like Isaiah, Nephi, Jacob all said, one day God will keep his promise and he will gather them all back in the house of Israel or the great children, grandchildren of Abraham. And Jesus himself talks about it in 3 Nephi, right? 3 Nephi chapter 20 through 26. He says, God's going to remember this promise he made with Abraham's children. And then comes, what would you say? 1820 with Joseph Smith. And the Lord says, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.

And April 6th, 1830, the church is organized. Just a week before, the Book of Mormon was printed in March of 1830. And the Lord says the gathering of Israel has begun. And you and I are part of it. We are part of the gathering of Israel, which is part of the Abrahamic covenant. And wouldn't you say, John, sorry, I've been talking this whole time. Wouldn't you say we have those same three things? We have commandments.

And with those incredible commandments come incredible blessings. And with all those blessings, we have a responsibility, which is to bless the earth with the knowledge that we have. How did I do, John? Do you think I? That was so good. I don't even want to say anything. Yeah, it sounds great. But I think exactly, what does it have to do with me? That's a legitimate question.

Abraham lived a long time ago, but the promises continue through Isaac, through Jacob, through all of his sons. And when you get your patriarchal blessing, which we do when we're younger, it tells you which tribe you're from and that those same blessings and obligations continue with you. So, I like to tell my students, being chosen is kind of like being chosen to mow the lawn. So, it's like you have a responsibility. And I remember what Elder Bednar said once,

going on a mission isn't something you do it's something you are because you are abraham's children so you were born through that lineage to gather scattered that has a job an obligation to to gather scattered israel and the reason the tribes are lost because pretty much everybody these days is house of israel because the tribes were scattered and spread throughout the earth. And so you get found, I suppose, when a patriarch tells you this is your tribe. And then, you know, yeah, I get to bless all the families of the earth. That's the most positive, beautiful part that I like.

That Abraham was told through your seed, all of the families of the earth will be blessed. And that's what it has to do with you. Go bless families. Yeah. This isn't a chosen family, meaning I love you more than I love others. This is, hey. Chosen to do a job.

Yes. Please bless all of your brothers and sisters for me because I love them all. And the cool part about this is not only do we, in the work that we're doing, do we save others, but the work changes us. It changes who we are. It changes, you know, every day that you and I try to help the Lord in this work, right? Or the Lord, we're His assistants in this work. It changes us. And the Savior's incredible atonement kind of

goes through us and around us and in us and changes our character, changes who we are. My mission president used to say, the Lord gets the work done through his people and he gets his people done through the work. Yeah, that's awesome. So we're changed by doing this wonderful work. And boy, President Nelson has used some wonderful adjectives. The greatest work you could ever do is the gathering of Israel, and that's doing the Abrahamic covenant. Bless all the families of the earth. Right. And to me, the idea that the Lord still remembers his covenant that

he made how long ago tells you he's going to keep his promises to you too right he promised abraham that his family would do all this work but he had to scatter them in order to save them right according to jacob chapter 5 uh i've got us i've got to scatter this this house this family in order to save them but the olive branches you're talking about. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And it's kind of cool that he says, I'm going to take them out individually and raise them up individually and then bring them all back together. And by so doing, we're going to, we're going to spread this work through the entire planet through, through everyone. So, uh, this is, this is who we are, right? This is why we, this is why we came to earth. The Lord said, you're going to help me fulfill a promise I made to a guy named Abraham and his wife, Sarah, a long time ago, right?

And it's kind of fun to be part of God's promise. Yeah, that's the short answer. Abraham, a covenant is who you are. It's the sweetest the work we say in the song and we get to be involved in the work. We do the work and the work changes us too. Well put Hank. Yeah. So, uh, we hope you'll join us on our full podcast. We're going to talk about this at length and we're talking some serious length here.

So come join us, uh, find, find the follow him podcast, wherever you get your podcasts. Uh, maybe you got a long drive coming up, or maybe you're going to be cleaning the garage or folding laundry, whatever. Um, come, uh, come take part in the podcast. I think you'll love the experts we bring on to, to talk about this very thing this year. Right, John? We will be talking, we'll be talking about this the entire year. And, and, you know, when we do a book of Mormon, Book of Mormon, I don't know how you understand the scriptures

without understanding the Abrahamic covenant. It's all over the place. And it's covenant Israel. That's who we are. We're born in the covenant. And then we make the covenant, baptism, and the new and everlasting covenant. You know, we talk about all of that.

But yeah, we'll be talking about it. Yeah, we want to, we want to help you help the Lord. So come and come and join us on the podcast. Uh, but if you can't, that's okay. We know you're busy people, uh, join us next week for another follow him favorites. Thank you.