Hank Smith: 00:01 Hello, my friends. Welcome to FollowHIM Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I’m here with the incredible John Bytheway, and the also incredible Dr. Derek Sainsbury. FollowHIM Favorites is a short little clip of what we are hoping to do in our big podcast called Follow Him. This is where we just take a piece of our lesson this week and say, “Okay, let’s just focus on it for a little short time”, hopefully getting you, the listener, to come over to the full podcast.

Hank Smith: 00:32 So John, our lesson this week is Doctrine & Covenants 133 and 134. And Dr. Sainsbury is with us. He’s an expert on both of these sections and Joseph Smith’s presidential campaign. So you get to pick a FollowHIM Favorite, then me, then Derek.

John Bytheway: 00:51 Yeah, this is one of those where … Where do you start? It’s been great to talk about these, but I love verse 45 of section 133, because I love the footnote to which it stands or to which it directs you, footnote 45A, 1 Corinthians 2:9. So this is what verse 45 says, “For since the beginning of the world have not men heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath any eye seen, O God, besides thee, how great things thou has prepared for him that waiteth for thee.”

John Bytheway: 01:27 And I love to look at that verse in I Corinthians 2:9 and say, “Imagine the greatest thing you can possibly imagine, and this verse says, ‘Nope, it’s better.'” Your eye hasn’t imagined it. Your ear hasn’t heard it. It hasn’t even entered into your heart. And this is the loving God that we worship. He has prepared wonderful things for us who wait, I think that means for him wait in patience, or who serve him. And so I love that verse right there. It just says great things are ahead.

Hank Smith: 01:57 Nice. I love that, John. My followHIM Favorite is also from section 133, and I’m going to tie in my great-great-grandfather, Richard Smyth, spelled Smyth, S-M-Y-T-H, who wrote hymn number seven, Israel, Israel, God is Calling. And I see so much of that hymn in section 133. As you read it with your family this week, or on your own, you’re going to find that the Lord is saying “You got to get out of Babylon and come to Zion.” And the idea is leave Satan, leave the world, and come over here, come to Covenants, come to God, come to Scripture, come to Prophets. And so I just want to echo my great-great-grandfather’s words of when the Lord says in 133, verse five, “Go ye out from Babylon and be ye clean.”

Hank Smith: 02:47 Let’s get out of there. And my grandfather would say to you, my great-great-grandfather, he’d say, “Israel, Israel.” That’s you, the listener, you’re Israel. “Israel, Israel, God is calling. Get out of the lands of woe. Babylon’s going to fall. Come to Zion. Come to Zion, and in her walls rejoice.” So I think that’s a beautiful invitation to leave the things of this world and seek for the things of a bettery And what God is providing us is so much better than what Babylon can offer. Dr. Sainsbury, Derek, tell us your FollowHIM Favorite this week.

Dr. Derek Sains…: 03:21 Mine’s going to come from section 133, as well, which is this great section about the second coming and preparing for it and getting into Zion, like you talked about. But also the fact that the kingdoms of the world will end as Christ comes and the millennium begins. And, in verse 58, it talks about, “To prepare the weak for those things which are coming on the earth…”, we just talked about that, “And for the Lord’s errand in the day when the weak shall confound the wise, and the little one become a strong nation, and two shall put their tens of thousands to flight.” We only represent 0.2 percent of the world’s population, but as noble and great members of Covenant Israel, we are here for a special time and a special purpose.

Dr. Derek Sains…: 04:10 We’ve been told that by president Nelson to gather the house of Israel to Zion, but also to prepare the world for Christ’s return, which is wider than just our church. And I would hope that we could all see that in ourselves and that, if we work with the Lord to help build Zion and work with good people all over the earth, our small, what seems like a small, influence will be a world changer literally. And though we seem weak, with God’s help, we can help influence not only the church, but the world. And that’s what I want to do. That’s what I want to do. I want to build Zion and I want to have that kingdom ready for him when he comes back.

Hank Smith: 04:55 So well put. That is wonderful. We want to thank Dr. Sainsbury for being with us. You want to hear this full podcast, my friends, come. Wherever you get your podcast, you can find ours. Follow Him, hosted by Hank Smith and John Bytheway. Go look it up right now. Listen to us at 1.5 speed, if you need us to go a little faster, whatever you need to do, come find us because you’re going to love this week’s full podcast of Follow Him. But, if you can’t do out, if you’re not ready for that much time and commitment, that’s okay. Come next week and join us for FollowHIM Favorites.