Hank Smith: 00:00 Hello, my friends. Welcome to followHIM Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I’m the co-host of a podcast called followHIM with my friend John Bytheway who’s with me today on followHIM Favorites. This year, we’re just kind of taking on a question for each lesson in this week. We’re in the book of Genesis, in 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 Abraham at 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 am not sure that the Abrahamic covenant has anything to do with me in my life. So, I kind of, you know, sometimes, sometimes in church we just kind of nod and, and we don’t wanna say, we don’t wanna say, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Well, I just will nod here as if I know.

John Bytheway: 00:59 And if you nod, sometimes people call on you. Will you explain it? Yeah. And you’re like, I wasn’t nodding like I knew how to explain it. I was just…

Hank Smith: 01:07 I was nodding to, to vote my–to vote for you. Like…

John Bytheway: 01:10 So hold your head still if you don’t want to get called on.

Hank Smith: 01:13 Yeah. It’s like in a bidding. If you’re bidding for something, you accidently sneeze, and they’re like- Sold to that guy for $5 million!

John Bytheway: 01:21 You nodded. 5,000 dollars. Yeah.

Hank Smith: 01:24 So here, 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 one through 11 and the Tower of Babel is where kind of human beings aren’t doing what God is, 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 gonna make a covenant you two, and I’m gonna 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 gonna bless all other families of the earth. ’cause God says, look, the whole Earth is mine.

02:13 Not just, you know, certain people, but I’m gonna choose a certain family and they’re gonna bless the whole Earth. So I would say the Abrahamic covenant comes with three things for those, 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.

03:12 At a certain point they say, no, we’d rather have a king. And so God says, in order to save them, I’m gonna 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. 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 great grandchildren of Abraham. And Jesus himself talks about it in Third Nephi, right? Third Nephi, chapter 20 through 26. He says God’s gonna 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.

04:10 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…

John Bytheway: 04:46 That was so good. I don’t even wanna say anything. Yeah, it sounds great. 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.

05:17 So it’s, 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 are 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 is ’cause 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, I get to bless all the families of the Earth. That’s the most positive, beautiful part that I like. That Abraham has 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.

Hank Smith: 06:06 This isn’t a chosen family, meaning I love you more than I love others. This is…

John Bytheway: 06:10 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 06:10 Hey…

John Bytheway: 06:11 You’re chosen to do a job.

Hank Smith: 06:12 Yes, please bless all of your brothers and sisters for me ’cause 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 I, you and I try to help the Lord in this work, right? Or the Lord has, we’re his assistants in this work. It changes us the Savior’s incredible atonement kind of goes through us and around us and in us, and changes our character, changes who we are.

John Bytheway: 06:47 My mission president used to say the Lord gets the work done through his people and he gets his people done through the work.

Hank Smith: 06:55 Yeah. That’s awesome.

John Bytheway: 06:57 We’re changed by doing this wonderful work. And, boy, president Nelson has used some wonderful adjectives. The greatest work you could ever do, you know, is the gathering of Israel. And that’s doing the Abrahamic covenant. Bless all the families of the Earth.

Hank Smith: 07:14 Right? And to me, the idea that the Lord still remembers his covenant that he made how long ago?Tells you he’s gonna 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 five I’ve gotta scatter this house, this family in order to save them, but it’s kind of cool…

John Bytheway: 07:41 The olive branches you’re talking about. Yeah.

Hank Smith: 07:43 Right? Yeah. And it’s kind of cool that he says, I’m gonna take ’em out individually and raise them up individually and then bring them all back together. And by so doing, we’re gonna spread this work through the entire planet through everyone. So this is who we are. Right? This is why we–this is why we came to Earth. The Lord said, you’re gonna help me fulfill a promise I made to a guy named Abraham and his wife Sarah, a long time ago. Right? And I’m, it’s kind of fun to be part of God’s promise.

John Bytheway: 08:16 Yeah. That’s the short answer. Abrahamic Covenant is who you are. It’s the sweet as the work we say in the song. And

Hank Smith: 08:24 Yeah.

John Bytheway: 08:25 We get to be involved in the work. We do the work and the work changes us too. Well put Hank.

Hank Smith: 08:30 Yeah. So, we hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. We’re gonna talk about this at length, and we’re talking some serious length here. So come join us. Find the Follow Him podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Maybe you got a long drive coming up, or maybe you’re gonna be cleaning the garage or folding laundry, whatever. 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 about this covenant. the entire year.

John Bytheway: 09:01 And you know, when we do Book of Mormon, we’ll be–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. We, you know, we can talk about all of that, but yeah, we’ll be talking about it, so…

Hank Smith: 09:22 Yeah, we’re–we wanna help you help the Lord. So come and come and join us on the podcast, but if you can’t, that’s okay. We know you’re busy people. Join us next week for another Follow Him Favorites.