Hank Smith:  00:00  Hello, my friends. Welcome to followHim Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I am here with my incredible co-host John Bytheway. Welcome John.

John Bytheway:  00:08  Thanks Hank.

Hank Smith:  00:09  And our guest this week is the just downright brilliant, Dr. Kate Holbrook. Welcome Dr. Holbrook, Kate.

Dr. Kate Holbro…:  00:18  Thank you, Hank. I’m so glad to be with you.

Hank Smith:  00:21  This is going to be so fun. FollowHim Favorites is where we pick one verse, or one idea from the lesson, and give it to our listeners in a condensed form here. We want to make this quick and fun and hit it really hard. So John, or John and Kate, our sections this week are Sections 129 through 132 of the Doctrine & Covenants. You get to choose one followHim Favorite. I know it’s hard, but choose one, John, you go first.

John Bytheway:  00:46  Oh, I’m going to choose Verse 24. I just think this gives us a way to listen to everything today. And this sounds a lot like the Book of John. So Verse 24.

Hank Smith:  00:56  Verse 24 of what section, John?

John Bytheway:  00:58  This is Verse 24 of Section 132 of the Doctrine & Covenants.

Hank Smith:  01:02  Okay.

John Bytheway:  01:03  Says, “This is eternal lives–to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent,” then “I am He.” Wow. “Receive ye, therefore, my law.” The fact that this is the Savior’s voice in the latter days is just amazing. “I am He.” And then it says, “Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent,” and I was looking at footnote 24C, says one of the most repeated verses in all of the Christian world, John 3:16 and 17 which says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” And it says, “Jesus Christ, whom He, God, hath sent, that He gave His only begotten Son.” He loved us. And this whole section, I hope you’ll read it, feeling that love that the Savior has for all of us. That’s just where I want to start now.

Hank Smith:  01:58  Excellent. In fact, John, that leads right into my followHIM Favorite, which is section 132 verse three, where the Lord, introducing this idea of plural marriage says, “Prepare your heart to receive.” Dr. Holbrook did such a good job on our full podcast. We hope you’ll join us talking about plural marriage. And I would invite you, our listener, to come listen to the full podcast. And while you’re getting ready to do that, when you find a good time to listen, prepare your heart to receive. And what John just said is probably the most essential part of receiving, preparing your heart to receive, is the idea of try to grasp God’s love for you. And God’s love for all of our brothers and sisters on this planet and the Savior requiring difficult things, but all of this is based on a foundation of love and a fullness of joy to come in the next life.

Hank Smith:  02:59  Dr. Holbrook, we’ll give the rest of the time to you for your followHIM Favorite.

Dr. Kate Holbro…:  03:04  Thank you. I chose for my followHIM Favorite, Section 132, verse 66, which is the last verse of the section. Says, “And now, as pertaining to this law, verily, verily, I say unto you, I will reveal more to you, hereafter; therefore. let this suffice for the present. Behold, I am Alpha and Omega. Amen.”

Dr. Kate Holbro…:  03:16  And one of the things I like here is this, “I will reveal more unto you hereafter,” and Jesus Christ certainly did, more unto Joseph Smith, more unto his predecessor Brigham Young, more unto John Taylor, more unto Wilford Woodruff, all the way down to President Nelson. Our prophets are always receiving more information for us and giving it to us. And then we of course, turn to God and we too can have more information for our own stewardship and our own testimonies.

Dr. Kate Holbro…:  04:03  The other thing I really love about this is he ends with, “Behold, I am Alpha and Omega.” Because I think whenever we’re dealing with a revelation from God, but especially one that’s complicated about monogamous marriage, and plural marriage, we have to have a bedrock understanding that we are dealing with God, and Jesus Christ, with Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the being who knows more than we ever can and the being who can trust, who as I used to teach on my mission, is all-knowing and all-loving and all-wise, all-powerful. That’s the being who gave us this revelation. That’s the being from whom we have the Restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Hank Smith:  04:59  Hmm. That is beautiful. Reminds me of Section 58, where the Lord says, “You cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which will come hereafter, and the glory which will follow after much tribulation.” That He is a God of glory and wants to give us that same glory.

Hank Smith:  05:21  Well, we hope that you will join us on the full podcast at followHIM. You’re not going to want to miss it this week, but if you do, if you’re too busy, you’ve got things you got to do, we get it, we get it. Join us next week for another followHIM Favorite.