Latest / STRONG / FSY Sept. Week 4: What Does it ACTUALLY Mean to Be a Covenant Child of God? (with Hank Smith)

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FSY Sept. Week 4: What Does it ACTUALLY Mean to Be a Covenant Child of God? (with Hank Smith) · STRONG

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Strong, where we follow the For the Strength of Youth curriculum to help you get a little closer to Jesus Christ and a little more ready for what's ahead.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: You've got a temple, the mission, and the life that you're building.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Kirby Hayborn.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_02: This week in your class, the For the Strength of Youth curriculum turns personal.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: What it means to live as a covenant son or daughter of God.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Young women are going to study Emma Smith.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_02: Young men study Joseph Smith.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: Both land in the same place.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: God has a specific work for you, and He has already given you the authority and access to do it.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you a story.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: I was 14 years old when I received my patriarchal blessing.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: I was young and I was nervous.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't really know what to expect.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I was 14.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: Who knows what's going on at 14?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: But I I sat down and the patriarch, he put his hands on my head, and then the room got quiet, and the first words out of his mouth were my name.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Kirby Lee Hayborn.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I felt peace.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: I knew sitting there in that chair that God knew me by name.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I knew that the blessing that the patriarch was pronouncing, that it was from God.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: Here's the thing: covenant identity doesn't depend on how you feel from one day to the next.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: It rests on what God has actually said about you.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: He calls specific people to a specific work by name.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: You just heard what that felt like for me.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: That was true for Emma Smith.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: It was true for Joseph Smith.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: And it's the same invitation extended to every covenant son and daughter today.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: All right, I am here with my dear friend Hank Smith.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: He's an educator.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, Hank.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: I got to finish your whole intro.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: You're an educator, you're a speaker, you host the greatest podcast next to strong that's ever existed.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: That's what we're doing.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Follow him.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: You're a podcast giant, and like I said, a dear friend.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: Hank knows what it's like to teach young people.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: He has such a strong testimony, and uh, I'm excited to have you on.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much, Hank.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited to be here, and you're right.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: I do love teaching young people.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: You do?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we're talking about coven covenant identity.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: You've been teaching that to youth for decades.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: So you have one line or a series of short lines.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_02: Because we know you like to uh you could speak for an hour.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: I do like to talk.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us what is your one-line-ish version of covenant identity.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I want to make it dramatic.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's got to be dramatic.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: It can't be it can't be just something bland.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: It has to be dramatic.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_03: You were born to fulfill a promise that Jesus himself made over 2500 years ago.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: Think of it.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_03: He's speaking to a group of ancient, very anxious people.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_03: And he says, Don't worry, I have a plan, and he had you in mind.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: 2500 years ago, he had you in mind.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: He's thinking of you.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: Knowing that you're going to come through.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: So our covenant identity is fulfilling something that he said 2500 years ago.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: 2500 years ago.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: And even further back.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: Before we go deeper, thank you for that.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Hank and I are gonna show you something because covenant identity is definitely about where you're looking.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: Are you ready?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do it.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, Hank.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: This is what we're gonna be doing.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Super easy.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: Easy enough.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: You can draw a box.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: I hope so.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: You can draw a star.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: I have a HD.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: The important thing is the important thing is needs to touch the stop, the top, this corner, side.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so like that.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: It needs to touch all the sides, okay?
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: So this is this is what we're gonna be doing.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: I wanted to illustrate this.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's an object lesson.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um I have these little boxes in front of us so that you can only look inside this mirror at your paper.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: Can you see that?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: Get down.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I can't see the same.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: I can see the paper in the mirror.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: Only see the paper and your and your marker.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: So you can you see that?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: I have a feeling this is gonna be harder than it seems.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: Uh is it probably.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: Probably for you.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um ready?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: How long do I get?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like two seconds.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: How long is it taking to do it?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I swear it's right.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: There it is.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: If you can't look at the paper down.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: You don't look at the paper.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: So like keep your nose down below.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: Can I at least see where my hand is?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: Can you see that?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, you ready?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, oh, you're starting with that.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: Lid's off.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, ready, set, go.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: That did not go the right way.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, I got mine done.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: Does it look like it's coming?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: Mine went the wrong way.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: Mine is a piece.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so now let's do it.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just sit down.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: And uh you lift up everything.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: Look at that.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: So much better.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: Hold that up for the camera.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: Look at that.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: See, we know how to do it.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go sit down and talk to it.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's we know how to do it.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's a constellation.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Is that Orion or something?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: I just gave up and I just did a bunch of scribbles.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was not fair, but you stayed in the lines, which is incredible.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: But this looks much better.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, much better.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, let's go talk about it.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Leave these here.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, good job.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: That was really good.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I don't believe you.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: It was like the we were Picasso's.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: The ears were in the wrong place.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: Right, but it means something.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: It means something.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk about what that means.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Both Hank and I, we tried really hard and we focused.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: And we we were just talking that um if we would have closed our eyes, we could have drawn a square and drawn a star.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: But we were looking through a mirror, and that kind of distorted our perception.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think in this object lesson that that mirror represents?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's definitely something that's going to create confusion, right?
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's something that I'm looking at.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm trying to do what I need to do, and it's just not working.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: Things I'm I'm trying to go right and I'm going left.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: So what would that be?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: I to me, that's the world.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's the world saying, hey, you're going about it wrong.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: Do this wrong thing.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_03: So look over here.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: We'll show you what you need to be.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: We'll show you what you should be.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: What you should be.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: This this is how you become popular.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: This is how you become great.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: This is what happiness is.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, try it.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not working.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't work.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: And you get that mess of a star.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: I want to talk because this week the young women are talking about Emma.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: The young men are talking about Joseph Smith.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: So Emma, when she's drawn through the world's mirror, she's just Joseph's wife.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: But God saw an elect lady, right?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: She had a specific calling, she had a specific work to do.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: Joseph drawn through the world's view, their mirror, just a poor, uneducated farm boy.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: But John the Baptist, John the Baptist, he looked at that same poor farm boy and called him a fellow servant.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: So the thing that I've learned is that relief comes the second you stop drawing through the reflection and you look straight at the real thing.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's what turning to God is.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: You stop accepting the distorted picture and you look directly at what he has actually said about you.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: And what he says, it's not general, it's it's specific, it's loving, it's personal.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so let's talk about this.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: What did God say specifically about Emma?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: Well, first he calls her by name.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: God knows my name.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_03: And Joseph Smith found that out in the first vision.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_03: One of them spake into me, calling me by name.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: So the Lord knows your name.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: I frequently tell you if the Lord were here right now, he would call you by name.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: And he would not only know your name, he would know everything about you.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: He would know more about you than you know about you.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_03: He would say, Tell me about me.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: And you'd say, That's right.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_03: He he knows you.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and I think that's summed up in knowing that name.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: Then thou art an elect lady.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: Remember, this is this is way before she's relief society president.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: This is long before, right?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: All the church uh is is going to be organized.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: This is before they're going to move from Ohio and Missouri and do all these incredible things.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_03: He sees that beforehand.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: It's almost like a patriarchal blessing.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: Where it's look what you're going to be.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: Look how positive that is.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_03: And then Kirby, it falls right in line with the mirror we were using.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: The Lord actually says to Emma, lay aside the things of this world.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: Push it away.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: Don't take part in that.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: I have something better.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: He he actually says it right in the section, I have something better.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: Now let's go over to Joseph Smith.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: I, you know, John the Baptist appears, right?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: John the Baptist appears and he says, Hi, my fellow servants.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: I would be thinking, you're John the Baptist, right?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like there's songs about you.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: The the most published book in the world is the Bible.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: And you're a pretty big part of it.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: We are not the same.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: We are not on the same team.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_03: And you would almost picture John going, Oh.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: Hey guy, these are the guys I'm dealing with?
• 10:13
  unknown: Yeah.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_03: I think John looks at them and says, No, come on.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: We're on the same team.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_03: We're on the same team.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a little more well-known right now.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: But don't worry.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: So then how does that apply to young people?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: Both both Emma and Joseph, how does that apply to youth that are watching or listening to this right now?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: I know it's I know it's so hard to envision, Kirby, but John the Baptist, Peter, Emma, all of these wonderful figures from the scriptures, if they were to talk to a youth who's watching this with us, they would call them by name.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: And they would say, We're on the same team.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: We're teammates in this work.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: So come and join.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_03: Come be part of this.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_03: You can experience the same things I experience.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: I love that so much.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I love that you keep coming back to calling by name.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: To me, those were the first words of the restoration of the gospel.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: Joseph, this is my beloved son.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: It isn't, hey, here's this great thing that I'm going to be sharing with you.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's God calling him by his name.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: Same thing in a patriarchal blessing.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: The first words out of a patriarch's mouth, um, speaking for Heavenly Father, it's your name.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: And think about it, Kirby.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: It it's that it's that same way with us today.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: When I first met you, you walked right up to me, shook my hand, and said, Hank Smith, I have wanted to meet you for a long time.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: And that built me.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: That built I'm a I'm an individual.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: You see me.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: And the Lord is saying the same thing by calling you by name.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: The world, you're a number.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: You're a number.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: You're a statistic.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_03: You are a real potential moneymaker for them.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: But the Lord is, this is by name.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: Look at the temple.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: How many times does someone hear their name?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_03: Throughout the ordinances of the temple.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_03: It's so beautiful.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: When did you first feel like God actually knew who you were specifically?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's so cool.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you guys for sharing that.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um now Emma and Joseph had completely different assignments.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: Neither was more important than the other, but both were given by the same God to the same end.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think the important thing for people to know is that what you had just said, that God sees you specifically and it calls you to a work that is specifically yours.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: For you.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: Have you seen that in your life?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, absolutely.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_03: Uh my friend John, by the way, likes to say that the macro plan of salvation, if you zoom in, it's made up of billions of micro plans of salvation that are all working together, right?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_03: So you have your plan, I have mine, and the Lord is weaving them all throughout.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: And if you back up, it's this vast, beautiful plan of salvation.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's like looking up into the sky.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: You see five stars for the Big Dipper, or however many there are, but then there are billions in between.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_03: All set in a specific order.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: Purpose.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: It has a purpose.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_03: You are where you are for a reason.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: There's a beautiful primary song that I don't think we sing enough.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's it goes, I am like a star shining brightly, shining for the whole world to see.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: I love that one.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: And Kirby, for anyone who's wondering, why am I here?
• 13:56
  unknown: Yeah.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_03: Because I think that comes pretty naturally to a young person.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: They look up at the stars and think, it's so big, it's so vast.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: Why am why why am I here?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_03: You came for a specific mission.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_03: As a member of the church, you came for a specific mission.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: Now, someone might say, Oh, I thought the Lord loved everyone.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: Well, why would he have a chosen people?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: But it's because he loves everyone that he has a chosen people.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: And guess who that chosen person is to bless all the families of the earth?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's you.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's you.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: We're counting on you.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: I want to ask you a question.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: Understanding that is hard.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's a big concept.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: And even for adults to understand.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: Has it been a continuous revelatory process for you to come to that knowledge that God knows Hank Smith?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: Or was there a one moment that, oh, I realize it.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: He knows me.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I think there's both.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_03: There's there's there's sun, there's sunrise moments in your life where it just comes so slowly that you realize it's brighter than it once was.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: I can see more than I did.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: And then there are turn on the light moments in the room where all of a sudden now I can, wow, I can suddenly see a lot.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: I've had both of those moments and they're both powerful.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I I I sometimes I think sometimes we discount the small ones, the gradual ones, right?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: Because we want these You want angels singing from heaven.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but think about uh think about uh anything in life that lasts.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: It usually takes a while.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_03: And the Lord doesn't flood it all at once.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's kind of a regular line upon line.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's a beautiful scriptural phrase, and that's really how the Lord works.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna give you a little bit.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna give you a little bit, have a little bit more.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_03: Just enough for you to understand, comprehend, internalize, and then come back for more.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: And President Nelson, uh, when he was president of the church, he was part of that process.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: Where the Lord, yes, was working with me privately, but he was sending message, yeah, messages through the prophet to me, going, Oh, now this that I was getting privately makes sense.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: So coupled together, the leaders of the church and my own personal line to God, they've really built on each other.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: Hank, thank you for sharing that.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: Feel the spirit of that.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_02: So, Hank, um, we have a segment on the show called Real Talk.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we take a real question from real youth that are out in the world and we dig into it.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: So they're not easy questions, they're hard ones.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I've got one.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I what's great is I think it's right in your wheelhouse.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_02: Good.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: The question is everyone talks about being a covenant son or daughter like it's this huge deal.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: But honestly, I don't feel any different than my friends who aren't members.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: So, what is it actually supposed to change about me and my life?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, what a wonderful question.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have?
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, do you have a few hours?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, well, uh I'm gonna give you a 30-second version, a 30-second answer to that question.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um scripture can be difficult and uh it it it works on us over time where we start to pick up little bits.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but through my now decades of scripture study, yeah, I can see that the Lord had a chosen people all throughout the Old Testament.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: He had a chosen people.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: And he said to them, I am going to scatter you, but one day I'm going to bring you back.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_03: One day, I promise I will bring you back.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: I have a group prepared for this very thing.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: The years passed, the Lord is still at work.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: He's at work in everybody's lives.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: But when the time came, the Lord said, Now I'm gonna send that group.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna send that group.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, we look like everyone else, and of course we should.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_03: We're all having a human experience with human trials and you know, difficulties, pains, and and problems.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: But you are different specifically because you were the people that the Lord had in mind to bless all the families of the earth.
• 17:59
  unknown: Wow.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_03: So I yeah, I you should feel the same as everyone else in a way.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: But you also, when you keep the commandments, when you when you strive to keep the commandments and make and keep covenants, you're going to see yourself become different from everyone else around you.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: And it might happen slowly, but all of a sudden you'll look around going, I don't know if I really fit in here anymore with what I say, with what I wear, with what I consume, with the media I'm a part of.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: I think I'm different.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: And is that bad?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_03: Is that good?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: No, it's very good.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: You're starting to take your place in the chosen family.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_03: Hank, that's a mirror problem.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's exactly what it is.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: The you're looking at the world and uh seeing what they reflect back at you.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: But when you step back from that mirror, you're gonna see yourself as that covenant people.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna see yourself as as someone chosen.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: And the Lord, the Lord is clear with Emma.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_03: Put away the things of this world.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_03: You can't be chosen Israel if that's your mirror.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: And you'll be continually unhappy because what they show you will not work.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_03: It won't work for you.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_03: It won't work.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_03: You can't draw that star through the mirror.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna have to lay that aside and focus on me.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_03: That's what the Lord says.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: Focus on me.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_03: I love you.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you're gonna be different, but you're gonna make a difference.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: It rests on all the promises that you you've made and the promises that God has made back with you.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Emma, she carried discouragement.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: Joseph, he wrestled with his own weakness, and neither one woke up every morning feeling like, hey, I'm this chosen person.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm great.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they you they felt like they they fell short sometimes, that they weren't living up to what God wanted them to be.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: But like you said, that covenant identity makes you realize as you step back from that mirror, you see I am different and and I have a work to do and I'm gonna do it.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Kirby, I think you are right on being a member of this covenant family does not mean you have to be perfect.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: It means the Lord will never give up on you.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_03: And even when we're like, I don't want to be in the covenant family, I'm getting away.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_03: What does Elder Kieran say?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: He will relentlessly pursue.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: I love that relentlessly pursue you.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he's not got he's not looking for reasons to kick you out, he is finding every way possible to keep you in.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: And you'll see throughout your life, he does not let you go.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_03: He doesn't.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: He doesn't want you to go.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: You're chosen.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the FSY pamphlet has a beautiful section.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_02: It has this promised blessing.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: It says, You will become an instrument in the Lord's hands.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus Christ is your strength, your service will help you draw closer to him and bring you joy.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_02: Hank, you're amazing.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Kirby.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's been fun.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_02: You're a good friend.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: This amazing first month of this new FSY curriculum, it closes with this question.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_02: It says, as you studied this month, what have you learned about the Savior and his priesthood keys and authority?
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_02: How does that help you accomplish his work?
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: I'd love for you to write your answer on your phone or on a piece of paper, just one sentence, that's enough.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: Write down how this priesthood authority helps you accomplish his work.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: I want you to carry that sentence with you this week.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe put it on your screensaver so that you know that God knows who you are and that he wants you to be happy, and he's given you the authority and access to that authority to do that.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's strong for this week.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: Remember, you're a beloved son or daughter of God, and he has a work for you to do.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: Go do it.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: I'd like to thank our sponsors, Jared and Holly Swain, for making Strong possible.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: Visit strong youthfoundation.com for episodes and more.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: I'll see you in the next week.