hello my friends welcome to another follow him favorites my name is Hank Smith I'm here with the incredible John by the way if you've been following follow him favorite this year you know that we take a single question from each week's lesson John the lesson we're on this week is Ezekiel the whole book the whole book of Ezekiel and there's a point in the manual where it makes a very simple statement said the Lord wants to forgive us to a couple of verses in Ezekiel like Ezekiel 33 where the Lord says I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked turn turn you from your evil ways and it also points us to Ezekiel 36 right in the middle verse 26 he says I can give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put my spirit in you going back to the manual the Lord wants to forgive so John the question is does the Lord really wants to forgive us it says it right here in the manual that he does he says it but how do I convince a young person a young single adults
 I forgive you now such a good question it's so hard to miss in the scriptures I don't think the Lord would invite us to repent and less he intended to forgive every time he asked us to repent it's I want to forgive you but you just need to ask and acknowledge that and I want to forgive you I think the fact that the sacrament table is there every week is evidence that he wants to forgive us anybody reading the scriptures will see the Lord is inviting us to repent their first principles of the Gospel faith in the Lord Jesus Christ second what repentance if it's the second thing talked about I'm pretty sure he assumed we were going to nieces right and I remember last year Hank when we are studying the Doctrine and Covenants just a sermon in a sentence five words section 64 I think I the Lord forgive sins that's what he does
 and that's one of those verses to write in your heart to let you know what he's like what God is like he is a forgiving God in fact John Joseph Smith. That God's Chief characteristic not one of his chief characteristics not one of many but his one Chief is mercy. God is merciful when we go to him and insincere ask for forgiveness I think he is quick to forgive I think Elder Holland called it a satanic Sucker Punch to think that it takes eons and eons to be forgiven of your sins know you can repent as quickly as you can sincerely pray that quick to be forgiven of your sins the Lord wants to forgive you he wants to be able to bless us now he says I can't save you in your sin but I can save you from your sin and I want to save you from your sins and thank we're both dad's of children and one of the things but for I learned so
 play you have a child come to you with their lower lip quivering and Dad I made a mistake I spilled something I did something wrong I'll tell you it melts your heart you are so eager to forgive in that moment now somebody tries to hide something from you it's a little different but when you come and I want a child comes and says Dad I did some stupid I made a mistake you don't care what is eager to forgive and I think that's being a dad taught me a lot about what you just called his Chiefs attribute there and John I think we need to remember that the Lord that likes to forgive over and over and over again because sometimes as we talked about previously we backslide we go back to our sins and we think you know I repented once but now that I've gone back to it he doesn't want to forgive me know he wants to forgive those sins to the ones that you accidentally fall back into so even if you're returning to his sin over and over and over you want to go
 keep going to the Lord for forgiveness it doesn't mean you're not repented you're just repenting relentlessly and he is forgiving delightfully along the way and eventually you're going to get to where you want to be I think if the Lord counsels us to forgive 7 times 70 Danette teaches us that he is equally forgiving again and again and again and I think that sometimes we say we make a mistake or not wanting to but we sent again but I love to remember that he is forgiving he asks us to forgive 7 times 70
 he's probably really good at that trait he's asking us to have I noticed last year in the doctor and Covenants hell off and he said your sins are forgiven you he just wanted to put that in the same people no matter what question I asked you like by the way have I told you you're forgiven today you're forgiven of your sins and it's that idea that if we are sincerely wanting to be like in which I'm sure that our audiences thinking yes that's what I truly want I truly want to be like him I just make so many mistakes then you just keep trying and he'll keep forgiving and eventually you're going to get to where you want to be it's going to happen for you we hope you'll join us on our full podcast we are with dr. Jan Martin covering the Book of Ezekiel you're going to love her and you're going to love the lesson she brings out so come find us wherever get your podcast or find us on YouTube and then come join us next week for another follow him favorites