Anthony Sweat gives last BYU devotional of the school year
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- Anthony Sweat speaks during a devotional address at Brigham Young University on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
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- Anthony Sweat speaks during a devotional address at Brigham Young University on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
Anthony R. Sweat, an associate professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University, delivered the final devotional of the 2021-2022 school year Tuesday at BYU’s Marriott Center.
Sweat’s devotional, entitled “We Need an Endowment,” centered on the importance of endowments for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and focused on the following quote from Joseph Smith, the first prophet of the church:
“You need an endowment … in order that you may be prepared and able to overcome all things.”
According to Sweat, Smith was not talking about temple endowments, the religious ceremony in which church members make covenants and receive instruction, but rather a different kind of endowment.
“When Joseph Smith said that we needed an endowment to overcome the spiritual challenges we face, he wasn’t saying we needed a religious ceremony,” Sweat said. “What he meant was we needed an endowment of spiritual power, or a heavenly gift of divine knowledge, experience, capacity and ability.”
Sweat went on to say that Smith often described an endowment as a heavenly bestowal of spiritual power and that this bestowal of power likely won’t occur during an individual’s first trip to the temple, but rather as they continue to go and develop their capacity to hold spiritual power.
“Sometimes people participate in the endowment ceremony and they may not really understand it at first, or they don’t feel much different after they leave the temple from before they entered,” Sweat said. “But we don’t get endowed with power in a few hours. If we understand that endowment is a spiritual capacity, then we need to develop that capacity.”
According to Sweat, in order to receive the power that can come from temple covenants, church members must first study and pray to know and understand what that power is.
“If we don’t know what power is manifest, then how can we focus on it?” he asked.
Sweat reiterated that the divine power that endowments can provide is not just reserved for certain church members, but rather for anyone who will take the time and effort to receive it.
“We may be tempted to think that this kind of power only applies to certain people or to other people,” he said. “But remember that God’s power is very personal and can be received by everyday saints like you and me if we will learn the patterns and implement the covenant concepts.”
In addition to his work as a BYU professor, Sweat is also a public speaker, artist and author of books like “The Holy Covenants: Living our Sacred Temple Promises,” “Seekers Wanted: The Skills You Need for the Faith You Want” and “The Holy Invitation: Understanding Your Sacred Temple Endowment.” Sweat and his wife Cindy, whom he affectionately calls his “Sweat-heart,” are the parents of seven children.
