Welcome to the Recent Speeches Podcast presented by BYU Speaches, featuring inspiring new devotionals and forums given each week on BYU campus.

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This devotional address entitled Becoming God's Peculiar Treasure

was given on December 3rd of 2024 by Anthony D. Perkins,

then a general authority 70 of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Dear BYU students and friends, how grateful Christy and I are to be here with you today.

Is the choir saying, O come all you faithful, I thought that that refers to you.

Thank you for your faithfulness.

Christy and my experience at Brigham Young University absolutely transformed our lives and the lives of most

of our children and their spouses.

President Reese assures us that BYU is already transforming you.

He can hardly restrain himself from sharing some of the great things that you are accomplishing.

He is proud of you and so are we. After our BYU experience, we moved to Philadelphia

for graduate school. One day, a classmate said to me, Tony, you're a bit strange. You follow

religious behavioral rules which I do not understand, and you are so young to be married

with three children, which I cannot even begin to fathom.

At the time, I may have felt slightly embarrassed by his assessment of me as some sort of weirdo.

Now I see his observations as a great compliment.

The Apostle Peter wrote,

Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people,

that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Peter teaches that the Savior has called his chosen disciples, you and me, to be a peculiar people.

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