followHIM - Christmas followHIM Favorites with Brother Bradley R. Wilcox

Episode Date: December 19, 2021

Hank, John and Brother Bradley R. Wilcox share their favorite parts from this week's podcast.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/episodesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive ProducersDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: MarketingLisa Spice: Client Relations, Show Notes/TranscriptsJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Rough Video EditorAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsKrystal Roberts: French TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-pianoPlease rate and review the podcast.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Follow Him Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I'm the co-host of a podcast called Follow Him, and I'm here with my jolly old, I was going to say jolly old St. Nicholas, John, but you're just jolly. You're not old. Jonathan, who is here. And we are joined by our good friend and just incredible scholar, Dr. Brad Wilcox. Welcome, Brad. Great to be with you. Now, Follow Him Favorites is where each of us, John and I and our guest, we choose a small portion of the lesson to go through. So you, John, Brad, you guys, I think you know this drill. The lesson this week is on the document, the living Christ. So you get to choose one portion from the living Christ to share as your follow him favorite. John, let's start with you. Oh, I like this beginning of, let's see, one, two, three, four, the fifth paragraph,

he rose from the grave to become the first fruits of them that slept. And it always reminds me of this is the ultimate, not just Christmas, but the resurrection. And the three levels of Christmas, which we talked about in the longer podcast, level one is Santa Claus and Rudolph and ho, ho, ho, and Christmas trees and stockings and all that. And it's great. The fun part, right? And yeah, and we love it. And it's great. The fun part, right? And yeah, and we love it. And it's beautiful.

But there's another level, level two, is the baby Jesus, silent night. The shepherds hearing the announcement and going to Bethlehem and everything. And we love that level as well. But we can't keep Christ in the manger. The third level is the adult Christ level. And when I heard this from William B. Smart years ago, it changed the way I sing Christmas carols in church. So here's your assignment.

Next time you sing a Christmas carol in church, they're full of level two and level three. We don't have any hymns in the hymn book about Santa Claus. That's level one. But there are hymns that have level two and level three. For example, Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King. Okay, that's level two and level three. For example, Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king.

Okay, that's level two. The baby Jesus. A peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Ooh, that's coming into the atonement of Jesus Christ. That's coming into level three. And then when you sing, the later verse is,

Hail the heaven-born prince of peace. That's level two. Hail the son of righteousness, light and life to all he brings. Look at this part. Risen with healing in his wings because he rose. He rose from the dead.

And none of these levels would be there without the level three of Christmas. As you sing hymns this year, listen for the level two and level three as you're singing and watch how all of these hymns would not even happen were it not for the level three, that he rose from the grave to become the first fruits of them that slept. I love that. I love that.

Well, this is a season of gift giving and we've been giving gifts and receiving gifts and so my favorite is right here at the end of let's see it says the one two I think it's the third paragraph here it said his his atonement was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth. We've already received the greatest gift. No wonder at the end of the document it says, God be thanked for the matchless gift of his divine son. I hope in all the gift giving and all the wrapping paper that we're throwing away, I hope that we can remember the greatest gift of all, the gift of his atonement and God's

gift of his son. Brad, that is wonderful. And as I think, what can I give back to him? My follow him favorite is kind of in response to yours, you both, what can I do for him? And it says in the second paragraph, he went about doing good yet was despised for it. And I think if the Savior were here and I would say, Lord, what can I do in response to your matchless gift that Brad talked about? I think he might say something like that. Go do good. Go about doing good. Even if you're despised for it, go about and do good. So maybe this Christmas season, it can be a renewal that 2022 is going to be a year

of all of us going about doing good. And there's always a place, a time that you can help someone go out and do what he would do. Well, thank you both for joining us for follow him favorites. Now we hope that you, the listener will come join us on our full podcast. You're going to love it. Make it part of your Christmas celebration this week. Come listen to our full podcast, but if not, that's okay.

Join us next week for our next follow him favorites.