followHIM - Matthew 2; Luke 2 Part 1 • Dr. Bradley R. Wilcox • Jan. 9 - Jan. 15

Episode Date: January 4, 2023

Jesus was born in humble circumstances. How does this affect your feelings for him? Dr. Brad Wilcox explores the many visitors and witnesses to Jesus Christ’s birth and intentional discipleship.Please rate and review the podcast!Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.coApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/follow-him-a-come-follow-me-podcast/id1545433056Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/15G9TTz8yLp0dQyEcBQ8BYThanks to the follow HIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Welcome to Follow Him, a weekly podcast dedicated to helping individuals and families with their Come Follow Me study. I'm Hank Smith. And I'm John, by the way. We love to learn. We love to laugh. We want to learn and laugh with you. As together, we follow him. Hello, my friends. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith. I'm your host, and I'm here with my wise co-host, John, by the way. Welcome, John, by the way, to another episode of Follow Him. Wise in my own eyes, Hank. That's about it. And everyone else's eyes, John. You are as wise as they come. And we are going to be talking about wise men today. So you fit that category perfectly. Although I don't think you're old enough to be one of the original wise men. Well, I knew one of them.

You knew one? He brought a camel from me once, but yeah, great guys, really. Now, John, we needed a scriptural expert to join us as we kind of bring Christmas back. We just had the Christmas season and now we're going to bring it back in Scripture. So we needed a Christmas Scripture expert. So tell everyone who's joining us. Hank, we're so excited to have Dr. Bradley R. Wilcox with us again. We've had Brad before, and we've been friends for years.

And this one seemed particularly apropos today because of the Messiah in the manger, because we'll be talking about that. So Brad Wilcox is an associate professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, where he enjoys teaching at Campus Education Week and especially for youth. And now we call that FSY. He speaks at Time Out for Women events, is the author of The Continuous Atonement, The Continuous Conversion, The Seven-Day Christian, The BYU Devotional, His Grace is Sufficient. In 2018, his book, Changed Through His Grace, received the Harvey B. and Susan Easton Black Outstanding Publication for LDS Scholarship. As a young man, Brad served his mission in Chile and in 2003 returned to that country to preside over the Chile Santiago

East mission for three years. He has served as a member of the Sunday School General Board 2009 to 2014. Brad and his wonderful wife Debbie have four children, eight grandchildren. Brad is currently a member of the Young Men's General Presidency. We're so excited to have Brad back with us today. He's wearing his festive Christmas tie. Yeah, I've got it right here. So, Brad, tell us, when is your birthday again? What day is that? Well, that's why, you know, it's hard for me to put away Christmas because I have to say goodbye to the birthday, too. I mean, I know everybody else is ready to move on, but I'm still wearing my Christmas tie. Was that tough as a kid? Did you have a different pile for birthday gifts and a

different pile for... I've talked to people who've said that, you know, it was hard, but my mom and dad just always made it fun. They had a sign in the house that said, happy birthday to Jesus and Brad. So, I always felt like I was in pretty good company. And it was funny because my mom did have a tradition of putting up two trees. So, she had one that was a Christmas tree, one that was my birthday tree. And then the idea was that my brothers were supposed to put a present for me under each tree. And that worked fine until the year that my brother got smart and bought me a pair of gloves. And he put one under the Christmas tree and one under the birthday tree.

And then everything from then on just went downhill. In fact, a year ago, he brought me a pair of socks and put one under the Christmas tree and one under the birthday tree. It's pretty funny. My cousin gave me a card one year that said, being born on Christmas is quite unique because you never know who brought you, the stork or Santa Claus. So, I don't know. It's always added a little extra sparkle to the season. It's always been fun.

But that's why I'm still wearing my Christmas tie. And I always love celebrating Christmas and my birthday with the only update on your bio, John, nine. Nine grandchildren. Awesome. Yeah. That's great. Congratulations. Yeah, I bet that's the best part of Christmas is having those grandkids around. It's a lot of fun. It gets crazy around the having those grandkids around. It's a lot of fun.

It gets crazy around the Wilcox house, but it's a lot of fun. Oh, good. And Brad, how many years now have you been serving in the Young Men's General Presidency? Let's see. We were called in 2020. I remember you telling me that you were actually at home when you were sustained in General Conference because of COVID. They didn't have anybody in the conference center. Yeah, they were actually using the little

theater and they just had the people who were speaking. And so, originally, they told us, you can come with your family, but just your immediate family. And then they called and said, no, you can just come with your wife. And then they called and said, no, your wife can't come, just you. And then they said, no, you can't come. You stay home. Wow. That's got to be a unique, yeah. It was a very different conference. But, you know, as we look back, it was so memorable because so many people needed that uplift. So many people tuned in because they were so scared and so fearful. And conference brought a lot of peace as people listened to the prophets and the church leaders and recognized that, hey, we're going to make it through this. We received a beautiful blessing during that conference

from President Nelson, if you remember right. And we all stood in our living rooms and did the Hosanna shout. Do you remember that? And to have him announce temples, just let everybody know, yeah, the work goes on. We're not stopping that either. So we're going to announce new temples while we can't even attend them. You know, that was cool. So, Brad, we just had Christmas, and now we're going to have Christmas again here in our text, because this week we're on Matthew 2 and Luke 2, which is the Christmas stories.

How should our listeners go into these chapters? Let's just dive right into Luke 2, and then we'll switch over to Matthew. But we'll just do the same thing that everybody did on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day in their homes. They start there reading Luke 2, and then they switch over to Matthew. It's what my dad did every year as we reviewed the Christmas story. So, yeah, let's go ahead and start in Luke 2. Pete We'll have Christmas in January here. Pete Well, as we look at Luke 2, it starts,

of course, as we've all got memorized from having read these verses so often, it starts with Augustus taxing the world, and they had to go to the town of their heritage. And so, of course, they went to Bethlehem. Now, earlier in the scripture, we find out that both Mary and Joseph descend from that Davidic line. And so, both of them are legitimately going to the town of their heritage, their legacy. This is the town of David. It's interesting that Bethlehem means both house of bread is what the word means, but it's also, if you go over to Jerusalem, you find out that Bethlehem is one of the sources of water for Jerusalem. So, I've always thought it's interesting that in Bethlehem, then we have the house of bread, and from that place comes the bread of life,

and we also have the source of the living water, because Jerusalem was fed with water from Bethlehem, especially anciently. So, it's kind of a beautiful thought as we think about O Little Town of Bethlehem. It wasn't on the trade routes, and when we talk about the inns that were so full, then we have to remember they weren't full because of the trade route. Everybody's passing through Bethlehem. It was a little village off to the side of all the action. Actually, the American Bible Society says there were three types of inns in Jesus' day.

There was the type of inn like a Marriott today, where you can go and get room and board, and if you're rich enough, you could pay for those services. That's what we read about in the Good Samaritan, but those would not have been the inn that would have been in Bethlehem. Similarly, anciently for those that couldn't afford the Marriott, then there were opportunities to stay in big common places. So, you basically could buy a little place on the floor and listen to a bunch of strangers snoring, but at least it was warm, and at least it was away from the dangerous animals and thieves if they were sleeping alone out under the stars. But that wouldn't have been in Bethlehem either, because it wasn't on the trade route.

So, the inn that's being talked about here is coming from a Greek word, kataluma, and that means guest room. It's the same word that was translated as upper room when they talk about the Last Supper. This was a guest room, and that gives added meaning, because if you stop and think about it, yeah, all the inns were full, the guest rooms were full, all the relatives were coming in for this occasion. But wouldn't relatives have made room for a pregnant lady who's about to deliver a baby? Joseph Smith translation changes the word inn to inns, plural, which means that nobody had room for them. Nobody would make room for them. Nobody would make room for them.

Tyler Griffin often says, because they were extended family, maybe they had done the math. Maybe they knew when Joseph and Mary were married, and now they saw that this baby was being born and enough time had not passed. As we read in Luke 2, there's an interesting phrase that we all have memorized, and it says, there was no room for them in the inns. But remember, it's inns instead of in according to Joseph Smith, and maybe we should read this, there was no room for them in the inns. There would have been room for others. There would have been room for another

newlywed who was having a baby, but not for them because they were being greeted with such judgment and such condemnation. They were being rejected by relatives. So, that definitely makes it a lot more personal when we think about that. We also read in that same verse that she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger. Now, we understand that they went to a stable. When I was a little child, I grew up in Ethiopia, Africa. And when we came back from Ethiopia, my parents took me through the Holy Land with my brothers so that we could be there and see it. And so, I have wonderful memories, but just little kid memories, just little kid memories. Under the Temple Mount, even today, there's a place that they call Solomon's Stables. It's basically the arches that are under holding up what's now the Dome of the Rock.

They don't let tourists go there now, but back when I was there as a young child, we got to go down and climb around down in those Solomon's Stables. And it was really cool to be there, but all I remember is having to go to the bathroom so bad, so bad, and there was no place. I wasn't thinking about the place. I was thinking just like a little kid. And the same thing when we went to Bethlehem. I was so upset that there wasn't a stable. And instead, there was this big church over a cave. And I thought, no, Jesus wasn't born in a big church. And I was so frustrated because I wanted to see that stable. But of course, the church is built over where the stable would have been. And the stable probably was a cave. And the manger, a stone manger, in French, manger is manger, which means to eat. How beautiful that Mary brought forth that firstborn son and put him in a stone manger because he was going to be the bread of life, the living water, and they needed to partake

of that. Let's turn to John 6, 56, and it says, He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. So, Mary is putting food, nourishment in the manger for us to come and be invited to partake, being invited to eat. I speak Spanish, but I don't speak French, so I hope I said that word right, manger. Well, let's look at one more thing from that verse 7 in Luke 2. It says she wrapped him in swaddling clothes. It's not uncommon for people to wrap babies in swaddling clothes today. They kind of take a length of cloth and just wrap that baby up like a burrito. My daughter-in-law would always do that with her kids because you don't want the baby to scratch himself. You don't want the baby to poke himself in the eye.

And I think from what I'm told, it helps the baby feel, I mean, I would feel trapped, I think, but they say it helps the baby feel safe and secure, kind of as if the baby's in the womb again. So, there's a beautiful thought in her wrapping the baby with swaddling clothes, but I assume that most babies back then were wrapped in swaddling clothes. Why would that be a sign to the shepherds that this baby would be wrapped in swaddling clothes? Why would that be a sign to them? Jack Welch has done some fascinating research, and he talks about how when couples were married anciently in Jewish weddings, they would tie a band around their arms loosely, symbolizing their union. And that's where we get the term tying the knot. Isn't that interesting? Well, then this band

would often be embroidered with symbols from the family's heritage, with colors representing the family. So, this would be something special that a bride would save from the wedding, just like brides today will save their wedding dresses or save, well, now they even can save the flowers that they had. Have you seen that, where they kind of bubble wrap the flowers? So, in the same way, Mary and Joseph may have saved these bands. And Jack Welch says that when a baby was new, often they would wrap the baby, not just in swaddling clothes, but they would wrap the bands, this band from the wedding around the baby. Now, if that's the case, and we don't know whether it was or wasn't, but if that's the case, then surely this would have

been a sign. I mean, today they worry about swapping babies. They'll put a little wristband around the baby's wrist or around the baby's ankle because they don't want to swap babies in the hospital. So maybe there was a practicality in wrapping this family band around the baby because it would say, hey, this is my baby. It's not your baby. Don't get mixed up. But also, symbolically, this speaks of the heritage. They were coming to Bethlehem because that was the town of their heritage. So, these bands may have been blue and white, the same blue and white we see in Israel today, which were the colors of the royal lineage of David.

Maybe they would be embroidered with lions or lambs because David was a shepherd lion, the royal symbol of royalty in Judah. So, who knows? Maybe these bands were special and unique enough that when the shepherds would come to see, then they would recognize that this is the son of David and the son of God. That's verse 12. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes with certain symbols on them. There's probably a lot of babies with swaddling clothes, but I can't imagine there's too many babies lying in an animal trough.

Yeah. Brad, do you remember when Sister Becky Craven, she spoke at one of those first presidency Christmas devotionals, and she talked about swaddling clothes. And it was almost like, I think it was an ad-lib. She just looked at all of us and said, every once in a while, all of us could use a swaddle. Yeah. Kind of like a good hug. Yeah. Just wrap me up like a burrito.

Yeah, that was beautiful. So, that would be a very unique sign to them. And these shepherds, again, we have to remember that they were not ordinary shepherds. In Alma 13.26, in the Book of Mormon, we read that Christ's birth shall be made known unto just and holy men by the mouth of angels. So, these shepherds were just and holy men. We learn from Bruce R. McConkie and James Talmadge that they were the shepherds who were watching over sheep that were bound for the temple. And why did they need to watch over them at night? Well, because the sacrifices had to be of the firstborn. So, the shepherds needed to pay special close attention because these were shepherds that had to witness the birth of the firstborn and be able to verify that this sacrificial lamb was indeed the firstborn. And when we think about that, then how appropriate for God to call these shepherds, not just

any shepherds, but these just and holy men, and there were probably women among them as well, to come and witness the birth of the firstborn of the Father in the Spirit. These were not ordinary shepherds, not ordinary shepherds at all. Pete Well, Brad, thank you. This is great. There's a word in verse eight that I've come to notice recently. There were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

The word abiding, if it weren't there, it would still make sense. There were in the same country shepherds in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night, but they were abiding. And Sister Chieko Okazaki, who was in

the General Relief Society presidency, 1990 through, great speaker and writer, she talked about the word abide and how it means to stay, to continue, to endure without complaint, to be where you're supposed to be type of a thing. And she said something really beautiful about this remarking on about the shepherds. She said, I hope we can all feel the strength of abiding in our fields, keeping watch over our flocks. And then she said,

let's be where we are supposed to be so that angels know where to find us. And I thought it was just a beautiful thought. That's from her book, Stars, on page 96. There's so many different ways that's been put. Stay on the covenant path. Abide over your fields and watch your flocks, your calling, your responsibilities, your family. Be where you're supposed to be so that the Lord can find you. And then now, after I said that, start to think of the word in other places where the disciples on the road to Emasis. Yeah, said abide with us.

It is toward evening. And Jesus did for a while. And then he left. And now it's as if the Savior is asking us to abide with him. We go to the sacrament table. We promise to take upon us the name of Christ and always remember him and keep his commandments. We're promising to abide with him. And then what do we hear that they may always have his spirit to be with them. He's going to

abide with us. There's a lot behind that wonderful little word there, just abiding. And I thought Sister Okazaki pointed that out beautifully. And when we were on our mission in Chile and presiding over a mission, my wife and I would have a special conference at Christmas time because the missionaries feel so far from home. But we always would sing Angels We Have Heard on High. And afterwards, we would share with the missionaries the thought that it's only as you're out in the field, like you say, abiding, keeping watch over the sheep, that the angels did come to those that were busy tending sheep. And that these missionaries were away from home, they were away from their family traditions, but they were tending sheep. And so, we confidently promised them that they would see God's hand, that they would

feel the angels close, and that they would hear angels' song. So, I can't sing that Christmas song anymore. I can't sing it without always thinking of missionaries who are out tending sheep all over the world and hoping that they will hear the angels from on high. Pete Oh, that's nice. And we just got done with the last book of the Old Testament just a few weeks ago of Malachi, where he asks, will you be able to abide the day of his coming? Because the great and terrible day is coming. And if we're prepared, we can abide, we can continue and remain in that day when Jesus comes again. It's kind of a fun word, fun to see all the different places it shows up and has kind of special meaning there.

Before we continue in Luke 2, let's switch over to Matthew 2, and we can read about the wise men. It says in verse 1, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Now, we don't know how many. Bruce R. McConkie says that the tradition of three wise men is probably because of the three gifts that we mentioned. But there could have been more wise men is probably because of the three gifts that we mention. But there could have been more wise men who were coming. And just like the shepherds were special and the shepherds were not ordinary, these wise men were not ordinary travelers.

They were not scholars or astrologers. But, and you can read this in the Bible dictionary, it says they were spiritually sensitive and knowledgeable prophets on a divine errand. These were prophets. Joseph Smith teaches us that they were not just seeking a king, they were seeking the Messiah because they knew that He would come. God led Lehi and his family to the Americas, so is it not possible that He led other faithful Israelites to other parts of the world? Wherever the wise men were, they, like Lehi and Nephi, knew about Christ,

and they were looking forward to his coming. So, the wise men were Israelites who lived, as millions did, in one of the nations to the east. They had been led away from Jerusalem, and they were looking forward to the coming of Christ and they would return to be able to bear witness that Christ had indeed come. So that's kind of interesting that says that they came and they were seeking a star. I think it's kind of fascinating that the whole world celebrates the star. It's a symbol of Christmas. We have come to know that they were searching and that they would find Jesus, the star led them, and every Christmas pageant in all Christendom celebrates the wise

men following the star. But in the Bible, we only read of the star in the New Testament. We don't read about it in the Old Testament. There's not one mention of the star in the Old Testament. Just as Nephi and Lehi and their descendants were looking forward to the coming of Christ, then there were other pockets of Israelites who were also looking forward to the coming of Christ. Now, how did the wise men know the star was the sign of Christ's birth? The current Old Testament has no such prophecy. There is a verse in Numbers that does talk about a star, but not directly. So, as you search through the Old Testament, you're not seeing

this prophecy that they're talking about in the New Testament. Even though Christians all over the world are celebrating this, they're actually demonstrating and acknowledging that there has to be other scriptures and other revelation in addition to the Bible. Because here they're talking about something that's not necessarily stated clearly in our current Old Testament. So, I think it's very satisfying to think that all Christianity is singing about a star that's not found in the Old Testament, but it's found in the Book of Mormon.

Samuel the Lamanite prophesied in Helaman 14.5, there shall be a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld. Now, of course, the wise men would not have read about the star in the Book of Mormon scriptures, but just as prophets in the Americas knew about the star, then there had to be additional scripture, and there had to be a revelation of the star to these wise men to know that that's what they were looking for. Beautiful. Brad and Hank, when I was growing up, we used to watch the Ten Commandments movie. Remember Charlton Heston, the Ten Commandments? Oh, yeah. They used to show it on TV. You didn't have a video of it. You had to just watch it on TV. And they showed it around Easter, oddly. It was showed the Ten Commandments and Charlton

Heston being Moses. And I think Don Knotts read for that part, but didn't get it anyway. Don Knotts, your hero. I don't know why they're're so similar but they're you could do it john you could do it now let my people go he's my brother let my people go i'll throw you in the mayberry jail so at the very beginning of the movie the seti the father of Ramesses in the movie, he's with his priests and the priests say, hey, there's word of a deliverer among the slaves. And one of the priests goes, a star proclaims his birth. And it's interesting that if you watch the beginning of the movie, it says we're taking

this from the Old Testament and the works of Josephus. And we've mentioned him on the podcast before, this Jewish historian that wrote about three volumes. It was interesting to me that there was a new star for Moses, evidently, according to Josephus. And Moses is such a strong type of Christ that it's kind of fun to see when the real deliverer comes that Moses foreshadowed there would be a star. That's a fun little note in the movie, The Ten Commandments from Josephus, a star at the birth of Moses. That's beautiful. Speaking of this star from Matthew 2, verse 2, Neal A. Maxwell said this. that placed that star in a precise orbit millennia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the babe, has given at least equal attention to the placement of each

of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives so that our light may not only lead others, but warm them as well. I mean, the way he looked at the star and thought, man, the Lord must have placed that in its orbit long before it happened. He's saying the Lord does that with each of us in our lives, places us in our precise human orbit. So I need to thank both of you for being in my orbit. I feel very blessed to cross planetary paths with you. It's a beautiful thought that God governs so closely the crossroads and the intersections of our lives.

And the older I get, the more I can look back and I can see the truth of that. Not just hope that it's true, but I can see the truth as I see the people that God has woven into my life and the lives that I've been able to interact with in ways that have been so impactful. Brad and Hank, you'll love this. This is also Elder Maxwell. He said, just as the rising generation is here now by divine design, so are we who have been placed just ahead of them. Our lives and theirs have and will intersect many times before it is all over and not by accident. Yeah.

And I think that's exactly right. I love to read this to young men leaders that there's a reason you're there where you are. All this talk of this rising generation, well, they put you there too, to be in their orbit. We hear a lot about intentional parenting and intentional discipleship. And isn't it beautiful to think that God is an intentional parent, that he's very intentional in what he is doing in our lives. And we can see that in this appearance of that star. In Matthew 2, if we go to verse 10, it says, when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And then in verse 11, and when they were come into the house,

they saw the young child. So, obviously, they're coming a little later. Jesus is a young child now, and they bring them gifts. Elder Oaks in the First Presidency devotional just recently, before Christmas of last year, said that these gifts may have been the reason that Mary and Joseph could afford to go to Egypt. These gifts I had always thought of as just being very symbolic, but President Oaks reminded us that there may have been some practicality in these gifts as well. If you've ever been over to the Holy Land, we often take tours and visit Israel, but sometimes you can go over into Jordan as well and visit a place called Petra. It's a remarkable place. And this Petra was a trade center. It was the place where people would come from the east to come to Israel, and it's where the Israelites would have gone through on their way to the east.

And it was in its heyday during the time of Jesus Christ. So, as you visit Petra, people say, oh, well, Petra's a nice historical place, but there's no connection between Petra and the Bible. But there is a connection, because as you think about where the wise men were coming from, they were coming from the east. And so, they brought gold, frankincense, myrrh. Where did they get the gold, frankincense, and myrrh? Probably in this World Trade Center of the time at Petra. That's probably where they got these gifts and then carried these gifts on to the Christ child. So, maybe we don't know whether the wise men went through there or were from there. We don't know. But it certainly would make sense that they would have passed through there. And that was a place that was very famous for the trade of frankincense. Even today,

it's a famous place where people will go and get frankincense. Even today, it's a famous place where people will go and get frankincense. And then because it was this trade center, there would have also been gold and myrrh and other valuable things in abundance. So, maybe when we visit Petra, we are visiting, in a way, a sacred place. Pete So, Elder Oaks said, perhaps these gifts enabled them to move to Egypt. That sounds much better than the song where it says, a child, a child shivers in the cold. Let's bring him silver and gold. And I thought he doesn't need silver and gold. He's shivering in the cold. Let's bring him a blanket. But this makes sense. If a child,

a child is under threat, he needs money to move. That makes more sense. I've heard other scholars as well talk about this financed their flight into Egypt. And I just going along with talking about orbits and intersections, isn't it wonderful the Lord provided a way because we're going to learn later on that Joseph and Mary, when they brought their sacrifice to the temple, they brought the one that was available to the poor. But the Lord helped them find a way to finance that flight into Egypt to save the Savior's life. So, despite their poverty. Another evidence of the Lord working things

together for them, I think. And you know, you can't speak about the wise men without speaking about Herod, who was so fake when they first came to him and said, oh yes, tell me where he is so that I can worship him. And then the wise men were warned to not return to Herod, but to go home another way. My son-in-law, Landon, served his mission in Uruguay at the same time that his parents were serving as mission leaders in Chile, and they got to call on Christmas. In the olden days, missionaries couldn't call home as often as they do now. So, a call home was something very special and anticipated because you finally got to talk with your parents and not just communicate through email or earlier letters. So, he had a chance to call his parents, and the call, as they were talking, his father,

Larry Laycock, who's a wise man himself, said, Landon, he reminded him of this story. He said, when the wise men left after they encountered Jesus, they went home another way. And he said, Landon, you're about to go home from your mission. And just remember that your mission was meant to change you. Your mission was meant to give you an encounter with Jesus Christ that would change you. And you are not meant to go home and just pick up where you left off and go back to your bad habits, back to your earlier life, back to your circle of friends. You are meant to go home another way. And those words have become so important to me as I reflect now on that experience with my son-in-law and his father, that gives me a new vision of how this story isn't just about wise men going home changed, but this story

is about how we can go home with a testimony of Jesus. We can move forward another way because we've encountered Christ. Please join us for part two of this podcast.