VIDEO: Christmas | Dec 19-25 | Come Follow Me Insights

Christmas | Dec 19-25 | Come Follow Me Insights – powered by Happy Scribe

I’m Taylor.

And I’m Tyler.

This is the Book of Mormon central. Come. Follow me. Insights. This week, a special Christmas episode.

We wanted to do something different this year as we’re closing off the Old Testament and preparing for next year with the New Testament. We’re going to be covering in great detail the events of the birth of Jesus Christ in in some of those early episodes in January. So we wanted to mix things up with this particular episode as we close off the Old Testament year by wishing you a Merry Christmas from all of us here at Scripture Central. Taylor and I volunteer our time to come and do these presentations, but there is an army of people behind the scenes who work to make things possible here at Book.

Book of Mormon Central invited each of them to share a small gift to you of a Christmas message to inspire you during this Christmas season to think about the love the Lord has shown you in the gift of His Son.

And then we’ll also, as part of this, invite you into the Halverson and the Griffin home and share some thoughts, some scripture messages with you and some Christmas cheer from our homes as well, we hope. This has been a wonderful year studying the Old Testament and diving deep into these scriptures that keep foretelling of the coming of the Messiah. And now here we are, last episode of the year, Christmas, where we get to celebrate his arrival on the earth and prepare us for what we’re going to study this coming year in the New Testament. And we’re looking forward to joining with you in that study as well.

We love you and we really want you to have a very Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Hello and Merry Christmas. My name is Benjamin Griffin and I’m the producer for Come Follow Me insights with Taylor and Tyler. It has been my great pleasure to oversee Come Follow Me insights for the last two and a half years as we have been able to explore the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Old Testament. We are excited to continue Come Follow Me insights into next year. We hope that you feel light and goodness in your life as you have been able to dive into the Scriptures and explore the teachings of Jesus Christ through his ancient and modern prophets.

Merry Christmas. We are the Halversons. I’m Taylor.

I’m Lisa.

I’m David.

And I’m Rachel.

We’re going to share with you a few symbols from the Christmas season.

One symbol of Christmas is the candle. Candles can represent the light of Jesus Mary.

Another symbol of Jesus Christ is the star. And this represents that since the wise men followed the star to find Jesus, we also need to follow Jesus to find God. I also love the symbol of the tree. Remind us me of the Tree of Life which represents Jesus Christ. And evergreen trees represent lasting forever. Everlasting life. That’s what Jesus offers us.

Christmas is the season of giving. We know that the wise men sought out Christ and gave Him gifts, but the greatest gift comes from our Heavenly Father. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have ever lost in life.

Welcome to our home, Kiplin, and our children and I are grateful to spend a few brief moments with you as we celebrate this Christmas season together.

We thought we would share with you some insights and thoughts and feelings through word and song that that we have had together as a family as we studied the Christmas story together and individually. And we hope that you can feel the Savior’s love for you this season.

Welcome joyful call and behold his for knacking of angels I do open let us hear the cross doors see? Quite something he did and take the time around glory to Lord glory in the high oh, come and open the cries day Lord, we praise thee. Born makes happy morning, Jesus. He be your glory in sword of Lord. Now replay shall peace.

Something I really like about the Christmas story is the wise men and how when they saw the star they went to find baby Jesus and they believe all their precious things and leave their comfort zone to go and find Jesus. And it was a really long journey and they could have turned around at any point, but they kept going. And we can do that to go and find Jesus and leave all the worldly things and go and find Jesus. And he will help us even if we have to leave our comfort zone and things. And we’re not really leaving our comfort zone because Jesus is the comfort zone and he can help us do anything. No matter how hard, no matter how long or anything, he can always help us get to Him because he loves us and wants us to be with Him.

What can I give him? Poor as I am. If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part. Yet. What can I give him? Give my heart. That is the last verse of the song in the bleak midwinter that my family and I sing during this Christmas season. And as I been reflecting on that principle of what can I give the Christchild, I think back on what the shepherds brought. The shepherds brought Him, the great shepherd Alam. The wise men took what little they could to Him. The King of Kings in gold, Frankincensenmer. Now Jesus Christ already has all of that that he could ever want, but they both took something else, something more. The one thing that he’s asked us for and that he truly wants. And that is what I can take. My love and my heart. That is what I can give him.

So this Christmas season, our family just set up a bunch of our Christmas decorations. And among those are my mom’s collection of nativities. And as I was looking at them this year, it struck me how in many of those nativities, the figure of Mary was holding the baby Jesus. And it was so tender and beautiful in that nativity setting. But it made me think that eventually Jesus grew up and does the very same for us. He opens his arms to us and he holds us when we need Him to. And even maybe we don’t think we do, he’s always there and his arms are always open. As part of his covenant fold, he unfolds us and his arms.

In the Scriptures, we read about some wise men that followed us start to get to baby Jesus, and whenever they got off track or couldn’t find their way, they always just looked up to the star and they could always find their way back onto the track and keep going. I know that Jesus sends us stars like prophets, church, temple, family baptism, the Holy Ghost, Revelation, and lots of other things to help us get back to Him. I know that he sends me stars personally to help me get back to Him. And one of those is family, because they can help me remember Jesus and keep the commandments. And I know that he sends everybody else stars that can help them get back to Him. And I know that he loves me and that I love him.

At this wonderful time of Christmas, I have been thinking a lot about the theme of light. Jesus is the light of the world. And there’s a special Christmas carol that we sing every Christmas time called Hark the Herald Angel Sing. And from the second verse there’s a line that I really like that says light and life to all he brings. Risen with healing in his wings, jesus Christ exemplifies what it is to be a light to all around Him. When Jesus Christ was born, so much light came into this world, not just through the star that appeared, but light into people’s lives. And he continues to do that to this day. If we seek Jesus through diligent, scripture study, prayer, temple attendance, church attendance, service to others, we will have light enter into our lives, his light. And we will hopefully be able to reflect that light into the people that are around us. It’s my hope at this Christmas season that we can be reflectors of Christ’s light into all who surround us, that we will be able to uplift the downtrodden, help the needy and the weary, and share Christ’s light with all of God’s children.

And play my prayer in the morning.

One of my favorite people in the business room is the shepherd and how he takes care of his sheep. Like right here, he’s taking care of this little sheet and you know how sometimes sheets get lost? If one of the sheep gets lost, he has to go and find that one sheep. He doesn’t not find that sheep. And how that applies to us in our life is that Jesus is a shepherd and we are his sheep. And if one of us goes missing, he has to go and find us. And why he does that is because he loves us and he takes care of us, just like this little boy is doing in this picture. Matthew one, verse 23 says, behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is God with us. I love that even his name was a prophecy of who he was, what he would grow up to do. And verse 21 says, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, the door was opened for us to be with God again and for God to be with us.

And I’m so grateful for that. I have seen the blessings of this prophecy fulfilled in my life. I have seen Christ with me in the good times as well as the bad. I have seen Him lifting me and strengthening me when I could not do so on my own, and I’m so grateful for that. I know that with Jesus Christ, all things are possible. I am so grateful for this Christmas season to be able to reflect on my gratitude to Him and find ways to express that and show Him my gratitude for what he has done and what he continues to do every day. So I’ve been thinking a lot about the shepherds and the wise men, and they came to see baby Jesus and how Jesus Christ, he gives us the opportunity to be able to draw unto Him in so many ways. And he doesn’t care whether we’re rich or poor or happy or unhappy or struggling or not struggling. He wants all of us to come unto Him because we’re his children and he loves us so much. And he gives us so many ways that we can come unto Him. He’s given us temples, scriptures, the opportunity to take the sacrament each week and so many others.

And if we just look for those opportunities and those ways that we can come closer on to Him, we’ll be able to find them. Something cool I’ve been thinking about this Christmas season is I’ve noticed a lot of nativities and things. I just like noticing Jesus’s hands. Like all the little nativities, his hands are so tiny and so small, and it’s nasing to think what those hands would do in the future. They’d bring people back from the dead. They’d heal people who were sick. They would be put up on the cross, and he would suffer and die for our sins, and they’d be nailed for the cross. And those same hands are still reaching out to us, for us when we need them. I want something really cool. A while ago, when I was having going through some really hard challenges, I wrote a song called His Healing Hands. And the choruses, his healing hands are reaching out to me. If I turn into faith, then his love encircles me. He’s there and his healing hands will help me when I fall. There’s peace in his healing hands, the peace he brings to all. So I think that’s kind of cool that he’s always there, ready to take us and pick us up when we fall.

And we just need to reach for Him because he’s always reaching for us.

So I’d like to share a couple of thoughts that I had as I was reading the Christmas story. And it kind of starts out with the story of Zaccharias. When he was in the temple, the angel of the Lord came unto him and said that he and his wife will be blessed with a son, John, who was a forerunner to Jesus Christ. And the interesting thing is the words that the angel used, he said, Fear not. Then we go to the story of Mary when the angel visits her to let her know that she will give birth to the Savior. Once again, we get those two beautiful words fear not. And then we get the story of Joseph, who has a dream in which the angel comes to him and once again says those two words fear not. And then we get the story of the shepherds abiding in their fields on the night of the Savior’s birth. And once again, the angel of the Lord comes to them and says, Fear not. And I think this is really a beautiful message that we get, this repetition of those two words fear not all throughout the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ.

And I think the powerful message there is that the Savior’s mission in part was to come into the world to dispel fear, to give us a reason not to fear, to give us a reason to move forward with faith in another moment. Much later in Jesus Christ’s life, the disciples were on the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the night on their boat, and the Savior comes walking to them on the water. And it says that the disciples were troubled and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I be not afraid. I think the powerful message here for all of us is that many of us will face these dark times where we fell all alone on the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a storm. Maybe that looks like a recent relationship struggle or maybe a sickness or the death of a loved one or mental illness, whatever that might be. That voice of the Savior rings down through the corridors of time with that same simple message, be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. I know that Jesus Christ has calmed the storms in my life and that he’s been there to offer me peace and refuge and safety when I felt alone and isolated, abandoned, and when I felt most afraid of my life.

That same simple message, fear not has kept me afloat in the darkest of times. And another, the Savior will extend that same mercy and that same grace and that same peace to every single one of us, especially in this Christmas season. He is our Prince of Peace. I know that is true.

If you can think about the last time that you held a newborn baby and think about the feelings that come with that experience of holding something so freshly arrived from heaven, it makes it a little easier to contemplate. What Mary and Joseph might have felt on that night as they looked down at this newborn babe with that question what child is this? Considering that he had left the royal courts on high as the creator of worlds without number under the direction of Heavenly Father, his word was uttered and worlds came into being into existence. His hand, the mighty hand of creation. And now he gave all of that up to come down and become like us and to start like us, a king from Heaven, a God before he was born. And now he’s in this little infant body where he can’t speak, he doesn’t have control over those hands. And there’s so much power that he left behind to condescend, to come down and take upon Him flesh and walk our soil and to breathe our air and to be like us.

That’s beautiful. I was thinking about as I was reading through the Christmas story, that moment when he does come down, that tiny babe in the manger. And then I got thinking about surrounding that pivotal point in the story. We have all of these people that are drawn to Him in different ways and that choose to be with Him. We have Mary, who was visited by the angel, and she made the choice to accept that call. She said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord. And then we have Joseph, who was brought into the story, and he made the choice to accept Jesus as his adopted son. And then we have shepherds who were in the fields, and they were invited to go seek Jesus. And they made the choice to go and find Him and worship. And and you have the kings, the the wise men who also made the choice to to make a long journey to to be with Jesus. And as I was thinking about all those things, I got thinking about what am I willing to do to be with Jesus? Am I willing to be with Him in the mangers of life where things are peaceful and beautiful and there’s that soft glow in our lives and it’s joyful.

Am I willing to be with Him as he walks the streets and heals people and loves people and lifts people in my life? Am I willing to do that as well and be with Him and go with Him to do that? Am I willing to be with Him at the cross and at the crosses in people’s lives as they mourn and weep and suffer? Am I willing to stay with Him in those sacred places and with people? I think one of the beautiful names for the Savior is Emmanuel, which is God with us as we choose to be with Him. He chooses to be with us always and forever. And I testify that in my life, I have seen his hand and his presence in my life and the life of my children, my husband and many others as they make choices to be with Jesus and he chooses to be with them, god with us, emmanuel, our Savior and Redeemer. I testify that he lives and he loves us. He loves you. He loves me with a perfect and beautiful love that is more glorious than anything we see at this time of year.

All the lights that celebrate his existence, all the light that we can put up and produce and make, does not compare to the light that he is and can be for us in our lives.

I love those insights. And as we contemplate the ending of a year where we’ve been studying the Old Testament, all of those people and all those prophets throughout thousands of years in the Old Testament, they couldn’t come to the manger, they couldn’t be in the stable. They chose to make room for him in their life, even though it was centuries or millennia before he would be born. And now here we are 2000 years later. And as you’re saying, we can make room for Him in our life and to come and bend the knee at the manger and at the cross and everything in between. So as we as we close out this Old Testament year, it’s our testimony that that babe born in Bethlehem is indeed the jehovah of the Old Testament and the fulfillment of all of those prophecies of the coming Messiah. And his mission was to come to save us. And he’s very good at what he does if we’ll just let Him in. And we leave that with you. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Know that you’re loved.

Was one truth and dangerous things

good Christ fear for sin mary, the sight and word is clean nail spirit shall be piercing through the cross be borne for me for you may fresh the baby. Song of men so breathing compass and peace to Him all they can breathe let glowing hearts and grow near raise, raise us all my heart of words and Jesus

music.

We appreciate Taylor and Lisa and Tyler and Kiplin and their families for opening their homes and their hearts to us this season and sharing their thoughts and testimonies with us. Taylor and Tyler are blessed to work with some amazing staff and personnel here at Scripture Central who make Come Follow Me insights and other related programs possible. These wonderful team members, along with their families, would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and share their thoughts and faith with you. We hope that these messages bring a spirit of Christmas cheer into your lives as we go into this new year of come, follow me in the New Testament and that we will all have a renewed desire to dive deep into the scriptures and understand and apply the words of Christ, that we will be able to become true disciples of Him in Word. And indeed, we are so grateful for all of you who have been with us on this journey and those of you who are joining us now. On behalf of Scripture Central and all who work here, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New.

Year welcome to Kirk and Shannon’s House. Please come in. You’ll notice our little bear here for Christmas. And then right next to it, our little welcome bear. Our grandkids love this little bear because they come in and flip over the sign all the time. Get a kick out of that. All the neighborhood kids know they can come over to Magley’s house and do a chore and get a quarter and then come and get a treat.

Honey bunch.

Okay. This is the very first Christmas ornament we ever bought it or Christmas decoration we ever bought in our family. And it’s Santa’s marching band, so marching bands are kind of important. All of our kids went through the American Park High School marching band program. Like many latter St families, we have nativity scenes that we purchased on our travels around the world from all over the place. That one happens to come from the Bethlehem area. And this is our little Christmas cactus that only blooms at Christmas time. We think it’s kind of fun. Right up here is the Mount Tippetto’s temple, and that’s our temple, and we love it up on the hill. This is my favorite decoration in the whole house, though, and I put it out starting about Thanksgiving time. It says, Give thanks, but I put my anyway, Thanksgiving and Christmas are about the same holiday to me for real. So a few years ago, we got this little tree at an American Fork High School jazz Band fundraiser, and it has Christmas ornaments from all the various years of the American Fork High School Marching Band. And since our kids were in the band during those years, this has always been special to us.

But what’s really important about this room is the sacred grove. So you’re now in Kirk and Shannon’s sacred grove room. This is an 18 foot mural of the sacred grove. This tree on the left, the tree on the right of the very same tree, this is a 360. And you’ll notice that here you’ve got a path that’s coming in. It’s the very same path. But this lends an aura of reverence and dignity and divinity to what goes on in this home. And so we love to spend time here, but come on in. Let’s show you some other things that are important to us at Christmas time. So I’ve always been musically challenged. I had to marry Shannon to get music into our home. But there is one instrument that I do have im l to play. Here you go. Play it for real there. Oh, okay. I’ll play it for real. There you go. Now, this is one of my favorite representations of the baby Jesus, and here he is enveloped in eagles wings. Now, I refer to this as the Avian Jesus. We bought this at one of those neat little wood carving shops in Bethlehem.

But the reason I like it is because in the Scriptures, the Savior has abian characteristics oh, that you would have gathered like chicks under the and allowed me to gather you like a hen gather through chicks, but you would not. There’s also serpentine imagery associated with the Savior, the Scriptures with the serpent raised upon the staff. And that bird serpent together is very, very significant in the Book of Mormon because they both appear there. And that’s where the feathered serpent imagery comes from that we love from Miss America. But to me, this has always been baby Jesus in angels wings. So that’s what I like about it. It’s our family. This is what we get to look at as we sit at a dining room table. Those are some of the best gifts we’ve ever been given. So family is important. We love family. At Christmas time, when I was a senior in high school, I got to go back and be the Presidential Scholar, presidential Scholar in Washington, DC. And we had a dinner one night, and Neil Armstrong, who had only been off the moon one year, happened to be there. And he sat right next to me at dinner, and it was so fun.

He was so kind, and he visited so kindly and things like that. But then he asked me to dance during the dance part, and I stepped on his foot. So if you ever want to step on the foot that stepped on the first foot that stepped on the moon, there it is, and you’re welcome. Okay, this is one of our traditions at Christmas. Honey bunch, would you mind playing out here? This actually transcends between Thanksgiving Christmas household.

Lord, we pray make it safe by night and day bless these waves of firm and stout keeping want and trouble out bless the roof and chimneys hard let thy peace lie over on let this door that it may prove ever open to joy.

And land.

Blast these windows shining bright lighting in God’s heavenly light bless the heart of blazing there with broken light off where blessings folks who dwell with him keep them pure and free from sin bless us all that we may be fit, O Lord, to dwell with Me bless us all that we and day we may dwell.

Our Lord.

With Thee.

Thank you, Suit Hart. So that would be our message to the Book of Mormon Central family at this Christmas time. Bless us, Lord, that we may dwell someday with thee. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Shaw in a well.

Hi. We’re the Clarks. We like to issue a very merry Christmas from the Scripture Central team. We’re so very thankful that we got to spend this year learning about the Old Testament and about the Savior. We’re so very excited going to the New Year to learn more about the Savior in his life. One of my favorite scriptures from the Old Testament that talks about the coming of the Savior is Isaiah 52 six. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak. Behold, it is I I love the words of Isaiah, and I love the actions and the life of Christ that we’re going to learn about in just a week. I’m one of the new video editors for the Come Follow Me Insights series. We’re so very excited to share with you some of these awesome life events and some of the new resources that we have for this upcoming year from.

Our home to yours.

We wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Hey.

Merry Christmas. My name is Xander. I work with BMC on the video team, and I happen to be at winter quarters today. And so I just kind of wanted to show you guys around and just kind of share some of the things I’m learning. I’m here filming with Casey Griffiths and we’re doing a video about winter quarters and we’re just kind of showing people around the visitor center. And the thing that has impressed me the most about this whole story of winter quarters when the Saints were kicked out of Navu, they came to this place. It was cold, it was empty. They had to try to figure out how to survive. Joseph Smith had just died. They’re trying to figure out who the next leader was, but through all of it, they were still very faithful. Here’s another picture here depicting winter quarters, and it’s actually pretty neat. You could see just kind of some details down here of the little shacks they lived in in the winter and cold. And there were like 5000 people here. And what’s I thought it was crazy that more people died here at winter quarters than other events in church history, especially like when the Saints got to Navu, there was a big outbreak of.

Like malaria and stuff. And people died. More people died here than any other place. So it was a time of hardship for the saints, but something about their faith, about their belief in the Gospel, joseph Smith priesthood power, jesus Christ kept them through this. And I think that’s a great Christmas message is christmas is in the middle of winter, it’s cold, but it’s a time of hope and love and happiness and giving to each other and you can find those good things in your life even in the midst of such trial like this. And so I just wanted to share that I know that Jesus Christ lives. This church is true. And I’m so thankful for the restored Gospel in my life to help me through the hard times, and I know it can for you guys too. Thanks. Merry Christmas from our family at Book book of Mormon. Central yours. We’re so grateful to be able to celebrate the birth and the life of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ. I’m just especially grateful this year to appreciate his condescension from being God, being Jehovah of the Old Testament, to surrendering all his powers and his glory, to come down and be a helpless baby and to go on and be regarded by his people, his brothers and sisters, as a thing of not.

And to be crucified and to suffer for myself and for every one of us. I’m so grateful for my dear Savior and I’m grateful for his sacrifice and I’m grateful for the Christmas season to remind me of that.

Hello, everyone. Pippa and Leanne Vaief from Spanish Fort, Utah. And this Christmas season, now that it’s approaching, we want to tell you a little bit about our amazing experience that we just had coming from Jerusalem and the thoughts that came with it.

So one of my personal favorites was Cave in Bethlehem where we had to go down in and upon entering it was dark and it was cold, and not soon after entering, it became warm and lit up. And it just reminded me of our Savior’s birth, especially at this time of the year, and how he brought light to a dark and sudden world.

So we want to leave you with the thought that I guess for us as the value family, we have been reminded that it is a cool thing to have been where Jesus was. However, and I think I can speak for my wife and myself, we have realized that it’s better to be as Jesus was. So this Christmas season, we invite you to have that in your heart and to remember that it is a real blessing to be as Jesus was. Merry Christmas, Mary Christmas sweetly seeking more like plains and the mountains living refine mechanous rains roll

we wish you a Mary Merry Christmas god bless you all.

What a gift it has been this year to be able to go in depth into the Old Testament stories of our Savior because this wonderful thing that we celebrate now at Christmas is the birthday of the great God of the Old Testament, Jehovah. I am so thankful that I had this opportunity to be with you and to explore these corners of of history and Scripture. And I just want to thank each of you who are watching because without you, it would be nothing. Please take this opportunity and continue your exploration as we move forward into the new year of the beauties and wonder in Scripture. I also would like to take one moment to thank all of the support people who helped make this possible here at Scripture Central. There were so many people working behind the scenes who are truly gifted, talented and tireless and devoted into this work of sharing God’s story. Thank you to each of them and thank you to each of you and please have a beautiful, beautiful Christmas.

I’m Elder Brown. And I am Elder Lizambi. I help with the scripture slides for Taylor and Tyler. And I am the film editor for John Hilton’s Seeking Jesus series. The holiday season is an excellent opportunity to search for service opportunities around you. The holidays can be a really hard time for a lot of people and it’s one of the best times that you can go out and find people to serve. For me, being able to work with the Book of Mormon Central team has just been such a true blessing. To be able to bring the light of Christ has just been I just cannot explain how amazing it’s been. And I hope that you all have been enjoying the videos that Bookmark Central has been producing that they have brought in the spirit of Christmas to you during this season and the Spirit Christmas throughout the entire year as we’ve been able to focus our minds and hearts to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

These messages and Christmas wishes represent only a small handful of the many wonderful people who we work with here at Scripture Central. We are truly grateful for them and the many others who work tirelessly to help with these videos and many other endeavors. We are grateful to all of you for sharing this journey with us as we learn and grow together in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your kindness and your faith and your love for the Lord. Most of all, we are grateful for our Savior and his continued mercy and grace and loving kindness in each of our lives. We here at Scripture Central want you to know that we know that Jesus is the Christ. He came to this earth born as a tiny babe in Bethlehem, and he atoned for the sins of the world. We testify that he lives and that he loves us. It is our prayer at this Christmas season that you will fill his love for you and that you will find the peace, comfort and grace that he freely offers to each of us know that you’re loved.