Hank Smith: 00:00 Hello, everyone. Welcome to followHIM Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I’m the co-host of a podcast called followHIM, 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. You’re just jolly.

John Bytheway: 00:18 Jolly old St. Jonathan.

Hank Smith: 00:20 Jolly old St. Jonathan, who is here, and we are joined by our good friend, and just incredible scholar, Dr. Brad Wilcox. Welcome, Brad.

Bro. Bradley R….: 00:31 Great to be with you.

Hank Smith: 00:33 Yep. Now, followHIM 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 followHIM Favorite. John, let’s start with you.

John Bytheway: 00:57 Oh. I like this beginning of let’s see 1, 2, 3, 4, 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 and it’s fun.

Hank Smith: 01:24 The fun part, right?

John Bytheway: 01:24 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.

John Bytheway: 01:50 So, here’s your assignment. Next time you sing a Christmas carol in Church, they’re full of Level 2 and Level 3. We don’t have any hymns in the hymnbook about Santa Claus, that’s level one. But there are hymns that have Level 2 and Level 3, for example, “Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King.” Okay? That’s Level 2. The baby Jesus. “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 3.

John Bytheway: 02:17 And then when you’re seeing the later verse is “Hail the heaven-born Prince of peace,” that’s Level 2, 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.

Bro. Bradley R….: 02:55 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 Atonement was a great vicarious gift on 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.

Hank Smith: 03:55 Brad, that is wonderful. And as I think, what can I give back to Him, my Follow Him Favorite is 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.

Hank Smith: 04:44 Well, thank you both for joining us for followHIM 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 followHIM Favorites.