2: “Be It unto Me according to Thy Word”

Tammy 0:00

Happy New Year! What will the year 2023 be like for you? What is your approach to a new year? Are you a "new year, new you" kind person or do you prefer "new year trying to hold it together without totally losing it" you? What if 2023 was a "new year, knew you", but the new is spelled K N E W? What if this is the year you truly learn that God knew you? Because He does. And our study of Matthew chapter One and Luke chapter One will reinforce this truth. In fact, God knows you so well that Luke One teaches that He sent His Son to us to give light to them that sit in darkness in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Happy New Year indeed.

Tammy 0:52

Welcome to the Sunday on Monday Study Group, a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original brought to you by LDS Living, we take the Come, Follow Me lesson for the week and we really dig into the scriptures together. I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. Now if you're new to our study group, we just want to make sure you know how to use this podcast so follow the link in our description. It's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your Come, Follow Me study, just like my good friend, Janice Sucre. Oh my gosh. Hi, Janice. I met her at a really cool seminar for bishops and we had such a great time studying the scriptures together. All right. Now another awesome thing about our study group is each week we're joined by two of my friends. It's always a little bit different and today, okay, I'm so excited about this. So, we have an oldie but a goodie Sharmaine Howell from Minnesota. Hi, Shar.

Sharmaine Howell 1:36

Hey, Tammy. So fun to be back.

Tammy 1:39

It is! And how excited are we to introduce a new friend? Okay. You guys, this is Kathryn Davis. And Kathryn Davis is the host of the new LDS Living podcast called "Magnify". Hi, Kathryn.

Kathryn Davis 1:52

Yay! HI! I'm so excited to be here.

Tammy 1:56

Oh, my gosh. This is the first time all three of us have met. And, I feel like we're already friends.

Kathryn 2:00

I think so too. It's so great.

Tammy 2:03

Kathryn, tell us a little bit about your podcast for people who don't know.

Kathryn 2:06

Well, it's all about how we as women can magnify God's love in the world and use our influence as as followers of Jesus Christ to make a difference. It's all about how we can make a difference in little and simple and easy ways.

Tammy 2:21

Oh think that's awesome. And where can people find your podcast?

Kathryn 2:25

On any place where they get their shows, on Apple or Spotify or you can go to magnifythegood.com. And all the shows are uploaded on magnifythegood. Or you can go to an Instagram community called "@ magnify community" and all the all the shows and, and all the links and really great tidbits throughout the week will be posted on that web page.

Tammy 2:49

All right, so I highly recommend you guys do that. And if you want to know where you can find all that information, too, make sure you check out our show notes, because we're gonna have a link to the podcast as well as bios and pictures of our guests. So you can go check all of that out. And I just have to add this one little thing about Shar, because she mentioned this before we started recording. Shar, what is so cool about today's episode?

Sharmaine 3:11

This is the first episode of, you know, New Testament, and I was on the first episode of The Book of Mormon. Three years ago,

Tammy 3:10

Four years ago.

Sharmaine 3:15

I feel like I've been here in so long, and it's just so fun to be doing this. I love it. And Kathryn, I've listened to a few of your podcasts. And I think they're so wonderful. So thank you for putting them out there.

Tammy 3:29

Yeah.

Kathryn 3:30

Thank you so much.

Tammy 3:30

Kathryn's a great host.

Sharmaine 3:32

Yeah.

Kathryn 3:33

Well, it's new for me. It's new for me. And it's, and it's exciting. And I feel like there's a lot to learn, and I am feeling a little inadequate. But I also feel like God is blessing me, and I get to learn from amazing people every week. And that's what I'm so excited about doing that because now I get to meet you guys. And how fun is that?

Tammy 3:56

I know. Well, and Kathryn's also a Seminary teacher, so we're automatically joined at the hip. Like how do I not love Kathryn, seriously.

Sharmaine 4:04

That's awesome. I'm a Seminary kid mom. So,

Tammy 4:07

That counts, totally counts. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

Sharmaine 4:10

Okay.

Tammy 4:11

Okay, well, we are gonna have fun today because we get to start out, this is our first episode for our New Testament year. So everyone, grab your scriptures, your scripture journals and something to mark your Scriptures with. And we are going to dig in to Matthew chapter One and Luke chapter One. Here we go. Okay. Ohh, so I have something to show you two. Tell me what this is, what am I holding up?

Charmaine, Kathryn 4:32

Binoculars, binoculars.

Tammy 4:35

Binoculars. Very good. Okay, now tell me what they do.

Kathryn 4:38

Help you see.

Charmaine 4:40

They magnify things.

Tammy 4:46

Ooooo.

Charmaine 4:46

Look at that. I'm back, full circle.

Tammy 4:49

Nice. Okay, now if you were in my class, I would have all of us go outside. And I would have us look through the binoculars at the exact same thing at the same point, like maybe across the street. kinda close, just so we can all look at the exact same thing. Okay, so I want to ask you this, what would your prediction be? If I then said to the class, tell me what you saw? Just using these binoculars looking at the exact same thing? Would it be different? Or would they all kind of be the same description?

Sharmaine 5:15

I think they'd be pretty close. You know, if you're looking at a bush, you'd all kind of say the same description of the bush, right?

Tammy 5:23

Yes. Perfect. Because the binoculars go straight to the what you're looking at, right? kind of narrow-focused. Okay. So I'm glad you guys were able to explain that and help me explain that because this is how I understand a really important word for us as we study the four gospels this year. And the word is synoptic, it's spelled s y n o p t i c. And the reason why I want us to know this word is because looking through the binoculars, we all will have a similar experience if we're looking at the exact same thing. That is what Matthew, Mark, and Luke are; they are considered the Synoptic Gospels, because they have the same focus. These three gospels are written from the same point of view. They have parallel stories, sometimes the exact same wording, teachings and parables as well as miracles in Jesus's life.

Tammy 6:13

Now, if we went outside and we didn't have binoculars, and I said, Hey, everybody. Everyone look at that bush right there, then what would your description be for everybody? Would it be the same or different?

Kathryn 6:26

I think it'd be different.

Tammy 6:27

Why?

Sharmaine 6:30

Because there's a lot more to look at, right? And they might focus on something else rather than, if you say, Look across the street, you know, the wide view might be, you know, lots of different things.

Tammy 6:43

You're exactly right. Okay, so what you just described is the Book of John. I kind of feel like John chose not to use binoculars because he is less concerned with specific stories and experiences and he's more concerned with the deep doctrines of the Savior, so he is excluded from the Synoptic Gospels. So again, synoptic is Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And then John is a little bit wider in this approach, meaning he's not going to focus on all those other specific things. Okay, so now that we know synoptic, let's go to the Book of Matthew.

Tammy 7:13

Go to your very first page, and we're going to kind of mark some cool things in here. So it says "The Gospel according to Matthew" Highlight the word 'gospel' right there. This is such a fun word. So in Greek, we have understood the word 'gospel' to mean "the good news". We've heard that before in Conference talks, the good news, but I really like the Olde English rendering of the word "gospel", which is "god spell". And that means "God Story". So I put that in my scriptures, because then it says, "The God Story according to St. Matthew, the God Story according to Luke, the God Story according to Mark. Tell me why you love that Kathryn.

Kathryn 7:54

Just because it makes it their story about God, like God's interactions with them, with people. It's His story. It's not, it's not Matthew's story; it's Matthew's interpretation of God, and God's Story.

Sharmaine 8:14

I love that too.

Tammy 8:15

Oh, I do too. That's the experience I had with that, learning that definition is the same with you, Kathryn. I was like, that changes everything for me. So, now when I read it, it's Matthew's interpretation of the story of Jesus Christ the God. So that is so cool, Kathryn. Thank you for sharing that.

Sharmaine 8:31

And I like how that relates to us, you know. We live the gospel and, and, you know, God in our lives is so very personal. Right? And He is, you know, and Jesus, you know, He's not just Jesus Christ, but He is MY Jesus. So, the gospel is, you know, personal to me. And it's, it's, you know, that my story, you know, God's and Jesus's story in my life, according to me, you know, and how, what their, what their part was in my life. That's how I live the gospel.

Tammy 9:02

Okay, so I'm putting on my front page right here: "The God Story according to Tammy". That's what you just taught me. The God Story according to Sharmaine; the God Story according to Kathryn. Like, what will our story tell of Him when all is said and done? And what would we write of Him? Oh, that's so cool. Thank you for sharing that, both of you. So let's do this: we're going to put two cross references on this page, just to finish our discussion of this opening statement. So we're going to put 1 Nephi 13:28. So go ahead and put that anywhere up on the top. This is what Nephi calls the Gospels, the four gospels that we're going to study. This is so cool; he has another name for it. So we have the God Story according to Matthew and Luke and John and Mark. But in 1 Nephi 13:28, let's read this and see what he calls this book. Shar, will you read verse 28 for us.

Sharmaine 9:55

1 Ne 13:28 "Wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God."

Tammy 10:06

What does he call it?

Sharmaine 10:08

The book of the Lamb of God?

Tammy 10:10

That is a powerful name. And then here's what he has to say about this book, 1 Nephi 13:39, we're gonna follow it up now. The next cross reference is verse 39. And here's what Nephi has to say about this book. Kathryn, will you read this for us.

Kathryn 10:25

I would love to. 1 Ne 13:39 "And after it had come forth unto them I beheld other books, which came forth by the power of the Lamb, from the Gentiles unto them, unto the convincing of the Gentiles and the remnant of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews who were scattered upon all the face of the earth, that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are true."

Tammy 10:46

Thank you. What did he say at the very end about this book, it's what?

Kathryn 10:50

True

Tammy 10:51

It is true. It is true. I'm going to add my witness to his, this book is true. The God story, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and all the other books we're going to study this year are true. And I am grateful that they took the time to write these stories, because it draws me closer to what we talked about - "the God Story according to Tammy". What would I say of Him? So I will bear witness it is true. Would either one of you have anything to say about this book, also, in connection with Nephi's statement?

Kathryn 11:20

What I am so excited about in studying the New Testament - and I love this, like, it's God's story - is that it is my story with Him, and that I can come to know Him in the pages of this book. That, that Jesus Christ is real, and that His influence in my life can be felt when I'm in His story. When I read His story, I can see Him in my life. And, and that's what I love, what Nephi and every prophet is, has testified about the Scriptures, about God's word, that He is the Word. And so when we study the Word, we are bringing Him into our lives.

Tammy 12:04

Wow.

Sharmaine 12:05

I love that. And when you gave your intro, Tammy I, I started crying already. I loved it. And I, and it just kind of what you were saying, Kathryn, it's because He knows us, right? And so it's, it's just, it's very personal. And I, and I love that we get to read these stories of Him because it makes me realize, you know, He knew them and He loved these people. And He loved all these, you know, people He ministered to, and He loves me the same, you know. He knows me. S

Tammy 12:33

Oh, He absolutely does. Amen. Thank you, both of you. That was perfect. Okay, so what we're going to do is in the next segment, we are going to begin our story, the God Story according to Matthew and Luke, and we're going to find out what first truths they wanted to teach us.

Segment 2 12:48

.....

Tammy 12:59

All right, for this segment we are going to do something fun together. So here's what I want everyone to do. Get a piece of paper or open your journal, you're gonna need some space on your journal, k? So do that right now. And what I want you to do is on a piece of paper, I just want you to write in the middle the word, "Jesus", in the center of your page. Okay, just write Jesus. All right, here we go, in the middle of that paper.

Kathryn 13:21

Tammy, you need to come into my classroom with me.

Tammy 13:25

No, I don't.

Kathryn 13:25

Yes, you do.

Tammy 13:27

This activity is so fun. I actually stole it from a seminary lesson because I loved it so much. So there you go. Truth. There's a truth, but it's so awesome. Okay,

Sharmaine 13:35

Okay, good.

Tammy 13:35

Okay, you've got "Jesus" written in the middle of your page. Now, I want you to imagine this: Imagine you have one minute - 60 seconds - to tell someone who was unfamiliar with Jesus, about who He is and why He's important to you. I'm going to give you 60 seconds to surround his name with as many important details that you would want to share with that person. Are you ready to do this? You can write the words to the outside or any details you want. Everyone listening, I'm really going to give you 60 seconds to do this. On your mark - I'm timing you, this is real. Get set. Go.

Tammy 15:10

Stop. Okay. All right. I am so excited to hear what you guys have to share. What did you write down? And we'll just take turns going one at a time. And you guys can just share some of the answers you wrote. What did you use to describe Jesus? How would you talk about Him?

Sharmaine 15:28

I wrote "my friend." .

Kathryn 15:31

I did, too. And I, and I also wrote "healer, my healer".

Sharmaine 15:39

And then I wrote "my Redeemer".

Kathryn 15:45

I put "High priest of good things to come".

Tammy 15:50

Oh, is that one of our favorite ways to describe Him? Oh, I love that.

Sharmaine 15:54

One of my favorites.

Tammy 15:56

I'm so glad you included that. I'm adding that to mine. Keep going.

Sharmaine 16:01

Deliverer.

Kathryn 16:05

"Brings happy endings".

Tammy 16:09

Ohhhh,

Sharmaine 16:10

I wrote "my Brother".

Kathryn 16:14

"Listener".

Sharmaine 16:17

And then I wrote "my Judge".

Kathryn 16:22

"Advocate".

Tammy 16:23

Oh, perfect, advocate and judge. Do one more, each of you.

Sharmaine 16:28

I just wrote "Atonement".

Kathryn 16:31

And I put "the Great I AM".

Tammy 16:35

Oh, Yes.

Kathryn 16:36

Because that, I think is one of my favorite titles of the Savior.

Tammy 16:42

Why?

Kathryn 16:42

is the I Am. Because often in my life I have felt like I'm not enough or I'm not doing what I'm supposed to. And a couple of years ago, I had this thought as I was studying, actually in the New Testament, and came across The Great I Am. And I just realized that I am enough because He is. Because He's The Great I AM, it means I am enough. So, I just think He brings The Great I Am to everything that I lack or everything that I need.

Tammy 17:18

Hmmm. Wow, Kathryn, that was powerful. I appreciate you sharing that, "I am". That was awesome. I loved what both of you shared. And as you were saying those words, they weren't just words. Like they were powerful words. They were words as you, I think it's amazing how you can bear testimony with just words, so simply and beautifully. And that's one of the things I like about Matthew. In fact, let's turn to Matthew 1:16 and we're going to find out one of the words that he would have written maybe on his paper, Matthew 1:16, and Shar, will you read that for us, please.

Sharmaine 17:56

Matt 1:16 "And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ."

Tammy 18:04

Okay, let's highlight and underline "Christ". Oh, this is a good one. In fact, I'm, let's add that if you didn't already have it next to Jesus, add it. So did you guys have that on your list? Kathryn did, yes. Shar didn't, well, Shar, added. It's okay. You didn't have to have everything, I only gave you 60 seconds, could have gone on and on and on.

Kathryn 18:22

could have.

Tammy 18:22

Oh, you totally could have. So this is neat about Christ, because Christ in Greek is Christos. And Christos in Greek means "the anointed one", or "Messiah". So we can add those words, too, which if you didn't have Messiah or Anointed One, add that to your list as well. You know I thought it was really powerful as I was studying and preparing for this lesson, one of the things I learned is that Matthew, he purposefully wrote to help people - especially the Jews, who did not believe in a savior - to recognize Jesus Christ for who He was. That was his main goal in writing the book of Matthew, it's just to teach the Jews who Jesus was.

Tammy 19:02

And I read this cool quote by St. Augustine of Hippo, he's a fifth century theologian, and he says this: "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Christ." And I just think that is, for me, it made me think of the world I live in. Like our hearts are restless until they rest in Christ, and is my heart rested in Him? And I thought, boy, we all could use a little rest. And I'm like, I think that's what Matthew was trying to bring the pople, was just some rest.

Tammy 19:32

As you were reading those "words", I felt so peaceful and calm. Like I can say I felt restful when we had that experience writing his name, even though you had to write so fast. It wasn't feverish was it? It wasn't like, anxious. It was like I'm writing words to describe Jesus Christ. It's a beautiful, restful experience. And so when we talk about and we share these stories this year in the book of Matthew, kind of keep that in the back of your mind that this story is here to bring you rest. It's to bring you closer to Christ.

Sharmaine 20:03

I had a question because I know you've mentioned this on an earlier podcast, but what is the Hebrew, Hebrew meaning of the name Jesus?

Tammy 20:11

Oh, very good question, Char. I'm so glad you asked that. So "Jesus" is the English or Greek rendering of the Hebrew word YESHUA. And Yeshua in Hebrew means "salvation".

Sharmaine 20:23

Salvation. That's what it was. Okay.

Tammy 20:26

Isn't that amazing that the, that the angel comes to Gabriel and Mary, we'll talk about this later, but he's like, Oh, and you're gonna name your son "salvation". You know, I think of all of our names mean, that's a pretty big name to be, you know,

Sharmaine 20:37

Yeah. I love that.

Tammy 20:39

Charity, whatever. Salvation

Kathryn 20:41

One who saves'.

Tammy 20:43

Yes.

Kathryn 20:44

As an idea that He is. It's a common name, right? Jesus is a common name, but 'one who saves', that He will bring salvation.

Tammy 20:53

Yeah, and He definitely does. Excellent. Okay, so here's just a couple of little facts that we also want to know about the book of Matthew. So Matthew was one of the original 12 apostles, and he was eyewitness to the events that are described from the Savior's life. And Matthew did mainly write to the Jews. So in much of his writings he's going to emphasize Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah that were fulfilled through Jesus's life. This is kind of cool: he also was known as Levi. That was his name, Levi, son of Alphaeus, before he was converted and his name changed to Matthew. And he was a publican, or a tax collector. That was his job before he became an apostle. So nobody

Kathryn 21:30

Somebody not very well-liked.

Tammy 21:32

No, no, not very well-liked at all. Is it hard, have you guys seen "The Chosen"? Is it hard not to think of The Matthew?

Sharmaine 21:39

I know, I keep thinking of that. Is that bad?

Tammy 21:42

I don't know but they, you know, it's, I like the way they do it with him. It's kind of fun like, no one really likes him. So, yeah. Okay, so here's what I want you to do. I want you to look back at your list that you made, and we're gonna take "the Matthew challenge" this year. So I'm gonna ask you a question and I want you to tell me the very first thing that pops into your mind with this question, here we go. What is something that you specifically can do this month, this week, this year, or today to help people find rest in Christ? Go, what popped in your brain?

Kathryn 22:16

I can listen.

Tammy 22:18

Oh, and you even put 'listener' as one of your words for Christ.

Kathryn 22:21

I did. But I just think of that, especially in my class and all of my interactions with youth. I can listen.

Tammy 22:31

What does listening do?

Kathryn 22:34

I think through listening it brings healing. I think just sometimes when somebody's heard, it brings, it brings healing. It brings love and understanding and acceptance, you know? I just, it's powerful.

Tammy 22:50

Oh, I really like that answer. I agree with you. That's a great way to help people find rest is to listen. Awesome answer. What about you, Shar?

Sharmaine 22:51

First thing I thought of, I don't know if this sounds, gonna sound weird, but give people more hugs.

Tammy 22:51

Oh, yay.

Sharmaine 22:53

I feel like my kids, I don't know why, but every morning if I've missed giving them a hug, they call me out on it. "Mom, you didn't hug me this morning." And, you know, we just need to hug each other more often. And tell each other we love them.

Tammy 23:22

Amen.

Sharmaine 23:22

I think that brings some rest in my life.

Tammy 23:25

Oh, I totally agree. That is so good.

Kathryn 23:27

Yeah, I mean, I've just been thinking, as you were saying that I just kept thinking back to President Nelson's talk.

Sharmaine 23:34

hYeah, I did too, a few times.

Kathryn 23:36

This last conference where he talks about rest and

Sharmaine 23:41

sharthe overcoming the world, right? And he talked all about the temple journey and how we find rest in the temple. And, and Tammy, when you said, you know, I was looking, I'm listening to those words, you felt peace and calm. You know, that's what you get when you go to the temple, too. You know, you feel that rest, you feel that it's the one time where you don't look at your phone or your watch for an hour and a half, right? You finally get to like rest your brain and rest your mind and think about Jesus, right.

Kathryn 24:11

And rest your mind on Jesus. Like you're kind of settling in to just thinking of Him.

Sharmaine 24:18

Yeah

Kathryn 24:19

Yeah, beautiful.

Tammy 24:20

Oh, that was so good. Thank you for bringing that up. That's an awesome connection. Okay, so because we have the goal of Matthew, and the goal was to help people to recognize Christ and bring rest, we're going to show you how he did that by starting at the very beginning. And that thmay sound kind of odd, but we'll show you what that means in the next segment.

Segment 3 24:37

.....

Tammy 24:49

I want you guys to give me a genealogy brag. Do you have anyone you're related to that has a good story that's kind of cool? Like, I'll give you mine right now. I'm related to William Clayton and he wrote the song "Come, Come Ye Saints".

Kathryn 25:02

Ohhh.

Tammy 25:02

I know. Cuz whenever we sing it in church, I make sure all my kids know, Hey, you're related to this guy. He's like a great, great, great, I don't even know how many greats, a lot of greats, but we are related. That's my brag.

Sharmaine 25:13

That's a good one.

Tammy 25:14

I know, it is.

Sharmaine 25:17

I think I'm related to a, no, no, no. I am related to Mormon pioneers. I brag to my kids about that when we read their stories. Nobody popular, tho. I mean, if you've heard of John S Stuckie, I mean, that's me. I mean, I come from him, so there you go.

Tammy 25:36

All right. Google his name everybody and then you know, Shar's related.

Kathryn 25:42

I don't know how many greats, I think it's my great great grandpa was Mariner Wood Merrill who

Tammy 25:49

Who's that?

Sharmaine 25:50

Yeah, who's that?

Kathryn 25:51

He was a General Authority and helped to build the Logan temple, and was the first Temple President at the Logan Temple.

Tammy 26:00

Okay, that's a hot, that is a serious brag in the Hall family, just FYI. My husband

Sharmaine 26:05

Oh, really?

Tammy 26:06

Oh, they're all from Logan, they're gonna love that. Okay, these are so fun, because people definitely have genealogy brag. And I think it's fun when people share who they're related to. I mean, I would love to ask that on social media. Who's your genealogy brag, like, who are you related to? Because I want us to look at the genealogy of Christ. This is the beginning that Matthew wants to start out with. Like of all the things he could do, he is going to give us boom, right here, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. And there are some serious brags in here. So let's just go to Matthew 1:1-2. That's what we're going to read. We're going to mark up this genealogy,

Kathryn 26:42

1:1 "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham.

Kathryn 26:48

2 "Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob beget Judas and his brethren;"

Tammy 26:53

Okay, there's some brags right there. If you want to mark Judas, it's actually, that is the Greek way of saying Judah. So just in case anyone's wondering. So we've got these names and you're gonna read through these and be like, Oh, my gosh, look at all the people He came from. This is amazing. But then we get some that people might think are not so braggy. But I do, I think they're awesome, and we have to mark these names. So they are in verses 3-6. And they are women's names. So let's mark these, it is so fun. So we have in verse 3: "And Judas (or Judah} "begat Phares and Zara of Thamar." Highlight Thamar. Then we're gonna go to verse 5. "And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab", {that's Rachab right there, highlight Rachab} "and then Booz begat Obed of Ruth;" and highlight Ruth. Yay, Ruth.

Sharmaine 27:42

Ah, love that. I have a Ruth baby girl my family,

Tammy 27:46

Your little girl, Ruth. And then we have one more woman, the end of verse 6. "And Jesse begat David the king: and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias". So highlight that.

Sharmaine 27:57

Bathsheba,

Tammy 27:58

Yes, Bathsheba. Okay, now why would people consider these women non-brags?

Sharmaine 28:05

Because of what they did in their lives, right?

Tammy 28:08

They're Old Testament stories from last year. They're coming back.

Kathryn 28:10

A little bit sordid, like, right? Thamar's a deceiver.

Tammy 28:14

Mm hmm.

Kathryn 28:15

Rachab directly translated means 'harlot'.

Tammy 28:19

Yep.

Kathryn 28:20

Bathsheba is an adulteress. And Ruth was an outsider.

Tammy 28:27

Yes, you're absolutely right, Kathryn. I mean, last year we learned their history. And a lot of people will read these and say, Oh, yeah, these women are no good. But I think they're totally good because we reframed them last year in the Old Testament, and we fixed exactly how important they were to the genealogy of Christ, which I think is so awesome. But here's what I want to know from you guys. What does this teach us by including these women in the genealogy of Christ? Because women weren't even allowed to be included in the census. It was strictly men. And we learned that in the Old Testament. You read men's names, never are women included.

Tammy 29:00

So I want to know for both of you, as women, here we are talking about this, Why is this so cool that women are included? I want to know your thoughts on this - specifically these women? What does that teach us about the genealogy of Christ?

Kathryn 29:12

Okay, well, I think there's a couple of really important things, too, that he's trying to teach us through including these women. The first off, for me, Elder Talmage, James Talmage said this quote in "Jesus the Christ" he said: "The world's greatest champion of women and womanhood is Jesus the Christ." And from the very beginning, we see that, that Jesus is the greatest champion of women. In fact, like, so many of Christ's actions with women, were against the time and against the mold. And so that to me is one of the lessons of including these women in His genealogy is that Matthew is showing us that Christ included women, He taught women.

Kathryn 30:03

He also, it shows to me that He went to the outcast, that He went to those who were on the outskirts and the unwanted. That Jesus came from a history that maybe some of us would think, Oh, we don't, we don't have a great history, or we don't have a great family. Well, Jesus came from that. And He will pull us out of that. And He can pull us to Him and to His story, and that He will meet us where we are, and as we are. That's what it tells me.

Tammy 30:42

Oh. Well, and it goes back to what we talked about earlier, and Char, you brought this up in the first segment. If we're going to tell the God story according to me, then I better include all of me in that story. All that the Savior has done for me. And you guys used great words to describe Him. He heals us, He is a high priest of good things to come, He is our Savior. And I think that is what is so remarkable about including these women is the God Story of Christ, according to Matthew, includes these incredible women who you're, when you read in the Old Testament, you're like, Whoa. But you know what? He's going to include the whole story. All of it. And there's no part of our story that we should be ashamed of. It's, it's who we are. And when we use Christ, that is the, for me that's the end. That is the mic drop, what Christ does in our life.

Sharmaine 31:29

Right. That's what makes us whole and complete, right. All the parts of us all together makes us whole with Christ.

Tammy 31:35

Yep.

Sharmaine 31:37

I love that.

Kathryn 31:37

Yeah, and it's because He looks on us with abundance, right? Like even in that whole story of throughout the New Testament, and every interaction, whether it's the widow's mite, He sees it through abundance. And so even with Thamar and Rachab and Bathsheba, He is looking on them in abundance. And I think that is His every interaction throughout the New Testament with every person he comes into contact with is

Tammy 32:10

abundance. Wow, absolutely. Well, let's do a cross reference to this. Let's put Luke chapter one, verse 32, because this is the grandest brag of all, in the genealogy of Christ. Go to Luke 1:32. And Luke 1:32, I will read that it says, "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest." Right there, who is His father?

Sharmaine 32:44

Heavenly Father. God.

Tammy 32:46

Boy, it doesn't get better than that right there. That's the best brag; that, that just trumps everybody's brag that we had at the beginning. I think that's so cool, and we have the same brag.

Sharmaine 32:55

I was gonna say that. I'm like, hey, we have the same one.

Tammy 32:59

Wouldn't that be so awesome, if I would ask that question again.? Now, who's your genealogy brag?

Sharmaine 33:03

Why didn't I think of that? I'm a daughter of God.

Tammy 33:07

Boom, right there!

Sharmaine 33:06

Try to trump that one, Tam.

Tammy 33:12

So this is kind kind of cool, because there are actually two genealogies of Christ in the New Testament. The one we read in Matthew, this is Joseph's genealogical line. So it's verses - and you can mark these - verses 1-16. And what you want to know is this is the Savior's legal descent. So Joseph, as the adoptive father would have been the legal ancestor through whom Jesus's royal line would have been traced. Now I want you to write to the outside of this genealogy, the "2nd Genealogy" which is found in Luke 3:23-38. So Luke chapter 3, and it's verses 23-38. So go there, and we're going to bracket those off because Luke 3:23-38, this is Mary's genealogical line. This is the Savior's natural or physical descent that He would have come from, who He physically came from. So I think this is kind of neat that we have both of these genealogical lines.

Tammy 34:09

Now as you read this, it says in Luke 3:23, it tells us that "Jesus Himself began to be about 30 years of age being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli." So highlight Hele, Heli, however you want to say that, and then go back to Matthew 1:16, where it says "Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary". So some scholars believe that Jacob and Heli were brothers, and that Mary and Joseph came from those brothers, and they're uncertain which one was actually the father, but it would make Joseph and Mary cousins. So that's their relationship; they were literally related to each other. And so this is really a strong genealogical line that they come from. And so we have the legal descent, the physical descent, and in the next segment, we're going to learn about some other significant members of Jesus's family.

Segment 4 35:01

.....

Tammy 35:12

Okay, let's turn to the Book of Luke. Here we go. We're gonna go into Luke and study the God Story according to Luke, this is so fun. And oh, my gosh, we really like Luke. Listen to some of these facts about him. Okay, Luke was not a Jew. He was a Gentile and he was a physician who traveled with the Apostle Paul. He actually wrote this gospel after the Savior's death, and he wrote it primarily to non-Jewish audience. He testified of Jesus Christ as the Savior to both the Gentiles and the Jews.

Tammy 35:41

Now, how much do we love him for this? He recorded eyewitness accounts of events in the Savior's life, and he included more stories involving women compared to all the other Gospels. So we love Luke, we love you, Luke; thank you for including the stories. So I've asked Charmaine to help us tell one of the first stories that Luke shares and perfectly enough it involves a woman. So Char hit it, you are going to tell us the story found in Luke 1:1-25.

Sharmaine 36:07

Okay, here we go. So this is the story of Zacharias and when he goes into the temple. In

Sharmaine 36:15

Luke 1:9 it says, "According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord."

Sharmaine 36:22

And so it, Tammy you can interject. I don't know how often they get to do this, or

Tammy 36:27

Oh, this is a very big deal.

Sharmaine 36:28

I know it's a really special big deal. And maybe it happens like once a year? or,

Tammy 36:33

Oh, maybe once in their lifetime that they get chosen, that the lot falls on them. So priests serve for one week in the temple. And because of the great number of priests at this time, the honor came relatively few and seldom came twice to the same person. So it was a pretty big deal that he had this opportunity to go to the temple. Now, I want you to kind of think about this. Because if you get a one-shot wonder, and you get to go to the temple one time in your life and have this priestly duty, in my mind - I'm just now connecting this. Am I just willy nilly going into the temple? Or am I going to the temple with stuff? Like, now it makes me think, because when I go to the temple, I have names, and I spend a good time writing names on the prayer roll. Like,

Sharmaine 37:14

but with your heart and with your desires, and with your questions, right?

Tammy 37:18

It's like that kind of changed the story for Zacharias a little bit like this is it for him. And you wonder what his wife Elizabeth is saying to him.

Sharmaine 37:25

And we all know that Elizabeth is barren, she can't have children, and she's older. So Zacharias goes to the temple. And while he's there, an angel of the Lord appears to him by the altar and it said he was, "he was troubled, and fear fell upon him." And "the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias:" And that's in verse 13. "for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife, Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John".

Sharmaine 37:51

And then the angel goes on to talk about John in the next three verses and what he's going to do and kind of like a little bit of a patriarchal blessing/mission of John. Like, this is what he's gonna do, Zacharias, and he's going to do, you know, he's going to bring joy and gladness, and he's going to turn the hearts of the people to the Lord, right. And so he talks about, talks about John, and then it says that Zacharias said, in verse 18, "Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years." And he's like, 'Uh, not sure that can happen', right?

Tammy 38:29

You feel for Zacharias, like he's so human there? I would, I would say the same thing. Like wait, what? We're old. Are you sure about this?

Sharmaine 38:36

Like after this really long description of who his baby is gonna grow up to be like, 'Are you sure? Come on, don't say that.'

Tammy 38:47

That is awesome.

Sharmaine 38:47

But you know, he has questions and they've been waiting for this for so long. And so the angel goes and says, in verse 19, "I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God; and I am sent to speak into thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings." He's like, 'You, you don't even know who I am. This is who I am. I was sent by God to you to tell you these things. So you need to believe them because they're gonna happen.' And so then she conceived and in six months, the Angel Gabriel was sent. And then in verse 24.

Sharmaine 38:56

24, "...after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,

Sharmaine 39:23

25 "Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men."

Sharmaine 39:29

And so she got pregnant and she was gonna have a baby, right? And she hid herself. I don't know why.

Tammy 39:35

Tell me why you think she hid? I think it's because a lot of scholars are like, We don't know why.

Sharmaine 39:40

She was a little bit embarrassed? No,no

Tammy 39:40

Oh, I think I know why. I would have been. It's for sure. Are you kidding me? Absolutely. How, oh, my gosh, all of us in our 50's, well, how many right now can relate?

Kathryn 39:51

When it says she's stricken in years. Like what is, like how old is stricken, right? How old is stricken.

Tammy 39:58

My age?

Sharmaine 39:58

No. Tammy. Well-stricken is like no, have to put a number to that.

Kathryn 40:05

It is. And so I think she's probably like, what are people going to say? What are, yeah? What's the reaction gonna be? So maybe I'll just kind of hide myself away for a minute.

Tammy 40:16

Yeah, any woman listening to this who's over the age of 50, they get verse 24. And it's funny because I've read a lot of books written by men who say, we're not sure why she hid. I'm like, Oh, I am. I think we all understand that first, right there. You see the human side of her, right? I like the human aspect in this story.

Sharmaine 40:35

And, and also very human, because, um, you know, maybe she's, maybe she's had pregnancies before, and they didn't work out, or whatever happened in her life. And that's happened to me, and I didn't want to shout for joy and tell everybody that I was pregnant, because I'm like, this might just not happen, you know.

Tammy 40:52

That's a great perspective.

Sharmaine 40:53

And so I can definitely see that as like, we'll just wait until the day of it. And then we'll talk about it with everybody.

Tammy 41:00

Okay, that is such a great perspective. I like that, too. Well, Shar, you did a great job sharing that story with us. So let's do this. We're just going to go back to verse 13. Because in verse 13, where he says, "for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son." Joseph Smith calls this something specific. And I really like what he calls it. He calls it "a wrestling for a blessing." And I really like that wording, because it makes me think of our own lives. And how many of us have had, experienced a wrestling for a blessing? You know, we were encouraged by the Prophet in the 2022 April General Conference "to seek and expect miracles." Did anyone else feel like that was a big ask, a big thing to say to us?

Sharmaine 41:44

Yeah. It is. You're like, really? Do you want me to expect this to happen?

Kathryn 41:51

Am I supposed to, like is that allowed? Is that asking for too much to expect miracles, you know?

Tammy 42:00

Oh, gosh, I know. I think we all did, and we came away from that going, 'Wait', and, 'Do they really happen?' I mean, I've got little miracle stories. And then there are the medium miracle, but then there are the big Zacharias/Elisabeth miracle stories.

Sharmaine 42:13

Right. Well, and I actually even wrote that, while I was studying this, that 'pray for and expect miracles.' I wrote that next to this verse just because, you know, obviously, he came to the temple praying and desiring for this miracle. But was he expecting it to actually happen, you know? Didn't seem like he was. He was like, what is gonna happen? You know?

Tammy 42:36

You wrote that on the side, say that again.

Sharmaine 42:39

I wrote: "President Nelson". And I just wrote, "pray for and expect miracles". And then I wrote "Answers to our prayers come as we are in the temple, and we do our priesthood callings". And so, you know, I think we can definitely pray for and ask miracles, ask for miracles. And I, and then I wrote by, in verse 19 he says, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God." And you know, our Prophet can say the same thing to us. You know, 'I'm President Nelson, I stand in the presence of God, and I'm telling you, these things will happen.' And that's Gabriel saying that to him. He's like, 'Miracles happen. And, and I am sent from God to tell you that', and I think the Prophet has said the same thing to us.

Tammy 43:22

And how many of us have reacted like Zacharias? 'You sure? Uh, like, I really want to believe', right?

Kathryn 43:30

Oh, and how long did he have to wait, right? Like, I just think, how, was the miracle also in the waiting for Elisabeth? Because she seemed to understand, she didn't doubt or question really. And so was the miracle in the waiting for her? And I think so much about those two stories, right? Like there was a blessing that, for Mary was unexpected. And for Elisabeth, it was wanted, and it didn't happen for a long time. For Mary, it happened and it wasn't being prayed for. Right? So you have these two stories and these, these two examples.

Kathryn 44:16

And, and I just think so much about Elisabeth, here, like how long did she wait? And, and what, what happened in that waiting? Because so many of us are in the waiting, right? So many of us are in that waiting period, and we can believe and trust in miracles. And I think this gives us hope for miracles to come. And so how do we have faith that those miracles will come? And sit and hold on to that when we're not seeing them? Or when we're in the waiting? Does that make sense?

Tammy 44:49

It does. Well, I want to know from either one of you, Do you have an experience where you were in a wrestling for a blessing or where you did have to wait and you saw the miracle, that you could share?

Sharmaine 45:00

Yeah, I, as we've been talking about these miracles, so it came to mind. We, as many of you know, we moved from Utah to Minnesota just over two years ago. And it kind of was a spur of the moment, but definitely felt inspired and led by this is what we should be doing with our little family. And we moved to open up a Crumble store here, and jumped all in. It was, it was in 2020. So mid, mid COVID, mid shutdown, and it was so shut down here in Minnesota, and so difficult, so hard. So much harder than we would have ever thought it was going to be. And we thought it would just, you know, be so easy, right?

Sharmaine 45:39

And so our kids are trying to do school COVID-style and don't have friends, we don't know anybody and family by by us. And then we opened the store and have no idea what we're doing. And all these it seemed like, it seemed like it was on paper, it was just going to work out. And we knew the steps we were supposed to take. But nothing was, everything was like, there was so many problems, and so many things that were so much harder than we thought, you know. And I remember for the first nine months we lived here, my husband and I kneeling down every single night and specifically praying for specific questions to be answered and things to be solved. We would kneel and pray and say, Heavenly Father, we need this building inspection to happen by Thursday.

Tammy 46:27

Wow

Sharmaine 46:27

Please help this to happen, we're pouring out our hearts. And inspectors like has written us that day and said, I'm not going to get your store for another month.' And like just this, timelines that we're working with, and, and so specifically praying. And then on Thursday, the inspector shows up at our store. And he's like, You know what, I had a free hour; I'm going to inspect your store right now.' You know, and like so that we could open on time and all these things that we would kneel down and specifically say, Heavenly Father, we really need to find this type of manager. We don't know how to find him, we don't have anybody we know here, but we need to find this person. And, you know, Brian would have somebody call him up and say, Hey, I saw your post, and it was the exact person we needed, you know? And it was so specific.

Sharmaine 47:14

And I've never had a time in my life more than those like nine months where I felt like every night I was asking for specific miracles in my life because I couldn't physically do it on my own. You know, we didn't know we didn't know how we were going to get through it all. But it was like, Okay, let's say, let's figure that one out right now. And I know that's not how it always happens for people I know, that's not like, asked for a miracle. And it happens.

Sharmaine 47:38

But, you know, for us, I feel like we literally wouldn't have survived if God wasn't sending us these little miracles each day. You know, we would have just fallen apart and crashed and burned. And Heavenly Father knew that we needed it right, then, you know. And sometimes we are in the waiting, and sometimes we can ask for these specific miracles, and they do come. And looking back, I'm like, Oh, my gosh, my mind is blown how many things Heavenly Father was putting in place and putting these people in our life and friends in our ward that, you know, all, so many miracles. And now that I can look back, I'm like, wow, we can definitely ask for miracles - specific ones. And it's it's very powerful.

Tammy 48:20

Wow, thank you, Shar. What I learned from your story is you can be specific with the Lord. That was so cool. I think sometimes we pray in general. I know for me, I pray in generalities. And you have just inspired me to be more specific. So, that is, that's a great way to seek and expect miracles is to pray with specifics. So cool.

Sharmaine 48:41

Well, wasn't it Joseph Smith, who said "weary the Lord until He answers you?"

Tammy 48:46

Weary the Lord. Yeah.

Sharmaine 48:48

And I think that is part of it, is is praying for specific miracles. I love that.

Tammy 48:54

Yeah. Do you have a story, Kathryn?

Kathryn 48:57

Well, there are so many. Like there are, there are so many. But I just even think me sitting here today with you is a miracle, really how things have happened. You know, I, I have seen Him make things happen in the past. And I know He'll continue to make things happen. So I trust Him and I trust that He will continue to guide and make those miracles happen. And sometimes we're in the waiting.

Kathryn 49:26

Sometimes we are waiting for those miracles and whether those are miracles with health issues, physical health issues, or mental health issues, or wherever people are in that waiting. I think we, that's why I love the title of 'High priest of good things to come', because He's promised us good things will come. And if we're in the middle of that waiting, can we lean on the miracles that we've already witnessed and already had? Can we remember those and hold tight to those and understand that those miracles are still going to happen. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but I know that they will. And that is the Jesus that I know, is that those miracles will happen.

Tammy 50:18

Wow, Kathryn, thank you. I was so touched and struck with you - keep focusing on the waiting, the waiting period for miracles. And, and I was touched with that, because I will say that the waiting period was my miracle. I mean, all the years that I kept praying to get married, like, that would have been a miracle if I'd gotten, if I could just marry this guy, or this guy, or this guy. And I had to wait and wait and wait. And I look back. And I got married at 35, and that waiting period was my miracle because there were so many people that I thought I was supposed to marry or that that was the right person for me. And Heavenly Father was like, 'Oh, dear, nope. It's going to be a while and you're going to be 35. And a lot has to happen in both of your lives for this moment to match up. And it will make sense. So just wait.'

Tammy 51:07

And so I think that that sometimes for me, the waiting was my miracle. Well sure, getting married was a miracle for sure, but. People who knew me, yeah, that was a miracle. But the waiting was a miracle, too. Those of you that are in the middle of, you are in your wait, that's probably your miracle. Like, it's okay. Wait. It's alright.

Kathryn 51:27

I think, I also think like, what did you learn about Him in that waiting period, right? Like can that waiting period be that consecrated time? I know when we're waiting for something to come, and we're hoping for that miracle, I lean more on Jesus Christ than at any other time in my life, like my relationship with Him. I can choose to have that relationship with Him, which is the miracle, right?

Tammy 51:57

Yeah. And it's a wrestle for everyone. And that's the thing we have to just realize, it really is. I want to finish this segment with this quote by Andrew Skinner, because I think he beautifully sums it all up. And here's what he says,

Tammy 52:12

"Men and women in every dispensation have had to wrestle at some point in their lives for desired blessings, greater truth, and light from God. Sometimes this spiritual wrestling over problems that seem to be of tremendous magnitude, becomes intensely physical. Enos says at the beginning of his record that he wanted to tell us "of the wrestle which he [had] before God." His is a classic account of persistent, powerful faith exercised to receive a blessing."

Tammy 52:41

And those of us, some of us listening right now, you are in that wrestle. And it is physical, and it is exercise. And so I just, sit in that, lean into it. And maybe all of this, it is. It is all a miracle and it's from our Heavenly Father. And I want to just continue this discussion about the wrestle. And we're going to learn about one of the most significant wrestles that brought about the most important miracle in all of our lives. And we'll do that next.

Segment 5 53:07

.....

Tammy 53:17

Okay, so instead of a wrestling before the blessing, we're actually going to turn that a little bit. I want to show you the blessing before the wrestling, because this blessing or miracle was actually foretold before the wrestle. So this is kind of cool. We're gonna do a scripture chain, you know much I love those. So here's our first scripture chain. We are going to actually start in Luke chapter One, where we left off, in verse 26. So anywhere to the outside of these verses, 26-46, you can write this reference. We're going to start with Isaiah 7:14. Shar, will you please read for us, Isaiah 7:14.

Sharmaine 53:50

Isa 7:14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

Tammy 54:01

Okay, to the outside of that scripture, let's put 1 Nephi 11:13-18. Okay, we're each going to take a verse because it's kind of long. So here we go, Kathryn you start, and then Shar, and then me.

Kathryn 54:14

1 Ne 11:13 "And it came to pass, that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.

Sharmaine 54:28

14 "And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou?

Tammy 54:36

15 "And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.

Kathryn 54:42

16 "And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God?

Sharmaine 54:46

17 "And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.

Tammy 54:53

18 "And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh."

Tammy 55:00

Okay, now let's put Alma 7:10 to the outside of these verses. Let's go there, Alma 7:10. Kathryn, will you read this for us.

Kathryn 55:11

Alma 7:10 "And behold, he shall be born of Mary at Jerusalem, which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth the son, yea, even the Son of God."

Tammy 55:25

Okay, next to that put Mosiah 3:8. And Shar, will you please read that for us.

Sharmaine 55:30

Mosiah 3:8 "And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary."

Tammy 55:44

Perfect. And to the outside of that verse, we're going to be a full circle back to Luke chapter One. So put Luke chapter one, and you can just start and put verses 26-46. And this is the story. I think it's amazing how the blessing the miracle was foretold before the wrestle even happened. And here we're going to jump into Mary's wrestle and Joseph's wrestle and kind of discuss it a little bit. We're going to go into Luke chapter one and we're going to look at a couple of verses, specifically 26-29. And I'm just going to kind of touch on some important things in these verses. So join me, here we go.

Tammy 56:18

Luke 1:26 "And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God" now highlight Gabriel, because we talked about him in our last segment. This is kind of a fun little side note to know, is that Joseph Smith taught that Gabriel was Noah, like Noah's ark, Noah. So that's kind of fun that he got his spiritual name, and he's coming back. I think that's fascinating. So he comes and he speaks to Mary. And we have in verse 27, he comes to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was .Joseph. We're gonna get to that in a little bit because they're engaged. And then we have the virgin's name - Mary, which was also already foretold. But then in verse 28, the angel came unto her and said, Hail, thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. We have to just highlight that, oh my gosh, how much what Gabriel says about her.

Sharmaine 57:04

Right. "The Lord is with thee"

Tammy 57:09

"blessed among women"; "highly favored". Oh, love that, God's favorite right there. And then verse 29.

Tammy 57:17

"And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be."

Tammy 57:22

So here's our wrestle, right? Like what's going on here? And verse 30 "And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God." Then we go to verse 38 because I think this is so awesome. After Gabriel talks to her and says in verse 31, you're going to name him Jesus. And then she's like, but I don't know a man, in verse 34. I have nev, how is this going to happen? And the angel explains how it's going to happen. And then we have her reaction to all of this. Kathryn, will you read verse 38 for us?

Kathryn 57:53

Yes, I love this verse so much. 38 "And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her."

Tammy 58:21

Why do you love this so much, especially in light of her wrestle?

Kathryn 58:09

I actually I love this. I love the sound of that when she says, "be it unto me according to thy word." And we've been talking a little bit about lineage, right? Like, Jesus's lineage, but also understanding that He came from Mary; he was raised by Mary and Joseph, and what He must have learned from them. And her response there just sounds a little similar to me, like the Savior's response in Gethsemane. And I wonder what he learned from Mary, his mother in that response. Like, "be it unto me according to thy word," when the Savior is like, "let this cup pass from me. But if it be thy will," and I just I hear the Savior in there, and

Tammy 59:06

Oh, my Gosh, that's great.

Kathryn 59:07

and I hear Mary's teachings.

Tammy 59:11

Oh, my gosh. Kathryn, I love your connection to that.

Sharmaine 59:13

Oh, that was super great.

Tammy 59:15

Yeah. Well, I've never considered that. And I think you're absolutely right. That changes everything because, yeah, it just seems so odd to her. She's like, Okay, well, "be it unto me according to thy word."

Sharmaine 59:25

If it's Your will. Right? Like doesn't that tell you about her heart?

Tammy 59:31

That's powerful. So good. Okay, well, then let's go. And let's look at Joseph then, because we're going to see his wrestle in his response. So let's go back to Matthew chapter One. And we're going to start in verse 18. And here we go. We have in verse 18 "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph,". Now highlight that word 'espoused' because we've read it twice. Now. This is really important and super significant because it doesn't just mean engaged with a ring like our espoused would mean today. This is like a Jewish contract and a spousal to be married, like it is so binding right here that actually the penalty for fornication with one person while you're betrothed to another, the penalty is death for both parties. Like that's how serious it is. And we have a great quote in our show notes if you want to go read this. But when they're espoused, it is legally binding. And so we you need to know that going into this story with Joseph, because now we have verse 19. And Shar, will you read verse 19 for us.

Sharmaine 1:00:37

19 "Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick examle, was minded to put her away privily."

Tammy 1:00:44

Oh, and read verse 20 for us.

Sharmaine 1:00:47

20 "But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou Son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost."

Tammy 1:01:01

Tell me about Joseph in these two verses; what do they teach us about him?

Kathryn 1:01:06

That he chooses mercy. That he chooses mercy, he chooses love. And he chooses mercy for an outsider, you know, Mary, and I just

Sharmaine 1:01:21

He doesn't want to make her feel, he doesn't want to make her look bad. He doesn't want to make this a big thing, right?

Tammy 1:01:28

Um-hmm. You're absolutely right.

Kathryn 1:01:30

And I think, I don't know if you are going to talk about this, Tammy. But I think knowing a little bit more about Joseph, you can go on to verse 24.

Tammy 1:01:38

Oh, please.

Kathryn 1:01:39

And it says, "Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife;" He did what he was commanded. I mean, and like I said about Mary, what Jesus learned from Mary. Don't you think he must have learned some, a lot from Joseph as well? So maybe when he was in a situation with someone, he chose mercy, and he chose love. And he learned that from the very beginning from Joseph. And Joseph did what, what he was asked to do: he just got, he raised straight up from sleep and did it.

Tammy 1:02:21

Yeah. Well, and how incredible in this story with Joseph is that he recognized it as a dream from the Lord. And I like how the Lord speaks to him. Like, I feel like the angel spoke differently to Joseph than he did to Mary. Like to Joseph, he used concrete evidence. He used in verse 22, the prophet Isaiah. Like he's saying, you know, that the prophet prophesied this, you knew this was going to happen. And that tells us that Joseph would have had to have been a man that understood scripture. You go, 'You're right, you're totally right. Okay, I did know that. I've learned that my whole life.' Oh, this is where it's going to come, because I'm struck with verse 20. But while "he thought on these things,"

Sharmaine 1:02:59

Yeah, I had highlighted that, too.

Tammy 1:03:00

Why did you highlight that, Shar?

Sharmaine 1:03:01

He was just taking time, right? He was pondering.

Tammy 1:03:06

Yeah.

Sharmaine 1:03:07

And he was trying to figure out what God would want him to do.

Tammy 1:03:10

Yeah. And in that pondering, yeah, is when the angel then comes, he gets the dream, he gets the answer.

Sharmaine 1:03:17

Well, that makes me feel better about when I fall asleep during my prayers,

Tammy 1:03:20

Yes, yeah. (laughter)

Sharmaine 1:03:24

Because then I will have a dream about

Sharmaine 1:03:27

Yeah, you're totally fine.

Sharmaine 1:03:28

No, just kidding.

Tammy 1:03:29

But what you're saying now, it's like taking time to ponder and to think on the things that we receive and the experiences and the wrestle we're in. That was a wrestle. That had to have been a wrestle for him like, what do I do? So he's going to think on it; he's going to lean into the wrestle, ponder on it, and then the answer comes.

Sharmaine 1:03:50

And I liked what you said, that he approached Joseph with, you know, these things. You know the scriptures, this has been taught to you. So this is when it's happening and with Mary, he approached her with love. Yeah. And with you are loved, you are favored. The Lord is with you. And she was like, okay, maybe I can do this.

Kathryn 1:04:10

He spoke their language, right? I think, I think God speaks to us in our own language. I believe God speaks every language, including basketball and football and cooking and whatever language that is, how He can communicate with us. I have seen Him work miracles with my children speaking their language. And I love that about the Savior. I love seeing that right here where he's speaking to Joseph in his language, and to Mary in hers.

Tammy 1:04:43

Absolutely. Like, he sees us. He knows us and He speaks our language. That is beautifully put. I think that is awesome, Kathryn. And so in this wrestle, like, in my mind, I'm a very visual person. So I'm imagining these two people wrestling, and then the referee comes in and he declares the winner by throwing us Luke 1:37. Let's go there. Go back to Luke - Isn't this fun, we get to do - Matthew, Luke, Matthew, Luke. I do, too. Kind of like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. Remember those when you were kids?

Kathryn 1:05:13

Those were my favorite.

Tammy 1:05:14

So we're gonna go to Luke 1:37 because this is where he declares who the winner is, and you cannot go wrong with this. Kathryn, will you read for us because it was the one above your favorite verse.

Kathryn 1:05:24

Yes, I love this one. "For with God, nothing shall be impossible."

Tammy 1:05:29

How can this truth help us when it feels like we're in the impossible?

Sharmaine 1:05:36

I really have been thinking about that phrase a lot as I've been preparing and reading these. But I also really love how every person that the angel Gabriel spoke to, he started out by saying "Fear not."

Tammy 1:05:51

Oh, yeah.

Sharmaine 1:05:52

And, you know, just that struck me. And so I highlighted it each time that he said "Fear not." And sometimes, you know, that's what stops us. We just fear, we freeze, we don't know how to move forward. And and he ends it with Mary, saying nothing's impossible. You can do anything. Don't be afraid. Don't run away. Don't stand still, keep going forward because everything is possible with God. All these miracles that are happening, they can happen, right? And I just love that, thinking of like, you know, what am I, what am I fearing and not letting it happen? Because I'm just afraid to let the impossible things just happen in my life.

Tammy 1:06:37

Yeah, I think it's interesting. You just said that, Shar, because we haven't even talked about this. But my last statement, after discussing this verse is, What if the miracles in your life were just waiting for us to declare: With God, nothing is impossible. What if that's just the one piece we were missing? Like, it seems impossible, but with God, it's not. And so it kind of changes maybe the way we view the specific things we're asking for. And the waiting time we're sitting in. Like it's, somehow it's gonna work out because God's in charge, right? Yeah. Oh, I think that's great. Thank you for sharing that.

Kathryn 1:07:15

I need to expect the impossible. It goes back to President Nelson, right? Expect miracles, ask for miracles, pray for miracles.

Tammy 1:07:27

As a covenant son and daughter of God, you are entitled to ask for miracles. That's what's so cool about it, He wants you to. That's what we're learning in this lesson. So, Wow. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so then going back into Luke 1:39-44 are the story where Mary then visits Elisabeth. Something cool that I learned that I didn't know, is in verse 26. It says "In the sixth month". We believe that's Elisabeth's sixth month and Mary comes to visit Elisabeth and stays for three more months, because I think Mary helped deliver. I think she was there for the birth of John, because it would have been nine months. And so yeah, she leaves after three months. And so after it, while she's there with them, in this experience, we get to read about two women, two miracles. And then this incredible thing that Mary does. And we'll discuss that in the next segment.

Segment 6 1:08:28

.....

Tammy 1:08:28

Oh my gosh, I love this. It's your Okay. All right, everybody, you better grab something to mark your Scriptures with because we are going to highlight. So I have to know, though, you guys: Has there ever been a moment in your life that you felt the Spirit through music? Like I am such a big music feel the sp? I cry on the regular with certain hymns and songs. Yeah. What about you guys? Anything specific that comes to mind?

Kathryn 1:08:52

Well, I use the power of music every day in my class,

Tammy 1:08:56

Oh, how?

Kathryn 1:08:57

I just think, well, we, when they come, in a lot of times, you know, they're super, like crazy and hyperactive. And we talk and we do a mystery person and kind of to prepare the class and to prepare everybody to settle in. Sometimes singing is not teenagers' favorite thing to do.

Tammy 1:09:17

Right.

Kathryn 1:09:17

So we don't necessarily always sing. But I always play music. And I have a question up on the board and have them think about that question and write about that question while they listen to a particular song. And that is where I see the Spirit start to soften hearts and open up hearts to get into the Word. So music is powerful in ways that, it can reach us in ways that nothing else can.

Sharmaine 1:09:48

That's why they talk about that angelic choirs of heaven. There's just something that goes beyond just talking, right, when you have music. But for me music really is like probably 90% of the time I feel the Spirit is because of music. Really is. Like music is the way I feel it, I love it so much. Whether it's like directing word choir songs or singing hymns and you know. As a, like a laurel in my mutual we were singing opening exercises The Spirit of God, just like Mutual opening exercises, and I just felt it and I started crying and my friend's, like, what's wrong with you? Are you okay? And I'm like, I'm fine. I'm, was terrible, it's so stupid. But so many, so many with music. And another one is I feel like words to a song can come to mind because we know songs and we know them in our hearts so well. And I've had that happen to me where a song came into my mind and it made me feel the Spirit. And I'll tell it really quick.

Sharmaine 1:09:49

But I was having my first child, I was in Delivery at the hospital. First baby is the worst, right? And for some reason, I took a natural childbirthing class and I was bound and determined to not get an Epidural and I was sticking to my guns, right. And I was in the middle of all this and the song, "A Child's Prayer" came to my mind. And it was just "Heavenly Father, are you really there?" Those are the words that kept coming. Are you really there? Because this is crazy. I'm going through this, You better be there. And I just remember that over and over. "Are You really there? Do you hear and answer every child's prayer?" Because I have a prayer right now that this needs to end, you know, and that song kept coming to my mind and I felt so much, you know, love from God that, 'Yes, this is difficult, Shar. You're gonna be okay, you can do this,' right? But I think knowing songs and hymns and and words can just bring that Spirit to you so fast and remind you of things and remind you of what you need to know.

Tammy 1:11:48

Wow. Okay, thank you to both of you for setting this up so perfectly. Because our goal right now in this last segment is for us to feel the spirit through this song. And we're not going to sing it, but we're going to study it because it is the song of all songs in the New Testament. I want us to bracket off verses 46 through 55. The Christian world considers this, these verses to be one of the eight most Christian hymns of all hymns. It's the first Marian hymn, which is meaning a song focused on Mary. So after she has this experience, after she says - and I love so much, Kathryn that you focused on verse 38 for us, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." Then we come down here to verse 45, and this what sets it up. It says "And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord." Now 46 "And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord," - Highlight that, "my soul doth magnify the Lord."

Tammy 1:12:55

Now Kathryn just gave us a great face. Kathryn, you opened your eyes big and your mouth. Why did you do that? Well, before you tell us that, here's what I want us to do to the outside of verse 46. I want you to write "the Magnificat". Here's how you spell that: M A G N I F I C A T, the Magnificat. Now it's called that because in verse 46, "Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord," and the word Magnificat is Latin for magnify. This is the song of Mary, it is believed Mary sang these words after she had this incredible experience. She is with child, she is with Elisabeth. John the Baptist, the baby, leaped in Elisabeth's womb when they met. I mean, this really cool experience, and then we have these words. We're going to read the song and then I want us to talk about what stood out to you. So get ready to mark stuff, here we go. We're each gonna take a verse and I just hope you feel the spirit of this song as we read these verses. So Kathryn, we'll start with you in verse 46. And we'll go Kathryn, Shar, me until we get to verse 55. Here we go.

Sharmaine 1:14:06

And Mary said my soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

Tammy 1:14:14

for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessing.

Kathryn 1:14:22

For he that is mighty has done to me great beings and holy is his name

Sharmaine 1:14:28

and his mercy as on them that fear him from generation to generation. He has showed strength

Tammy 1:14:34

with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

Kathryn 1:14:40

He has put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree.

Sharmaine 1:14:45

He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich yet sent empty away.

Tammy 1:14:50

He hath hope in his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy

Kathryn 1:14:56

as he spake to our fathers to Abraham and to his seed

Tammy 1:15:00

forever. Thank you. Okay, tell me what you marked in this song of Mary, what stood out to you?

Kathryn 1:15:08

Yes, I'll start with my soul that magnify the Lord and, and maybe just with this new venture that I am feeling impressive take on and talking about magnify and that is what I feel so passionate about is is magnifying the Lord magnifying His love, magnifying his light, and that we all can do that. And so I love that Mary is magnifying her love, magnifying the light that she has, and that he will do that for her. I just I love that she starts her him with that phrase. And I just think I think about this so often is what can I do in my life? to magnify

Tammy 1:15:58

the Lord? Wow, I thought of you when I read this. I was like, huh, wait a minute, she's on this episode. And we're talking about magnify. That is so cool. And that question.

Kathryn 1:16:10

And yeah, can't we all do that, like, what can we do everyday to magnify the Lord? And that is like the base of Mary's heart. That's what she desires to do is to magnify Him.

Tammy 1:16:24

Yep. It goes back to how we started. How can we bring people rest? Like you gave it, you gave great examples at the beginning of what you're going to do. That's how you're going to magnify Him by listening. Oh, my gosh, and by giving hugs. What a great way to magnify the Lord.

Kathryn 1:16:39

I love that.

Tammy 1:16:40

What else did you mark, keep going?

Sharmaine 1:16:44

I noticed in 53: He hath filled the hungry with good things, because I feel like we've mentioned that a few times today. He is the high priest of good things to come. And I that just stuck out to me. He, He fills us with good things.

Tammy 1:17:00

Yeah. I like, I marked that too. Because when it said "He hath filled the hungry", my immediate thought was I am hungry all the time.

Sharmaine 1:17:09

Yes, yes.

Tammy 1:17:10

Like physically and spiritually.

Sharmaine 1:17:12

Right

Tammy 1:17:12

But like, that word hunger for me really resonated. Like, how many times in my life have I just been so hungry? And I know people, there are people I love who are hungry. And that verse says "He will fill them with good things." That is what you want. When I'm hungry I want something good. Sometimes, though, I make stupid choices and I just go by, like, I just open my pantry and eat whatever I see because I'm hungry. And the Lord's like, No, I'll give you something better. Like, let me just feed you with things good that will fill you. So my brain just played with that verse.

Sharmaine 1:17:43

Right. Like when we're hungry we're depleted and we're empty, right?

Tammy 1:17:48

Yeah, your stomach hurts like, my spiritual stomach has hurt. And it has been filled with good things because of the Lord.

Sharmaine 1:17:55

And as we all know, it takes time to make good food. Right?

Tammy 1:17:59

Oh, I like that.

Sharmaine 1:18:00

It's not a quick, it takes time and the Lord will take time with us to fill us up, right?

Tammy 1:18:06

I love that - to make the most perfect thing that we need for us all. Ohhh, that's good.

Kathryn 1:18:13

And I think right along with that, I love verse 49. "For he that is mighty hath done to me great things." So He fills us with good things but then He DOES great things for us. And I think this whole record of the New Testament is a record of Him doing great things. And I like to think of all the great things He has done for me in my life, like so many great things. And can I sing praises to those great things and remember those great things?

Tammy 1:18:52

Absolutely. In fact, let's do this. Okay, I'm going to issue this challenge to everyone. If you have a sticky note somewhere in your home, go get your sticky notes, and my challenge - an assignment for us this week - is to do this: on a sticky note I want you to write "my soul doth magnify the Lord because...." And I want you to tink throughout this week as you're driving, what would your Magnificat wording be? I'm going to challenge you to write your own Magnificat this week, to write down what you would sing in praises to the Lord because of the miracles you've seen in your life. Because you know that through God all things are possible, that nothing is impossible with Him. And maybe put it on your bathroom mirror, put it in your car while you're driving. Put that sticky note somewhere that even your family can see it or friends and explain to them that you're writing your Magnificat this week, you're writing your praise and your song to the Lord. That's my challenge, that's my homework assignment for everyone.

Kathryn 1:19:50

Challenge taken

Sharmaine 1:19:51

I'll do it too. Yeah.

Tammy 1:19:52

Okay, challenge taken, very good. I think that is going to be so cool for us to do. And that's the end of our episode. That's it. Oh my gosh, I can't believe how much we studied: Matthew One, Luke One. So awesome!

Sharmaine 1:20:05

My two chapters of those are like filled and highlighted and like, the next ones are like empty. We got to get there.

Kathryn 1:20:12

I know, like you guys,sticky notes are my favorite. You should see my scriptures. I just have like sticky notes all in my scriptures.

Tammy 1:20:21

That makes my heart so happy. We love the sticky notes and glue ins don't we, Kathryn?

Kathryn 1:20:26

I love sticky notes. I love them.

Tammy 1:20:29

I know. Love them. Okay, so gather your thoughts. Look through everything we discussed today and tell me what your takeaway was. We do this at the end, Kathryn, where we all share like a two sentence takeaway, something that just struck us that we studied together, or talked about. What is it that you're going to take away from our discussion today?

Sharmaine 1:20:47

I really loved talking about Matthew one, the genealogy of Jesus Christ with the women in there. And it was just the where when we talked about you know, all parts of us are worth mentioning, and all parts of our story in our life. And that's because we are complete and whole with Jesus, all the whole part of us. And I just want to remember that, that all parts of me are worth mentioning. And it's been, it's all good because of Jesus.

Tammy 1:21:23

Great takeaway. That's awesome. What about you, Kathryn?

Kathryn 1:21:28

I, there's so many, it's so hard to narrow it down. Right? I think that's the hardest part of studying scripture. But what has really stood out with,stood out to me is Mary's Magnificat and thinking of my own, and what I can do to really magnify the Lord in my interactions, my interactions with everybody I come into contact with and that that's a holy, that's a holy place because I'm interacting with, with holy people. Like their title, like what we talked about as being children of God. Right? And, and how can I magnify the Lord in my interactions? That's really what I want to take away and focus on and use my interactions so that they can feel of God's love for them.

Tammy 1:22:27

Amen. And you've definitely, that's been your theme today has been so cool to hear you testify over and over again of that. So thank you, Kathryn. I have two takeaways. Shar, I started out with your takeaway when you had me think that the God Story was my story. And when I wrote that, at the top of my scriptures in Matthew, "The God Story according to Tammy", like I love how you inspired me to consider that not just Matthew, but what would my story say of Him? So thank you for that. And then Kathryn, I really appreciated how you connected Luke 1:38 to the Savior saying, "Let this cup pass for me, I'd never connected those two and seen the correlation. And that was powerful. So thank you for teaching that to us. This was so fun. This is it. We're done.

Sharmaine 1:23:14

Thanks for teaching and studying, Tammy.

Tammy 1:23:18

Thanks for coming so prepared. That was such a fun discussion.

Kathryn 1:23:21

Way to go. That was so fun.,

Tammy 1:23:24

Well, and everyone make sure you go and find-read our show notes and see the bios so you can check out Kathryn's podcast, I highly recommend it. It is so much fun to listen to the discussions that she has with her guests, so. Well, we would love to hear what your big takeaway was from this episode. So if you haven't already joined our discussion group on Facebook or on Instagram, do it because it's so much fun. On Facebook, you can just even post what your takeaway is or your Magnificat or anything we've discussed. And then at the end of the week, we do a post asking for your big takeaway. So comment on the post that relates to this lesson and let us know what you've learned. You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode on LDS living.com/sunday on Monday. And if you go there you can find all of the links to the references that we used today as well as a complete transcript of this whole discussion. So go check it out.

Tammy 1:24:10

The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original brought to you by LDS Living. It's written and hosted by me Tammy Uzelac Hall and today our incredible study your participants were Kathryn Davis and Sharmaine Howell, and you can find more information about these friends at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited by Hailey Higham and recorded and mixed by Mix at Six Studios, and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here.

Tammy 1:24:36

We'll see you next week ohhh, please remember as you share your God Story, that you are God's favorite.

Tammy 1:24:41

Just jump in, yeah, we talk over each other. You don't have to be, you do not have to be polite on this podcast at all, Kathryn.

Kathryn 1:24:49

Do I raise my hand? (laughter.)

Transcribed by https://otter.ai